HTTP: Generating ETag Header

Question

How do I generate an ETag HTTP header for a resource file?

Answer 1

An etag is an arbitrary string that the server sends to the client that the client will send back to the server the next time the file is requested.

The etag should be computable on the server based on the file. Sort of like a checksum, but you might not want to checksum every file sending it out.

 server                client
 
        <------------- request file foo
 
 file foo etag: "xyz"  -------->
 
        <------------- request file foo
                       etag: "xyz" (what the server just sent)
 
 (the etag is the same, so the server can send a 304)

I built up a string in the format "datestamp-file size-file inode number". So, if a file is changed on the server after it has been served out to the client, the newly regenerated etag won't match if the client re-requests it.

char *mketag(char *s, struct stat *sb)
{
    sprintf(s, "%d-%d-%d", sb->st_mtime, sb->st_size, sb->st_ino);
    return s;
}