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0011-remove-namespacing.md

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  • Start Date: 2015-12-03
  • RFC PR: #30

Summary

This RFC proposes we remove all namespacing in the Refract base specification while proposing we use profile links in its place.

Note: this is not to be confused with the actual namespace documents we have put together, such as the API Description or Data Structure namespaces. These should continue to exist.

Motivation

Namespacing is currently not used anywhere, and is quite complex in its design. In removing it, we can move to a more hypermedia-based approach, which is more flexible and simpler.

Detailed design

In moving away from using the concept of a namespace, this allows for us to make the following changes to the base specification.

  • Remove prefix from the meta object
  • Remove namespaces from the meta object
  • Refer to a "namespace" as a "profile" instead
  • Remove the ability to prefix namespaces
  • Remove namespacing from the Element Pointer section
  • Remove Namespacing section in specification

In its place, we will provide instructions for using the profile link relation for defining where the semantic definition for elements MAY be found. This profile link SHOULD conform to RFC 6906.

Drawbacks

Namespacing provides a very detailed way to extend documents and elements. While this is very powerful, it is quite complex, and is currently not part of any implementation we have done. The drawback here then is that we lose this ability.

Alternatives

None proposed here.

Unresolved questions

None at this moment.