Re: [media-types] Thoughts on suffixes, single and multiple

[Manu Sporny <[e-mail]>]

On Sun, Apr 7, 2024 at 10:15 PM Mark Nottingham <[e-mail]> wrote:
> No - what I'm saying is that whatever we put into the multiple suffixes draft, it should be extremely generic, so that it can accommodate all of these different uses.

Got it, some thoughts on that concept below...

> - No requirement to register combinations of suffixes; only each individual suffix is required to be registered

We had floated a variation of that proposal two IETFs ago and it did
not achieve consensus from the Designated Experts. That is what led to
the "MUST register all suffixes to the right" language in the multiple
suffixes specification today.

While it does answer the question for "+xml+gzip", it doesn't quite
cover the question regarding "+ld+json", does it (there is no such
thing as a +ld suffix)?

> - No default constraints on how suffixes are composed / how they relate to each other / what the semantics of their ordering or position means

Yes, that seems workable as long as we say that the specification that
registers the suffix must specify what the semantics of the ordering
and position means. Maybe we add this as a field that's required in
the registration request to ensure that multiple suffix usage has
clear guidelines for how they are interpreted.

> Does that make sense? I could see an argument for still requiring combinations of suffixes to be registered, but am hoping that if we do a good job on describing the individual suffix constraints, that won't be necessary.

Yes, it makes sense. As I mentioned earlier, there are multiple valid
interpretations that make logical sense, we just need to find a path
(or paths) that everyone can agree to. Whether or not combinations
(such as +ld+json) need to be registered will be important to decide,
but can be somewhat orthogonal to some of the other "simpler" multiple
suffix usages such as "+xml+gzip".

-- manu

-- 
Manu Sporny - https://www.linkedin.com/in/manusporny/
Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
https://www.digitalbazaar.com/