RE: Hierarchical URLs and Collections

Versioning is about maintaining a state graph. In a versioning state graph
links are of type "version" and have a set of associated behaviors, such as,
once created they can not be changed.

Handle based naming systems also maintain a state graph. In a handle based
naming system the links are of type "contains". They also have associated
behaviors, such as, they can change at will and need to be versionable.
(Which brings up the fun problem of how do you version a link when
versioning is expressed with links? I smell a compound format in our future,
make sure those link names are actually just the DAV object model and all
sorts of cool things become possible)

What I am suggesting is that the versioning group is creating a set of very
basic tools to allow for graph manipulation. Their concentration is on a
particular link type, version. However as we are working on versioning we
need to keep in mind that there are other link types and ensure we do not
prevent groups such as the handles folks from being able to leverage the
versioning work by introducing their own link types and associated
behaviors.

Think of the versioning graph manipulation work as a foundation upon which
others, such as the handles group, can build.

			Yaron

P.S. Larry, I hope this answers your question regarding why I think
versioning and handles are related.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Stracke [mailto:francis@netscape.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 1998 11:10 AM
> To: 'WebDAV'
> Cc: Falkenhainer, Brian; Garnaat, Mitchell; 'Jim Davis';
> masinter@parc.xerox.com
> Subject: Re: Hierarchical URLs and Collections
> 
> 
> Yaron Goland wrote:
> 
> > As such I encourage the various document vendors who need a 
> flat namespace
> > to involve themselves in the DAV versioning effort and to 
> ensure that the
> > commands and properties created by that effort are 
> sufficiently versatile to
> > allow for arbitrary state graph manipulation.
> 
> But that would wreck the versioning system.  Versioning 
> doesn't want to permit
> arbitrary manipulation of the version graph; versioning needs 
> to provide a few
> well-defined operations (e.g., check in, check out) which 
> manipulate the
> version graph in legal ways.  Arbitrary manipulation fo the 
> graph would permit
> things like declaring that version 1.13 descends from version 
> 1.1 instead of
> 1.12, which means you lose the audit trail that versioning provides.
> 
> --
> /=============================================================
> =========\
> |John (Francis) Stracke    |My opinions are my own.|I imagine 
> the wages|
> |Software Retrophrenologist|=======================/ of sin 
> are death, |
> |Netscape Comm. Corp.      | but by the time they take taxes 
> out it's  |
> |francis@netscape.com      | just sort of a tired 
> feeling.--Poundstone |
> \=============================================================
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> New area code for work number: 650
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> 
>

Received on Wednesday, 19 August 1998 14:38:34 UTC