Re: Fielding on MOVE & COPY

At 09:02 AM 9/6/96 PDT, hallam@ai.mit.edu wrote:
>
>>One reason for having a separate MOVE operation is that if the document has
>>attributes, you want a COPY operation to result in new values for certain
>>attributes (like create date, creator) whereas a MOVE operation should leave
>>the values alone.
>
>I disagree. Such attributes make little sense in the context of the
>Web, indeed the Web currently has no knowledge whatsoever of such
>things.
>
>If I move a file from one area of URL space to another that does
>not imply a transfer on the backing store.
>
>	Phill
>

I don't mean just file attributes, but metadata in general -- author, title,
publisher, subject, etc.  Most metadata stays the same whether a document is
MOVEd or COPYd, but there are exceptions.  URN, if implemented, is another
attribute that should never change when a document is MOVEd, whereas a COPY
of a document should get its own URN.  Although work on metadata on the Web
is very much "in progress" (URC, Z39.50, STARTS, etc.), I think it is an
important part of document management that should be encompassed by the Web.
It should be possible to set metadata using HTTP, however it turns out to be
expressed.  And the metadata should get updated properly when a document
gets COPYd or MOVEd.

--Judy 
Name:		Judith A. Slein
E-Mail:		slein@wrc.xerox.com
Phone:  	8*222-5169
Fax:		(716) 265-7133
MailStop:	128-29E

Received on Friday, 6 September 1996 16:04:09 UTC