Test for HTTP spec conformance during CI

[kyri-petrou]

I think this is a bit of an ambitious request, but hopefully it's something that we can achieve.

The HTTP spec contains a lot of "gotchas" and unless a contributor knows the HTTP spec inside-out (which is almost impossible), we're bound to make a change at some point that violates the spec. A good example of this is #3080, where a previous fix to an issue that allowed users to provide an invalid content-length (which is against the spec) seems to have broken HEAD requests, where the content-length should match the length of the content as if the request is a GET request.

In order to guard against this, we need an HTTP Spec conformance test suite that runs during CI. A potentially good starting point is this repo, but there are probably other / better tools for it (haven't looked too extensively). I'm sure that adding such a suite will very likely unearth violations, so we should probably do it in 2-3 steps:

1. Add a CI workflow that tests a server for HTTP spec conformance.
2. Fix any failing checks that are required by the spec.
3. Fix as many recommendations as possible.

@jdegoes @987Nabil what are your thoughts on having this? Is this something that's too ambitious or do you think it might be doable?

[987Nabil]

I think it is a good idea. Maybe we don't need to add all checks at the beginning. We could establish the process first and add things we fixed our think are very important and imperatively improve the checks

[jdegoes]

/bounty $2500

[algora-pbc[bot]]

💎 $2,500 bounty • ZIO

Steps to solve:

1. Start working: Comment /attempt #3083 with your implementation plan
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Attempt	Started (UTC)	Solution	Actions
🟢 @Saturn225	Sep 18, 2024, 02:20:27 PM	#3169	Reward
🟢 @987Nabil	Nov 19, 2025, 10:19:02 AM	#3803	Reward
🟢 @dohrisalim	Aug 19, 2025, 02:56:24 PM	WIP
🔴 @melmathari	Nov 22, 2024, 02:14:47 AM	WIP

[Saturn225]

/attempt #3083

Options

• Cancel my attempt

[digital-phoenix]

@jdegoes could you further define the scope of this bounty? Is it just to add an HTTP Spec conformance test suite that runs during CI? Or does this bounty also require all failing tests to be fixed after the test suite is implemented?

[ayewo]

@jdegoes Another scope-related question: since the conformance test suite will mostly be run in a CI environment, is it mandatory to write it in Scala?

The ZIO org has about 8 non-Scala repos so was wondering if you don't mind at all if a fork of the Python repo @kyri-petrou linked to is used as the basis for this task?

[algora-pbc[bot]]

@SankeerthKoraboina: Reminder that in 7 days the bounty will become up for grabs, so please submit a pull request before then 🙏

[algora-pbc[bot]]

💡 @Saturn225 submitted a pull request that claims the bounty. You can visit your bounty board to reward.

[algora-pbc[bot]]

[!NOTE] The user @Saturn225 is already attempting to complete issue #3083 and claim the bounty. We recommend checking in on @Saturn225's progress, and potentially collaborating, before starting a new solution.

[Excellencedev]

Is this still available ?

[dohrisalim]

/attempt #3083

[algora-pbc[bot]]

🎉🎈 @987Nabil has been awarded $2,500 by ZIO! 🎈🎊