[users@httpd] questions about request line for HTTP

["Eric L. Johnson" <es...@cfl.rr.com>]

I am currently running Linux 7.2 with Apache version 2.0.49.  I am currently having intermittent problems with the "GET" method while running the Apache server.  I have read the RFC 2616 Section 5 and it states to put the request in the form of the following:  Request-Line = Method SP Request-URI SP HTTP-Version CRLF.  For example, if I telnet to MSN's website, and perform a GET / HTTP/1.0 request, I obtain the following: HTTP/1.1 200 OK (which is the desired result)(followed by the correct HTML for the MSN home page).  However, if I telnet to the MSN site and perform the following:  GET / HTTP/1.1, the results come out as follows: HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request (which is not the desired result) (followed by the incorrect HTML for the MSN home page)
Why do I sometimes have to use "GET / HTTP/1.0 vs. GET / HTTP/1.1" to obtain the desired results on some web pages and not on others.  I have even varied the format of the request line to look the like the following: "GET / HTTP-1.1" or "GET / HTTP 1.1" which has afforded me more consistent results on some web sites, whereas I perform the GET request utilizing HTTP 1.1 and I obtain the proper reply back from the remote host.   Is there a format for the request line that would be consistent with the specification and yield consistent results?  Any assistance that you can afford would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you very much!

Eric.