URI serialization issues

In the HTTP binding part of the protocol[1], the advice as to whether
or not a URI serialization for the query is suitable is given as;

"The GET binding should be used except in cases where the URL-encoded
query exceeds practicable limits, in which case the POST binding
should be used."

Due to the considerations in the "security" section about possible
denial-of-service attacks, combined with the assumed "do no harm"
(safety) aspect of GET, I think it's quite reasonable for a service
provider not to expose potentially expensive queries via URI+GET.

I still like the idea of a SHOULD-level requirement for using URIs
though, so perhaps something like this could be said;

"The GET binding SHOULD be used except in the following cases, in
which case the POST binding SHOULD be used;

  o where the URL-encoded query exceeds practicable length limits
  o where the cost of processing the query may be prohibitive (see
Section 3.1, "Security")"

P.S. the subsections of section 3 are numbered in the TOC, but not in
the document.

Cheers,

 [1] http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-sparql-protocol/#query-bindings-http

Mark.
--
Mark Baker.  Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA.       http://www.markbaker.ca
Coactus; Web-inspired integration strategies  http://www.coactus.com

Received on Tuesday, 17 January 2006 16:34:50 UTC