Re: Proposed text for guidelines doc to implement Ian's suggestion

On Tue, 4 Aug 1998, Rich Petke wrote:
> Proposed replacement for that text in draft-ietf-urlreg-guide-03.txt:
> 
> 2.1.1 Improper of "//" following "<scheme>:"
> 
>    Contrary to some examples set in past years, the use of
>    double slashes as the first component of the <scheme-specific-part>
>    of a URL is not simply an artistic indicator that what follows is a
>    URL:  Double slashes are used ONLY when the syntax of the URL's
>    <scheme-specific-part> contains a hierarchical structure.  In such
>    URLs, the use of double slashes indicates that what follows is the
>    top hierarchical element for a naming authority.  (See section 3 of
>    RFC [URI-SYNTAX] for more details.) URL schemes which do
>    not contain a hierarchical structure in their <scheme-specific-part>
>    should not use double slashes following the "<scheme>:" string.
> 
> Comments?

I'd say it's just about bang-on; the only thing I'd like to see adjusted
slightly is that it is for SCHEMES that have hierarchical structure as 
understood in the URI syntax document (i.e., applying the algorithms
outlined therein will produce the desired, or at least not entirely
unexpected results).  If a scheme wants to use hierarchy that does not
conform to what's laid out in the URI syntax document, it shouldn't use
the "://" (or, arguably, "/", but that's another story...).

So, perhaps:

   Contrary to some examples set in past years, the use of
   double slashes as the first component of the <scheme-specific-part>
   of a URL is not simply an artistic indicator that what follows is a
   URL:  Double slashes are used ONLY when the syntax of the URL's
   <scheme-specific-part> contains a hierarchical structure as
   described in RFC [URI-SYNTAX].  In URLs from such schemes, the use of 
   double slashes indicates that what follows is the top hierarchical element 
   for a naming authority.  (See section 3 of RFC [URI-SYNTAX] for more 
   details.) URL schemes which do not contain a conformant hierarchical 
   structure in their <scheme-specific-part> should not use double slashes 
   following the "<scheme>:" string.

Leslie.
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    If cats had bumper stickers:                  Leslie Daigle
                                             
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