2004/id/draft-ietf-uri-urc-trivial-00.txt


IETF URI Working Group                                         Paul E. Hoffman
Internet-Draft                                               Proper Publishing
draft-ietf-uri-urc-trivial-00                                  Ron Daniel, Jr.
Expires October 21, 1995                        Los Alamos National Laboratory


                            Trivial URC Syntax: urc0

Status of this memo

This document is an Internet-Draft. Internet-Drafts are working documents
of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working
groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as
Internet-Drafts.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months.
Internet-Drafts may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents
at any time. It s not appropriate to use Internet- Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as a "working draft" or "work in
progress."

To learn the current status of any Internet-Draft, please check the
1id-abstracts.txt listing contained n the Internet-Drafts Shadow
Directories on ds.internic.net, nic.nordu.net, ftp.isi.edu or
munnari.oz.au.

Abstract

This document defines a trivial, machine-parsable Uniform Resource
Citiation (URC) syntax that can be returned from the resolution of Uniform
Resource Names (URNs). The syntax, called urc0, is also appropriate for any
program that can return URCs. More sophisticated URC schemes will be
developed later. urc0 is intended to be the simplest possible
machine-parsable representation of a URC.

This document does not cover any specific resolution schemes or the syntax
for URNs. It is expected that these issues (and other URN-related topics)
will be covered in different Internet Drafts submitted to the IETF URI
Working Group.

1. Introduction

As explained in [URC], the purpose or function of a URC is to provide a
vehicle or structure for the representation of URIs and their associated
metainformation. It is expected that the syntax of some URCs may be quite
complex in order to meet the needs of various Internet communities such as
librarians, archivists, and researchers. However, not all URCs must have a
complex structure.

At present, it is not known who will produce and read URCs. Although more
advanced URCs may be created by computer programs with the intention of
them only being read and parsed by other programs, it is clear that some
URCs will be written by people and that some will be read as plain text by
people. Even these URCs should be machine-parsable in order for some
Internet users to get the most value out of them.

The URC syntax here, called "urc0", is easy to type and read by people. It
is also trivial to parse by even the most simple programs.

2. Format URCs in the urc-0 Syntax

The format for urc-0 URCs is:

*[<header><CRLF><some-URL><CRLF>[<metainformation>]]

Each part starts with a header that has the following form:

=====[<charset>[/<language>]]

<charset> is the character set used in the metainformation. The value for
the field is one of "US-ASCII" or "ISO-8859-x", where "x" is a digit in the
range "1" through "9". If not specified, the default is "US-ASCII".

<language> is the language used in the metainformation. The value for the
field is a language identification tag described in [LANG]. If not
specified, the default is "x-unspecified".

The returned URL must conform to [URL]. If the URL is more than one line
long, it must begin with the characters "<URL:" and end with a ">"
character, as described in [URL].

The optional metainformation may be of any format and contain any text. The
only restriction is that no line of the metainformation may begin with the
characters "=====".

3. Examples of URCs Using the urc-0 Syntax

A URC that has a single URL and no metainformation might look like:

     =====
     ftp://elm.wnln.edu/pub/mirrors/phone-list.txt

A URC that has a URL on multiple lines might look like:

     =====
     <URL:ftp://elm.wnln.edu/pub/mirrors
     /phone-list.txt>

A URC that has a multiple URLs might look like:

     =====
     ftp://elm.wnln.edu/pub/mirrors/phone-list.txt
     =====
     ftp://gagu.bigstate.edu/admin/phones.html

A URC that has a multiple URLs with metainformation might look like:

     =====
     ftp://elm.wnln.edu/pub/mirrors/phone-list.txt
     This is the most up-to-date version of the WNLN-Bigstate phone list. It is
     maintained by Cheryl O'Donnell.
     =====US-ASCII/en
     ftp://gagu.bigstate.edu/admin/phones.html
     This is the mirror of the first URL at Bigstate.

4. Security Implications

Although there are security implications in transmitting URCs, there are no
security implications in defining one of their syntaxes.

5. References

[LANG] RFC 1766, "Tags for the Identification of Languages".

[URC] Internet-Draft, "URC Scenarios and Requirements". The name of the
draft at the time of this writing is "draft-ietf-uri-urc-req-01".

[URL] RFC 1738, "Uniform Resource Locators (URL)".

6. Author Contact Information

Paul E. Hoffman
Proper Publishing
127 Segre Place
Santa Cruz, CA, USA  95060
voice:  (408) 426-6222
phoffman@proper.com

Ron Daniel Jr.
MS B287
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, NM, USA 87545
voice:  (505) 665-0597
fax:  (505) 665-4939
rdaniel@lanl.gov


1
2	IETF URI Working Group Paul E. Hoffman
3	Internet-Draft Proper Publishing
4	draft-ietf-uri-urc-trivial-00 Ron Daniel, Jr.
5	Expires October 21, 1995 Los Alamos National Laboratory
6
7
8	Trivial URC Syntax: urc0
9
10	Status of this memo
11
12	This document is an Internet-Draft. Internet-Drafts are working documents
13	of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working
14	groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as
15	Internet-Drafts.
16
17	Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months.
18	Internet-Drafts may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents
19	at any time. It s not appropriate to use Internet- Drafts as reference
20	material or to cite them other than as a "working draft" or "work in
21	progress."
22
23	To learn the current status of any Internet-Draft, please check the
24	1id-abstracts.txt listing contained n the Internet-Drafts Shadow
25	Directories on ds.internic.net, nic.nordu.net, ftp.isi.edu or
26	munnari.oz.au.
27
28	Abstract
29
30	This document defines a trivial, machine-parsable Uniform Resource
31	Citiation (URC) syntax that can be returned from the resolution of Uniform
32	Resource Names (URNs). The syntax, called urc0, is also appropriate for any
33	program that can return URCs. More sophisticated URC schemes will be
34	developed later. urc0 is intended to be the simplest possible
35	machine-parsable representation of a URC.
36
37	This document does not cover any specific resolution schemes or the syntax
38	for URNs. It is expected that these issues (and other URN-related topics)
39	will be covered in different Internet Drafts submitted to the IETF URI
40	Working Group.
41
42	1. Introduction
43
44	As explained in [URC], the purpose or function of a URC is to provide a
45	vehicle or structure for the representation of URIs and their associated
46	metainformation. It is expected that the syntax of some URCs may be quite
47	complex in order to meet the needs of various Internet communities such as
48	librarians, archivists, and researchers. However, not all URCs must have a
49	complex structure.
50
51	At present, it is not known who will produce and read URCs. Although more
52	advanced URCs may be created by computer programs with the intention of
53	them only being read and parsed by other programs, it is clear that some
54	URCs will be written by people and that some will be read as plain text by
55	people. Even these URCs should be machine-parsable in order for some
56	Internet users to get the most value out of them.
57
58	The URC syntax here, called "urc0", is easy to type and read by people. It
59	is also trivial to parse by even the most simple programs.
60
61	2. Format URCs in the urc-0 Syntax
62
63	The format for urc-0 URCs is:
64
65	*[<header><CRLF><some-URL><CRLF>[<metainformation>]]
66
67	Each part starts with a header that has the following form:
68
69	=====[<charset>[/<language>]]
70
71	<charset> is the character set used in the metainformation. The value for
72	the field is one of "US-ASCII" or "ISO-8859-x", where "x" is a digit in the
73	range "1" through "9". If not specified, the default is "US-ASCII".
74
75	<language> is the language used in the metainformation. The value for the
76	field is a language identification tag described in [LANG]. If not
77	specified, the default is "x-unspecified".
78
79	The returned URL must conform to [URL]. If the URL is more than one line
80	long, it must begin with the characters "<URL:" and end with a ">"
81	character, as described in [URL].
82
83	The optional metainformation may be of any format and contain any text. The
84	only restriction is that no line of the metainformation may begin with the
85	characters "=====".
86
87	3. Examples of URCs Using the urc-0 Syntax
88
89	A URC that has a single URL and no metainformation might look like:
90
91	=====
92	ftp://elm.wnln.edu/pub/mirrors/phone-list.txt
93
94	A URC that has a URL on multiple lines might look like:
95
96	=====
97	<URL:ftp://elm.wnln.edu/pub/mirrors
98	/phone-list.txt>
99
100	A URC that has a multiple URLs might look like:
101
102	=====
103	ftp://elm.wnln.edu/pub/mirrors/phone-list.txt
104	=====
105	ftp://gagu.bigstate.edu/admin/phones.html
106
107	A URC that has a multiple URLs with metainformation might look like:
108
109	=====
110	ftp://elm.wnln.edu/pub/mirrors/phone-list.txt
111	This is the most up-to-date version of the WNLN-Bigstate phone list. It is
112	maintained by Cheryl O'Donnell.
113	=====US-ASCII/en
114	ftp://gagu.bigstate.edu/admin/phones.html
115	This is the mirror of the first URL at Bigstate.
116
117	4. Security Implications
118
119	Although there are security implications in transmitting URCs, there are no
120	security implications in defining one of their syntaxes.
121
122	5. References
123
124	[LANG] RFC 1766, "Tags for the Identification of Languages".
125
126	[URC] Internet-Draft, "URC Scenarios and Requirements". The name of the
127	draft at the time of this writing is "draft-ietf-uri-urc-req-01".
128
129	[URL] RFC 1738, "Uniform Resource Locators (URL)".
130
131	6. Author Contact Information
132
133	Paul E. Hoffman
134	Proper Publishing
135	127 Segre Place
136	Santa Cruz, CA, USA 95060
137	voice: (408) 426-6222
138	phoffman@proper.com
139
140	Ron Daniel Jr.
141	MS B287
142	Los Alamos National Laboratory
143	Los Alamos, NM, USA 87545
144	voice: (505) 665-0597
145	fax: (505) 665-4939
146	rdaniel@lanl.gov
147
148