# Re: URNs and Meta-Information

Michael Mealling (ccoprmm@oit.gatech.edu)
Mon, 18 Oct 93 9:13:26 EDT

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    From: ccoprmm@oit.gatech.edu (Michael Mealling)

    Message-Id: <199310181313.AA20362@oit.oit.gatech.edu>

    Subject: Re: URNs and Meta-Information

    To: mitra@path.net (Mitra)

    Date: Mon, 18 Oct 93 9:13:26 EDT

    In-Reply-To: <CF256y.pv@pandora.sf.ca.us>; from "Mitra" at Oct 17, 93 8:06 pm

Mitra said this:
> I hope that URN's do define a reasonable access method. If they dont then I
> have already proposed a namespace be chosen (maybe called "inet") that
> would be defiend so that the publisher was a FQDN. The conditions for
> self-registering a publisher id in this namespace would be to put up a
> URN->URL/URC resolution device on a well-known port, conforming to a
> well-known protocol. (I'm open to any definition of a well-known protocol,
> and currently favour extending HTTP+ or Prospero to do the job).
>
> That way, we would have both a way for anyone to become a publisher, and a
> way for any client to retrieve documents in this namespace.
>
> Note that if a publisher didnt want to run their own URN->UR* mapping,
> then they would simply contract with someone who did so, and either use
> their device or set up a CNAME that pointed to them.
>
> Taking this further - I could see URN's of the form.
>
> URN:inet::urn.xyz.com:::12345
>

Mitra,
Your idea presupposes that DNS exists. I want something that works
until Jesus comes back (which is eternity if your Christian or not). What
do you do if there is nothing like a DNS? What do you do if you want
a document to have a URN that isn't even going to be on the network?
My argument would be that we don't want to put anything in a URN that
could expire due to technology changes. ISBN and/or IANA are arbitrary
administrative things that can simply be codified somewhere and then
encoded. They still exist whether or not the organization exists. But
if you start depending on a technological structure like DNS you are
doomed to failure withing 10 or so years. DNS isn't going to be
around forever.

-MM

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