On Jul 2, 2009, at 10:48 AM, <
john.1.kemp@...> <
john.1.kemp@...
> wrote:
...
> My reading of the MUST in RFC 2616:
>
> "If the abs_path is not present in the URL, it MUST be given as "/"
> when
> used as a Request-URI for a resource"
>
> is that "no path" is considered to be the equivalent of a path of "/".
>
> My reading would thus be that the URIs denote the /same/ thing.
>
What you cite refers to "when it is used as a Request-URI". That is
precisely why it does not necessarily refer to denotation. It is
centrally important in all these discussions to keep the two things
clearly separate. URIs can be used to request (access to) a network
resource, and they can be used as names, to denote a resource. The two
functions are distinct, and need not coincide. Some URIs can denote
without being able to be usable to request anything; others may work
as requests but not denote what it is that they request (according to
http-range-14, a 303 redirect sets up this possibility.)
That wording of RFC 26167 that you cite may not have been intended
this way, but in fact it gives a perfect justification for a decision
that the "/"-less URI might denote something other than what the "/"-
normalized URI requests, as danbri originally proposed
Pat Hayes
