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The path URN scheme

In this scheme[24], the Element ID of the URN is considered to be a path to the name being resolved, e.g.

  path:/subjects/computing/unix/shells/zsh

The Path URN namespace is hierarchical - each level in the hierarchy is separated by a slash, /, and the URN is read from left to right. In the example above, / itself would be the top level in the hierarchy. Each of the URN name components may be administered separately, by a process of delegation from above.

In this scenario, the URN resolution process consists of finding the server which is authoritative for the URN, and then sending it the full Path URN using the HTTP protocol.

The delegation process is achieved using the Domain Name System[25,26]. All Path URN related DNS entries would be rooted under the domain name path.int.



Martin Hamilton
Tue Jun 20 12:43:30 BST 1995