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On Media-Types, Content-Types, and related terminology
draft-bormann-core-media-content-type-format-03

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Authors Carsten Bormann , Henk Birkholz
Last updated 2021-02-19
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draft-bormann-core-media-content-type-format-03
Network Working Group                                         C. Bormann
Internet-Draft                                    Universität Bremen TZI
Intended status: Standards Track                             H. Birkholz
Expires: 22 August 2021                                   Fraunhofer SIT
                                                        18 February 2021

         On Media-Types, Content-Types, and related terminology
            draft-bormann-core-media-content-type-format-03

Abstract

   There is a lot of confusion about media-types, content-types, and
   related terminology.

   This memo is an attempt at clearing it up, so we can use consistent
   terminology in CoRE and related specifications.  It also defines some
   ABNF that can be used in these specifications.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 22 August 2021.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2021 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
   and restrictions with respect to this document.  Code Components
   extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text
   as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
   provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Media-Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Content-Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Content-Coding  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  Content-Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   6.  Remaining ABNF  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   7.  Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   8.  Discussion  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   9.  Suggested usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     9.1.  COSE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     9.2.  SenML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     9.3.  ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   10. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   11. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   12. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     12.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     12.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10

1.  Introduction

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
   BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

   [RFC1590] introduced media types and their registration.  That
   document took MIME types from [RFC1521] and gave them a new name.  At
   that time, the term "media type" was often used just for the major
   type ("text", "audio"), and what we call a media-type now was the
   combination of a type and a subtype.  This lives on in [RFC6838],
   which does not even have an ABNF [RFC5234] production for media type.
   [RFC6838]'s predecessor, [RFC4288], supplied the ABNF shown in
   (Figure 1).

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   |               type-name = reg-name
   |               subtype-name = reg-name
   |  
   |               reg-name = 1*127reg-name-chars
   |               reg-name-chars = ALPHA / DIGIT / "!" /
   |                                "#" / "$" / "&" / "." /
   |                                "+" / "-" / "^" / "_"
   |  
   |       Figure 1: ABNF for type and subtype, cited from RFC 4288

   [RFC6838], obsoleting [RFC4288], restricts the first character of a
   reg-name to alphanumeric.  It contains the otherwise semantically
   equivalent ABNF shown in Figure 2, however adding prose comments that
   further limit the use of "." and "+".

   type-name = restricted-name
   subtype-name = restricted-name

   restricted-name = restricted-name-first *126restricted-name-chars
   restricted-name-first  = ALPHA / DIGIT
   restricted-name-chars  = ALPHA / DIGIT / "!" / "#" /
                            "$" / "&" / "-" / "^" / "_"
   restricted-name-chars =/ "." ; Characters before first dot always
                                ; specify a facet name
   restricted-name-chars =/ "+" ; Characters after last plus always
                                ; specify a structured syntax suffix

       Figure 2: ABNF for type and subtype, as defined from RFC 6838

2.  Media-Type

   Today, the term "media type" is now generally used for a registered
   combination of a type-name and a subtype-name, as well as for the
   specification that defines the semantics of this combination.  We
   further disambiguate by calling the former a _media type name_. An
   ABNF definition of "Media-Type-Name":

   Media-Type-Name = type-name "/" subtype-name

                  Figure 3: Definition of Media-Type-Name

   For the purposes of this memo, we define:

   Media-Type-Name:  A combination of a type-name and a subtype-name
      registered in [IANA.media-types], conventionally identified by the
      two names separated by a slash.

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   (This leaves the term "Media Type" for the actual specification that
   is registered under the Media-Type-Name.)

3.  Content-Type

   Media types can have parameters [RFC6838], some of which are defined
   by the media type specification to be mandatory.  In HTTP and many
   other protocols, media-type-names and parameters are then used
   together in a "Content-Type" header field.  HTTP [RFC7231] uses the
   ABNF in Figure 4:

   |    Content-Type = media-type
   |    media-type = type "/" subtype *( OWS ";" OWS parameter )
   |    type       = token
   |    subtype    = token
   |    token          = 1*tchar
   |    tchar          = "!" / "#" / "$" / "%" / "&" / "'" / "*"
   |                   / "+" / "-" / "." / "^" / "_" / "`" / "|" / "~"
   |                   / DIGIT / ALPHA
   |    OWS        = *( SP / HTAB )
   |  
   |              Figure 4: Content-Type ABNF from RFC 7231

   In the ABNF as established by [RFC2616], parts of which became
   [RFC7231], the rule name media-type is used for a Media-Type-Name
   with parameters attached.  We don't follow this inclusive use of
   media-type; note that [RFC2616] was quite confused about this term by
   claiming (Section 3.7 of [RFC2616]):

      Media-type values are registered with the Internet Assigned Number
      Authority (IANA [19]).

   This clearly reverts to the understanding of Media-Type-Name we use.

   Instead of prolonging this confusion, we define as a separate term:

   Content-Type:  A Media-Type-Name, optionally associated with
      parameters (separated from the media type name and from each other
      by a semicolon).

   Removing the legacy HTAB characters now shunned in polite
   conversation, as well as some other cobwebs, we define the
   conventional textual representation of a Content-Type with the ABNF
   in Figure 5:

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   Content-Type   = Media-Type-Name *( *SP ";" *SP parameter )
   parameter      = token "=" ( token / quoted-string )

   token          = 1*tchar
   tchar          = "!" / "#" / "$" / "%" / "&" / "'" / "*"
                  / "+" / "-" / "." / "^" / "_" / "`" / "|" / "~"
                  / DIGIT / ALPHA
   quoted-string  = %x22 *qdtext %x22
   qdtext         = SP / %x21 / %x23-5B / %x5D-7E

                    Figure 5: Definition of Content-Type

   Note that there is a slight inconsistency between the "token" used
   here and the "reg-name"/"restricted-name" used above; since media
   type parameters probably will be defined within the guard rails set
   by [RFC7231], we need to use HTTP's more comprehensive definition
   here.

4.  Content-Coding

   Section 3.5 of [RFC2616] also introduced the term Content-Coding, a
   registered name for an encoding transformation that has been or can
   be applied to a representation:

   content-coding   = token

           Figure 6: Definition of content-coding as in RFC 2616

   Confusingly, in HTTP the Content-Coding is then given in a header
   field called "Content-Encoding"; we *never* use this term (except
   when we are in error).  Instead we define:

   Content-Coding:  a registered name for an encoding transformation
      that has been or can be applied to a representation.

   Content-Codings are registered in the HTTP Content Coding Registry, a
   subregistry of [IANA.http-parameters].  We often use the "identity"
   Content-Coding, which is the identity transformation, and often fail
   to identify that Content-Coding by name, instead calling it "no
   Content-Coding".

5.  Content-Format

   CoAP, in Section 1 of [RFC7252], defines a Content-Format as the
   combination of a Content-Type and a Content-Coding, identified by a
   numeric identifier defined in the "CoAP Content-Formats" registry (a
   subregistry of [IANA.core-parameters]), but in more confusing words
   (it did not have the benefit of the present specifications).

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   Content-Format:  the combination of a Content-Type and a Content-
      Coding, identified by a numeric identifier defined by the "CoAP
      Content-Formats" subregistry of [IANA.core-parameters].

   Note that there has not been a conventional string representation of
   just the combination of a Content-Type and a Content-Coding; Content-
   Formats so far always are identified by their registered Content-
   Format numbers.  However, there are applications where that is useful
   [I-D.keranen-core-senml-data-ct], so we define:

   Content-Format = "0" / (POS-DIGIT *DIGIT)
   Content-Format-String   = Content-Type ["@" content-coding]

               Figure 7: Definition of Content-Format/-String

   This allows the use of Content-Format-Strings such as "application/
   json@deflate" in place of the less self-describing content-format
   "11050", or other combinations that do not have a content-format
   number defined yet.

   Content-Format-Strings MUST NOT explicitly use the content-coding
   value of "identity" (i.e., if an identity content-coding is desired,
   the entire optional part including the "@" sign is left out).

   Note that a quoted string inside a content-type parameter might
   contain an "@" sign, so the parsing of Content-Format-Strings cannot
   be done in a too simplistic way.

6.  Remaining ABNF

   This specification uses the ABNF given in Figure 8, as originally
   defined in [RFC5234] and [RFC8866]:

   DIGIT     =  %x30-39           ; 0 – 9
   POS-DIGIT =  %x31-39           ; 1 – 9
   ALPHA     =  %x41-5A / %x61-7A ; A – Z / a – z
   SP        =  %x20

                  Figure 8: Commonly Used ABNF Definitions

7.  Abbreviations

   Media type names are sometimes abbreviated as "mt", and Content-Types
   as "ct".  We propose not to use those abbreviations: Where the long
   form of the values can be used, the long form "Content-Type" can also
   be used to name them.

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   For historical reasons, both [RFC6690] and [RFC7252] use the
   abbreviation "ct" for Content-Format (think first and last
   character).

   For Content-Coding, the abbreviation "cc" can be used.

8.  Discussion

   The ABNF given here is provisional and may need some more cleanup,
   such as unifying the various forms of reg-name, token, etc.

   (ABNF just shown for illustration is centered, in a blockquote, and
   tagged with "<artwork type="abnf;old"...>" in the XML, while the
   normative ABNF of this memo is left-aligned and tagged with
   "<sourcecode type="abnf"...>".)

   The XPath expression "//sourcecode[@type='abnf']/text()" can be used
   on the XML form of this specification to extract the ABNF defined
   here.

   We need to discuss case-insensitivity at some point, which is usually
   rather insensitive.

9.  Suggested usage

9.1.  COSE

   Section 3.1 of [RFC8152] defines a common COSE header parameter
   (number 3) called "content type" in the description, to indicate the
   type of the data in the payload or ciphertext fields.

   This header can either be an unsigned integer, indicating a CoRE
   Content-Format number, or a text string that is only defined in
   general terms.  It points to Section 4.2 of [RFC6838] for 'text
   values following the syntax of "<type-name>/<subtype-name>"...', but
   also discusses the use of parameters and subparameters; no ABNF or
   similar detail specification is provided.  The text does not discuss
   the use of Content-Coding in the text string form, probably because
   nothing like the present document existed at the time, creating a
   weird gap compared with numeric Content-Format-Strings.  The text
   only has trivial changes in Section 3.1 of
   [I-D.ietf-cose-rfc8152bis-struct-15].

   The present specification suggests using the production "Content-
   Format-String" as a more formal definition of the text string that
   can go into the "content type" (number 3) common header parameter in
   COSE.

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9.2.  SenML

   As discussed above, Section 3 of [I-D.keranen-core-senml-data-ct]
   makes use of the present specification.

9.3.  ...

   (to be filled in along further use cases)

10.  IANA Considerations

   While this memo talks a lot about IANA registries, it does not
   require any action from IANA.

11.  Security Considerations

   Confusion about terminology may, in the worst case, cause security
   problems, as can loosely defined syntax elements of a specification.
   No other security considerations are known to be raised by the
   present specification.

12.  References

12.1.  Normative References

   [IANA.core-parameters]
              IANA, "Constrained RESTful Environments (CoRE)
              Parameters",
              <http://www.iana.org/assignments/core-parameters>.

   [IANA.http-parameters]
              IANA, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Parameters",
              <http://www.iana.org/assignments/http-parameters>.

   [IANA.media-types]
              IANA, "Media Types",
              <http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

12.2.  Informative References

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   [I-D.ietf-cose-rfc8152bis-struct-15]
              Schaad, J., "CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE):
              Structures and Process", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
              draft-ietf-cose-rfc8152bis-struct-15, 1 February 2021,
              <https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-ietf-cose-
              rfc8152bis-struct-15.txt>.

   [I-D.keranen-core-senml-data-ct]
              Keranen, A. and C. Bormann, "SenML Data Value Content-
              Format Indication", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
              draft-keranen-core-senml-data-ct-02, 8 July 2019,
              <https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-keranen-core-senml-
              data-ct-02.txt>.

   [RFC1521]  Borenstein, N. and N. Freed, "MIME (Multipurpose Internet
              Mail Extensions) Part One: Mechanisms for Specifying and
              Describing the Format of Internet Message Bodies",
              RFC 1521, DOI 10.17487/RFC1521, September 1993,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1521>.

   [RFC1590]  Postel, J., "Media Type Registration Procedure", RFC 1590,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC1590, March 1994,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1590>.

   [RFC2616]  Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Frystyk, H.,
              Masinter, L., Leach, P., and T. Berners-Lee, "Hypertext
              Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", RFC 2616,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2616, June 1999,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2616>.

   [RFC4288]  Freed, N. and J. Klensin, "Media Type Specifications and
              Registration Procedures", RFC 4288, DOI 10.17487/RFC4288,
              December 2005, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4288>.

   [RFC5234]  Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
              Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5234, January 2008,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5234>.

   [RFC6690]  Shelby, Z., "Constrained RESTful Environments (CoRE) Link
              Format", RFC 6690, DOI 10.17487/RFC6690, August 2012,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6690>.

   [RFC6838]  Freed, N., Klensin, J., and T. Hansen, "Media Type
              Specifications and Registration Procedures", BCP 13,
              RFC 6838, DOI 10.17487/RFC6838, January 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6838>.

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   [RFC7231]  Fielding, R., Ed. and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext Transfer
              Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content", RFC 7231,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7231, June 2014,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7231>.

   [RFC7252]  Shelby, Z., Hartke, K., and C. Bormann, "The Constrained
              Application Protocol (CoAP)", RFC 7252,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7252, June 2014,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7252>.

   [RFC8152]  Schaad, J., "CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE)",
              RFC 8152, DOI 10.17487/RFC8152, July 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8152>.

   [RFC8866]  Begen, A., Kyzivat, P., Perkins, C., and M. Handley, "SDP:
              Session Description Protocol", RFC 8866,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8866, January 2021,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8866>.

Acknowledgements

   Matthias Kovatsch forced the authors to make up their minds about
   this.  Ari Keränen forced them to write it up, then, and created a
   convincing use case of Content-Format-Strings.  John Mattsson alerted
   us to a mistake.  Alexey Melnikov suggested reviving this draft after
   a year of dormancy.

Authors' Addresses

   Carsten Bormann
   Universität Bremen TZI
   Postfach 330440
   D-28359 Bremen
   Germany

   Phone: +49-421-218-63921
   Email: cabo@tzi.org

   Henk Birkholz
   Fraunhofer SIT
   Rheinstrasse 75
   64295 Darmstadt
   Germany

   Email: henk.birkholz@sit.fraunhofer.de

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