- From: Slein, Judith A <JSlein@crt.xerox.com>
- Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 15:41:02 -0400
- To: "'WebDAV'" <w3c-dist-auth@w3.org>
A new requirement was suggested at IETF 42, that there should be a choice about whether deleting the target of a direct reference deletes all (direct) references. I do not know whether the intent was that the server should be able to decide whether to preserve referential integrity for deletions, or whether the intent was that a client should be able to ask that referential integrity be preserved (or not) for a DELETE request. In either case, I would prefer not to make a specific statement about deletion in the requirements unless we can make similar statements about all operations that can affect referential integrity. If the requirement is meant to be about server policies: I would be willing to make the more general statement that a server that provides references is not required to support strong references -- that is, it is not required to preserve referential integrity. I think there would be wide agreement to this requirement, particularly since we have already agreed that the first release of the protocol specification will not address strong references. If the suggestion was meant to be that the client deleting the target be able to specify whether referential integrity should be preserved, that's probably more contentious. At Redmond, the discussion of strong references made it clear that there was no consensus about who should get to decide policies about referential integrity -- the server, the owner of the affected resource, or the client making a request. Judith A. Slein Xerox Corporation jslein@crt.xerox.com (716)422-5169 800 Phillips Road 105/50C Webster, NY 14580
Received on Tuesday, 15 September 1998 15:39:10 UTC