RFC 3305 (rfc3305) - Page 2 of 11

Report from the Joint W3C/IETF URI Planning Interest Group: Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), URLs, and Uniform Resource Names (URNs): Clarifications and Recommendations

RFC 3305                  URIs, URLs, and URNs               August 2002


Table of Contents

   1.      The W3C URI Interest Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
   2.      URI Partitioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
   2.1     Classical View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.2     Contemporary View  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.3     Confusion  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   3.      Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.1     URI Schemes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.1.1   Registered URI schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.1.2   Unregistered URI Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.1.2.1 Public Unregistered Schemes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.1.2.2 Private Schemes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.1.3   Registration of URI Schemes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.1.3.1 IETF Tree  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.1.3.2 Other Trees  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.2     URN Namespaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.2.1   Registered URN NIDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.2.2   Pending URN NIDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   3.2.3   Unregistered NIDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   3.2.4   Registration Procedures for URN NIDs . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   4.      Additional URI Issues  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   5.      Recommendations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   6.      Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   7.      Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
           References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
           Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
           Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1. The W3C URI Interest Group

   In October, 2000 the W3C formed a planning group whose mission was to
   evaluate the opportunities for W3C work in the area of Uniform
   Resource Identifiers (URIs) and to develop a proposal for continued
   work in this area.  The Interest Group was composed of W3C members
   and invited experts from the IETF to participate as well.  This
   document is a set of recommendations from this group, to the W3C and
   the IETF for work that can and should continue in this area.

2. URI Partitioning

   There is some confusion in the web community over the partitioning of
   URI space, specifically, the relationship among the concepts of URL,
   URN, and URI.  The confusion owes to the incompatibility between two
   different views of URI partitioning, which we call the "classical"
   and "contemporary" views.





Mealling & Denenberg         Informational