RE: Issue: SOURCE_PROPERTY_UNDERSPECIFIED

I agree that 2 and 3 are sufficiently important use cases
to support the DAV:source protocol element.  I think one
can make a reasonable case that 4 is also handled by
DAV:source (i.e. it is a reasonable extension of 3).

Cheers,
Geoff


-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Crawford [mailto:ccjason@us.ibm.com]
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2002 1:57 PM
To: Clemm, Geoff
Cc: 'Webdav WG (E-mail)'
Subject: RE: Issue: SOURCE_PROPERTY_UNDERSPECIFIED


I've spent some time trying to list the questions brought up in this
discussion and the answers offered. I can post that list later. 

In building the list I found Lisa's questions interesting. For the most part
the questions in the first half of Lisa's note [1] seem to be answered, but
Lisa's later questions about mapping did not seem to be. The mapping issues
seem to be an important issue for the source property, and the answer can
vary from server to server. Are answers also hinted that the client has to
know how the server does mappings, as they do now, but if that is our
answer, then I'm not sure why we are defining the DAV:source property. 

[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-dist-auth/2002AprJun/0170.html

Can everyone do a mental reset and review why we have a source property?

I assume the following questions (and perhaps more) need to be answered (by
the DAV:source property). I don't think it's acceptable to say that the
answer varies and that the client just know the mapping function. I've
explained why above. I think we need to perhaps admit that the answer will
vary from server to server, but that some aspect of WebDAV (presumably the
DAV:source property) tells the client how to get the job done.

1) An author wants to create a dynamic web page using an implementation he
has. The URL where he wants the dynamic content served is currently
unmapped. Where does he PUT the implementation to create the mapping? (I'm
assuming an automatic mapping process.)

2) An author wants to browse the code he submitted as an implementation of a
resource. At what URL does the author do the GET? (I think we answer this
with DAV:source.)

3) A dynamic page is being served at a given URL. The author wants to update
the implementation of that dynamic resource. Where does he PUT the updated
implementation? (I think we've answered the basic form of this question via
the dav:source propety. Questions like whether the update will be refelcted
immediately can be answered later.)

4) An author wants to no longer serve dynamic content at a specific URL.
What URL does the author DELETE? 

5) Make sure the answers to the above question still work in concept for
resources that would list multiple DAV:source resources.

6) Make sure the answers to the questions above don't cause problems for
servers that require explicit client controlled mapping operations.

I'm sure I've missed some other fundamental questions, but the 4+2 above
seem like a good easy to understand start.

I do think it's acceptable to say that DAV:source only solves 2 & 3 and
we'll solve the other questions later. In doing so, in the spec we can
clarify what DAV:source is NOT doing so that it doesn't get misused. We also
should mentally envision how we'd solve the other problems to insure that
what we are doing now will not prevent us from solving the remaining
problems later.

J.

------------------------------------------
Phone: 914-784-7569, ccjason@us.ibm.com

Received on Monday, 24 June 2002 22:51:22 UTC