[Mod_gzip] "mod_gzip_send_vary=Yes" disables caching on IE? (1.3.26.1a)

[mod_gzip@lists.over.net]

> That IE treats "Vary: Accept-Encoding" on (only) uncompressed responses as
> apparently meaning "don't cache". This wasn't an issue with older versions
> of mod_gzip because they did not send this header.

Super. Then let's focus on just this one issue.

If it turns out that MSIE is refusing to cache ANY kind of 
non-compressed response with any kind of "Vary:"
header then so be it but for our purposes let's just focus
on whether anything ( mod_gzip, mod_deflate, DynaZip, whatever )
is going to be able to use "Vary: Accept-Encoding" with
MSIE and non-compressed variants.

I still think the fact that MSIE really MUST cache the
'compressed' responses because it MUST have the
disk file to do the decompression is somehow 
confusing the issue but let's try and nail down
exactly what MSIE 'standard behavior' is for
non-compressed responses that DO have
some kind of "Vary:" header ( Other than "Vary: *"
which we know no one is really ever going to Cache ).

>> (Jordan?) says
>> that MSIE isn't caching ANY of the non-compressed variants
>> if they have ANY kind of "Vary:" header.
>
>Yes, that is my experience. It always reloads the pages when navigating the
>history list (using the Back and Forward buttons), and it always reloads
>them when you visit them later -- no If-Modified-Since request header is
>sent (if the last visit had a Last-Modified response header), and any
>Expires response header from the last visit (that was non-compressed and
>contained a Vary header) isn't respected.

Ok... clear enough.

However... I believe Slava (?) has said he is NOT seeing
this behavior. Let's ping him and verify that and if he's
NOT seeing same problem let's figure out why the
heck you are.

>> What (Exact) versions and build levels of MSIE are
>> we talking about here and does one really actually
>> WORK while another does NOT?
>
>With this test:
>
>header("Vary: Accept-Encoding");
>header("Expires: Mon, 08 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT");
>echo "Hi";
>
>Here are the versions I tested. All of them "did not work" -- they reload
>the page every time.
>
>- IE 6.0 + all latest updates:
>  6.0.2800.1106 ;SP1;Q328970;Q324929;
>- Plain IE 6.0:
>  6.0.2600.0000
>- IE 5.5 SP2:
>  5.50.4807.2300 ;SP2;
>- Plain IE 5.0:
>  5.00.2920.0000

That pretty much covers it.

If anyone is using any version of MSIE any older than
this list then they are pretty much crazy just because
of all the security flaws alone in any version less than 5.0.

Slava?... are you still reading the thread?

What version(s) of MSIE are you using and are you seeing
the same 'no cache' behavior?

>> Where does Netscape fit into all this?
>
> I haven't personally tested this.
>
> Jordan Russell

Neither have I. I don't use Netscape anymore and I
don't know anyone who does.

I have heard that the new Netscape 'Compact' version
is much more stable than full version of Netscape but
I have not tried that browser yet.

Yours...
Kevin