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Re: rfc 1738

• To: Dave Pawson <dpawson@n...>
• Subject: Re: rfc 1738
• From: John Cowan <jcowan@r...>
• Date: Fri, 2 May 2003 16:32:28 -0400
• Cc: michael.h.kay@n..., "'Bob Foster'" <bob@x...>, xml-dev@l...
• In-reply-to: <5.2.0.9.2.20030502175302.02569400@p...>
• References: <1b2c01c3100d$bd87f8d0$1401a8c0@snobird> <5.2.0.9.2.20030502175302.02569400@p...>
• User-agent: Mutt/1.4.1i

Dave Pawson scripsit:

> >\\machine\share\dir\file.xml
> >
> >is addressible using the URI
> >
> >file:////machine/share/dir/file.xml
> 
> Thanks Michael. One more to add to the test grouping!
> 4 slashes now!!!  Why must it be so confusing?

Actually, either 2 or 4 slashes is defensible.  Remember that the general
scheme of a typical URL (excluding things like mailto: and news:) is

	scheme://machine/path

where the third slash serves both to separate the machine from the path
and to indicate that the path is absolute.  So a file: URL referring to
the local file /bar/baz looks like:

	file://localhost/bar/baz

Equivalently, you can write

	file:///bar/baz

leaving the machine name is empty, because the local system is meant.
This is the most common form, so typically file URLs begin "file:///".

Now we have to decide whether we are going to interpret an UNC name as
containing separate machine and path information, or as just being a path.
In the former case, the natural approach is to map the first component
onto the "machine" part of the URL schema, like this:

	file://foo/bar/baz

This is naturally interpreted as being the file /bar/baz on machine foo
rather than the local machine, or \\foo\bar\baz in UNCspeak.

Alternatively, you can say that the UNC name is just a path with an
unusual first component "//foo", in which case the UNC name \\foo\bar\baz
would be written

	file://localhost//foo/bar/baz

which can be abbreviated to

	file:////foo/bar/baz

-- 
John Cowan      jcowan@r...        http://www.reutershealth.com
        "Not to know The Smiths is not to know K.X.U."  --K.X.U.

• References:
  • Re: rfc 1738
    • From: "Bob Foster" <bob@x...>
  • RE: rfc 1738
    • From: Dave Pawson <dpawson@n...>

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