RE: HTTP "related protocols?"

>   In the note in <http://www.w3.org/TR/xproc/#cv.request> in the
> current CR from late November, one can read:
> 
>     In the case of simple "GET" requests, implementors are encouraged
>     to support as many protocols as practical. In particular, pipeline
>     authors may attempt to use p:http-request to load documents with
>     computed URIs using the file: scheme.
> 
>   It sounds quite weird to me.  What does GET mean for another
> protocol than HTTP?  In the same way, the first sentence in §7.1.10,
> p:http-request says "The p:http-request step provides for interaction
> with resources over HTTP or related protocols."  What is a "related
> protocol?"  I can understand HTTPS, but which other one?
> 

Hi,

One particular use case the WG had in mind here was accessing non-XML content using computed URIs (for instance, from the file system, using a "GET-like" access). You can use p:data for loading binary data, but the disadvantage of p:data is that it can't take URIs that are computed dynamically - whereas in the case of p:http-request, the c:request element (and its "href" attribute) can by generated dynamically. 

Regards,
Vojtech