Re: Resolution != Naming (was RE: FPIs to URNs)

At 10:29 AM 12/5/96 -0500, David G. Durand wrote:
[...]
>   The XML standard should specify the option to have a PUBLIC string,
>expain that it is unique, persistent, etc., and how to get a GCA or ISBN
>publisher prefix. It should point out that resolution is application
>dependent, but that applications are suggested to use catalogs (We might
>make a simplified catalog format the does not bother with remapping SYSTEM,
>network resolution, etc, if that makes for 1000's of lines of code), or the
>Internet's URN mechanisms for FPIs (this latter is being worked by the URN
>group, and need not be further specified). We also need to note that other
>resolution mechanisms are also acceptable.

I think this is a very reasonable proposal.

>   That gives an implementor two things to implement if they desire, and a
>browser (or other simple parser) can simply use system IDs, and treat the
>FPI as documentation when reporting the failure, if it does not ignore the
>FPI completely.

By saying "can simply use system IDs" are you implying that you would
always have a system ID even if you also had a public identifier?  I'm not
sure I'd want to require a system ID in all cases.

>    FPIs can _only_, in principle, guarantee that something has a unique
>name, not that you can find the thing. (But, of course, having a unique
>name can be of use in finding things).

But of course nothing can guarantee the ability to find a thing in the
general case (i.e., a open system, e.g., the Web).

Cheers,

E.
--
W. Eliot Kimber (eliot@isogen.com) 
Senior SGML Consulting Engineer, Highland Consulting
2200 North Lamar Street, Suite 230, Dallas, Texas 75202
+1-214-953-0004 +1-214-953-3152 fax
http://www.isogen.com (work) http://www.drmacro.com (home)
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Received on Thursday, 5 December 1996 22:12:29 UTC