[squid-dev] NO_SPECIAL_HANDLING define for HTTP methods

[Amos Jeffries]

On 20/04/2026 09:35, Francesco Chemolli wrote:
> Hi,
>    I stumbled upon src/http/MethodType.h and the fact that a lot of
> methods are hidden behind a NO_SPECIAL_HANDLING preprocessor macro.
> Does anyone have any memory about what the purpose of that exclusion?
> 
> Thanks!


The list documents the full list of methods which Squid is known to 
support (sans bugs).

That #if macro is to document that those methods have already been 
analyzed (per the referenced RFC at least) and determined that Squid 
should do the HTTP default actions for any valid-but-unknown methods. So 
we do not waste time re-checking them for support later.


When it is defined cache manager is capable of showing statistics for 
those methods (eg. in WebDAV services) separately from "OTHER". But 
there is not much need for that typically.


HTH
Amos