Skip to main content

A Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace for Examples
draft-saintandre-urn-example-00

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 6963.
Author Peter Saint-Andre
Last updated 2012-07-31
RFC stream (None)
Formats
Reviews
Additional resources
Stream Stream state (No stream defined)
Consensus boilerplate Unknown
RFC Editor Note (None)
IESG IESG state Became RFC 6963 (Best Current Practice)
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD (None)
Send notices to (None)
draft-saintandre-urn-example-00
Network Working Group                                     P. Saint-Andre
Internet-Draft                                       Cisco Systems, Inc.
Intended status: Informational                             July 31, 2012
Expires: February 1, 2013

          A Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace for Examples
                    draft-saintandre-urn-example-00

Abstract

   This document defines a Uniform Resource Name (URN) namespace
   identifier enabling generation of URNs that are appropriate for use
   in private testing, as examples in documentation, and the like.

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 http://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 February 1, 2013.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2012 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
   (http://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.

Saint-Andre             Expires February 1, 2013                [Page 1]
Internet-Draft                Example URNs                     July 2012

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   2.  Specification Template  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   3.  Namespace Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
   4.  Community Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
     7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Saint-Andre             Expires February 1, 2013                [Page 2]
Internet-Draft                Example URNs                     July 2012

1.  Introduction

   The Uniform Resource Name (URN) technology [RFC2141] provides a way
   to generate persistent, location-independent, resource identifiers.
   The primary "scope" of a URN is provided by its namespace identifier
   (NID).  As described in the specification for namespace definition
   mechanisms [RFC3406], there are three kinds of NIDs: formal,
   informal, and experimental.  Most of the NIDs registered to date are
   formal: as far as is known the few informal namespaces have not been
   widely used, and the experimental namespaces are by definition
   unregistered.

   In particular, the experimental namespaces take the form "X-NID"
   (where "NID" is the desired namespace identifier).  Since the "x-"
   convention has been deprecated in general [RFC6648], it seems
   sensible to define a dedicated namespace identifier for use in
   private testing, as examples in documentation, and the like (similar
   to "example.com" and other domain names [RFC2606]).  Therefore this
   document registers "example" as a formal namespace identifier.
   Although publication of this document might make it possible to
   deprecate the class of experimental namespace identifiers, that is
   not its primary intent.

2.  Specification Template

2.1.  Namespace ID

   The Namespace ID "example" is requested.

2.2.  Registration Information

   Version 1

   Date: 2012-07-11

2.3.  Declared Registrant of the Namespace

   Registering organization: IETF

   Designated contact: IESG, iesg@ietf.org

2.4.  Declaration of Syntactic Structure

   The Namespace Specific String (NSS) of all URNs that use the
   "example" NID shall have the following structure:

   urn:example:{NSS}

Saint-Andre             Expires February 1, 2013                [Page 3]
Internet-Draft                Example URNs                     July 2012

   The NSS is a mandatory string of ASCII characters [RFC20] that
   conforms to the URN syntax requirements [RFC2141] and that provides a
   name that is useful within the relevant documentation example, test
   suite, or other application.

2.5.  Relevant Ancillary Documentation

   See [RFC6648] for information about deprecation of the "x-"
   convention in protocol parameters and identifiers.

2.6.  Identifier Uniqueness Considerations

   Those who mint example URNs ought to strive for uniqueness in the
   namespace specific string portion of the URN.

2.7.  Identifier Persistence Considerations

   Once minted, an example URN is immutable.  However, it is simply a
   string and there is no guarantee that the documentation, test suite,
   or other application using the URN is immutable.

2.8.  Process for Identifier Resolution

   Example URNs are not intended to be resolved, and the namespace is
   not and probably never will be registered with a Resolution Discovery
   System.

2.9.  Rules for Lexical Equivalence

   No special considerations; the rules for lexical equivalence
   specified in [RFC2141] apply.

2.10.  Conformance with URN Syntax

   No special considerations

2.11.  Validation Mechanism

   None

2.12.  Scope

   Global

3.  Namespace Considerations

   No existing formal namespace enables entities to generate URNs that

Saint-Andre             Expires February 1, 2013                [Page 4]
Internet-Draft                Example URNs                     July 2012

   are appropriate for use in private testing, as examples in
   documentation, and the like.  It could be argue that no such formal
   namespace is needed, given that experimental namespaces can be minted
   at will.  However, experimental namespaces run afoul of the trend
   away from using the "x-" convention in the names of protocol
   parameters and identifiers [RFC6648].  Additionally, in practice
   specification authors often mint examples using fake NIDs that go
   unregistered because they are never intended to be used; to minimize
   the possibility of confusion, it seems preferable to create a
   dedicated namespace that can be used to generate example URNs.

4.  Community Considerations

   The "example" NID is intended to provide a clean, easily-recognizable
   space for minting examples to be used in documentation, in private
   testing, and the like.  The Namespace Specific String (NSS) needs to
   be a unique string, generated by the person, organization, or other
   entity that creates the documentation, test suite, or other
   application.  There is no issuing authority for example URNs and they
   cannot be resolved in any way.

   Note well that the example NID does not obviate the need to
   coordinate with issuing authorities for existing namespaces (e.g.,
   minting "urn:example:xmpp:foo" instead of requesting issuance of
   "urn:xmpp:foo"), to register new namespace identifiers if existing
   namespaces do not match one's desired functionality (e.g., minting
   "urn:example:sha-1:29ead03e784b2f636a23ffff95ed12b56e2f2637" instead
   of registering the "urn:sha-1" namespace), or to respect to the basic
   spirit of URN NID assignment (e.g., setting up shadow NIDs such as
   "urn:example:MyCompany:*" instead of using HTTP URIs or other
   formats).

5.  Security Considerations

   This document introduces no additional security considerations beyond
   those associated with the use and resolution of URNs in general.

6.  IANA Considerations

   This document defines a URN NID registration of "example", to be
   added to the formal namespace registration; the completed
   registration template can be found under Section 2.

7.  References

Saint-Andre             Expires February 1, 2013                [Page 5]
Internet-Draft                Example URNs                     July 2012

7.1.  Normative References

   [RFC20]    Cerf, V., "ASCII format for network interchange", RFC 20,
              October 1969.

   [RFC2141]  Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, May 1997.

   [RFC3406]  Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R., and P. Faltstrom,
              "Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition
              Mechanisms", BCP 66, RFC 3406, October 2002.

   [RFC6648]  Saint-Andre, P., Crocker, D., and M. Nottingham,
              "Deprecating the "X-" Prefix and Similar Constructs in
              Application Protocols", BCP 178, RFC 6648, June 2012.

7.2.  Informative References

   [RFC2606]  Eastlake, D. and A. Panitz, "Reserved Top Level DNS
              Names", BCP 32, RFC 2606, June 1999.

Author's Address

   Peter Saint-Andre
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   1899 Wynkoop Street, Suite 600
   Denver, CO  80202
   USA

   Email: psaintan@cisco.com

Saint-Andre             Expires February 1, 2013                [Page 6]