One document matched: draft-ietf-asid-mime-direct-02.txt
Differences from draft-ietf-asid-mime-direct-01.txt
Network Working Group Tim Howes
INTERNET-DRAFT Mark Smith
draft-ietf-asid-mime-direct-02.txt Netscape Communications Corp.
A MIME Content-Type for Directory Information
1. Status of this Memo
This document is an Internet-Draft. Internet-Drafts are working docu-
ments of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its
working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working
documents as Internet-Drafts.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet- Drafts as reference material
or to cite them other than as ``work in progress.''
To learn the current status of any Internet-Draft, please check the
``1id-abstracts.txt'' listing contained in the Internet- Drafts Shadow
Directories on ftp.is.co.za (Africa), nic.nordu.net (Europe),
munnari.oz.au (Pacific Rim), ds.internic.net (US East Coast), or
ftp.isi.edu (US West Coast).
2. Abstract
This document defines a MIME Content-Type for holding directory informa-
tion. The definition is independent of any particular directory ser-
vice. The application/directory Content-Type is defined for holding a
variety of directory information, for example, name, or email address.
The application/directory Content-Type can also be used as the root body
part in a multipart/related Content-Type for handling more complicated
situations, especially those in which non-textual information that
already has a natural MIME representation, for example, a photograph or
sound, must be represented.
The application/directory Content-Type defines a general framework and
format for holding directory information in a simple "type: value" for-
mat. This format is compatible with the Versit Electronic Business Card
Specification text encoding. Mechanisms are defined to specify alter-
nate character sets, languages, encodings and other meta-information.
This document also defines the procedure by which particular formats,
called profiles, for carrying application-specific information within an
application/directory Content-Type may be defined and registered, and
the conventions such formats must follow. It is expected that other
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documents will be produced that define such formats for various applica-
tions (e.g., white pages).
3. Need for a MIME Directory Type
For purposes of this document, a directory is a special-purpose database
that contains typed information. A directory usually supports both read
and search of the information it contains, and may support modification
of the information as well. Directory information is usually accessed
far more often than it is updated. Directories may be local or global
in scope. They may be distributed or centralized. The information they
contain may be replicated, with weak or strong consistency requirements.
There are several situations in which users of Internet mail may wish to
exchange directory information: the email analogy of a "business card"
exchange; the conveyance of directory information to a user having only
email access to the Internet; the provision of machine-parseable address
information when purchasing goods or services over the Internet; etc. As
MIME [RFC-1521,RFC-1522] is used increasingly by other protocols, most
notably HTTP [HTTP], it may also be useful for these protocols to be
able to carry directory information in MIME format. Such a format, for
example, could be used to represent URC (uniform resource characteris-
tics) information about resources on the World Wide Web, or to provide
general directory service over HTTP.
4. Overview
The scheme defined here for representing directory information in a MIME
Content-Type has two parts. First, the application/directory Content-
Type is defined for use in holding directory information within a single
body part, for example name, title, or email address. In its simplest
form, the format uses a "type: value" approach, which should be easily
parsable by existing MIME implementations and understandable by users.
More complicated situations can be represented also. This document
defines the general form the information in the Content-Type should
have, and the procedure by which specific types and values (properties)
for particular applications may be defined. The framework is general
enough to handle information from any number of end directory services,
including LDAP [RFC-1777, RFC-1778], WHOIS++ [RFC-1835], and X.500
[x500].
Directory entries can include far more than just textual information.
Some such information (e.g., an image or sound) overlaps with predefined
MIME Content-Types. In these cases it may be desirable to include the
information in its well-known MIME format. This situation is handled by
using a multipart/related Content-Type as defined in [RFC-1872]. The
root component of this type is an application/directory body part speci-
fying any textual information in-line, and for information contained in
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other Content-Types, the Content-IDs (in URL form) of those types.
In some applications, it may be useful to include a pointer (e.g, a URL)
to some directory information rather than the information itself. This
document defines a general mechanism for accomplishing this.
5. The application/directory Content-Type
The application/directory Content-Type is used to hold basic directory
information, URLs referencing other information, including other MIME
body parts holding supplementary or non-textual directory information,
such as an image or sound. It is defined as follows, using the MIME
media type registration template from [MIME-REG].
To: ietf-types@uninett.no
Subject: Registration of MIME media type application/directory
MIME media type name: application
MIME subtype name: directory
Required parameters: none
Optional parameters: charset, language, profile
The "charset" parameter is as defined in [RFC-1521] for other body
parts. It is used to identify the default character set used within
the body part. Note that alternate character sets can be specified on
a per-value basis using the "charset" type parameter described below.
The "language" parameter is used to identify the default language for
information contained within the body part. Its value is a language
tag as defined in Section 2 of [RFC-1766]. Note that alternate
languages can be specified on a per-value basis using the "language"
type parameter, defined below.
The "profile" parameter is used to convey the type(s) of entity(ies)
to which the directory information pertains and the likely set of
information associated with the entity(ies). It is intended only as a
guide to applications interpreting the information contained within
the body part. It should not be used to exclude or require particular
pieces of information unless a profile definition specifically calls
for this behavior. The value of the "profile" parameter is defined
as follows. Note that profile names are case insensitive (i.e., the
profile name "Person" is the same as "PERSON" and "person" and "peR-
sOn").
profile := x-token / iana-token
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x-token := <The two characters "X-" or "x-" followed,
with no intervening white space, by any atom,
where atom is from Section 3.3 of RFC 822>
iana-token := <a publicly-defined extension token, registered
with IANA, as specified in Section 8 of this
document>
Encoding considerations:
As specified by the Content-Transfer-Encoding header field. Note that
each value may also have an inline encoding associated with it. This
encoding is independent of the encoding for the body part as a whole
(i.e., inline encodings are performed first, then Content-Transfer-
Encoding is applied to the entire body part).
Security considerations:
Directory information may be public or it may be protected from unau-
thorized access by the directory service in which it resides. Once
the information leaves its native service, there can be no guarantee
that the same care will be taken by all services handling the infor-
mation. Furthermore, this specification defines no access control
mechanism by which information may be protected, or by which access
control information may be conveyed. Note that the integrity and
privacy of an application/directory body part may be protected by
enclosing it within a MOSS [RFC-1848] body part, or equivalent
method.
Interoperability considerations:
In order to make sense of directory information, applications must
share a common understanding of the types of information contained
within the Content-Type (the directory schema). This schema informa-
tion is not defined in this document, but rather in companion docu-
ments that follow the requirements specified in this document, or in
bilateral agreements.
Published specification:
The application/directory Content-Type contains directory informa-
tion, typically pertaining to a single directory entity or group of
entities. The content consists of one or more CRLF-separated lines
in the following format. Using the notation of RFC 822, the syntax
for this content is:
contentline := [[group.]type] [";" parameterlist] ":" valuespec
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group := atom ; as defined in Section 3.3 of RFC 822
type := x-name
/ iana-type
x-name := <the two characters "X-" or "x-" followed, with no
intervening white space, by any atom>
iana-type := <a publicly-defined extension token, registered
with IANA, as specified in Section 9 of this
document>
parameterlist := parameter / parameterlist ";" parameter
parameter := encodingparm
/ valuetypeparm ; not present => inline value
/ charsetparm
/ languageparm
/ protoparm
/ [parmtype "="] parmvalues
encodingparm := "encoding" "=" encodingtype
encodingtype := "base64" ; from Section 5.2 of RFC 1521
/ "quoted-printable" ; from Section 5.1 of RFC 1521
valuetypeparm := "value" "=" valuetype
valuetype := "url" ; genericurl from RFC 1735
charsetparm := "charset" "=" charset ; from Section 7.1 of RFC 1521
languageparm := "language" "=" language ; as defined in RFC 1766
protoparm := "proto" "=" protocol ; as defined in assigned numbers
parmtype := x-name
/ iana-parmtype
iana-parmtype := <a publicly-defined extension token, registered
with IANA, as defined in Section 12 of this
document>
parmvalues := parmvalue
/ parmvalues "," parmvalue
parmvalue := x-name
/ iana-parmvalue
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iana-parmvalue := <a publicly-defined extension token, registered
with IANA, as defined in section 12 of this
document>
value := *text ; Characters whose syntax depends on type and the
; the encoding parameter. If the value contains
; a <CR> or <LF> character (ASCII 10 or 13), it must
; be encoded using either base64 or quoted-printable.
To the left of the beginning of "value", white space characters
(namely HTABs and SPACEs, ASCII 9 and 32) may freely surround any
symbol. Note that this means that if a "value" begins with white
space, it must be encoded using either the base64 or quoted-printable
methods.
Note that the meanings of the various type names and the format of
the corresponding values must be defined as specified in Section 9.
Specifications may impose ordering on the type constructs within a
body part, though none is required by default. The various x-name
constructs are used for bilaterally-agreed upon type names, parameter
names and parameter values.
Type names, parameter names, and parameter values (i.e., everything
to the left of the ":") are case insensitive (e.g., the type name
"cn" is the same as "CN" and "Cn").
The group construct is used to group related attributes together.
The group name is a syntactic convention used to indicate that all
type names prefaced with the same group name should be grouped
together when displayed by an application. It has no other signifi-
cance. Implementations that do not understand or support grouping
may simply strip off any text before a "." and present the types and
values as normal.
The "charset" type parameter should be used to identify character
sets other than US ASCII. The "charset" header parameter can be used
to set the default character set for the entire body part. The "char-
set" type parameter can be used to change the default character set
on a per-value basis.
The "language" type parameter should be used to identify data in
alternate languages. Note that there is no concept of "default"
language, except as specified by the "language" header parameter. The
value of the "language" type parameter is a language tag as defined
in Section 2 of [RFC-1766].
The "proto" type parameter should be used to identify a protocol used
in interpreting the value. This is used, for example, in the "name"
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type, defined below.
The "encoding" type parameter should be used to specify an alternate
encoding for a value. If the value contains a <CR> or <LF> character
(ASCII 10 or 13), it must be encoded using either "base64" or
"quoted-printable". These encodings can also be useful for binary
values that are mixed with other text information in the body part
(e.g., a certificate). Using a per-value "base64" or "quoted-
printable" encoding in this case leaves the other information in a
more readable form.
The Content-Transfer-Encoding header field is used to specify the
encoding used for the body part as a whole. The "encoding" type
parameter is used to specify an encoding for a particular value
(e.g., a certificate). In this case, the Content-Transfer-Encoding
header might specify "7-bit", while the one certificate value might
specify an encoding of base64 via an "encoding=base64" type parame-
ter.
The "value" type parameter should be used to identify values that are
referenced by a URL (including a Content-ID URL) instead of encoded
in-line. These value references might be used if the value is too
large, unavailable, or otherwise undesirable to include directly. In
this case, a value type of "url" might be appropriate.
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Tim Howes
Netscape Communications Corp.
501 East Middlefield Rd.
Mountain View, CA 94041
USA
howes@netscape.com
+1.415.937.3419
Intended usage: COMMON
Author/Change controller:
Tim Howes
Netscape Communications Corp.
501 East Middlefield Rd.
Mountain View, CA 94041
USA
howes@netscape.com
+1.415.937.3419
Mark Smith
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Netscape Communications Corp.
501 East Middlefield Rd.
Mountain View, CA 94041
USA
mcs@netscape.com
+1.415.937.3477
6. Predefined Types
The following types are generally useful regardless of the profile being
carried, and are defined below, using the application/directory MIME
type registration template defined in Section 11.1 of this document.
These types may be included in any profile.
6.1. SOURCE Type Definition
To: ietf-mime-direct@umich.edu
Subject: Registration of application/directory MIME type SOURCE
Type name: SOURCE
Type purpose: To identify the source of directory information con-
tained in the content type.
Type encoding: A URL as defined in [RFC-1738].
Type special notes: The SOURCE type is used to provide the means by
which applications knowledgable in the given directory service proto-
col may obtain additional or more up-to-date information from the
directory service. It contains a URL as defined in [RFC-1738] point-
ing to the directory entity or entities to which the information per-
tains. When directory information is available from more than one
source, the sending entity may pick what it considers to be the best
source, or multiple SOURCE types may be included.
Type example:
SOURCE: ldap://ldap.host/cn=Babs%20Jensen,%20o=Babsco,%20c=US
6.2. NAME Type Definition
To: ietf-mime-direct@umich.edu
Subject: Registration of application/directory MIME type NAME
Type name: NAME
Type purpose: To identify the name of the directory entity to which
information in the content type pertains.
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Type encoding: A protocol-specific directory name.
Type special notes: The NAME parameter is used to convey the direc-
tory name of the entity to which the directory information pertains.
Its value depends on the setting of the "PROTO" type parameter, which
indicates the directory service protocol context in which the value
of the NAME parameter should be interpreted. Note that this value is
protocol-specific and is intended for applications knowledgable in a
particular directory service protocol.
Type example:
NAME;PROTO=LDAP: cn=Babs Jensen, o=Babsco, c=US
6.3. PROFILE Type Definition
To: ietf-mime-direct@umich.edu
Subject: Registration of application/directory MIME type PROFILE
Type name: PROFILE
Type purpose: To identify the type of directory entity to which
information in the content type pertains.
Type encoding: A profile name, registered as described in Section 9
of this document or bilaterally-agreed upon as described in Section
5.
Type special notes: The PROFILE parameter is used to convey the type
of the entity to which the directory information in the rest of the
body part pertains. It should be the same as the "profile" header
parameter, if present.
Type example:
PROFILE: person
7. Use of the multipart/related Content-Type
The multipart/related Content-Type can be used to hold directory infor-
mation comprised of both text and non-text information or directory
information that already has a natural MIME representation. The root
body part within the multipart/related body part is specified as defined
in [RFC-1872] by a "start" parameter, or it is the first body part in
the absence of such a parameter. The root body part must have a
Content-Type of "application/directory". This part holds inline infor-
mation, optionally defines the name and source of the information, and
makes reference to subsequent body parts holding additional text or
non-text directory information via their Content-ID URLs as explained in
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Section 5.
The body parts referred to do not have to be in any particular order,
except as noted above for the root body part.
8. Examples
The following examples are for illustrative purposes only and are not
part of the definition. The first example illustrates simple use of the
application/directory Content-Type. Note that no "profile" parameter is
given, so an application may not know what kind of directory entity the
information applies to. Note also the use of both hypothetical official
and bilaterally agreed upon types.
From: Whomever
To: Someone
Subject: whatever
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-ID: <id1@host.net>
Content-Type: application/directory
Content-ID: <id2@host.com>
cn: Babs Jensen
cn: Barbara J Jensen
sn: Jensen
email: babs@umich.edu
phone: +1 313 747-4454
x-id: 1234567890
The next example illustrates the use of the Quoted-Printable encoding
defined in [RFC-1521] to include non-ASCII characters in some of the
information returned, and the use of the optional "name" and "source"
types. It also illustrates the use of an "encoding" type parameter to
encode a certificate value in base 64. Note the use of the hypothetical
"person" profile.
Content-Type: application/directory;
charset="iso-8859-1";
profile="person"
Content-ID: <id3@host.com>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-Printable
source: ldap://cn=Bjorn%20Jensen,o=University%20of%20Michigan,c=US
name;proto=ldap: cn=Bjorn Jensen, o=University of Michigan, c=US
cn: Bj=F8rn Jensen
sn: Jensen
email: bjorn@umich.edu
phone: +1 313 747-4454
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certificate;encoding=3Dbase64: dGhpcyBjb3VsZCBiZSAKbXkgY2VydGlmaWNhdGUK
The next example illustrates the use of multi-valued type parameters,
the "charset" type parameter, the "language" type parameter, inline
quoted-printable encoding to represent iso-8859-1 characters and fold
long lines, and attribute grouping.
Content-Type: application/directory; profile="person"
Content-ID: <id3@host.com>
source: ldap://cn=Meister%20Berger,o=Universitaet%20Goerlitz,c=DE
name: cn=Meister Berger, o=Universitaet Goerlitz, c=DE
cn: Meister Berger
cn: Berger Meister
sn: Berger
o;charset=iso-8859-1;encoding=quoted-printable: Universit=E6t G=F6rlitz
title: Mayor
title;language=de: Burgermeister
description;encoding=quoted-printable: The Mayor of the great city of=
Goerlitz in the great country of Germany.
email: mb@goerlitz.de
home.phone;fax,voice,msg: +49 3581 123456
home.addr;encoding=quoted-printable: Hufenshlagel 1234=0A
02828 Goerlitz=0A=
Deutschland
certificate;encoding=base64: dGhpcyBjb3VsZCBiZSAKbXkgY2VydGlmaWNhdGUK
The final example illustrates the use of the multipart/related Content-
Type to include non-textual directory data via the "url" encoding to
refer to other body parts within the same message, or to external
values.
Content-Type: multipart/related;
boundary=woof;
type="application/directory";
start="<id5@host.com>"
Content-ID: <id4@host.com>
--woof
Content-Type: application/directory; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-ID: <id5@host.com>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-Printable
source: ldap://cn=Bjorn%20Jensen,o=University%20of%20Michigan,c=US
cn: Bj=F8rn Jensen
sn: Jensen
email: bjorn@umich.edu
image;encoding=url: cid:id6@host.com
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image;encoding=url;format=jpeg: ftp://some.host/some.path.jpg
sound;encoding=url: cid:id7@host.com
phone: +1 313 747-4454
--woof
Content-Type: image/jpeg
Content-ID: <id6@host.com>
<...image data...>
--woof
Content-Type: message/external-body;
name="myvoice.au";
site="myhost.com";
access-type=ANON-FTP;
directory="pub/myname";
mode="image"
Content-Type: audio/basic
Content-ID: <id7@host.com>
--woof--
9. Registration of new profiles
This section defines procedures by which new profiles are registered
with the IANA and made available to the Internet community. Note that
non-IANA profiles may be used by bilateral agreement, provided the asso-
ciated profile names follow the "X-" convention defined above.
The procedures defined here are designed to allow public comment and
review of new profiles, while posing only a small impediment to the
definition of new profiles.
Registration of a new profile is accomplished by the following steps.
9.1. Define the profile
A profile is defined by completing the following template.
To: ietf-mime-direct@umich.edu
Subject: Registration of application/directory MIME profile XXX
Profile name:
Profile purpose:
Profile types:
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Profile special notes (optional):
Intended usage: (one of COMMON, LIMITED USE or OBSOLETE)
The explanation of what goes in each field in the template follows.
Profile name: The name of the profile as it will appear in the
application/directory MIME Content-Type "profile" header parameter, or
the predefined "profile" type name.
Profile purpose: The purpose of the profile (e.g., to represent informa-
tion about people, printers, documents, etc.). Give a short but clear
description.
Profile types: The list of types associated with the profile. This list
of types is to be expected but not required in the profile, unless oth-
erwise noted in the profile definition. Other types not mentioned in
the profile definition may also be present. Note that any new types
referenced by the profile must be defined separately as described in
Section 10.
Profile special notes: Any special notes about the profile, how it is to
be used, etc. This section of the template may also be used to define an
ordering on the types that appear in the Content-Type, if such an order-
ing is required.
9.2. Post the profile definition
The profile description must be posted to the new profile discussion
list, ietf-mime-direct@umich.edu.
9.3. Allow a comment period
Discussion on the new profile must be allowed to take place on the list
for a minimum of two weeks. Consensus must be reached on the profile
before proceeding to step 4.
9.4. Submit the profile for approval
Once the two-week comment period has elapsed, and the proposer is con-
vinced consensus has been reached on the profile, the registration
application should be submitted to the Profile Reviewer for approval.
The Profile Reviewer is appointed to the Application Area Directors and
may either accept or reject the profile registration. An accepted regis-
tration should be passed on by the Profile Reviewer to the IANA for
inclusion in the official IANA profile registry. The registration may be
rejected for any of the following reasons. 1) Insufficient comment
period; 2) Consensus not reached; 3) Technical deficiencies raised on
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the list or elsewhere have not been addressed. The Profile Reviewer's
decision to reject a profile may be appealed by the proposer to the
IESG, or the objections raised can be addressed by the proposer and the
profile resubmitted.
10. Profile Change Control
Existing profiles may be changed using the same process by which they
were registered.
Define the change
Post the change
Allow a comment period
Submit the changed profile for approval
Note that the original author or any other interested party may propose
a change to an existing profile, but that such changes should only be
proposed when there are serious omissions or errors in the published
specification. The Profile Reviewer may object to a change if it is not
backwards compatible, but is not required to do so.
Profile definitions can never be deleted from the IANA registry, but
profiles which are no longer believed to be useful can be declared
OBSOLETE by a change to their "intended use" field.
11. Registration of new types
This section defines procedures by which new types are registered with
the IANA. Note that non-IANA types may be used by bilateral agreement,
provided the associated types names follow the "X-" convention defined
above.
The procedures defined here are designed to allow public comment and
review of new types, while posing only a small impediment to the defini-
tion of new types.
Registration of a new type is accomplished by the following steps.
11.1. Define the type
A type is defined by completing the following template.
To: ietf-mime-direct@umich.edu
Subject: Registration of application/directory MIME type XXX
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Type name:
Type purpose:
Type encoding:
Type special notes (optional):
Intended usage: (one of COMMON, LIMITED USE or OBSOLETE)
The meaning of each field in the template is as follows.
Type name: The name of the type, as it will appear in the body of an
application/directory MIME Content-Type "type: value" line to the left
of the colon ":".
Type purpose: The purpose of the type (e.g., to represent a name, postal
address, IP address, etc.). Give a short but clear description.
Type encoding: The encoding a value of the type must have in the body of
an application/directory MIME Content-Type. This description must be
precise and must not violate the general encoding rules defined in sec-
tion 5 of this document.
Type special notes: Any special notes about the type, how it is to be
used, etc.
11.2. Post the type definition
The type description must be posted to the new type discussion list,
ietf-mime-direct@umich.edu.
11.3. Allow a comment period
Discussion on the new type must be allowed to take place on the list for
a minimum of two weeks. Consensus must be reached on the type before
proceeding to step 4.
11.4. Submit the type for approval
Once the two-week comment period has elapsed, and the proposer is con-
vinced consensus has been reached on the type, the registration applica-
tion should be submitted to the Profile Reviewer for approval. The Pro-
file Reviewer is appointed to the Application Area Directors and may
either accept or reject the type registration. An accepted registration
should be passed on by the Profile Reviewer to the IANA for inclusion in
the official IANA profile registry. The registration may be rejected for
any of the following reasons. 1) Insufficient comment period; 2)
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Consensus not reached; 3) Technical deficiencies raised on the list or
elsewhere have not been addressed. The Profile Reviewer's decision to
reject a type may be appealed by the proposer to the IESG, or the objec-
tions raised can be addressed by the proposer and the type resubmitted.
12. Type Change Control
Existing types may be changed using the same process by which they were
registered.
Define the change
Post the change
Allow a comment period
Submit the type for approval
Note that the original author or any other interested party may propose
a change to an existing type, but that such changes should only be pro-
posed when there are serious omissions or errors in the published
specification. The Profile Reviewer may object to a change if it is not
backwards compatible, but is not required to do so.
Type definitions can never be deleted from the IANA registry, but types
which are nolonger believed to be useful can be declared OBSOLETE by a
change to their "intended use" field.
13. Registration of new parameters
This section defines procedures by which new parameters are registered
with the IANA and made available to the Internet community. Note that
non-IANA parameters may be used by bilateral agreement, provided the
associated parameters names follow the "X-" convention defined above.
The procedures defined here are designed to allow public comment and
review of new parameters, while posing only a small impediment to the
definition of new parameters.
Registration of a new parameter is accomplished by the following steps.
13.1. Define the parameter
A parameter is defined by completing the following template.
To: ietf-mime-direct@umich.edu
Subject: Registration of application/directory MIME type parameter XXX
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Parameter name:
Parameter purpose:
Parameter values:
Parameter special notes (optional):
Intended usage: (one of COMMON, LIMITED USE or OBSOLETE)
The explanation of what goes in each field in the template follows.
Parameter name: The name of the parameter as it will appear in the
application/directory MIME Content-Type.
Parameter purpose: The purpose of the parameter (e.g., to represent the
format of an image, type of a phone number, etc.). Give a short but
clear description. If defining a general paramemter like "format" or
"type" keep in mind that other applications may wish to extend its use.
Parameter values: The list or description of values associated with the
parameter.
Parameter special notes: Any special notes about the parameter, how it
is to be used, etc.
13.2. Post the parameter definition
The parameter description must be posted to the new parameter discussion
list, ietf-mime-direct@umich.edu.
13.3. Allow a comment period
Discussion on the new parameter must be allowed to take place on the
list for a minimum of two weeks. Consensus must be reached on the param-
eter before proceeding to step 4.
13.4. Submit the parameter for approval
Once the two-week comment period has elapsed, and the proposer is con-
vinced consensus has been reached on the parameter, the registration
application should be submitted to the Profile Reviewer for approval.
The Profile Reviewer is appointed to the Application Area Directors and
may either accept or reject the parameter registration. An accepted
registration should be passed on by the Profile Reviewer to the IANA for
inclusion in the official IANA parameter registry. The registration may
be rejected for any of the following reasons. 1) Insufficient comment
period; 2) Consensus not reached; 3) Technical deficiencies raised on
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the list or elsewhere have not been addressed. The Profile Reviewer's
decision to reject a profile may be appealed by the proposer to the
IESG, or the objections raised can be addressed by the proposer and the
parameter registration resubmitted.
14. Parameter Change Control
Existing parameters may be changed using the same process by which they
were registered.
Define the change
Post the change
Allow a comment period
Submit the parameter for approval
Note that the original author or any other interested party may propose
a change to an existing parameter, but that such changes should only be
proposed when there are serious omissions or errors in the published
specification. The Profile Reviewer may object to a change if it is not
backwards compatible, but is not required to do so.
Parameter definitions can never be deleted from the IANA registry, but
parameters which are nolonger believed to be useful can be declared
OBSOLETE by a change to their "intended use" field.
15. Security Considerations
Internet mail is subject to many well known security attacks, including
monitoring, replay, and forgery. Care should be taken by any directory
service in allowing information to leave the scope of the service
itself, where any access controls can no longer be guaranteed. Applica-
tions should also take care to display directory data in a "safe"
environment (e.g., PostScript-valued types).
16. Acknowledgements
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foun-
dation under Grant No. NCR-9416667. The registration procedures defined
here were shamelessly lifted from the MIME registration draft.
17. Bibliography
[RFC-1777] Yeong, W., Howes, T., Kille, S., "Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol", Request for Comment (RFC) 1777, March 1995.
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[RFC-1778] Howes, T., Kille, S., Yeong, W., Robbins, C.J., "The String
Representation of Standard Attribute Syntaxes", Request for
Comment (RFC) 1778, March 1995.
[RFC-822] Crocker, D., "Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text
Messages", STD 11, RFC 822, August 1982.
[RFC-1521] Borenstein, N., Freed, N., "MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions) Part One: Mechanisms for Specifying and Describ-
ing the Format of Internet Message Bodies", RFC 1521, Sep-
tember 1993.
[RFC-1522] Moore, K., "MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Part
Two: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII Text", RFC
1522, September 1993.
[RFC-1848] Crocker, S., Freed, N., Galvin, J., Murphy, S., "MIME Object
Security Services", RFC 1848, October 1995.
[RFC-1766] Alvestrand, H., "Tags for the Identification of Languages",
RFC 1766, March 1995.
[RFC-1872] Levinson, E., "The MIME Multipart/Related Content-type," RFC
1872, December 1995.
[MIME-REG] Freed, N., Postel, J., "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
(MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures," Internet-Draft
draft-ietf-822ext-mime-reg-02.txt, December 1995.
[x500] "Information Processing Systems - Open Systems Interconnec-
tion - The Directory: Overview of Concepts, Models and Ser-
vices", ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC21, International Standard 9594-1,
1988.
[RFC-1835] Deutsch, P., Schoultz, R., Faltstrom, P., Weider, C., "Archi-
tecture of the WHOIS++ service", August 1995.
[RFC-1738] Berners-Lee, T., Masinter, L., McCahill, M., "Uniform
Resource Locators (URL)", RFC 1738, December 1994.
[MIME-WPP] Howes, T., Smith, M., "A White Pages Person Profile for the
application/directory MIME Content-Type", Internet-Draft
draft-ietf-asid-mime-person-00.txt, January, 1996.
[HTTP] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R. Frystyk, H., "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.0", Internet-Draft draft-ietf-
http-v10-spec-05.txt, February, 1996.
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[VERSIT] VERSIT Consortium, "Electronic Business Card (vCard) Specifi-
cation", Draft Final Text - Version 2.0, February 16, 1996,
http://www.versit.com
18. Author's Address
Tim Howes
Netscape Communications Corp.
501 East Middlefield Rd.
Mountain View, CA 94041
USA
howes@netscape.com
+1.415.937.3419
Mark Smith
Netscape Communications Corp.
501 East Middlefield Rd.
Mountain View, CA 94041
USA
mcs@netscape.com
+1.415.937.3477
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