I mentioned previously that the AtomPub server in my WordPress installation wasn't successfully deleting entries. More specifically, I get a 403 Forbidden when trying to PUT or DELETE posts or media files. I posted to the wp-testers mailing list and Joseph Scott passed the question along to Sam Ruby, Tim Bray, Elias Torres, and Pete Lacey, and I basically eavesdropped on their conversation.

Turns out that the problem is likely to be a firewall rejecting PUTs and DELETEs. This started a discussion of how WordPress should workaround the problem. Some options are URL munging, custom headers, or message in a message. All horrible for various and obvious reasons, and none going to make it into 2.3. Sam cautioned, and suggested revisiting PacePutDelete, a method proposed by Joe Gregorio on the Atom lists to overcome a lack of PUT and DELETE support on clients, which led me off on a fascinating journey through the Atom mailing list archives.

I'm not sure how big the problem really is now. It may take more time and effort to come up with a "fix" than it would to lobby purveyors of broken internet devices to really fix them. The biggest concern with a workaround, however, is that it may slow said fix. Why should we fix our firewall when your client can just use X-Method-That-Really-Is: delete? If such a workaround is implemented it should be a fallback in case a correct request fails.

It sure is frustrating that the solution is baked right in to HTTP.