Re: Proposal Towards Universal HTTP/3, with a polyfill of QUIC for TCP (Fwd: New Version Notification for draft-kazuho-httpbis-http3-on-streams-00.txt)

[Stefan Eissing <[e-mail]>]

> Am 16.02.2024 um 09:24 schrieb Kazuho Oku <[e-mail]>:
> 
> Hello QUIC and HTTP enthusiasts,
> 
> We, Lucas and I, have submitted two drafts aimed at broadening the reach of HTTP/3 - yes, making it available over TCP as well. We are eager to hear your thoughts on these:
> 
> QUIC on Streams: A polyfill for operating QUIC on top of TCP.
> https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-kazuho-quic-quic-on-streams
> 
> HTTP/3 on Streams: How to run HTTP/3 unmodified over TCP, utilizing QUIC on Streams.
> https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-kazuho-httpbis-http3-on-streams
> 
> As the co-author of the two drafts, let me explain why we have submitted these.
> 
> The rationale behind our proposal is the complexity of having two major HTTP versions (HTTP/2 and HTTP/3), both actively used and extended. This might not be the situation that we want to be in.
> 
> HTTP/2 is showing its age. We discussed its challenges at the IETF 118 side meeting in Prague.
> 
> Despite these challenges, we are still trying to extend HTTP/2, as seen with WebTransport. WebTransport extends both HTTP/3 and HTTP/2, but it does so differently for each, due to the inherent differences between the HTTP versions.
> 
> Why are we doing this?
> 
> Because HTTP/3 works only on QUIC. Given that UDP is not as universally accessible as TCP, we find ourselves in a position where we need to maintain and extend not only HTTP/3 but also HTTP/2 as a backstop protocol.
> 
> This effort comes with its costs, which we have been attempting to manage.
> 
> However, if we could create a polyfill for QUIC that operates on top of TCP, and then use it to run HTTP/3 over TCP, do we still need to invest in HTTP/2?
> 
> Of course, HTTP/2 won’t disappear overnight.
> 
> Yet, by making HTTP/3 more universally usable, we can at least stop extending HTTP/2.

Interesting. This gives a much easier deployment path for HTTP/3 and extensions.

I have been reluctant to bring HTTP/3 to Apache httpd because the cost/benefit aspect is so unfavourable. I see no problem in bringing HTTP/3 over TLS into our server.

Cheers,
Stefan

PS. We should probably not call this "TCP3".