[regext] draft-ietf-regext-rdap-x-media-type and draft-ietf-regext-rdap-versioning Compatibility Topic 1: Query Identifiers

["Gould, James" <[e-mail]>]

For an action item from the IETF-125 REGEXT meeting, I setup a meeting with the co-editors of draft-ietf-regext-rdap-x-media-type, draft-ietf-regext-rdap-versioning, and draft-ietf-regext-rdap-extensions to discuss compatibility across the drafts.  We only got to the first compatibility topic between draft-ietf-regext-rdap-x-media-type and draft-ietf-regext-rdap-versioning, which is called “Query Identifiers”.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t come to agreement on the path forward for the “Query Identifiers” compatibility issue, so the topic is being brought to the mailing list for discussion.  An interim meeting may be needed post discussion on the mailing list.
 
Problem: 

Currently, draft-ietf-regext-rdap-x-media-type only supports the passing of Extension Identifiers and not the Extension Version Identifiers per “Figure 2: Versioning Query Parameter ABNF” of draft-ietf-regext-rdap-versioning.  The Extension Version Identifier adds ["-" 1*( ALPHA / DIGIT / "." )] to the end of the Extension Identifier, so additional structured version information can be passed, such as maturity_ext1-0.1.  draft-ietf-regext-rdap-versioning supports both Opaque Versioning, that uses Extension Identifiers, and Maturity Versioning that uses Extension Version Identifiers, and there is a normative reference to draft-ietf-regext-rdap-x-media-type with the requirement for the server to support both the X-media Parameter in draft-ietf-regext-rdap-x-media-type and the Query Parameter in draft-ietf-regext-rdap-versioning.  The ABNF in “Figure 2: Versioning Query Parameter ABNF” of draft-ietf-regext-rdap-versioning is incompatible with the description “whitespace-separated list of RDAP extension identifiers (as would be found in the "rdapConformance" array)” in draft-ietf-regext-rdap-x-media-type.  NOTE – upon review the reference to the “extensions” parameter in draft-ietf-regext-rdap-versioning needs to be updated to the “exts_lists” parameter.
 
Options:
 
1. X-media Parameter Equal to Query Parameter – The X-Media Parameter can support the same features as the Versioning Query Parameter by using the ABNF in Section 3.2.2 of draft-ietf-regext-rdap-versioning.  Both Opaque Version Identifiers and Maturity Extension Version Identifiers can be passed via the X-Media Parameter that equals what can be done with the Versioning Query Parameter.  Example is exts_list="maturity_ext1-0.1 opaque_ext2".  
2. X-media Parameter Subset of Query Parameter - The X-Media Parameter will only support the Extension Identifiers, where the Maturity Extension Version Identifiers cannot be passed.  Clients can choose to use the Versioning Query Parameter to be able to specify the MAJOR and MINOR version numbers of extensions supporting the Maturity Versioning type.  When using the X-Media Parameter, the server will choose the default extension version of an extension identifier supporting the Maturity Versioning type.  Example is exts_list="maturity_ext1 opaque_ext2", which would return the default maturity_ext1 version “maturity_ext1-1.0”.
 
Please add any additional options to the list and let us know your preference of the options to address the incompatibility.  My personal preference is option 1 “X-media Parameter Equal to Query Parameter”.
 
There are additional incompatibility topics between draft-ietf-regext-rdap-x-media-type, draft-ietf-regext-rdap-versioning, and draft-ietf-regext-rdap-extensions that will be covered separately. 

Thanks,

-- 

JG 



James Gould
Fellow Engineer
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