finding time when url was modified

[Ajay]

Quoting Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com>:

> Ajay wrote:
> > is it possible for someone to change the Last-Modified header? Can
> someone
> > put a new updated document, but in such a way that if someone requests
> > that document, they get an old date rather than the new date?
> > i can see a CGI script add its own header and then write out the
> document.
> > but can this be done with a simple HTML page?
>
> Certainly... the server can do anything it wants with that
> header, including failing to provide it, providing an invalid
> date, providing a date in the future or distant past, or
> even providing a date that happens to correspond exactly
> with the true "last modified" date of the document...
>
> Whether a *particular* server will do that with a *particular*
> kind of document is a different question altogether.
>
> Do you have a specific situation involving this that you
> can describe, or are you just asking in general, out of
> curiosity?

thanks
it was mostly out of curiousity. I have an interchange where the servers
would send a policy and request a resource. the other server would
evaluate the policy and respond accordingly.
i am hoping to cut down on the evaluation by maintaining a record of past
transactions and if everything is the same (policy, resource ets) then
take the same action as before. one way was to store policy used earlier
and compare that with the new one and so on. since the app is for a mobile
device with low processing power, i was hoping to perhaps use modified date
- which when i thought a little more about it is clearly not feasible.

i guess comparing two really large strings is what i'll have to go with.
any ideas on performance of string comparisons?

cheers

>
> -Peter
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>


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