- From: Slein, Judith A <JSlein@crt.xerox.com>
- Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 11:14:38 -0400
- To: "'WebDAV'" <w3c-dist-auth@w3.org>
I have no problem with adding a requirement that a client be able to request, when creating a reference, that referential integrity *not* be enforced for that reference. We already have a requirement that a client be able to request, when creating a reference, that referential integrity be enforced for that reference. The proposed requirement is just the mirror of this existing requirement. The scenarios described in support of the new requirement seem reasonable. However, I would like us to stand by our earlier position that we will not implement anything related to referential integrity in the first release of the Advanced Collections protocol. I think that the debate about the proposed requirement has been confused with rehashing the discussions about the difficulties of implementing strong references. The reason for this is probably that we are also involved in trying to add direct references to the protocol spec and in discussing whether to add backpointers. I contend that the weak / strong distinction is orthogonal to the redirect / direct distinction, and that our decision to include direct references in the protocol should not push us to do anything about referential integrity. What about backpointers? Can we introduce backpointers without implementing strong references? The integrity of the backpointers has to be maintained in order for them to be useful at all. But that's still a separate issue from strong references. A server could maintain backpointers on target resources, but not attempt to insure that references are always valid. So I'd just like to separate the 3 debates about strong / weak references, direct / redirect references, and backpointers. And also to separate questions about whether there should be a requirement for any one of these from questions about implementation. Then I think it's clearer that we can support the proposed requirement that a client be able to request, when creating a reference, that referential integrity *not* be enforced for that reference. Judith A. Slein Xerox Corporation jslein@crt.xerox.com (716)422-5169 800 Phillips Road 105/50C Webster, NY 14580
Received on Thursday, 8 October 1998 11:14:19 UTC