HTTP/3 explained

by Daniel Stenberg

HTTP/3 is the to-become next generation of the HTTP protocol family. This version is similar to HTTP/2 in features, and is most different than its predecessor primarily by the fact that HTTP/3 will only be done over QUIC.

QUIC is a new reliable transport protocol that could be viewed as a sort of next generation TCP.

HTTP/3 explained is a free and open booklet describing the HTTP/3 and QUIC protocols.

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[rixx · Rating 4 out of 5]

HTTP/3 explained is a little booklet by curl developer Daniel Stenberg explaining the principles and history behind HTTP/3. I liked the inclusion of recent history and explanation of discussions in the working groups. There is also some frank discussion of potential downsides in terms of security, performance, and adaptability, but usually there is one argument presented per point, so I had the impression that my opinion was being nudged (because of the lack of differing arguments). This is mostly due to the booklets short texts that don't expand much upon anything. Both the writing and the general structure are a bit rough around the edges.

This book is definitely worth the read to get a general impression of the structure of HTTP/3, where it operates, and what its governing principles are. I now have a feeling for its complexity, but I can't say that "reimplement TCP realm logic on UDP" has completely inspired my trust. Some of the performance shortcuts seem like vulns/side channels waiting to be exploited. We'll get real life data soon-ish though, since the nginx implementation is work in progress already, and clients are also under way and/or implemented.

I read up a bit on the meeting minutes, and some of the most debated topics have been skipped, such as the functioning of load balancers (surely interesting for most users). Functionally, a load balancer is one of those tampering middleboxes the protocol means to include, only that it's *trusted*. I wish this had been mentioned in the book.

[João Paiva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, but a pretty great intro to http3. Includes several links to other resources (most of them RFCs), and is pretty up to date.

[Mr. Musale · Rating 5 out of 5]

A follow up to HTTP2 explained and I loved it. Daniel is succinct and precise in helping you to understand the challenges of the HTTP2 implementation, the solution that Google come up with to try and fix the challenges and how they collaborate with the rest of other industry players to make the QUIC protocol atop which HTTP3 is built.

This in my opinion is still a work in progress but it has enough information to get you onboarded on what HTTP3 is all about. I hope there will be more updates to it as I'm curious to understand more about the progress made in the industry and the general thought behind the decisions made. A recommended read for all web technology lovers.

[Mahmoud Tantawy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good not-so-quick intro

[Tiago Caxias · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is a lot better then the http/2 one.
Perhaps the topic is also more addictive.
All in all it's a really good read, mandatory for it folks!