California Digital Library

This document specifies GrabIt, an HTTP-based protocol for systematically transferring lists of digital packages. A package is an arbitrary sequence of octets (e.g., a single TAR archive) that can come with an associated content type indicating that extra steps (not central to GrabIt) may need to be taken to complete and validate a package before successful receipt can be reported. The sender issues an HTTP "post" with a list URLs corresponding to packages to "grab". In response, the receiver returns a job URL in an HTTP "Location" header that can be probed periodically to retrieve transfer status reports.