In truth, I don't personally know if the other PyPI server implementations also have to work around this issue. Other comments on that are welcome. 

As for my own implementation, I've implemented a workaround to this, but I'm working around and reimplementing what is otherwise a feature built into the server (and every other one). 

I believe the suggested change makes the world a better place, and having administered several different web servers, I can't imagine ill effects from making the change. Web servers support *at least* the standard. Any ill effects we might imagine are, at least for my part, pure speculation. I, on the other hand, have found a real-life problem now :) 

I guess in the end I think that servers are more likely to err on the side of strict HTTP than make allowances for every "SHOULD" in the protocol spec, and leaving things as-is relies on a "SHOULD", which I submit is incorrect behavior, and therefore a bug. 

It's not like a fix is going to magically improve my life, as I'll have to support older buggy versions anyway, but making the change now can help grease the wheels for future implementations who won't have to hit this hurdle. 

My $.02.