Removed incorrect optimization of HEAD requests. The stub status module and ngx_http_send_response() (used by the empty gif module and the "return" directive) incorrectly assumed that responding to HEAD requests always results in r->header_only being set. This is not true, and results in incorrect behaviour, for example, in the following configuration: location / { image_filter size; return 200 test; } Fix is to remove this incorrect micro-optimization from both stub status module and ngx_http_send_response(). Reported by Chris Newton.