Re: PATH_INFO spec (with regard to ";")

[Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>]

Iñaki Baz Castillo <ibc@aliax.net> wrote:
> I'm coding a XCAP server using Rack. XCAP is basically XPath over HTTP in 
> which there are HTTP URI's like the following:
> 
>  /auid/global/mydoc.xml/~~/ruleset/rule%5b@id=%22sip:dom.org;p=abc%22%5d
> 
> After reading RFC for URI and HTTP I think that the ";" is valid into the 
> above URI. I also asked in a XCAP maillist and received same conclusion.
> 
> Please tell me if you consider the ";" in the above URI wrong.

Hi Iñaki,

You're missing the point, it's not that ";" is right or wrong.  It's
"right" in that it's always been _accepted_ by the Mongrel family of
HTTP parsers.  That's not the issue.

The issue is just whether or not the PATH_INFO variable can contain ";"
(a path-segment parameter) in it.  RFC 3875 section 4.1.5 states it
cannot:

   Unlike a URI path, the PATH_INFO is not URL-encoded, and cannot
   contain path-segment parameters.

However, Rack is not governed by RFC 3875 and already deviates from
it when it comes to the "PATH_INFO is not URL-encoded".

-- 
Eric Wong