The gopher URI Scheme
RFC 4266
Document | Type |
RFC - Proposed Standard
(November 2005; No errata)
Obsoletes RFC 1738
Was draft-hoffman-gopher-uri (individual in app area)
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Author | Paul Hoffman | ||
Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
Stream | IETF | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
Stream | WG state | (None) | |
Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 4266 (Proposed Standard) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | Ted Hardie | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group P. Hoffman Request for Comments: 4266 VPN Consortium Obsoletes: 1738 November 2005 Category: Standards Track The gopher URI Scheme Status of This Memo This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). Abstract This document specifies the gopher Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) scheme that was originally specified in RFC 1738. The purpose of this document is to allow RFC 1738 to be made obsolete while keeping the information about the scheme on standards track. 1. Introduction URIs were previously defined in RFC 2396 [RFC2396], which was updated by RFC 3986 [RFC3986]. Those documents also specify how to define schemes for URIs. The first definition for many URI schemes appeared in RFC 1738 [RFC1738]. Because that document has been made obsolete, this document copies the gopher URI scheme from it to allow that material to remain on standards track. 2. Scheme Definition The gopher URL scheme is used to designate Internet resources accessible using the Gopher protocol. The base Gopher protocol is described in RFC 1436 [RFC1436] and supports items and collections of items (directories). The Gopher+ protocol is a set of upward-compatible extensions to the base Gopher protocol and is described in [Gopher+]. Gopher+ supports associating Hoffman Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 4266 The gopher URI Scheme November 2005 arbitrary sets of attributes and alternate data representations with Gopher items. Gopher URLs accommodate both Gopher and Gopher+ items and item attributes. Historical note: The Gopher protocol was widely implemented in the early 1990s, but few Gopher servers are in use today. 2.1. Gopher URL Syntax A Gopher URL takes the form: gopher://<host>:<port>/<gopher-path> where <gopher-path> is one of: <gophertype><selector> <gophertype><selector>%09<search> <gophertype><selector>%09<search>%09<gopher+_string> If :<port> is omitted, the port defaults to 70. <gophertype> is a single-character field to denote the Gopher type of the resource to which the URL refers. The entire <gopher-path> may also be empty, in which case the delimiting "/" is also optional and the <gophertype> defaults to "1". <selector> is the Gopher selector string. In the Gopher protocol, Gopher selector strings are a sequence of octets that may contain any octets except 09 hexadecimal (US-ASCII HT or tab), 0A hexadecimal (US-ASCII character LF), and 0D (US-ASCII character CR). Gopher clients specify which item to retrieve by sending the Gopher selector string to a Gopher server. Within the <gopher-path>, no characters are reserved. Note that some Gopher <selector> strings begin with a copy of the <gophertype> character, in which case that character will occur twice consecutively. The Gopher selector string may be an empty string; this is how Gopher clients refer to the top-level directory on a Gopher server. 2.2. Specifying URLs for Gopher Search Engines If the URL refers to a search to be submitted to a Gopher search engine, the selector is followed by an encoded tab (%09) and the search string. To submit a search to a Gopher search engine, the Gopher client sends the <selector> string (after decoding), a tab, and the search string to the Gopher server. Hoffman Standards Track [Page 2] RFC 4266 The gopher URI Scheme November 2005 2.3. URL Syntax for Gopher+ Items Historical note: Gopher+ was uncommon even when Gopher was popular. URLs for Gopher+ items have a second encoded tab (%09) and a Gopher+ string. Note that in this case, the %09<search> string must be supplied, although the <search> element may be the empty string. The <gopher+_string> is used to represent information required for retrieval of the Gopher+ item. Gopher+ items may have alternate views and arbitrary sets of attributes, and they may have electronic forms associated with them. To retrieve the data associated with a Gopher+ URL, a client will connect to the server and send the Gopher selector, followed by a tab and the search string (which may be empty), followed by a tab and the Gopher+ commands. 2.4. Default Gopher+ Data Representation When a Gopher server returns a directory listing to a client, theShow full document text