Code change:
and discarding the content for a HEAD request, since HEAD is usually requested for the sake of efficiency. <del> A client SHOULD NOT generate content in a HEAD request.  Content received in a HEAD request has no defined semantics, cannot alter the meaning or target of the request, and might lead some implementations to reject the request and close the connection because of its potential as a request smuggling attack (request.smuggling). </del> <ins> Although request message framing is independent of the method used, content received in a HEAD request has no generally defined semantics, cannot alter the meaning or target of the request, and might lead some implementations to reject the request and close the connection because of its potential as a request smuggling attack (request.smuggling).  A client SHOULD NOT generate content in a HEAD request unless it is made directly to an origin server that has previously indicated, in or out of band, that such a request has a purpose and will be adequately supported.  An origin server SHOULD NOT rely on private agreements to receive content, since participants in HTTP communication are often unaware of intermediaries along the request chain. </ins> The response to a HEAD request is cacheable; a cache MAY use it to satisfy subsequent HEAD requests unless otherwise indicated by the

Related discussion:
text: We are past WG LC and IETF LC; if you really really want to change this normative requirement now (instead of explaining the SHOULD), then you should get support for that on the mailing list.
What I mean is that if you create a resource that uses a body on GET, you can't just use any HTTP implementation - you have to find one that does bodies on GET. Here, 'implementation' includes the framework in use, the server software, reverse proxies, CDNs, description languages, etc. Likewise on the client side; it's no longer a HTTP service, in that I can use any HTTP client; I have to find one that supports this extra constraint. Furthermore for proxies I might want to use, etc. Effectively, it's HTTP+GETBODY, not HTTP. It's not an extension, because it's not backwards-compatible. You say it's "used in practice", but as far as I see it, it's a few large services using their popularity / market power to convince people to break the protocol. That ignores the security and interoperability issues that this practice brings. Practically no one uses , but that doesn't matter. This does. If you can suggest a qualification for the SHOULD that doesn't compound the problem, I'm all for it. Absent that, I'll take it to the list.
Also, looking at the text in situ, I think the current second sentence doesn't need modification, leaving the proposal as:
... and since we've tried to align this language in HEAD and DELETE, the change would also be made there.
I really disagree with changing this. There are enough mentions on the net about "what happens if I send a body with a GET" that it's pretty sure we're going to declare a few in-house deployments non-compliant. For example we could imagine that some local deployments use a request body for an auth scheme. We could even more imagine this with H2. And with H2-to-H1 gateways, the risk of seeing a request body with a GET is even higher. The real problem with this spec is that from the very early days we only say how to emit but much less what to receive, and that many implementors on the receive path tend to take the server's "MUST NOT" for granted and ignore corner cases.