The IETF Profile URI Registry
draft-lanthaler-profile-registry-01

Abstract

This document defines a registry for profile URIs and establishes an IETF URN Sub-namespace to be used in specifications standardizing profiles.

Status of This Memo

This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

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This Internet-Draft will expire on October 19, 2013.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.

This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Registration Process
• 3. Example Registration Request
• 4. IANA Considerations
• 4.1. Profile URI Registry
• 4.2. Initial Registry Contents
• 4.3. IETF URN Sub-Namespace Registration urn:ietf:params:profile
• 5. Security Considerations
• 6. Change Log
• 6.1. From -00 to -01
• 7. Acknowledgements
• 8. Normative References
• Author's Address

1. Introduction

Profiles, as defined by [RFC6906], can be used to signal support for additional semantics, such as constraints, conventions, extensions, or any other aspects that do not alter the basic media type semantics. Profiles are identified by a URI and can thus be created without central coordination.

Similarly to media types and link relation types it is, in some cases, beneficial to centrally manage profile URIs to ensure interoperability and decrease the coupling between clients and servers. This allows the independent evolution of clients and servers as both are coupled to these central contracts instead of being coupled to each other. Therefore, this document establishes an IANA registry of such profile URIs. Furthermore, this document creates and registers an IETF URN Sub-namespace, as documented in [RFC3553], to be used for specifications standardizing profiles. The new "profile" Sub-namespace is urn:ietf:params:profile and concrete profiles will be established underneath it.

2. Registration Process

All elements in this registry will require a URI in order to be registered. If the registrant wishes to have a URI assigned, then a URN of the form

   urn:ietf:params:profile:<value>

will be assigned where <value> is a suitable representation of the semantics being registered.

The registration request for the urn:ietf:params:profile URN Sub-namespace can be found in Section 4.3.

3. Example Registration Request

The following is an example registration request for the profile URI http://example.com/profiles/example.

This is a request to IANA to please register the profile URI "http://example.com/profiles/example" in the Profile URI Registry according [this document].

• Profile URI: http://example.com/profiles/example
• Common Name: Exemplary Profile URI
• Description: An exemplary profile URI registration.
• Specification Document: [this document]

4. IANA Considerations

This document makes two requests two IANA:

• Establishment of a new registry for profile URIs. Instructions for a registrant to request the registration of such a URI are in Section 2. The registration request can be found in Section 4.1 below.
• Registration of a new IANA URN sub-namespace, urn:ietf:params:profile, per [RFC3553]. The registration request can be found in Section 4.3 below.

4.1. Profile URI Registry

This document establishes the Profile URI registry. The registration procedure for new entries requires a request in the form of the following template and is "Specification Required" per [RFC5226].

The underlying registry data (e.g., the XML file) must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info).

The registration template is:

• Profile URI: The URI that identifies the registered profile.
• Common Name: The name by which the profile being registered is generally known.
• Description: A short description of the profile
• Specification Document: Reference to the document that specifies the URI, preferably including a URI that can be used to retrieve a copy of the document. An indication of the relevant sections may also be included but is not required.
• Notes: [optional]

4.2. Initial Registry Contents

The Profile URI registry's initial contents are:

• Profile URI: urn:ietf:params:profile:example
• Common Name: Exemplary Profile
• Description: A profile to be used in examples.
• Specification Document: [this document]

4.3. IETF URN Sub-Namespace Registration urn:ietf:params:profile

Per [RFC3553], this document IANA registers the new URN Sub-namespace, urn:ietf:params:profile.

• Registry name: profile
• Specification: [this document]
• Repository: The registry established in Section 4.1
• Index value: values subordinate to urn:ietf:params:profile are of the form urn:ietf:params:profile:<value> with <value> as the index value. When practical, it is suggested that <value> includes both a "class" and an "identifier-within-class" component, with the two components being separated by a colon (":"); other compositions of the <value> may also be used.

5. Security Considerations

There are no additional security considerations beyond those already inherent to using URNs. Security considerations for URNs in general can be found in [RFC2141].

6. Change Log

Note to RFC Editor: Please remove this section before publication.

6.1. From -00 to -01

• Use HTTP URI instead of URN in example registration request to make it clearer that not only URNs can be registered.
• Move security considerations to the end.

7. Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dave Cridland for valuable comments and suggestions.

8. Normative References

Author's Address