[Handle-info] Handle identifier and URN - what about the slash?

[Jakob Voss <jakob.voss@gbv.de>]

Hi!

We think about using handle but we also need to create URNs so we must
conform to RFC 2141 [1]. In RFC 2141 URN syntax is defined as

<URN> ::= "urn:" <NID> ":" <NSS>

<NSS>         ::= 1*<URN chars>

<URN chars>   ::= <trans> | "%" <hex> <hex>

<trans>       ::= <upper> | <lower> | <number> | <other> | <reserved>

<reserved>    ::= '%" | "/" | "?" | "#"

But it is also stated that reserved characters should not be used:

> 2.3.2 The other reserved characters
>
> RFC 1630 reserves the characters "/", "?", and "#" for particular
> purposes. The URN-WG has not yet debated the applicability and
> precise semantics of those purposes as applied to URNs. Therefore,
> these characters are RESERVED for future developments.  Namespace
> developers SHOULD NOT use these characters in unencoded form, but
> rather use the appropriate %-encoding for each character.

However handle (RFC 3650 [2]) uses the slash ('/') to seperate Handle
Naming Authority and Handle Local Name:

<Handle> ::= <Handle Naming Authority> "/" <Handle Local Name>

For instance DOI as an application of Handle includes a slash in its
identifier but there is also an URN representation of DOI, although it
does not seem to be official [3], but known for years [4]. The syntax is

<DOI-URN> ::= "urn:" "doi:" <Handle Naming Authority> "/" <Handle Local
Name>


My questions:
1) Is it a problem to use such handle-based URNs with slash in it?
2) Do you know of other uses of handle beside DOI that also use URN?

Greetings,
Jakob

References:
[1] http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2141.txt
[2] http://www.handle.net/rfc/rfc3650.html
[3] http://www.doi.org/factsheets/DOIIdentifierSpecs.html
[4] http://www.dlib.org/dlib/may99/05paskin.html


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