RE: [VM] Action to add 303-redirect reference

Tom,

The changes below look excellent.  Thanks for doing such a thorough job.

David Booth

> -----Original Message-----
> From: public-swbp-wg-request@w3.org 
> [mailto:public-swbp-wg-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Baker
> Sent: Sunday, March 05, 2006 4:50 AM
> To: SW Best Practices
> Subject: [VM] Action to add 303-redirect reference
> 
> 
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> This is in response to an action on me from Feb 20. 
> Unfortunately, I have a meeting on Monday at the time of the 
> telecon so must send regrets.  The next VM telecon is 
> scheduled for Friday, 17 March, so perhaps we should try to 
> work this out beforehand on the list.
> 
> > [NEW] ACTION: Tom find a place for the footnote on 
> "simplest" recipe 
> > [recorded in 
> http://www.w3.org/2006/02/20-swbp-minutes.html#action16]
> 
> This refers to a point addressed David Booth's "re-review"
> [1] of the Cookbook [2]:
> 
>     Recipe 2 says it is the "simplest possible 
> configuration", but this
>     is true only if the URIs have already been fixed.  (And 
> if they have,
>     then it is likely that the adminstrator has already 
> configured their
>     server appropriately, and thus is not in need of this cookbook.)
>     However, if a 303-redirect service (such as 
> thing-described-by.org or
>     t-d-b.org) is used, the server configuration is clearly 
> easier and less
>     error-prone, because it only requires that the server 
> send the correct
>     MIME type, which the server may already do anyway.  The 
> 303-redirect
>     service does the rest.  In particular, the use of a 303-redirect
>     service:
> 
>         - Does not require the coordinated maintenance of two URIs
>         (the original versus the forwarding location)
> 
>         - Does not require URI rewriting (except to add .rdf extension
>         if desired).
> 
>         - Does not require that MultiViews be disabled.
> 
>         - Does not require that a particular directory NOT exist.
> 
>     The idea of using a 303-redirect service is quite new, 
> and I would not
>     want to imply that the practice is more accepted or 
> widespread than it
>     currently is -- indeed, thus far I only heard one person 
> on a previous
>     teleconference say that they are using it -- but I do think it is
>     important to at least acknowledge it as an option, since it *is* a
>     simpler approach.  Perhaps something like an editors' 
> note would be
>     appropriate.
> 
> For a more detailed explanation of the "303-redirect service" 
> approach, see the SWBPD thread starting at [3].
> 
> The suggestion from David is to insert a sentence or footnote 
> acknowledging the "303-redirect service" approach in the 
> context of saying that some of the recipes described in the 
> cookbook are "simplest possible configurations" (on the 
> grounds that use of a 303-redirect service is even simpler). 
> David points to its use in Recipe 2 [4], but the claim is 
> also made for Recipe 1 [5], and, more generally, in the 
> introductory section "Choosing a Recipe" [6].
> 
> In order to make sense to the reader, however, the notion
> of "303-redirect service" would need to be introduced
> and explained _before_ the sentence saying that, 
> configuration-wise, it is the simplest.  For example, a 
> reference be made to this approach at the end of the section 
> "URI Namespaces" [7] -- right after the presentation of hash 
> and slash namespaces [8].  The text there could say:
> 
>     <p>Readers should be aware of a third type of
>     vocabulary URI under discussion at the time of
>     writing: URIs based on a 303-redirect service such
>     as http://thing-described-by.org.  Though simpler to
>     implement than approach described in this document, the
>     303-redirect approach has not yet been implemented for
>     stable, published RDF vocabularies and is not used in any
>     of the following recipes.  <a href="appendixb">Appendix
>     B</a> describes this approach in more detail.</p>
> 
> Following Appendix A ("Vocabularies that use PURL"), then, 
> Appendix B could say:
> 
>     <h2 id="redirect">Appendix B. Vocabulary URIs based on
>     a 303-redirect service</h2>
> 
>     <p>URIs of this type are formed by appending the
>     URI of a descriptive resource as a query string
>     to the base URI of a 303-redirect service such
>     as "http://thing-described-by.org".  The domain
>     thing-described-by.org delegates authority for defining
>     the meaning of such a query URI to the domain cited in
>     the query string (i.e., the part following a question
>     mark).</p>
> 
>     <p>In principle, then, one might coin the URI
>     "http://thing-described-by.org?http://example.org/foo"
>     as an identifier for the Foo vocabulary.  An HTTP GET
>     request against the URI for the Foo vocabulary, or against
>     a property or class in the Foo vocabulary, would result
>     in a response code of 303, thus conforming to the second
>     of the two <minimum requirements> articulated below for
>     the publication of RDF vocabularies.  If, in addition,
>     the URI "http://example.org/foo" were to identify an
>     authoritative RDF description for the vocabulary, and the
>     server providing that description were to return a MIME
>     type properly identifying it as such, then the use of
>     "http://thing-described-by.org?http://example.org/foo"
>     could be said to conform to first of the <minimum
>     requirements> as well.</p>
> 
> I have not yet plugged this text into the draft as I thought
> it might be more productive to discuss it here first.
> 
> Tom
> 
> [1] 
> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-swbp-wg/2006Feb/0109.html
> [2] 
> http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/VM/http-examples/2006-01-18/
> [3] 
> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-swbp-wg/2005Jul/0045.html
> [4] 
> http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/VM/http-examples/2006-
01-18/#recipe2
[5] http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/VM/http-examples/2006-01-18/#recipe1
[6] http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/VM/http-examples/2006-01-18/#choosing
[7] http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/VM/http-examples/2006-01-18/#naming
[8] http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/VM/http-examples/2006-01-18/#slash
[9] http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/VM/http-examples/2006-01-18/#minimumrequirements



-- 
Dr. Thomas Baker                      baker@sub.uni-goettingen.de
SUB - Goettingen State                            +49-551-39-3883
and University Library                           +49-30-8109-9027
Papendiek 14, 37073 Göttingen

Received on Monday, 6 March 2006 17:38:45 UTC