public caching rules and my private cache
i committed to implementing a local cache for my web server that follows the rules for all HTTP-compliant cache servers. while i am not at all interested in creating a public caching server, by committing to following the same rules, i make sure my local cache has the same flexibility as public caches; that it meets w/ standardized HTTP rules; and that it 'feels the same pain' as public caches when i publish content.
for example, if my local cache has to figure out how to return the proper representation for a single resource URL, i get a pretty good sense of what public caches are up against. add cookies and/or authorization to the request and i have the same kind of challenges locally that any public caching proxy will experience.
now i know why cookies and authorization headers - even query string parameters can complicate the caching process. i get it when it comes to caching multiple representations of the same URL.