This document specifies an Internet standards track PRotocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document defines the format for literal IPv6 Addresses in URL's for implementation in World Wide Web browsers. This format has been implemented in the IPv6 versions of several widely deployed browsers including Microsoft Internet EXPlorer, Mozilla, and Lynx. It is also intended to be used in the IPv6 version of the service location protocol.
This document incudes an update to the generic syntax for Uniform Resource Identifiers defined in RFC2396 [URL]. It defines a syntax for IPv6 addresses and allows the use of "[" and "]" within a URI explicitly for this reserved purpose.
1. IntrodUCtion
The textual representation defined for literal IPv6 addresses in [ARCH] is not directly compatible with URL's. Both use ":" and "." characters as delimiters. This document defines the format for literal IPv6 Addresses in URL's for implementation in World Wide Web browsers. The goal is to have a format that allows easy "cut" and "paste" Operations with a minimum of editing of the literal address.
The format defined in this document has been implemented in the IPv6 versions of several widely deployed browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Lynx. It is also intended to be used in the IPv6 version of the service location protocol.
1.1 Requirements
The keyWords MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL, if and where they appear in this document, are to be interpreted as described in [KEYWORDS].
World Wide Web browsers SHOULD implement the format of IPv6 literals in URL's defined in this document. Other types of applications and protocols that use URL's MAY use this format.
2. Literal IPv6 Address Format in URL's Syntax
To use a literal IPv6 address in a URL, the literal address should be enclosed in "[" and "]" characters. For example the following literal IPv6 addresses:
This document updates the generic syntax for Uniform Resource Identifiers defined in RFC2396 [URL]. It defines a syntax for IPv6 addresses and allows the use of "[" and "]" within a URI explicitly for this reserved purpose.
The following changes to the syntax in RFC2396 are made: (1) change the 'host' non-terminal to add an IPv6 option:
where IPv6address is defined as in RFC2373 [ARCH].
(2) Replace the definition of 'IPv4address' with that of RFC2373, as it correctly defines an IPv4address as consisting of at most three decimal digits per segment.
(3) Add "[" and "]" to the set of 'reserved' characters:
Brian E. Carpenter IBM iCAIR, Suite 150 1890 Maple Avenue Evanston IL 60201 USA
EMail: brian@icair.org
Larry Masinter AT&T Labs 75 Willow Road Menlo Park, CA 94025
EMail: LMM@acm.org Web: http://larry.masinter.net
7. References
[ARCH] Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture", RFC2373, July 1998.
[STD-PROC] Bradner, S., The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3, BCP 9, RFC2026, October 1996.
[URL] Fielding, R., Masinter, L. and T. Berners-Lee, "Uniform Resource Identifiers: Generic Syntax", RFC2396, August 1998.
8. Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.
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Acknowledgement
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