Re: diff + HTTP PATCH == wrong?

On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 10:04 AM, Steve Klabnik <[email protected]> wrote:
> PUT requires a full replacement

PUT has replacement semantics, not fullness semantics. This is
obviously the case because you don't have to provide each and every
representation of a resource. Further, the server may modify the
provided representation in any way it sees fit before actually
performing the replacement.

This leaves us with the logical conclusion that PUT requests should
include a complete enough representation to allow the server to
construct all the representations it needs. Complete enough can only
be defined by the server and/or the media type. So PUT has replace
semantics, full stop. If the server can "replace" the existing
representations with representations constructed from the
representation in a particular PUT request it should do so.
(Regardless of what anyone else thinks of the "fullness" of that
representation.)

Peter
barelyenough.org