Re: [hybi] [Compression] Parameter to suppress client-side compression

[Jamie Lokier <[e-mail]>]

Takeshi Yoshino wrote:
>    Forwarding an off-list request I got on compression spec.
>    The proposal is adding a server->client parameter to suppress
>    compression on client->server data. It might be useful for applications
>    where client->server data is not worth being compressed.
>    Once we add some interface on WebSocket object to turn on/off
>    compression on outgoing data as planned, it'll be less necessary.
>    Thanks
>    Takeshi

Where the server is supporting 100ks or millions of low-throughput
mostly-idle connections per server, it seems useful to disable
client->server compression for short messages to avoid the memory
overhead of having to receive and decompress them at the server.

This applies especially to keepalives, which are sometimes the
dominant traffic by far.

At the same time, when there is something more interesting and longer
to transmit, then it may be useful to compress it.  (Server can
allocate memory as needed, or even offload to another server if there
is a burst of activity on too many connections at once.)

So I can see an obscure use case for giving the client JS the option
to control this per message, or to set a message size threshold, or to
leave it set to automatic.  But it seems like a niche situation and
there are other strategies such as using multiple WebSockets in
parallel and/or writing a compressor in Javascript.

-- Jamie