# Re: URN definition -- a way out?

Dirk Herr-Hoyman (hoymand@joe.uwex.edu)
Sat, 23 Oct 93 15:47:53 -0500

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    Date: Sat, 23 Oct 93 15:47:53 -0500

    Message-Id: <9310232047.AA26537@joe.uwex.edu>

    To: mitra@path.net (Mitra)

    From: hoymand@joe.uwex.edu (Dirk Herr-Hoyman)

    Subject: Re: URN definition -- a way out?

At 1:03 AM 10/23/93 +0000, Mitra wrote:
>I agree with Dirk that it would be a big mistake either to abandon
>"sameness" as property of URN's or to define what "sameness" means.
>
>However Dirk, you are reopening a decision made a long time ago. URN's do
>not contain ANY meta information. When we had meta information in URN's
>and URLs we had endless arguments as to which meta information they should
>contain. This was solved (to everyone's satisfaction I think) by removing
>ALL meta information from URN's and putting it in the URM/URCs. With URNs
>coming closer to consensus we are only now starting to define what
>URMs/URCs look like.
>
I was not intending to make a pitch for inclusion of meta-information in
the URN itself, and I apologize if it came across that way. I'm quite
comfortable with the URN being just a name. What I was responding to were
several messages advocating the URN being used for ONLY location
resolution.

Perhaps part of the problem with the process at this point is that we don't
have anything on the table relative to the URN resolution. It's only
mentioned in passing in the current URN document as "another mechanism". I
don't think that we necessarily have to wait for the precise syntax of the
URN itself to be nailed down before entertaining ideas about the
"mechanism". I recall that Rob Raisch had sent out a proposal on a URN
server he worked up. Brian Capoche also had/has a URN server, which he did
as part of his MS thesis. If we say some specific ideas, then maybe this
would help with the gnashing of teeth on the type issue.

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