Default namespace URL

[burnburn]

From @ianbjacobs on 20 July 2018:

I have one observation: section 9.2 (JSON-LD) defines a default namespace URL which is https://w3id.org/credentials/v1

Would it be possible to use a W3C namespace instead following this policy?
https://www.w3.org/2005/07/13-nsuri

[msporny]

Would it be possible to use a W3C namespace instead following this policy?

The URL for the credentials JSON-LD context has a number of requirements:

1. It's easy for developers to remember.
2. It can be dereferenced, and the file may be requested hundreds of millions to billions of times a day.
3. The hosting provider for the URL finds the second requirement acceptable.

When discussing this with W3C Staff before (I think we talked w/ @sandhawke the most), it was the third item that was difficult to resolve. Note that we expect most uses of this URL to aggressively cache the document and not go out to the network (most implementations ship with a static file instead of going out to the network)... but there is always the chance that a big implementation won't do that and thus hammer the URL.

I would expect the W3C VCWG to welcome a JSON-LD context at any of the following URLs:

https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v1
https://w3.org/2018/credentials/v1

@ianbjacobs, do you think either of the two URLs above are workable given the requirements listed above?

[ianbjacobs]

Hi @msporny,

Thank you for enumerating requirements. I would add a fourth (if acceptable):

• W3C should host the resource.

We have had experience with widely referenced resources (namely, DTDs) and managed them reasonably well despite rogue software that should have cached but didn't.

I recommend that the Working Group write a proposal for the Team Contact to bring to the management team, since I am hearing this is a question of resources and maintenance.

I hope that helps,

Ian

[msporny]

I recommend that the Working Group write a proposal for the Team Contact to bring to the management team

Thanks @ianbjacobs, that gives us a concrete next step.

@stonematt and @burnburn, can we put this on an upcoming VCWG agenda?

Specifically the proposal is to request that W3C Management approve the hosting of the following two documents at W3C (clearly noting the burden this may create on W3C servers in the event of implementations that do not cache their JSON-LD contexts):

1. The W3C VCWG JSON-LD Context at https://w3.org/2018/credentials/v1
2. The W3C VCWG Vocabulary document at https://w3.org/2018/credentials

We can bikeshed the alternative https://w3.org/ns/credentials/2018 and https://w3.org/ns/credentials (which may be preferable to some).

[msporny]

ping -- Chairs of VCWG:

@stonematt and @burnburn, can we put this on an upcoming VCWG agenda?

[burnburn]

From TPAC 2018:

• Reference proposed URLs (https://w3.org/2018/credentials/v1 and https://w3.org/2018/credentials) in the specification
• Request proposed URLs above from W3C web team
• Document resource integrity proofs for these in the Implementation Guidance NOTE
• Document static caching for Credentials JSON-LD context

[davidlehn]

It may be good to coordinate with the JSON-LD WG on a general note about context caching. That's an issue for many other JSON-LD users as well.

[jonnycrunch]

my issues is that it is an www URL. there are other formats including the @content being an object using a CID as in IPLD.

[jonnycrunch]

see my pull request: #261

[dmitrizagidulin]

@jonnycrunch Can the IPLD style CID be modeled using Hashlinks?

[brentzundel]

Decision at Barcelona F2F: Tasks complete or accommodated, close issue.