A proposal to remove PROPLOC from the draft

Problem Summary: The PROPLOC attribute allows the server to associate a
URL with a particular property. However the support for this feature is
optional as many servers do not have the capability to provide URLs
which resolve to a particular property on a particular resource.
Unfortunately, because PROPLOC is defined in the DAV spec, we are forced
to spend several pages dealing with the ramifications of URL addressable
properties. These issues include: Can one PUT to a property resource?
What does one receive in response to a GET on a property resource? How
does locking a resource effect URL addressable properties associated
with that resource? How does locking the property effect the resource
with which it is associated? Can a single URI addressable property be
associated with multiple resource? etc. The result is several pages of
additional text in the spec in order to support a completely optional
feature.

Proposal: Remove the PROPLOC attribute from the DAV spec and put it into
a separate specification which address all relevant issues of URI
addressable properties.

Ramifications: If this proposal is accepted then the main WebDAV
protocol specification will be shorter and simpler. It will concentrate
more on required features then spending time on a completely optional
feature. Additionally, due to the extensible nature of XML it is
possible to later add support for PROPLOC without breaking base DAV
compliant servers or clients. This is because both will ignore the
attribute as they do not understand it.

			Yaron

Received on Tuesday, 14 October 1997 22:46:36 UTC