Bug#568139: HEAD [--hops <number>]: allow limiting how many redirects

[jidanni at jidanni.org]

Package: libwww-perl
Version: 5.834-1
Severity: wishlist
File: /usr/bin/lwp-request

I have discovered a lacking basic feature of HEAD(1).

If we get e.g., a "301 Moved Permanently", HEAD will proceed to follow
to that too. 99% of the time that is what the user wants. However, there
is no option available to limit how far along the chain HEAD
will go.

Indeed, if one wants to guarantee just one hop, one needs to do
$ echo -e HEAD http://example.net/ HTTP/1.1\\n|nc ... 80

Why would one just want one etc. hops? Well, sometimes that is all one
wants to check.

(Note I am not talking about HEAD -S.)
Maybe also allow limiting GET too.

Please forward upstream. I'm blocked.