RFC 2324 (rfc2324) - Page 2 of 10
Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP/1
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 2324 HTCPCP/1.0 1 April 1998 This document specifies a Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP), which permits the full request and responses necessary to control all devices capable of making the popular caffeinated hot beverages. HTTP 1.1 ([RFC 2068]) permits the transfer of web objects from origin servers to clients. The web is world-wide. HTCPCP is based on HTTP. This is because HTTP is everywhere. It could not be so pervasive without being good. Therefore, HTTP is good. If you want good coffee, HTCPCP needs to be good. To make HTCPCP good, it is good to base HTCPCP on HTTP. Future versions of this protocol may include extensions for espresso machines and similar devices. 2. HTCPCP Protocol The HTCPCP protocol is built on top of HTTP, with the addition of a few new methods, header fields and return codes. All HTCPCP servers should be referred to with the "coffee:" URI scheme (Section 4). 2.1 HTCPCP Added Methods 2.1.1 The BREW method, and the use of POST Commands to control a coffee pot are sent from client to coffee server using either the BREW or POST method, and a message body with Content-Type set to "application/coffee-pot-command". A coffee pot server MUST accept both the BREW and POST method equivalently. However, the use of POST for causing actions to happen is deprecated. Coffee pots heat water using electronic mechanisms, so there is no fire. Thus, no firewalls are necessary, and firewall control policy is irrelevant. However, POST may be a trademark for coffee, and so the BREW method has been added. The BREW method may be used with other HTTP-based protocols (e.g., the Hyper Text Brewery Control Protocol). 2.1.2 GET method In HTTP, the GET method is used to mean "retrieve whatever information (in the form of an entity) identified by the Request- URI." If the Request-URI refers to a data-producing process, it is the produced data which shall be returned as the entity in the response and not the source text of the process, unless that text happens to be the output of the process. Masinter Informational
