Stop me if I've misunderstood...

Shawn Steele Shawn.Steele at microsoft.com
Fri Jul 10 23:50:40 CEST 2009


What is your definition?  I fear I apparently have no clue what you're asking since you aren't happy with my answers :)

I consider the entire system to be wherever domain names are used.  That would be the a-Labels on the wire of a query, the APIs helping the client to resolve it.  The DNS server providing answers.  The server providing services which the URL named, the browser trying to visit a web site, the URL (misnomer), the protocol that contains the URL (http hrefs or whatever, mailto)  It includes a yellow sticky note and a bus if that's where the name appears.

IF I restrict the system to merely DNS resolution, then it's much simpler.  I get labels, canonicalize them, convert them to punycode and make the query.  If I don't restrict it to that, then its "everything" where a name may appear.

I said "minimum disruption", not "no disruption."  Because the sets of expectations conflict, it is impossible to make a consistent system without some disruption.

-Shawn

-----Original Message-----
From: idna-update-bounces at alvestrand.no [mailto:idna-update-bounces at alvestrand.no] On Behalf Of Paul Hoffman
Sent: Friday, July 10,  2009 14:21
To: Shawn Steele; Gervase Markham
Cc: idna-update at alvestrand.no
Subject: RE: Stop me if I've misunderstood...

At 7:24 PM +0000 7/10/09, Shawn Steele wrote:
> >> If you want to make a run at a concise definition, that would be still be most
>>> appreciated, at least by me.
>
>Thinking...
>
>Does this work?
>
>"An interoperable IDNA system is one where a human readable machine name from any source, entered by any user, in any country or language, on any computer platform or software, will resolve to the identical IP address with minimum disruption of user expectations."
>
>Don't know if you find that helpful, and please don't nitpick every word, I'm sure it has holes!

This is not about every word: it's about big assumptions that you have made but not define.

What is an "IDNA system"? This key to the question of what two (or more) things are interoperating.

Also, as you have been seeing on this list, "any user" and "with minimum disruption of user expectations" cannot be used in the same definition. Some users have one reasonable set of expectations based on their language, and a different set of users have a different set of expectations based on theirs.

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