4373 2007-03-07 10:43:01 +0000 [FO] resolve-uri() where $base is relative 2007-11-16 09:10:28 +0000 1 1 1 Unclassified XPath / XQuery / XSLT Functions and Operators 1.0 Recommendation PC Windows XP CLOSED FIXED P2 normal --- 1 mike mike public-qt-comments oldest_to_newest 14336 0 mike 2007-03-07 10:43:01 +0000 The specification of resolve-uri() is unclear about what happens when the $base argument is itself a relative URI. At one stage the specification stated this was an error, and my recollection is that we made a deliberate decision to change this. However, the summary still states "The purpose of this function is to enable a relative URI to be resolved against an absolute URI", and the body of the specification states "and the resulting absolute URI reference is returned" (if $base is allowed to be relative, then the result will also be relative). The question was raised in a challenge to the published results of XSLT test case reluri19, which assume that resolving against a relative URI is permitted: see http://www.w3.org/Member/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=684 (member-only) My proposed resolution would be to issue an editorial clarification to make it clear that $base is allowed to be relative, and that in this case the result will also be relative. 14349 1 colin 2007-03-08 07:51:20 +0000 Please see my additional comment to bug 684. 14652 2 mike 2007-04-03 21:33:50 +0000 The WGs reviewed this today. It was accepted that RFC 3986 makes it fairly clear that the algorithm it describes for resolving a "relative reference" (which we incorrectly refer to as a relative URI) is intended to take an absolute hierarchic URI as the base URI input, and to produce an absolute hierarchic URI as the result. I was asked to produce a concrete wording proposal for an erratum. Here is proposed wording: Summary: This function enables a relative URI reference to be resolved against a base URI to produce an absolute URI. The first form of this function resolves $relative against the value of the base-uri property from the static context. If the base-uri property is not initialized in the static context an error is raised [err:FONS0005]. If $relative is a relative URI reference, it is resolved against $base, or against the base-uri property from the static context, using an algorithm such as those described in [RFC 2396] or [RFC 3986], and the resulting absolute URI reference is returned. If $relative is an absolute URI reference, it is returned unchanged. If $relative is the empty sequence, the empty sequence is returned. If $relative is not a valid URI according to the rules of the xs:anyURI data type, or if it is not a suitable relative reference to use as input to the chosen resolution algorithm then an error is raised [err:FORG0002]. If $base is not a valid URI according to the rules of the xs:anyURI data type, or if it is not a suitable URI to use as input to the chosen resolution algorithm (for example, if it is a relative URI reference, if it is a non-hierarchic URI, or if it contains a fragment identifier) then an error is raised [err:FORG0002]. If the chosen resolution algorithm fails for any other reason then an error is raised [err:FORG0009]. Notes: Resolving a URI does not dereference it. This is merely a syntactic operation on two character strings. The algorithms in the cited RFCs include some variations that are optional or recommended rather than mandatory; they also describe some common practices that are not recommended, but which are permitted for backwards compatibility. Where the cited RFCs permit variations in behavior, so does this specification. 14734 3 mike 2007-04-16 21:27:18 +0000 The WGs today accepted the change as proposed. I am therefore closing the bug report. Michael Kay for the XSL and XQuery WGs 17764 4 mike 2007-11-16 09:10:28 +0000 This will appear as erratum FO.E1