``canonical'' root URL of a server?

From: <Mike_Spreitzer.PARC@xerox.com> Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 07:19:45 PST To: http-wg@cuckoo.hpl.hp.com Cc: Mike_Spreitzer.PARC@xerox.com Message-Id: <98Apr3.072001pst."53746(2)"@alpha.xerox.com> · This archive was generated by hypermail pre-2.1.9 : Wednesday, 24 September 2003 06:33:14 EDT

What is the significance of including the word ``canonical'' in the following
sentence in draft-ietf-http-authentication-01 section 1.2?  The cited section
of the HTTP/1.1 draft defines the "root" URL of a server, but the word
canonical doesn't appear there.  Is this an editorial bug in one spec or the
other?

``The realm value (case-sensitive), in combination with the canonical root URL
(see section 5.1.2 of [2]) of the server being accessed, defines the protection
space.''