URNbis J. Klensin
Internet-Draft
Obsoletes: 3044, 3187 (if approved) J. Hakala
Intended status: Standards Track The National Library of Finland
Expires: February 11, 2016 August 10, 2015

Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace Registration Transition
draft-ietf-urnbis-ns-reg-transition-05

Abstract

The original registration procedure for formal Uniform Resource Name (URN) namespaces required IETF Consensus. That requirement discouraged some registrations and increased the risk for problems that could occur as a result. The requirements have now been changed in [[RFC 2141bis]]. That document adopts a different model. This document specifies IANA instructions to adapt selected existing registrations to the new model. It also obsoletes some previous RFCs to eliminate any ambiguity about the status of new templates and updated registrations.

Status of This Memo

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

[CREF1]RFC Editor: Please note that mentions of "[[RFC 2141bis]]" in this I-D are defined as an Entity in the XML with the brackets providing extra emphasis. Before publication, they should be corrected, and the brackets removed, to show the actual RFC number.

[CREF2]Note in draft: This document has been written in RFC form, i.e., assuming that it and 2141bis have been approved. That style of writing assumes that RFC 3406 and the rules it specified are already obsolete. It may be a bit awkward while the I-D is being evaluated by the WG and the IETF, but lowers the risk for errors or other surprises during the RFC editing process.

As a part of the initial development of the Uniform Resource Name (URN) system in the late 1990s, the IETF URN working group agreed that it was important to demonstrate that the URN syntax can accommodate existing identifier systems. RFC 2288 [RFC2288] investigated the feasibility of using three identifiers (ISBN, ISSN and SICI) as URNs, with positive results; however, it did not formally register corresponding URN namespaces. This was in part due to the still evolving process to formalize criteria for namespace definition documents and registration, consolidated later in the IETF into successive Namespace Definition Mechanism documents [RFC2611] [RFC3406].

URN Namespaces have subsequently been registered for NBN (National Bibliography Number) [RFC3188], ISBN (International Standard Book Number) [RFC3187], and ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) [RFC3044].

The predecessor registration procedure for Uniform Resource Name (URN) namespaces [RFC3406] required IETF Consensus for formal namespaces. That requirement discouraged some registrations and increased the risk for problems, including use of names without registration ("squatting"), that could occur as a result. Those potential problems included the possibility of the same name being used to identify different namespaces with different rules. The requirements have now been changed [RFC2141bis] to adopt a different model that focuses more on encouraging registration of all namespaces that follow the formal namespace syntax, with as much information collected as possible consistent with that goal. This document specifies IANA instructions to adapt selected existing registrations to the new model and obsoletes the separate RFCs that specify the namespaces for International Standard Serial Numbers (ISSNs) [RFC3044] and International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs) [RFC3187] to eliminate any ambiguity about the status of new templates and updated registrations.

An updated version of the specification for the namespace for National Bibliography Numbers (NBNs) [RFC3188] will be issued separately. NBN is not a formal international standard and RFC 3188 is the only formal document which specifies its scope. The intention is to modernize the existing namespace registration so that it specifies the identifier and provides examples of its use, while the actual namespace registration will be done according to the new practice.

2. Obsoleting Older Registration RFCs for ISSNs and ISBNs

The existing RFCs that describe URN namespaces for ISSNs (RFC 3044) and ISBNs (RFC 3187) should be identified as "Historic" after this document is approved and immediately after the new registration templates for those namespaces are submitted and incorporated into the URN Namespace registry by IANA.

[CREF3]Note in draft: The more information that can be supplied in the template or references from it, the better. But, if there is information in the now-expired Internet-Drafts (draft-ietf-urnbis-rfc3187bis-isbn-urn, draft-ietf-urnbis-rfc3044bis-issn-urn) that should be captured somewhere and that doesn't fit naturally in the template, the discussion below is probably a reasonable place to put it.
[CREF4]Similarly, if special transition discussions are needed for other URN namespaces registered prior to the intended transition, this document might be a place to discuss them if they are not too complicated (if they are complicated, they probably deserve their own documents).

The updated templates reflect not only new template formats but substantive changes to the definitions of the namespaces. The changes are summarized in the subsections that follow.

For both ISSN and ISBN URNs, it is intended that the registrations track the evolution of ISO standardization without requiring resubmission of the templates or other formal IETF or IANA registration update approval procedures.

2.1. ISBN URN Changes

The revised ISBN namespace reflects the updated version of the ISO Standard for ISBNs, ISO 2108:2005 [ISO-ISBN-b]. The namespace allows for the use of both the ten character numbers described in RFC 3187 and the earlier ISO 2108:1992 [ISO-ISBN-a] (known as ISBN-10), as well as the expanded ones specified in the revised and updated standard (known as ISBN-13).

2.2. ISSN URN Changes

The ISSN namespace is also updated to reflect changes between the ISSN Standard when RFC 3044 was written and the newest, 2007 version [ISO-ISSN].

3. Other existing URN registrations and RFCs

The RFC Series and IANA Registry contain many URN definitions in addition to those for which this document calls out explicit actions. In general, those existing registrations are still appropriate but omit some information called for in [[RFC 2141bis]]. Until and unless those registrations are updated as provided for in [[RFC 2141bis]], the existing registration templates should be read as not requiring or allowing any features that were not allowed and specified by the earlier URN [RFC2141] and registration [RFC3406] specifications.

4. IANA Considerations

IANA is requested to update the registry entries for URN ISSN, ISBN, and NRN namespaces to reflect the new, [[RFC 2141bis]]-complaint templates as soon as they are available and to no longer reference the now-historic RFCs. With respect to namespaces other than those listed above, registrations and templates conforming to the newer rules may be substituted for the older ones when they are available. However, neither this document nor [[RFC 2141bis]] supercedes existing registrations other than those listed above. Therefore, IANA needs to be prepared to maintain a registry whose contents reflect old-style templates for some namespaces and the newer ones for others.

IANA should also note that the portions of the registrations that point to ISO Standards are intended to identify current versions (which may change) rather than only the versions that are active at the time this document is approved (see Section 2).

5. Security Considerations

While particular URN namespaces and their registrations might conceivably have security implications, this specification merely specifies a transition of a pair of registration procedures and does not have such implications. The security implications associated with particular namespaces are expected to be listed in registration templates as specified in [[RFC 2141bis]].

6. Acknowledgements

This document draws heavily on discussions in the IETF URNbis Working Group in the second and third quarters of 2013, particularly during IETF 87 in August 2013, and on informal discussions during the plenary meeting of ISO TC 46 in June 2013. The efforts of those who participated in those discussions are greatly appreciated. It also draws on internet-drafts that were developed to update the older registrations before that approach was replaced by the new extended template model. Those drafts were prepared by Pierre Godefroy, Juha Hakala, Alfred Hoenes, and Maarit Huttunen.

The current draft benefits significantly from a careful reading and suggestions for editorial changes by Peter Saint-Andre.

7. Contributors

Alfred Hoenes was the editor and co-author of two of the documents from which this one is, in part, derived. This document would not have been possible without his contributions.

8. References

8.1. Normative References

[RFC2141bis] Saint-Andre, P. and J. Klensin, "Uniform Resource Name (URN) Syntax", June 2015.

8.2. Informative References

[ISO-ISBN-a] ISO, "Information and documentation - The International Standard Book Number (ISBN)", ISO 2180:1992, 1992.
[ISO-ISBN-b] ISO, "Information and documentation - The International Standard Book Number (ISBN)", ISO 2180:2005, 2005.
[ISO-ISSN] ISO, "Information and documentation - International standard serial number (ISSN)", ISO 3297:2007, 2007.
[RFC2141] Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, DOI 10.17487/RFC2141, May 1997.
[RFC2288] Lynch, C., Preston, C. and R. Daniel, "Using Existing Bibliographic Identifiers as Uniform Resource Names", RFC 2288, DOI 10.17487/RFC2288, February 1998.
[RFC2611] Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R. and P. Falstrom, "URN Namespace Definition Mechanisms", BCP 33, RFC 2611, DOI 10.17487/RFC2611, June 1999.
[RFC3044] Rozenfeld, S., "Using The ISSN (International Serial Standard Number) as URN (Uniform Resource Names) within an ISSN-URN Namespace", RFC 3044, DOI 10.17487/RFC3044, January 2001.
[RFC3187] Hakala, J. and H. Walravens, "Using International Standard Book Numbers as Uniform Resource Names", RFC 3187, DOI 10.17487/RFC3187, October 2001.
[RFC3188] Hakala, J., "Using National Bibliography Numbers as Uniform Resource Names", RFC 3188, DOI 10.17487/RFC3188, October 2001.
[RFC3406] Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R. and P. Faltstrom, "Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition Mechanisms", BCP 66, RFC 3406, DOI 10.17487/RFC3406, October 2002.

Appendix A. Change Log

A.1. Changes from version -00 to -01

A.2. Changes from version -01 to -02

A.3. Changes from version -02 to -03

A.4. Changes from version -03 to -04

A.5. Changes from version -04 to -05

Authors' Addresses

John C Klensin 1770 Massachusetts Ave, Ste 322 Cambridge, MA 02140 USA Phone: +1 617 245 1457 EMail: john-ietf@jck.com
Juha Hakala The National Library of Finland P.O. Box 15, Helsinki University Helsinki, MA FIN-00014 Finland EMail: juha.hakala@helsinki.fi