Redirects for HEAD requests

sttp client
1

Hello, I’m using version 3.11.0 and noticed that HEAD requests don’t seem to follow redirects? Here’s an example similar to the sample code from the docs, modified accordingly:

    val syncBackend = HttpClientSyncBackend()
    val response = basicRequest
      .head(uri"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/rss.art19.com/episodes/9cb995c1-8587-4626-8444-162ab50137be.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIglpdG1zBjoGRVQ%3D--1ad3f3f0406ff401463d323535582d372dd266b3")
      .send(syncBackend)

This returns a single response like so:

302 , headers: expires: -1, cache-control: no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate, location: https://rss.art19.com/episodes/9cb995c1-8587-4626-8444-162ab50137be.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIglpdG1zBjoGRVQ%3D--1ad3f3f0406ff401463d323535582d372dd266b3, date: Wed, 14 May 2025 16:51:43 GMT, :status: 302, pragma: no-cache, body: ()

However that doesn’t match the observed behavior using httpie, which eventually returns a 200.

I even explicitly set followRedirects(true) but that hasn’t changed the behavior. Did I misunderstand something?

Thanks,

-Dragos

2

I’m having trouble reproducing the problem. Here’s my scala-cli script:

//> using dep com.softwaremill.sttp.client3::core:3.11.0

import sttp.client3._

object Test extends App {
  val syncBackend = HttpClientSyncBackend()
  val response = basicRequest
    .head(
      uri"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/rss.art19.com/episodes/9cb995c1-8587-4626-8444-162ab50137be.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIglpdG1zBjoGRVQ%3D--1ad3f3f0406ff401463d323535582d372dd266b3"
    )
    .send(syncBackend)

  println(response)
}

and running it:

% scala-cli test.scala 
Compiling project (Scala 3.4.2, JVM (21))
Compiled project (Scala 3.4.2, JVM (21))
Response(Right(),200,,List(strict-transport-security: max-age=300, x-served-by: cache-sjc10067-SJC, cache-sjc1000138-SJC, cache-fra-etou8220098-FRA, x-content-type-options: nosniff, x-runtime: 0.027283, referrer-policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin, date: Thu, 15 May 2025 08:28:01 GMT, x-permitted-cross-domain-policies: none, accept-ranges: bytes, vary: Accept, Accept-Encoding, Accept-Language, Authorization, Origin, x-request-id: 43f319e5-58e2-4af4-a05b-9c513998cb6a, x-cache: MISS, MISS, MISS, x-cache-hits: 0, 0, 0, x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block, server: Fastly, cache-control: no-cache, x-download-options: noopen, content-type: audio/mpeg, via: 1.1 haproxy, 1.1 varnish, 1.1 varnish, 1.1 varnish, x-frame-options: DENY, x-timer: S1747297682.711358,VS0,VE207, :status: 200),List(Response((),302,,List(expires: -1, cache-control: no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate, location: https://rss.art19.com/episodes/9cb995c1-8587-4626-8444-162ab50137be.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIglpdG1zBjoGRVQ%3D--1ad3f3f0406ff401463d323535582d372dd266b3, date: Thu, 15 May 2025 08:28:01 GMT, :status: 302, pragma: no-cache),List(),RequestMetadata(HEAD,https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/rss.art19.com/episodes/9cb995c1-8587-4626-8444-162ab50137be.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIglpdG1zBjoGRVQ%3D--1ad3f3f0406ff401463d323535582d372dd266b3,Vector(Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate)))),RequestMetadata(HEAD,https://rss.art19.com/episodes/9cb995c1-8587-4626-8444-162ab50137be.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIglpdG1zBjoGRVQ%3D--1ad3f3f0406ff401463d323535582d372dd266b3,Vector(Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate)))
3

Good to hear from you Adam, I appreciate the prompt reply! That’s right, I haven’t used the API for a while and remembered (incorrectly) that .history also includes the final response. Thank you for clarifying