ietf-xml-mime
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Re: Request for advice: sbml+xml Media Type

2003-07-04 22:35:51

Ben Kovitz scripsit:

1. Would it be a bad idea if we used RFC3236 (The  
application/xhtml+xml Media Type) as a model for the document w  
write?  I'm hoping that we don't need to explain the full  
semantics of SBML in the RFC, since there are already some  
weighty papers that do that (referenced above).  At only 8 pages,  
RFC3236 seems like a model of simplicity and clarity that we  
would like to emulate.  Or is it possible to get even simpler?  
Some of the docs I found for XML MIME media types seemed to do  
little more than list the name of the type and who submitted it.  

The important point is that RFCs are rock-stable; they can be updated
or replaced by other RFCs, but not changed in themselves.  Any documents
they make normative reference to have to be similarly stable.
Note that you don't have to write an RFC in full formality to do the
job here, since you are using an existing top-level type.

2. We are thinking of including required parameters of "level"  
and "version".  Anything to watch out for here?  Is this a wrong  
idea?  SBML has multiple levels to enable different simulation  
tools to interoperate at different levels of complexity and  
sophistication.  Each level can come in different versions.  More  
levels are planned.  

If these already exist in the XML, then there is no need to make them
required parameters.  If they don't exist in the XML, I suggest you 
make them exist there.

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