node.js - Watch remote file for file size changes

Question

Is there a good way to use watchFile on a file which is located on other webserver without downloading it? If not, then how can I check the file size changes of a remote file without downloading it?

Answer 1

Yes, you can do an HTTP HEAD request. A HEAD request is a GET that requests the HTTP Header only and not the body. Having the header, you could read the Content-Length or the Date attribute. (However Content-Length isn't always set correctly.)

Here is how to do HEAD requests with node.js: Getting HTTP headers with node.js