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Network Working Group P. Hoffman Request for Comments: 4156 VPN Consortium Category: Historic August 2005 The wais URI Scheme Status of This Memo This memo defines a Historic Document for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). Abstract This document specifies the wais Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) scheme that was originally specified in RFC 1738. The purpose of this document is to allow RFC 1738 to be made obsolete while keeping the information about the scheme on standards track. 1. Introduction URIs were previously defined in RFC 2396 [RFC2396], which was updated by RFC 3986 [RFC3986]. Those documents also specify how to define schemes for URIs. The first definitions for many URI schemes appeared in RFC 1738 [RFC1738]. Because that document has been made obsolete, this document copies the wais URI scheme from it to allow that material to remain on standards track. 2. Scheme Definition The WAIS URL scheme is used to designate WAIS databases, searches, or individual documents available from a WAIS database. The WAIS protocol is described in RFC 1625 [RFC1625]. Although the WAIS protocol is based on Z39.50-1988, the WAIS URL scheme is not intended for use with arbitrary Z39.50 services. Historical note: The WAIS protocol was not widely implemented and almost no WAIS servers are in use today. Hoffman Historic [Page 1]
RFC 4156 The wais URI Scheme August 2005 A WAIS URL takes one of the following forms: wais://<host>:<port>/<database> wais://<host>:<port>/<database>?<search> wais://<host>:<port>/<database>/<wtype>/<wpath> If :<port> is omitted, the port defaults to 210. The first form designates a WAIS database that is available for searching. The second form designates a particular search. <database> is the name of the WAIS database being queried. The third form designates a particular document, within a WAIS database, to be retrieved. In this form <wtype> is the WAIS designation of the type of the object. Many WAIS implementations require that a client know the "type" of an object prior to retrieval; the type is returned along with the internal object identifier in the search response. The <wtype> is included in the URL in order to give the client interpreting the URL adequate information to actually retrieve the document. The <wpath> of a WAIS URL consists of the WAIS document-id. The WAIS document-id should be treated opaquely; it may only be decomposed by the server that issued it. 3. Security Considerations Many security considerations for URI schemes are discussed in [RFC3986]. There are no security considerations listed in [RFC1625], but it should be noted that there is no privacy nor authentication specified in the WAIS protocol. 4. Informative References [RFC1738] Berners-Lee, T., Masinter, L., and M. McCahill, "Uniform Resource Locators (URL)", RFC 1738, December 1994. [RFC2396] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 2396, August 1998. [RFC3986] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66, RFC 3986, January 2005. [RFC1625] St. Pierre, M., Fullton, J., Gamiel, K., Goldman, J., Kahle, B., Kunze, J., Morris, H., and F. Schiettecatte, "WAIS over Z39.50-1988", RFC 1625, June 1994. Hoffman Historic [Page 2]
RFC 4156 The wais URI Scheme August 2005 Author's Address Paul Hoffman VPN Consortium 127 Segre Place Santa Cruz, CA 95060 US EMail: paul.hoffman@vpnc.org Hoffman Historic [Page 3]
RFC 4156 The wais URI Scheme August 2005 Full Copyright Statement Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights. This document and the information contained herein are provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Intellectual Property The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79. Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr. The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at ietf- ipr@ietf.org. Acknowledgement Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the Internet Society. Hoffman Historic [Page 4]