Re: public/catalog [was: Re: ERB Decisions of March 26th]

Terry Allen wrote:
> 
> I am unwilling to specify any default resolution mechanism
> for PUBLIC identifiers.  This should be at the discretion of
> the user agent.  

Default means "at the discretion of the user agent, as long as they
support at least *this*." There is no dichtomy between default and
freedom.

> (And by resolution I mean what Peter does,
> figuring out the indirection and obtaining the item.)  One
> can say that a catalogue is the publisher's advice on how
> to resolve his PIs, but the client should not be restricted
> to that method.  

If we meant that the client should be restricted, we would not use the
word "default", we would use the word "exclusive."

 Paul Prescod

Received on Saturday, 29 March 1997 17:43:50 UTC