Re: suggestions for examples and explication wrt ABNF and header fields in draft-ietf-httpbis-p1

=JeffH wrote:
>  > RFC2616 said:
>  >
>  > "The grammar described by this specification is word-based. Except where
>  > noted otherwise, linear white space (LWS) can be included between any
>  > two adjacent words (token or quoted-string), and between adjacent words
>  > and separators, without changing the interpretation of a field." --
>  > <http://greenbytes.de/tech/webdav/rfc2616.html#basic.rules>
> 
> yes, good catch.
> 
> 
>  > So what got lost is the explanation word = token / quoted-string.
>  > Apparently we need to resurrect that part.
> 
> If you want to retain those two instances of using "word" rather than 
> "token", then yes, I agree you'd want to resurrect (in some way) that 
> portion of 2616 you quoted. I think you'd want to be sure include the 
> parenthetical "..two adjacent words (token or quoted-string).." that 
> indicates that what the prose is referring to as a "word" is either a 
> token or a quoted-string in the ABNF.

OK; I have created 
<http://trac.tools.ietf.org/wg/httpbis/trac/ticket/200> so we can track 
it properly.

A minimal change (for just P1 for now) is attached as 
<http://trac.tools.ietf.org/wg/httpbis/trac/attachment/ticket/200/200.diff>.

The relevant new text would be:

-- snip --
    Many HTTP/1.1 header field values consist of words (token or quoted-
    string) separated by whitespace or special characters.  These special
    characters MUST be in a quoted string to be used within a parameter
    value (as defined in Section 6.2).

      word           = token / quoted-string

      token          = 1*tchar

      tchar          = "!" / "#" / "$" / "%" / "&" / "'" / "*"
                     / "+" / "-" / "." / "^" / "_" / "`" / "|" / "~"
                     / DIGIT / ALPHA
                     ; any VCHAR, except special

      special        = "(" / ")" / "<" / ">" / "@" / ","
                     / ";" / ":" / "\" / DQUOTE / "/" / "["
                     / "]" / "?" / "=" / "{" / "}"
-- snip --

Feedback appreciated, Julian

Received on Friday, 15 January 2010 17:26:20 UTC