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The file URI Scheme
draft-kerwin-file-scheme-03

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Replaced".
Author Matthew Kerwin
Last updated 2013-06-24
Replaced by draft-ietf-appsawg-file-scheme, RFC 8089
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draft-kerwin-file-scheme-03
Network Working Group                                          M. Kerwin
Internet-Draft
Intended status: Standards Track                           June 25, 2013
Expires: December 27, 2013

                          The file URI Scheme
                      draft-kerwin-file-scheme-03

Abstract

   This document specifies the file Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
   scheme that was originally specified in [RFC1738].  The purpose of
   this document is to keep the information about the scheme on
   standards track, since [RFC1738] has been made obsolete.

Note to Readers

   This draft should be discussed on its github project page [github].

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF 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 December 27, 2013.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2013 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.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Conventions and Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   3.  Scheme Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Implementation Notes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.1.  Hierarchical Structure  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.2.  Drives, drive letters, mount points, file system root . .   5
     4.3.  Character sets and encodings  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6

1.  Introduction

   URIs were previously defined in [RFC1738], which was updated by
   [RFC3986].  Those documents also specify how to define schemes for
   URIs.

   The first definition for many URI schemes appeared in [RFC1738].
   Because that document has been made obsolete, this document copies
   the file URI scheme from it to allow that material to remain on
   standards track.

1.1.  Conventions and Terminology

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

2.  History

   The file URI scheme was first defined in [RFC1630], an informational
   RFC which does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  The
   definition was standardised in [RFC1738], and the scheme was
   registered with IANA, however the latter definition omitted certain
   language from former that clarified aspects such as:

   o  the use of slashes to donate boundaries between directory levels
      of a hierarchical file system

   o  the requirement that client software convert the file URL into a
      file name in the local file name conventions

   o  a justification for defining the scheme.

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   The Internet draft [I-D.draft-hoffman-file-uri] was written in an
   effort to keep the file URI scheme on standards track, but it expired
   in 2005.  That draft enumerated concerns arising from the various,
   often conflicting implementations.

   Despite lacking a living standard, the file URI scheme is used by way
   of example in [RFC3986] three times:

   1.  section 1.1 [p6] uses "file:///etc/hosts" as an example

   2.  section 1.2.3 [p10] mentions the "file" scheme regarding relative
       references

   3.  section 3.2.2 [p21] says that '...the "file" URI scheme is
       defined so that no authority, an empty host, and "localhost" all
       mean the end-user's machine...'.

   Finally the WHATWG defines a living URL standard [WHATWG], which
   includes algorithms for interpreting file URIs.

3.  Scheme Definition

   The file URI scheme is used to designate files accessible on a
   particular host computer.  This scheme, unlike most other URI
   schemes, does not designate a resource that is universally accessible
   over the Internet.

   The file URI scheme has historically had little or no
   interoperability between platforms.  Further, implementers on a
   single platform have often disagreed on the syntax to use for a
   particular filesystem.

   Note that file and ftp URIs are not the same, even when the target of
   the ftp URI is the local host.

   A file URI conforms with the generic syntax presented in [RFC3986],
   with the following components:

   scheme name
      The literal value "file"

   authority
      If present, either the fully qualified domain name of the
      system on which the file is accessible; or one of the special
      values "localhost" or the empty string, in which case it is
      interpreted as "the machine from which the URI is being
      interpreted".  An absent authority component SHOULD be interpreted
      as if it were present and had the value "localhost".

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      A host name, if supplied, is intended to inform a client on a
      remote machine that it cannot access the file system, or perhaps
      to use some other mechanism to access the file.  It does not imply
      that the file should be accessible over a network connection.

   path
      The hierarchical directory path to the file, using the slash
      character ("/") to separate directories.  Implementations MUST
      translate between the URI syntax and the local system's
      conventions for specifying file paths, where they differ.

      Systems exhibit different levels of case-sensitivity.
      Implementations SHOULD attempt to maintain the case of file and
      directory names when translating file URIs to and from local file
      paths, and any devices that transport file URIs MUST NOT alter the
      case of file URIs they transport.

      Some systems allow file URIs to point to directories.  In this
      case, there is usually (but not always) a terminating slash
      character, such as in:

        file:///usr/local/bin/

   On systems running some versions of Microsoft Windows, the local
   drive specification is sometimes specified with a colon character
   (":") and sometimes with a pipe ("|").  The two SHOULD be considered
   equivalent, and any implementation which may interact with a
   Microsoft Windows environment SHOULD interpret a single letter
   followed by either a colon or pipe character in the first segment of
   the path as a drive letter.  For example, the following URIs:

     file:///c:/windows/example.ini
     file:///c|/windows/example.ini

   when interpreted on the same machine, would refer to the same file:

     c:\windows\example.ini

   Note that some systems running some versions of Microsoft Windows are
   known to omit the slash before the drive letter, effectively
   replacing the authority component with the drive specification.  In
   line with Postel's robustness principle ("an implementation must be
   conservative in its sending behavior, and liberal in its receiving
   behavior" [RFC791]) implementations that are likely to encounter such
   a URI MAY interpret it as intended, but SHOULD NOT generate such
   URIs.

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   For Windows shares, such as those accessed using the SMB/CIFS
   protocol [MS-SMB2], there is an additional slash prepended to the
   path.  Thus, the file "example.doc" on the shared directory
   "departments" would have the URI

     file:////departments/example.doc

   The file URI scheme is unusual in that it does not specify an
   Internet protocol or access method for such files; as such, its
   utility in network protocols between hosts is limited.

4.  Implementation Notes

4.1.  Hierarchical Structure

   Most implementations of the file URI scheme do a reasonable job of
   mapping the hierarchical part of a directory structure into the "/"
   delimited hierarchy of the URI syntax, independent of what the native
   platform delimiter is.

   For example, on Windows platforms, it is typical that the file system
   presents backslash "\" as the file delimeter for file names, yet the
   URI's forward slash "/" can be used in file URIs.  Similarly, on
   (some) Macintosh OS versions, at least in some contexts, the colon
   (":") is used as the delimiter in the native presentation of file
   path names.  Unix systems natively use the same forward slash "/"
   delimiter for hierarchy, so there is a closer mapping between file
   paths and native path names.

4.2.  Drives, drive letters, mount points, file system root

   Historically there has been considerable difference, in practice, for
   handling of the syntax for the "top" of the hierarchy.  The file URI
   syntax provides one simple place for designating the root of the file
   hierachy, and implementations have diverged, even on the same
   platform, sometimes even within a single application.

   For example, DOS- and Windows-based systems support the notion of a
   "drive letter", a single character which represents a (virtual)
   drive, mount point, or device.  Native representations of file paths
   start with the drive letter, a colon, and then the path; e.g.,
   "c:\tmp\test.txt".

   Drive letters are mapped into the top of a file URI in various ways,
   depending on the implementation; some applications substitute
   vertical bar ("|") for the colon after the drive letter, yielding
   "file:///c|/tmp/test.txt".  In some cases, the colon is left

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   unchanged, as in "file:///c:/tmp/test.txt".  In other cases, the
   colon is simply omitted, as in "file:///c/tmp/test.txt".

4.3.  Character sets and encodings

   Local file systems sometimes use many different encodings for
   representing file names.  The URI syntax defined in [RFC3986]
   provides a method of encoding data, presumably for the sake of
   identifying a resource, as a sequence of characters.  The URI
   characters are, in turn, frequently encoded as octets for transport
   or presentation.  This specification does not mandate any particular
   character encoding for mapping between URI characters and the octets
   used to store or transmit those characters, however for
   interoperability sake, it would be preferable for file URI libraries
   to translate the native character encoding for file names to and from
   Unicode.

5.  Security Considerations

   There are many security considerations for URI schemes discussed in
   [RFC3986].

   File access and the granting of privileges for specific operations
   are complex topics, and the use of file URIs can complicate the
   security model in effect for file privileges.  Under no circumstance
   should software using file URIs grant greater access than would be
   available for other file access methods.

6.  IANA Considerations

   This document does not modify the existing entry in the URI Schemes
   registry [IANA], except by updating its reference RFC.

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC3986]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
              Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66, RFC
              3986, January 2005.

7.2.  Informative References

   [RFC791]   Postel, J., "Internet Protocol - DARPA Internet Program,
              Protocol Specification", RFC 791, September 1981.

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   [RFC1630]  Berners-Lee, T., "Universal Resource Identifiers in WWW: A
              Unifying Syntax for the Expression of Names and Addresses
              of Objects on the Network as used in the World-Wide Web",
              RFC 1630, June 1994.

   [RFC1738]  Berners-Lee, T., Masinter, L., and M. McCahill, "Uniform
              Resource Locators (URL)", RFC 1738, December 1994.

   [I-D.draft-hoffman-file-uri]
              Hoffman, P., "The file URI Scheme", draft-hoffman-file-
              uri-03 (work in progress), January 2005.

   [WHATWG]   WHATWG, "URL Living Standard", May 2013,
              <http://url.spec.whatwg.org/>.

   [MS-SMB2]  Microsoft Open Specifications, "Server Message Block (SMB)
              Protocol Versions 2 and 3", January 2013,
              <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc246482.aspx>.

   [IANA]     IANA, "Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) Schemes
              registry", June 2013, <http://www.iana.org/assignments/
              uri-schemes/uri-schemes.xml>.

   [github]   Kerwin, M., "file-uri-scheme GitHub repository", n.d.,
              <https://github.com/phluid61/file-uri-scheme>.

Author's Address

   Matthew Kerwin

   EMail: matthew@kerwin.net.au

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