While the HTTP 1.1 spec seems to allow message bodies on DELETE requests, it seems to indicate that servers should ignore it since there are no defined semantics for it.
4.3 Message Body
A server SHOULD read and forward a message-body on any request; if the request method does not include defined semantics for an entity-body, then the message-body SHOULD be ignored when handling the request.
I've already reviewed several related discussions on this topic on SO and beyond, such as:
Most discussions seem to concur that providing a message body on a DELETE may be allowed, but is generally not recommended.
Further, I've noticed a trend in various HTTP client libraries where more and more enhancements seem to be getting logged for these libraries to support request bodies on DELETE. Most libraries seem to oblige, although occasionally with a little bit of initial resistance.
My use case calls for the addition of some required metadata on a DELETE (e.g. the "reason" for deletion, along with some other metadata required for deletion). I've considered the following options, none of which seem completely appropriate and inline with HTTP specs and/or REST best practices:
POST /resourceToDelete { deletemetadata }
) POST is not a semantic option for deleting; POST actually represents the opposite action desired (i.e. POST creates resource subordinates; but I need to delete the resource)My first preference would probably be to use the message body, second to custom HTTP headers; however, as indicated, there are some downsides to these approaches.
Are there any recommendations or best practices inline with REST/HTTP standards for including such required metadata on DELETE requests? Are there any other alternatives that I haven't considered?
Despite some recommendations not to use the message body for DELETE requests, this approach may be appropriate in certain use cases. This is the approach we ended up using after evaluating the other options mentioned in the question/answers, and after collaborating with consumers of the service.
While the use of the message body is not ideal, none of the other options were perfectly fitting either. The request body DELETE allowed us to easily and clearly add semantics around additional data/metadata that was needed to accompany the DELETE operation.
I'd still be open to other thoughts and discussions, but wanted to close the loop on this question. I appreciate everyone's thoughts and discussions on this topic!