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RE: Relative URLs using the file scheme?

• To: "'Rick Jelliffe'" <ricko@a...>,"'Xml-Dev'" <xml-dev@l...>
• Subject: RE: Relative URLs using the file scheme?
• From: "Michael Kay" <michael.h.kay@n...>
• Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 18:28:13 -0000
• Importance: Normal
• In-reply-to: <026601c2800b$6ac4e780$4bc8a8c0@A...>
• Reply-to: <michael.h.kay@n...>

> 
> > However, does this then mean that Xalan and Saxon are wrong in 
> > accepting
> > 
> > file:myDir/myFile
> > 
> > as a relative URI?
> 
> The new draft for RFC 2396bis[1] clarifies this
> 
> <q>
> Some parsers allow the scheme name to be present in a 
> relative URI if it is the same as 
> the base URI scheme. This is considered to be a loophole in 
> prior specifications of partial 
> URI [RFC1630]. Its use should be avoided, but is allowed for 
> backwards compatibility. 
>    http:g       =  http:g           ; for validating parsers
>                   /    http://a/b/c/g   ; for backwards compatibility 
> </q>
> 
> So if Saxon and Xalan *require* the file: scheme on relative 
> URLs they are wrong 
> (Eddie, what was the status of this?) but it looks like they 
> may provide it for backwards 
> compatability. Anyway, we use it at our peril.  Half a step 
> forward :-)
> 

Saxon largely delegates its URI manipulation to the JDK, except for a
few cases where the JDK doesn't offer the required functionality. If the
JDK gets it wrong, I will need a lot of persuasion to implement
workarounds at the Saxon level.

Saxon certainly doesn't require any scheme name to be present in a
relative URL, and it's a surprise to me that it allows it, but if Java
allows it, then I do.

Frankly, the RFC specs on URIs are so incomplete and buggy that there's
absolutely no hope of ever getting a clean implementation, or two
implementations that are 100% interoperable. So I'm happy to leave the
JDK folks to write the bugs rather than writing them myself.

Michael Kay
Software AG
home: Michael.H.Kay@n...
work: Michael.Kay@s... 

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