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RDF Reference IRI #255

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RDF Reference IRI #255

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GH-223: RDF Reference IRI
afs Oct 22, 2025
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GH-169: Refer to irelative-ref in the IRI Grammar
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Apply suggestions from @hartig and @TallTed
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Update spec/index.html
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Expand Up @@ -989,8 +989,8 @@ <h3>IRIs</h3>

<p class="note">For convenience, a complete [[ABNF]] grammar
from [[RFC3987]] is provided in <a href="#iri-abnf" class="sectionRef"></a>.</p>

<div class="note" id="note-iris">
<div class="note">
<p><strong>URIs and IRIs:</strong>
IRIs are a generalization of
<dfn data-lt="URI" data-lt-noDefault><abbr title="Uniform Resource Identifier">URI</abbr>s</dfn>
Expand All @@ -1016,35 +1016,70 @@ <h3>IRIs</h3>
but is based on a processing model important for implementation
within web browsers and are not described using an [[ABNF]] grammar.
</p>
</div>

<p><strong>Relative IRI references:</strong>
<section id="reference-iris" class="informative">
<h4>RDF Reference IRIs</h4>
<p>
This section provides advice to data publishers.
</p>
<p>
<a>IRIs</a> are used to denote <a>resources</a>, and each IRI should identify the same
resource regardless of where that IRI is used.
Note that the general syntax for IRIs, defined by [[RFC3987]], can express
IRIs which do not meet the requirement of being a global reference.
Some URI schemes add additional requirements; for example, the
<a data-cite="rfc7230#section-2.7.1">HTTP URI scheme</a> defines
<a data-cite="rfc7230#http-URI">`http-URI`</a>, which
requires the presence of a non-empty host name, and, as a consequence,
the path component will start with `/`.
The [[RFC3987]] syntax permits IRIs such as `http:abcd` and `http:///abcd`,
but these are invalid because they do not satisfy the HTTP URI scheme definition.
</p>
<p>
An <dfn data-lt="RDF reference">RDF Reference IRI</dfn>,
sometimes called simply <a>RDF Reference</a>,
is an <a>IRI</a> that is suitable for use as a global reference.
</p>

<p>
<strong>Reference Resolution:</strong>
An <a>RDF Reference IRI</a> is unchanged by
<a data-cite="RFC3986#section-5">reference resolution</a>.
The <a data-cite="RFC3986#section-3.3">path component</a>
starts with a `/` character and does not contain `.` or `..` segments.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Relative IRI references:</strong>
Some <a>concrete RDF syntaxes</a> permit
<span id="dfn-relative-iris"><!-- obsolete term--></span>
<dfn id="dfn-relative-iri" data-lt="relative iri reference">relative IRI references</dfn> as a convenient shorthand
that allows authoring of documents independently from their final
publishing location.
Relative IRI references must be
<dfn id="dfn-relative-iri" data-lt="relative iri reference">relative IRI references</dfn>
(see the `irelative-ref` production in the <a href="#iri-abnf">IRI Grammar</a>)
as a convenient shorthand that allows RDF documents to be authored without knowing
their final publishing location. Relative IRI references must be
<a data-cite="rfc3986#section-5.2">resolved against</a> a
<dfn class="export">base IRI</dfn>.
Therefore, the RDF graph serialized in such syntaxes is well-defined only
if a <a data-cite="rfc3986#section-5.1">base IRI
can be established</a> [[RFC3986]].</p>
if a <a data-cite="rfc3986#section-5.1">base IRI can be established</a> [[RFC3986]].
</p>

<p><strong>URI Schemes:</strong>
Implementations are encouraged to enforce the scheme-specific rules of
<p>
<strong>URI Schemes:</strong>
Implementations are encouraged to follow the scheme-specific rules of
the common schemes, such as the
<a data-cite="RFC7230#section-2.7.1">scheme rules for HTTP/HTTPS</a> and the
<a data-cite="RFC7230#section-2.7">scheme rules for HTTP/HTTPS</a> and the
<a data-cite="did-core#identifier">DID syntax</a>.
Implementations ignore URI scheme rules
for schemes they do not recognize.
</p>

<p><strong>IRI normalization:</strong>
<p>
<strong>IRI normalization:</strong>
Interoperability problems can be avoided by minting
only IRIs that are normalized according to
<a data-cite="rfc3987#section-5">Section 5</a>
of [[!RFC3987]].
</p>
</p>

<ul>
<li>Use lowercase characters in scheme names.</li>
Expand All @@ -1068,7 +1103,7 @@ <h3>IRIs</h3>
(ASCII, punycode-encoded name]) for Internationalized Domain Names [[RFC5890]] in IRIs.</li>
<li>Use IRIs in Unicode [=Normalization Form C=] [[I18N-Glossary]].</li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
</section>

<section id="section-Graph-Literal">
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