RFC 1737 (rfc1737) - Page 1 of 7

Functional Requirements for Uniform Resource Names

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Network Working Group                                         K. Sollins
Request for Comments: 1737                                       MIT/LCS
Category: Informational                                      L. Masinter
                                                       Xerox Corporation
                                                           December 1994


           Functional Requirements for Uniform Resource Names

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  This memo
   does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
   this memo is unlimited.

1.  Introduction

   This document specifies a minimum set of requirements for a kind of
   Internet resource identifier known as Uniform Resource Names (URNs).
   URNs fit within a larger Internet information architecture, which in
   turn is composed of, additionally, Uniform Resource Characteristics
   (URCs), and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).  URNs are used for
   identification, URCs for including meta-information, and URLs for
   locating or finding resources.  It is provided as a basis for
   evaluating standards for URNs.  The discussions of this work have
   occurred on the mailing list  and at the URI Working
   Group sessions of the IETF.

   The requirements described here are not necessarily exhaustive; for
   example, there are several issues dealing with support for
   replication of resources and with security that have been discussed;
   however, the problems are not well enough understood at this time to
   include specific requirements in those areas here.

   Within the general area of distributed object systems design, there
   are many concepts and designs that are discussed under the general
   topic of "naming". The URN requirements here are for a facility that
   addresses a different (and, in general, more stringent) set of needs
   than are frequently the domain of general object naming.

   The requirements for Uniform Resource Names fit within the overall
   architecture of Uniform Resource Identification.  In order to build
   applications in the most general case, the user must be able to
   discover and identify the information, objects, or what we will call
   in this architecture resources, on which the application is to
   operate.  Beyond this statement, the URI architecture does not define
   "resource."  As the network and interconnectivity grow, the ability
   to make use of remote, perhaps independently managed, resources will



Sollins & Masinter
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