Re: typo/bug in the namespace spec

On Sun, Jun 11, 2000 at 10:29:03AM -0400, Simon St.Laurent wrote:
> At 03:09 PM 6/10/00 -0700, Tim Bray wrote:
> >I believe that the consensus was that the rec means exactly what it says, 
> >that NS names are names that use URI syntax.
> >
> >I recall that an earlier rev of the spec provided for *two* URIs to be
> >attached to a NS prefix; one being the *name*, and one giving the reference
> >for the *schema*.  The analogy to sgml's SYSTEM and PUBLIC identifiers was
> >strong, for those who cares.  The schema pointer was abandoned, one of the
> >reasons was people like me arguing that the notion that dereferencing a 
> >single URI was a hopelessly inadequate bridge from an instance to the 
> >complex space of resources that might identify its semantics in whole
> >or part. -Tim
> 
> So it sounds like a lot of our problems come from what's the equivalent of
> dereferencing a PUBLIC identifier without a catalog file, just because it
> looks like a SYSTEM identifier...

So what happens if I write a URN namespace* for FPIs? I.e.:
urn:fpi:-//IETF//DTD BLA//EN 
(which would look kinda funky once encoded but you get the idea)

URNs as defined do not require resolution. They just name. 
But there is a resolution system available. I can take that
URN and find a server (if one exists) that is authoritative for that FPI
and ask it all sorts of questions. I can ask it for an XML Schema,
I can ask it for a DTD. I can ask it for a picture of the author.

I can also type that URN into a hypothetical search engine and find
out other places where software might be available for processing
that namespace. One could even setup that search engine such that
it only does this service and returns all sorts of interesting
third-party tidbits of information about that FPI. 

Does this describe kind of what your after?

-MM






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Received on Sunday, 11 June 2000 10:48:48 UTC