Re: files or database for solid pods [Was: Towards Solid Lite]

Quoting Aron Homberg (2023-11-01 06:51:07)
> And ["serverless" environments lacking a filesystem altogether] is only one concern. What if the future lies within some sort of federated cloud storage based that we can't even imagine today? How could implementation details like that ever be well-tested?
[...] 
> To keep things simple, can we please simply speak JSON as a MUST in Solid Lite? (and maybe RDF and others as a SHOULD, not enforcing it) 

I like your point that perhaps in future is becomes a major drag.

I dislike how you create a potential major drag by mandating JSON.

I believe I understand your concern, in that it (unlike backend storage
handling) directly affects interoperability.  But still I disagree with
mandating any single serialization.  What is a MUST to me is merely
reckognition that multiple serializations exist, while allowing
relevancy of each to vary over time and between domains.

Classic HTTP also didn't mandate GIF, and we can be thankful for that.
That some user agents cannot render some visual artifacts of some
websites does not mean that those websites don't speak HTTP, only that
what they say is that their domain has handicaps for visually impaired
agents. At an extreme, a website *only* serving GIF content is
web-compliant.

Some domains strongly rely on operating systems with POSIX filesystems,
whereas other domains strongly use ephemeral data exchanges.

Some domains strongly rely on RDF/Turtle, whereas other domains strongly
use JSON-based data exchanges.

You propose to render services that choose to only serve RDF/Turtle as
non-compliant with Solid-lite.  I find that an unnecessary constraint.
Please, pretty please, consider treating no single serialization format
as MUST, only use SHOULD for serialization formats.

The web SHOULD be a welcoming place for all agents, but if all agents
MUST have eyes then we simply shift the unwelcoming part to be embedded
in the spec.  Unnecessarily.


 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/
 * Sponsorship: https://ko-fi.com/drjones

 [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private