Re: [port-srv-reg] we need to make progress

[Joe Touch <[e-mail]>]

On 9/7/2010 5:16 PM, Stuart Cheshire wrote:
> On 3 Sep, 2010, at 01:15, Lars Eggert wrote:
>
>>> <t>The service name syntax MAY be used to validate a service name
>>> string, but MUST NOT be used for any other purpose (e.g.,
>>> delineation). Any system that includes a service name inside a
>>> longer string is itself responsible for delineating the service
>>> name. Such systems MUST NOT rely on the syntax of a service name
>>> alone for such delineation. </t>
>>>
>>> I have no idea what that is talking about. It gives the sense of
>>> referring to something in particular, but doesn't actually say what.
>>> Regardless, I did my PhD in message framing and the syntax of marking
>>> boundaries, and I know of no basis for the claim that paragraph is
>>> making.
>>
>> (No idea either.)
>
>
> Does this convey our intended meaning better?
>
> <t>Service names are purely opaque identifiers, and no semantics are
> implied by any superficial structure that a given service name may appear
> to have. For example, a company called "Example" may choose to register
> service names "Example-Foo" and "Example-Bar" for its "Foo" and "Bar"
> products,but the "Example" company can't claim to "own" all service names
> beginning with "Example-", they can't prevent someone else registering
> "Example-Baz" for a different service, and they can't prevent other
> developers from using the "Example-Foo" and "Example-Bar" service types in
> order to interoperate with the "Foo" and "Bar" products.  Service names are
> constructed using human-readable characters for mnemonic convenience for
> human developers; software should treat them as purely opaque identifiers
> and not attempt to parse them for any additional embedded meaning.</t>

Yes, AFAICT. A better example might be:

	Example-foo-HTTP and Example-bar-SOAP

1) the prefix "example" isn't owned/reserved

2) the substrings "foo" and "bar" aren't owned/reserved

3) the substrings "HTTP" and "SOAP have *no* meaning at all; they do not 
indicate the presentation layer protocol over which these services operate.

Joe