Network Working Group A. Swartz Internet-Draft AaronSw.com Expires: September 28, 2004 March 30, 2004 application/rdf+xml Media Type Registration draft-swartz-rdfcore-rdfxml-mediatype-05 Status of this Memo This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026. Internet-Drafts are working documents 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." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http:// www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. This Internet-Draft will expire on September 28, 2004. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved. Abstract This document describes a media type (application/rdf+xml) for use with the XML serialization of the Resource Description Framework (RDF). RDF is a language designed to support the Semantic Web, by facilitating resource description and data exchange on the Web. RDF provides common structures that can be used for interoperable data exchange and follows the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) design principles of interoperability, evolution, and decentralization. Discussion of this Document Please send comments to . To subscribe, send a message with the body 'subscribe' to . The mailing list is Swartz Expires September 28, 2004 [Page 1] Internet-Draft application/rdf+xml March 2004 publically archived at . Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. application/rdf+xml Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Fragment Identifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4. Historical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . 8 Swartz Expires September 28, 2004 [Page 2] Internet-Draft application/rdf+xml March 2004 1. Introduction RDF is a language designed to support the Semantic Web, by facilitating resource description and data exchange on the Web. RDF provides common structures that can be used for interoperable data exchange and follows the W3C design principles of interoperability, evolution, and decentralization. While the RDF data model [2] can be serialized in many ways, the W3C has defined the RDF/XML syntax [1] to allow RDF to be serialized in an XML format. The application/rdf+xml media type allows RDF consumers to identify RDF/XML documents so that they can be processed properly. 2. application/rdf+xml Registration This is a media type registration as defined in RFC 2048, "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures" [5] MIME media type name: application MIME subtype name: rdf+xml Required parameters: none Optional parameters: charset Same as charset parameter of application/xml, defined in RFC 3023 [4]. Encoding considerations: Same as charset parameter of application/xml, defined in RFC 3023 [4]. Security considerations: See "Security Considerations" (Section 6). Interoperability considerations: It is recommended that RDF documents follow the newer RDF/XML Syntax Grammar [1] as opposed to the older RDF Model and Syntax specification [7]. RDF is intended to allow common information to be exchanged between disparate applications. A basis for building common Swartz Expires September 28, 2004 [Page 3] Internet-Draft application/rdf+xml March 2004 understanding is provided by a formal semantics [3], and applications that use RDF should do so in ways that are consistent with this. Published specification: see RDF/XML Syntax Grammar [1] and RDF: Concepts and Abstract Syntax [2] and the older RDF Model and Syntax [7] Applications which use this media type: RDF is device-, platform-, and vendor-neutral and is supported by a range of Web user agents and authoring tools. Additional information: Magic number(s): none Although no byte sequences can be counted on to consistently identify RDF, RDF documents will have the sequence "http:// www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" to identify the RDF namespace. This will usually be towards the top of the document. File extension(s): .rdf Macintosh File Type Code(s): "rdf " For further information: Dan Brickley RDF Interest Group More information may be found on the RDF website: Intended usage: COMMON Author/Change controller: The RDF specification is a work product of the World Wide Web Consortium. The W3C and the W3C RDF Core Working Group have change control over the specification. Swartz Expires September 28, 2004 [Page 4] Internet-Draft application/rdf+xml March 2004 3. Fragment Identifiers The rdf:ID and rdf:about attributes can be used to define fragments in an RDF document. Section 4.1 of the URI specification [8] notes that the semantics of a fragment identifier (part of a URI after a "#") is a property of the data resulting from a retrieval action, and that the format and interpretation of fragment identifiers is dependent on the media type of the retrieval result. In RDF, the thing identified by a URI with fragment identifier does not necessarily bear any particular relationship to the thing identified by the URI alone. This differs from some readings of the URI specification [8], so attention is recommended when creating new RDF terms which use fragment identifiers. More details on RDF's treatment of fragment identifiers can be found in the section "Fragment Identifiers" of the RDF Concepts document [2]. 4. Historical Considerations This media type was reserved in RFC 3023 [4], saying: RDF documents identified using this MIME type are XML documents whose content describes metadata, as defined by [RDF]. As a format based on XML, RDF documents SHOULD use the '+xml' suffix convention in their MIME content-type identifier. However, no content type has yet been registered for RDF and so this media type should not be used until such registration has been completed. 5. IANA Considerations This document calls for registration of a new MIME media type, according to the registration in Section 2. 6. Security Considerations RDF is a generic format for exchanging application information, but application designers must not assume that it provides generic protection against security threats. RFC 3023 [4], section 10, discusses security concerns for generic XML, which are also applicable to RDF. RDF data can be secured for integrity, authenticity and confidentiality using any of the mechanisms available for MIME and Swartz Expires September 28, 2004 [Page 5] Internet-Draft application/rdf+xml March 2004 XML data, including XML signature, XML encryption, S/MIME, OpenPGP or transport or session level security (e.g. see [9], esp. sections 3.4, 3.5 3.10, [10], [11], [12]). RDF is intended to be used in documents that may make assertions about anything, and to this end includes a specification of formal semantics [3]. The semantics provide a basis for combining information from a variety of sources, which may lead to RDF assertions of facts (either by direct assertion, or via logical deduction) that are false, or whose veracity is unclear. RDF application designers should not omit consideration of the reliability of processed information. The formal semantics of RDF can help to enhance reliability, since RDF assertions may be linked to a formal description of their derivation. There is ongoing exploration of mechanisms to record and handle provenance of RDF information. As far as general techniques are concerned, these are still areas of ongoing research, and application designers must be aware, as always, of "Garbage-in, Garbage-out". 7. Acknowledgements Thanks to Dan Connolly for writing the first version of this draft [13], to Andy Powell for , to Marshall Rose for his converter, and to Graham Klyne, Jan Grant, and Dave Beckett for their helpful comments on early versions of this document. Normative References [1] Beckett, D., "RDF/XML Syntax Specification (Revised)", W3C rdf-syntax-grammar, February 2004, . [2] Klyne, G. and J. Carroll, "Resource Description Framework (RDF): Concepts and Abstract Syntax", W3C rdf-concepts, February 2004, . [3] Hayes, P., "RDF Model Theory", W3C rdf-mt, February 2004, . [4] Murata, M., St.Laurent, S. and D. Kohn, "XML Media Types", RFC 3023, January 2001. [5] Freed, N., Klensin, J. and J. Postel, "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures", BCP 13, RFC 2048, November 1996. Swartz Expires September 28, 2004 [Page 6] Internet-Draft application/rdf+xml March 2004 [6] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. Informative References [7] Lassila, O. and R. Swick, "Resource Description Framework (RDF) Model and Syntax Specification", W3C REC-rdf-syntax, February 1999, . [8] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R. and L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 2396, August 1998. [9] Bellovin, S., Schiller, J. and C. Kaufman, "Security Mechanisms for the Internet", RFC 3631, December 2003. [10] Rescorla, E., "HTTP Over TLS", RFC 2818, May 2000. [11] Eastlake, D., Reagle, J. and D. Solo, "(Extensible Markup Language) XML-Signature Syntax and Processing", RFC 3275, March 2002. [12] Eastlake, D. and J. Reagle, "XML Encryption Syntax and Processing", W3C xmlenc-core, December 2002, . [13] Connolly, D., "A media type for Resource Description Framework (RDF)", March 2001, . Author's Address Aaron Swartz AaronSw.com 349 Marshman Highland Park, IL 60035 USA Phone: +1 847 432 8857 EMail: me@aaronsw.com URI: http://www.aaronsw.com/ Swartz Expires September 28, 2004 [Page 7] Internet-Draft application/rdf+xml March 2004 Intellectual Property Statement The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any intellectual property 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; neither does it represent that it has made any effort to identify any such rights. Information on the IETF's procedures with respect to rights in standards-track and standards-related documentation can be found in BCP-11. 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