Internet-Draft | Meta-URIs | July 2024 |
Lasso | Expires 30 January 2025 | [Page] |
- Workgroup:
- Internet Engineering Task Force
- Internet-Draft:
- draft-soni-meta-uri-00
- Published:
- Intended Status:
- Standards Track
- Expires:
Meta URIs: Generic Syntax
Abstract
This document describes a format for embedding a URI inside a URI, as part of a URI scheme's syntax definition.¶
Status of This Memo
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 30 January 2025.¶
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2024 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.¶
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 Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.¶
1. Introduction
Sometimes, it is useful to encode application-specific metadata as part of a URI. Traditionally, URIs provide very little support for application-specific metadata: [RFC3986] (Section 4.5) defines URI fragments, but they are specified by "the media type of [the resource]", not the application. In practice, some applications have alternatively made use of fragments for application-specific metadata, in conflict with its intended usage. This document defines a generic syntax for encoding application-specific metadata in a URI.¶
1.1. Requirements Language
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.¶
2. The Meta-URI Syntax
An URI scheme describes a meta-URI if the scheme's syntax conforms to the syntax described here in Augmented BNF [RFC5234], borrrowing various terms from [RFC3986].¶
metaURI = scheme ":" hier-part "?" meta-query "&&" URI-reference meta-query = [ meta-qattr *("&" meta-qattr) ] meta-q-res-avail = ":" / "@" / "!" / "$" / "'" / "(" / ")" / "*" / "+" / "," / "=" meta-qchar = unreserved / meta-q-res-avail / pct-encoded meta-qattr = 1*meta-qchar¶
As per Section 2.1 of [RFC8820], the meta-URI scheme MAY require support for specific embedded schemes, but SHOULD NOT restrict the allowed embedded schemes.¶
2.1. Fragment Handling
The fragment identifier, if any, is not part of the embedded URI, but instead applies to the whole Meta-URI, as per Section 3.5 of [RFC3986]. While the URI-reference term used above includes the fragment identifier, this approach merely enables future updates to [RFC3986] to also apply to this document automatically.¶
3. IANA Considerations
This document has no IANA considerations.¶
4. Security Considerations
It is up to the scheme authors to evaluate any security implications of using this syntax.¶
5. Interoperability Considerations
IPv6 literals cannot be encoded in the embedded URI, as square brackets ("[" and "]") are not allowed in the query element. A future update to [RFC3986] may change this.¶
6. Encoding considerations
No encoding considerations are known at this time.¶
7. References
7.1. Normative References
- [RFC2119]
- Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, , <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, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
- [RFC3986]
- Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66, RFC 3986, DOI 10.17487/RFC3986, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3986>.
- [RFC8820]
- Nottingham, M., "URI Design and Ownership", BCP 190, RFC 8820, DOI 10.17487/RFC8820, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8820>.
- [RFC5234]
- Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234, DOI 10.17487/RFC5234, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5234>.
7.2. Informative References
- [RFC7512]
- Pechanec, J. and D. Moffat, "The PKCS #11 URI Scheme", RFC 7512, DOI 10.17487/RFC7512, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7512>.
Acknowledgements
Some of the ABNF rules in this document were adapted from [RFC7512].¶