Skip to main content

BiDirectional or Server-Initiated HTTP
charter-ietf-hybi-02

Document Charter BiDirectional or Server-Initiated HTTP WG (hybi)
Title BiDirectional or Server-Initiated HTTP
Last updated 2010-01-21
State Approved
WG State Concluded
IESG Responsible AD Barry Leiba
Charter edit AD (None)
Send notices to (None)

charter-ietf-hybi-02
The BiDirectional or Server-Initiated HTTP (HyBi) working group
defines the WebSocket Protocol, a technology for bidirectional
communication between an HTTP client and an HTTP server that
provides greater efficiency than previous approaches (e.g., use
of hanging requests or long polling).

Having completed work on the core protocol (RFC 6455), the group
continues to define extensions for use by WebSocket
implementations.  The following extensions and optimizations are
currently in scope:

1. A per-frame compression extension to improve bandwidth
   usage (draft-tyoshino-hybi-websocket-perframe-deflate is a
   likely starting point).

2. A multiplexing extension to improve the scalability of the
   WebSocket protocol (draft-tamplin-hybi-google-mux is a likely
   starting point).

3. Timeout-handling capabilities to reduce the chattiness of the
   protocol (draft-thomson-hybi-http-timeout is a likely starting
   point).

The working group will also serve as a discussion venue for
subprotocols.  However, no subprotocol is currently chartered as a
deliverable, and the WG must be rechartered to work on any
subprotocols.

The group will not work on an updated version of the WebSocket
protocol, unless it is specifically rechartered to do so.

The group will continue coordinating with the W3C WepApps working
group with respect to the above deliverables and to ensure the best
match possible between the WebSocket protocol and the WebSocket API.
The group will also continue coordinating with other working groups
within the IETF (e.g., HTTPBIS) as appropriate.