Re: [APPS-REVIEW] Metalink XML Download Description Format (draft-bryan-

["Anthony Bryan" <anthonybryan@gmail.com>]

Greetings,

An updated Internet Draft for Metalink is available at
http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-bryan-metalink-03
with interim revisions at
http://metalinks.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/metalinks/internetdraft/ .

We're looking for review and public comments.

  Metalink is an XML-based document format that describes a file or
  lists of files to be added to a download queue.  Lists are composed
  of a number of files, each with an extensible set of attached
  metadata.  For example, each file can have a description, checksum,
  and list of URIs that it is available from.

  The primary use case that Metalink addresses is the description of
  downloadable content in a format so download agents can act
  intelligently and recover from common errors with little or no user
  interaction necessary.  These errors can include multiple servers
  going down and data corrupted in transmission.

This updated version incorporates comments:

- urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:metalink namespace & registration.
- IANA "Operating System Names" registry for listing the OS that a
file listed in a metalink is for. This registry would need to be
updated to be useful.
- new "Client Implementation Considerations" . Currently, this section
mentions transparent content negotiation.

Issues:
- Inclusion of digital signatures other than PGP of files listed in
the Metalink. (Only PGP is currently supported). What do we need to
add and how might we need to restructure this for other digital
signatures to be included/used?
- Proxies. If a file listed in a metalink is already in a cache, but a
different URI is used then I assume it won't be recognized and will be
requested again since it seems to be an uncached file. I'm wondering
if the checksums in a metalink or something else could be used to see
if the file is the same or not.

Thank you,

-- 
(( Anthony Bryan ... Metalink [ http://www.metalinker.org ]
 )) Easier, More Reliable, Self Healing Downloads