Is the text/plain header truly required?

[trinityXmontoya]

I already asked this on https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/ and was referred here.

The docs say "RPC HTTP requests must include a Content-Type header set to text/plain" (src: https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-reference#remote-procedure-calls-rpcs). Calls to an RPC endpoint without this header succeed. Either way, the true Content-Type in this case is application/json. ~Every version of the docs published so far specifies this requirement.

Is it safe for me to remove it or could it cause unexpected behavior? I can imagine none. I am happy to open a PR removing this requirement from the docs if it's not needed.

[maflcko]

https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-reference#remote-procedure-calls-rpcs

The website is managed on https://github.com/bitcoin-dot-org/bitcoin.org or https://github.com/achow101/btcinformation.org

[maflcko]

Is this also an issue with Bitcoin Core?

[trinityXmontoya]

Thanks for your speedy response!

The documentation at both links you provided also states this same header requirement (here and here). I'm just trying to understand if it's actually a requirement, in practice it does not seem to be.

[laanwj]

No, there is no strict requirement for JSON-RPC to have Content-Type header set to text/plain. I think application/json is more common, and also more relevant.

FWIW bitcoin core uses application/json everywhere, at least in the server, I couldn't find any code in bitcoin-cli to set that header. In any case the server doesn't enforce any specific content type so it doesn't matter.

Edit: bitcoin-cli doesn't send a Content-Type at all, from strace output:

writev(6, [{iov_base="POST / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: 127.0.0.1\r\nConnection: close\r\nAuthorization: Basic …\nContent-Length: 46\r\n\r\n", iov_len=198},

[maflcko]

It might be best to report the bug upstream to the websites https://github.com/bitcoin-dot-org/bitcoin.org and/or https://github.com/achow101/btcinformation.org

[laanwj]

I don't think there's a need to keep this open. Things work, there's no actual issue.

If you have any further questions feel free to ask though.