diff --git a/include/haproxy/http_client-t.h b/include/haproxy/http_client-t.h
index 2c07f7795..350a301a4 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/http_client-t.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/http_client-t.h
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ struct httpclient {
 	int timeout_server;                   /* server timeout in ms */
 	void *caller;                         /* ptr of the caller */
 	unsigned int flags;                   /* other flags */
+	unsigned int options;                 /* options */
 	struct proxy *px;                     /* proxy for special cases */
 	struct server *srv_raw;               /* server for clear connections */
 #ifdef USE_OPENSSL
@@ -47,6 +48,9 @@ struct httpclient {
 #define    HTTPCLIENT_FS_STARTED      0x00010000 /* the httpclient was started */
 #define    HTTPCLIENT_FS_ENDED        0x00020000 /* the httpclient is stopped */
 
+/* options */
+#define    HTTPCLIENT_O_HTTPPROXY     0x00000001 /* the request must be use an absolute URI */
+
 /* States of the HTTP Client Appctx */
 enum {
 	HTTPCLIENT_S_REQ = 0,
@@ -59,12 +63,12 @@ enum {
 
 #define HTTPCLIENT_USERAGENT "HAProxy"
 
-/* What kind of data we need to read */
+/* What kind of data we need to read  */
+/* flags meant for the httpclient CLI API */
 #define HC_F_RES_STLINE     0x01
 #define HC_F_RES_HDR        0x02
 #define HC_F_RES_BODY       0x04
 #define HC_F_RES_END        0x08
-#define HC_F_HTTPPROXY      0x10
 
 
 #endif /* ! _HAPROXY_HTTCLIENT__T_H */
diff --git a/src/http_client.c b/src/http_client.c
index df38e2923..1fe14a0e5 100644
--- a/src/http_client.c
+++ b/src/http_client.c
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ int httpclient_req_gen(struct httpclient *hc, const struct ist url, enum http_me
 	int i;
 	int foundhost = 0, foundaccept = 0, foundua = 0;
 
-	if (!(hc->flags & HC_F_HTTPPROXY))
+	if (!(hc->options & HTTPCLIENT_O_HTTPPROXY))
 		flags |= HTX_SL_F_NORMALIZED_URI;
 
 	if (!b_alloc(&hc->req.buf, DB_CHANNEL))
diff --git a/src/ssl_ocsp.c b/src/ssl_ocsp.c
index d8d85a76c..df2ebb5fd 100644
--- a/src/ssl_ocsp.c
+++ b/src/ssl_ocsp.c
@@ -1373,7 +1373,7 @@ static struct task *ssl_ocsp_update_responses(struct task *task, void *context,
 
 		/* if the ocsp_update.http_proxy option was set */
 		if (ocsp_update_dst) {
-			hc->flags |= HC_F_HTTPPROXY;
+			hc->options |= HTTPCLIENT_O_HTTPPROXY;
 			if (!sockaddr_alloc(&hc->dst, ocsp_update_dst, sizeof(*ocsp_update_dst))) {
 				ha_alert("ocsp-update: Failed to allocate sockaddr in %s:%d.\n", __FUNCTION__, __LINE__);
 				goto leave;