Re: [apps-discuss] Review of draft-ietf-appsawg-file-scheme

[Graham Klyne <[e-mail]>]

On 13/04/2016 09:28, Matthew Kerwin wrote:
>>         2.  Append the transformed segment and a delimiting slash
>>> >>            character "/" to the URI.
>>> >>
>>> >>    6.  If the path includes a file name:
>>> >>
>>> >>        1.  Transform the file name to a path segment as above.
>>> >>
>>> >>        2.  Append the transformed segment to the URI.
>>> >>
>> >
>> >A slash is required at the end of a directory, even if there is no file
>> >name?
>> >
>> >
> If you're using it as a directory then yes. If you're using it as the
> ultimate object (the "file") then no. We defined "file" as an "object" in
> the file system earlier, which (going with the UNIX interpretation that
> everything is a file) can include directories. As far as I know most
> non-UNIXy systems around today can deal with this interpretation too.
> Should I spell it out, or leave it up to interpretation?
>

I'd also say "yes".

This is an area where URI resolution works differently to file path resolution 
(on some systems), so it's not just an academic point.

If you don't include the trailing "/" on a directory used as a base URI, then 
the final directory segment gets dropped when performing URI resolution.

Developers working in this space will know this anyway, but I think it's important.

Also, "file:///home/user" and "file:///home/user/" are different URIs per 
RFC3986.  It's usially a good idea to avoid gratuitous URI aliasing, which 
suggests it would be good practice to always include the trailing "/".

#g
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