[mdlug] User agent strings

[Fati]

The user agent is sent to the webserver via an http header and is
utilized as an environment variable for any content that the web site
executes server side (php, cgi, etc).

Data passed by way of the get or post method in contrast are passed as
arguments to the server side content, analogous to running "./some.cgi
argument=value" from the console.

Unless there are some serious errors with either the web server or the
programs running through the web server, this method should not work.

On 12/20/06, Robert Meier <eaglecoach at wwnet.com> wrote:
> Drew,
>
> > I heard a rumor that it's possible to get *any* browser to send
> > a different userAgent string than its default either by appending a
> > '?' and a variable assignment, or by means of a script of some sort.
> > Can anyone confirm this and show exactly how?
>
> My understanding is that http (hypertext transport protocol) supports
> upload of key-value pairs by two methods, get and post.
> The get method appends the key-value pairs to the URL delimited by
>    ? after the url path and before the key-value pairs
>    & between key-value pairs
>    = after each key and before each value
> The post method sends a multi-line file, that includes key-value pairs
> one per line.
>
> A browser can use select either get or post method,
> and the server may choose to accept either or both.
>
> Appending '?userAgent="string"' to a path-only url
> (or '&userAgent="string" to a url with other key-value pairs)
> utilizes the get method.
> If the server accepts the userAgent value by get method,
> I would expect this to work.
>
> Get method becomes inefficient as the key-value pair count rises,
> so filled-in forms are usually uploaded by post method.
> I know of no easy way to add key-value pairs to upload by post method.
> If the server accepts or overrides the userAgent value by posts method,
> I would expect this to problematic.
>
> Hopefully helpful,
> --
> Dr. Robert J. Meier
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> mdlug at mdlug.org
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>


-- 
Fati
http://www.venerealinjection.com
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