Re: [Json] Advice on registering JSON Lines (not JSON) as IANA Media Type

[Douglas Crockford <[e-mail]>]

Anything that is not JSON should not be called JSON. It should have a 
less confusing name.


On 2020-12-30 8:58 AM, Hlavina, Wratko (NIH/NLM/NCBI) [E] wrote:
>
> Hello, Mr. Crockford and Mr. Williams,
>
> I understand you are listed as the authors for the "application/json" 
> and "application/json-seq" IANA Media Types, respectively.
>
> I would like to ask for your advice/help with a related file format, 
> JSON Lines:
>
> https://jsonlines.org <https://jsonlines.org>
>
> I think there is value in having this format registered as a Standards 
> Tree IANA Media Type.
>
> Per the RFC6838 process, this requires Expert Review and IETF/IESG 
> approval.
>
> Not being a member of those organizations, how can I encourage such 
> registration?
>
> Motivation:
>
> Unfortunately, JSON Lines is not valid JSON (technically) and is 
> different from JSON Text Sequences.
>
> However, JSON Lines is a frequently used file format; for example, it 
> is used by many database products, including Cloud services like AWS 
> Athena, Snowflake, and others.
>
> Since it is not valid JSON, using "application/json" as media type 
> leads to processing failures and mishandling.
>
> Since it uses the newline as separator, without RS Unicode Information 
> Separator Two record separators, "application/json-seq" is not a 
> substitute Media Type, and the ecosystem of tools do not, in general, 
> support JSON Text Sequences format.
>
> In principle, good JSON programming libraries should allow streamed 
> processing of JSON content, both in emitting it and in reading it, but 
> in practice, libraries for JSON tend to require an entire JSON object 
> to be held in memory.
>
> Since HTTP emits one response per request, this implies only a single 
> JSON object per response, if using "application/json" as Media Type; 
> this is problematic for large data.
>
> In my experience, JSON Lines has become a very useful and conventional 
> file format, since it interoperates well with Unix text utilities 
> while remaining highly interoperable with many JSON tools.
>
> Cf.:
>
>   * RFC6838
>   * https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/application/json
>     <https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/application/json>
>   * https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/application/json-seq
>     <https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/application/json-seq>
>   * https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/application/ld+json
>     <https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/application/ld+json>
>   * https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51690624/json-lines-mime-type
>     <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51690624/json-lines-mime-type>
>   * https://github.com/wardi/jsonlines/issues/9
>     <https://github.com/wardi/jsonlines/issues/9>
>
> --
> *Wratko HLAVINA*
>
> Sequence Curation, Organization, Enhancements (Technical Program Manager)
>
> NCBI Building 45 Floor 4 Room AS13D-121
> Slack: whlavina / Phone: [phone] / FAX: [phone] / Calendar: 
> https://bit.ly/2QU2EGB <https://bit.ly/2QU2EGB>
>