Index: lib/net/http/generic_request.rb
===================================================================
--- lib/net/http/generic_request.rb	(revision 35969)
+++ lib/net/http/generic_request.rb	(working copy)
@@ -14,6 +14,18 @@ class Net::HTTPGenericRequest
     raise ArgumentError, "no HTTP request path given" unless path
     raise ArgumentError, "HTTP request path is empty" if path.empty?
     @path = path
+
+    if @response_has_body and Net::HTTP::HAVE_ZLIB then
+      if !initheader ||
+         !initheader.keys.any? { |k|
+           %w[accept-encoding range].include? k.downcase
+         } then
+        initheader = initheader ? initheader.dup : {}
+        initheader["accept-encoding"] =
+          "gzip;q=1.0,deflate;q=0.6,identity;q=0.3"
+      end
+    end
+
     initialize_http_header initheader
     self['Accept'] ||= '*/*'
     self['User-Agent'] ||= 'Ruby'
Index: lib/net/http/request.rb
===================================================================
--- lib/net/http/request.rb	(revision 35969)
+++ lib/net/http/request.rb	(working copy)
@@ -4,7 +4,12 @@
 # subclasses: Net::HTTP::Get, Net::HTTP::Post, Net::HTTP::Head.
 #
 class Net::HTTPRequest < Net::HTTPGenericRequest
-  # Creates HTTP request object.
+  # Creates an HTTP request object for +path+.
+  #
+  # +initheader+ are the default headers to use.  Net::HTTP adds
+  # Accept-Encoding to enable compression of the response body unless
+  # Accept-Encoding or Range are supplied in +initheader+.
+
   def initialize(path, initheader = nil)
     super self.class::METHOD,
           self.class::REQUEST_HAS_BODY,
Index: lib/net/http.rb
===================================================================
--- lib/net/http.rb	(revision 35969)
+++ lib/net/http.rb	(working copy)
@@ -283,6 +283,14 @@ module Net   #:nodoc:
   # See Net::HTTP::Proxy for further details and examples such as proxies that
   # require a username and password.
   #
+  # === Compression
+  #
+  # Net::HTTP automatically adds Accept-Encoding for compression of response
+  # bodies and automatically decompresses gzip and deflate responses unless a
+  # Range header was sent.
+  #
+  # Compression can be disabled through the Accept-Encoding: identity header.
+  #
   # == HTTP Request Classes
   #
   # Here is the HTTP request class hierarchy.
@@ -1029,14 +1037,6 @@ module Net   #:nodoc:
     #
     def get(path, initheader = {}, dest = nil, &block) # :yield: +body_segment+
       res = nil
-      if HAVE_ZLIB
-        unless  initheader.keys.any?{|k| k.downcase == "accept-encoding"}
-          initheader = initheader.merge({
-            "accept-encoding" => "gzip;q=1.0,deflate;q=0.6,identity;q=0.3"
-          })
-          @compression = true
-        end
-      end
       request(Get.new(path, initheader)) {|r|
         if r.key?("content-encoding") and @compression
           @compression = nil # Clear it till next set.
Index: test/net/http/test_http_request.rb
===================================================================
--- test/net/http/test_http_request.rb	(revision 0)
+++ test/net/http/test_http_request.rb	(revision 0)
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+require 'net/http'
+require 'test/unit'
+require 'stringio'
+
+class HTTPRequestTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
+
+  def test_initialize_GET
+    req = Net::HTTP::Get.new '/'
+
+    assert_equal 'GET', req.method
+    refute req.request_body_permitted?
+    assert req.response_body_permitted?
+
+    expected = {
+      'accept'     => %w[*/*],
+      'user-agent' => %w[Ruby],
+    }
+
+    expected['accept-encoding'] = %w[gzip;q=1.0,deflate;q=0.6,identity;q=0.3] if
+      Net::HTTP::HAVE_ZLIB
+
+    assert_equal expected, req.to_hash
+  end
+
+  def test_initialize_GET_range
+    req = Net::HTTP::Get.new '/', 'Range' => 'bytes=0-9'
+
+    assert_equal 'GET', req.method
+    refute req.request_body_permitted?
+    assert req.response_body_permitted?
+
+    expected = {
+      'accept'     => %w[*/*],
+      'user-agent' => %w[Ruby],
+      'range'      => %w[bytes=0-9],
+    }
+
+    assert_equal expected, req.to_hash
+  end
+
+  def test_initialize_HEAD
+    req = Net::HTTP::Head.new '/'
+
+    assert_equal 'HEAD', req.method
+    refute req.request_body_permitted?
+    refute req.response_body_permitted?
+
+    expected = {
+      'accept'     => %w[*/*],
+      'user-agent' => %w[Ruby],
+    }
+
+    assert_equal expected, req.to_hash
+  end
+
+end
+