Draft spec changes for comments

solderpunk solderpunk at SDF.ORG

Sat Jun 13 19:15:52 BST 2020

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Hey folks,

At gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/docs/specification-modified.gmi youwill find a modified version of the current spec. If you download it,along with the current spec fromgemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/docs/specification.gmi, you can `diff`them to see the changes. These changes are a tentative version of thoseI want to make before making a new official update and then, at last,freezing the spec again. I'm making them available now so people canpoint out oversights or suggest improvements.

The changes are:

Fix a section numbering error* Define the gemini URI scheme, and explicitly disallow the userinfo subcomponent of the authority component, protecting us from Petite Abeille's "auto cookie" construct.* Add a minimal definition of alt text to the definition of preformatted mode toggle lines, to address accessability and searchability concerns, as well as to close, or at least ameliorate, the extensibility loophole identified by Katarina Eriksson.* A simplification of the client certificate status codes and details, including removing transient client certificates as a formally defined construct with prescribed behaviour.

I hope that the alt text and client certificate stuff can be augmentedby best practices established outside the spec itself to fill indetails.

If people think we can do a better job of the above changes, I'm happyto hear about it, but I don't want to consider any non-trivial changesother than the above before a nice long freeze.

Cheers,Solderpunk