Subject: Re: [urn] Query choices

From: Juha Hakala <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 13:38:50 +0300

Hello,

On 22.7.2014 5:43, Larry Masinter wrote:

> RFC 2141 URN Syntax is standards track, so the bar for updating
> should follow the rules for updating standards track document:
> based on implementation experience. If there is implementation
> experience with using ? in URNs, which would justify C, D, or E,
> please cite it. If there is none, stick with B.

There are implementation experiences from other persistent identifier 
systems. For instance, with ARK the users can request from the resolver 
descriptive metadata about the resource by adding "?" to the ARK, or 
find out what the preservation commitment of the organization holding 
the document is by adding "??".

DOI and Handle are also using URI query, but services available and 
syntax applied for requesting them are not the same ARK has implemented.

There are no implementation experiences from URN community, mainly since 
the URN syntax does not allow us to use URI query, and implementers have 
decided to wait until the syntax is modernized. As a rule existing URN 
resolvers are "dumb", they support only default service (mapping from 
URN to single URL). There are no widely implemented means of passing 
service related parameters to resolvers. Possibility of using URI query 
for passing resolution related parameters to the resolvers may change 
the situation to the better quite soon.

If there is no agreement on query usage in URN syntax, the implementers 
may run out of patience and follow the example of ARK and Handle/DOI.

Within the PID community we have discussed a lot about interoperability 
of persistent identifier systems. Aligning query related principles and 
practices (as far as possible / sensible) is one step into this direction.

Juha

>
> Larry
> --
> http://larry.masinter.net
>
> _______________________________________________
> urn mailing list
> [email-masked]
> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/urn

-- 

  Juha Hakala
  Senior advisor

  The National Library of Finland
  Library Network Services
  P.O.Box 26 (Teollisuuskatu 23)
  FIN-00014 Helsinki University
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---

From: Keith Moore <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 13:23:04 -0400

On 08/06/2014 06:38 AM, Juha Hakala wrote:
> If there is no agreement on query usage in URN syntax, the 
> implementers may run out of patience and follow the example of ARK and 
> Handle/DOI. 

I fully sympathize with the desire for to have this URN work finished.   
But I don't think that's an argument, by itself, for doing things the 
way that DOIs or anybody else does things.   We should do what makes 
good technical sense for URNs, not merely try to follow others' examples.

Keith