redefining a namespace prefix and Base IRI definition

We have two shorthand syntaxes for building URIs: qnames and relative
URIs. These two are intertwined in rw23:
[[
[A]
SPARQL provides an abbreviation mechanism for IRIs. Prefixes can be
defined and a QName-like syntax [NAMESPACE] provides shorter
forms. Prefixes may be used anywhere after they are declared;
redefining a prefix causes the new definition to be used from that
point in the query syntax. The base IRI for the resolution of relative
IRIs may be explicitly declared with the BASE keyword. This
specification does not define the value of the base IRI for SPARQL
queries with no BASE directive.

[B]
QNames are transformed into IRIs by appending the local name to the
namespace name. Relative IRIs are combined with base IRIs as per
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax [RFC3986] using only
the basic algorithm in Section 5.2 . Neither Syntax-Based
Normalization nor Scheme-Based Normalization (described in sections
6.2.2 and 6.2.3 of RFC3986) is performed. Characters additionally
allowed in IRI references are treated in the same way that unreserved
characters are treated in URI references, per section 6.5 of
Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs) [RFC3987].
]]

Paragraph A defines how prefixes and Base IRIs are defined. B shows
how they are used. This arrangement appears to be a bit confusing. In
addition, Martin Dürst was confused by how they can be "used" before
being redefined (a vestige of our former grammar where prefixes
happened in multiple places in the grammar). The only way you could
use them, progressively constructing a namespace in multiple passes:
  PREFIX rq23: <http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/DataAccess/Overview.>
  PREFIX rw23: rq23:html
is prohibited by the grammar:
  [4] PrefixDecl ::= 'PREFIX' QNAME_NS Q_IRI_REF

We also have comments from Bjorne saying that we don't relate well to
3986's text on resolving URIs relative to a base URI. This text is
intended to address all this, and world hunger to boot:

[[
SPARQL provides a two abbreviation mechanisms for IRIs, prefixes and
relative IRIs.

The PREFIX keyword binds a prefix to a namespace IRI [NAMESPACE]. A
prefix binding applies to any QNames in the query with that prefix; a
prefix may be defined only once. A QName is mapped to an IRI by
appending the local name to the namespace IRI corresponding to the
prefix.

Relative IRIs are combined with base IRIs as per Uniform Resource
Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax [RFC3986] using only the basic
algorithm in Section 5.2 .  Neither Syntax-Based Normalization nor
Scheme-Based Normalization (described in sections 6.2.2 and 6.2.3 of
RFC3986) is performed.  Characters additionally allowed in IRI
references are treated in the same way that unreserved characters are
treated in URI references, per section 6.5 of Internationalized
Resource Identifiers (IRIs) [RFC3987].

The BASE keyword defines the Base IRI used to resolve relative IRIs
per RFC3986 section 5.1.1, "Base URI Embedded in Content".  Section
5.1.2, "Base URI from the Encapsulating Entity" defines how the Base
IRI may come from a an encapsulating document, such as a SOAP envelope
with an xml:base directive, or a mime multipart document with a
Content-Location header. The "Retrieval URI" identified in 5.1.3, Base
"URI from the Retrieval URI", is the URL from which a particular SPARQL
query was retrieved.
]]


ISSUES:

- Do we want to alter the grammar to allow progressive declarations?
I say "no".


- What does
[[
The use of relative IRI references, including same-document
references, in namespace declarations is deprecated.

Note:

This deprecation of relative URI references was decided on by a W3C
XML Plenary Ballot [Relative URI deprecation]. It also declares that
"later specifications such as DOM, XPath, etc. will define no
interpretation for them".
]]
mean in the namespaces spec [NSPACE]?


- 3986 talks about SPARQL inside SOAP. SPARQL Protocol should as well.


- 3986 doesn't mention any recursion for resolving Base URIs for
encapsulating entities.


- SPARQL uses "IRI" and 3986 uses "UIR". I tried to quote
strategically in order to show how the terms applied to each document.

[NSPACE] http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-names11/#iri-use
-- 
-eric

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