KTOR-9512 Docs for sending session data only when modified

[vnikolova]

Description:

Add documentation for sending session data only when modified:

• add a "what's new" entry
• add a new section in server-sessions

Related issue:

KTOR-9512

[coderabbitai]

Caution

Review failed

Failed to post review comments

Walkthrough

This update enhances digest authentication to support RFC 7616 compliance with dynamic credential computation and algorithm selection. The example application refactors from precomputed MD5 lookups to runtime hash derivation, and documentation is expanded to cover SHA-512-256, QoP configuration, and custom authentication provider patterns alongside new session optimization guidance.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Digest Authentication Code Example codeSnippets/snippets/auth-digest/src/main/kotlin/authdigest/Application.kt	Replaced MD5-only credential lookup table with plaintext password storage and dynamic hash computation via computeHash() function. Updated digestProvider signature to receive algorithm parameter and generate digests for both SHA-512-256 and MD5 algorithms.
Digest Authentication Documentation topics/server-digest-auth.md	Restructured guidance for RFC 7616 compliance with expanded coverage of algorithm selection, QoP configuration, hash computation steps supporting both qop=auth and qop=auth-int, username hashing, and strict RFC mode. Added advanced sections for security recommendations and UTF-8 charset configuration.
Authentication & Sessions Documentation topics/server-auth.md, topics/server-sessions.md	Restructured custom authentication guidance with explicit paths for providers and authorization plugins. Added documentation for sendOnlyIfModified session optimization flag to reduce redundant Set-Cookie headers.
What's New & Navigation topics/whats-new-350.md, ktor.tree	Introduced new "What's new in Ktor 3.5.0" chapter documenting digest auth RFC 7616 updates, suspending custom provider variant, and sessions improvements. Updated documentation TOC to reference new 3.5.0 page.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~25 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• KTOR-9336 Digest Auth Docs. Document RFC 7616 #768: Implements the same digest authentication refactoring in Application.kt, replacing MD5 lookup with dynamic computeHash, converting userTable to userPasswords, and updating digestProvider signature to accept algorithm parameter.

Suggested reviewers

• bjhham

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 2 | ❌ 3

❌ Failed checks (3 warnings)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Title check	⚠️ Warning	The title accurately describes the main focus of the PR, which is documentation for the sendOnlyIfModified session feature. However, the PR also includes significant unrelated changes to digest authentication, authentication provider documentation, and a What's New chapter.	The title should reflect all major changes in the PR, or the unrelated digest/auth documentation changes should be moved to separate PRs to match the stated objective.
Description check	⚠️ Warning	The description accurately documents the stated objective (session data documentation), but the PR contains substantial additional changes not mentioned: digest authentication updates, custom authentication provider documentation, and a comprehensive What's New 3.5.0 chapter.	Update the description to mention all significant changes included in the PR, particularly the digest authentication and authentication provider documentation updates.
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (2 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch vnikolova/KTOR-9512

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