CompSoc » network » URI Policy

Oxford Computer Society URI Policy

Version 1 - David North, 26 October 2008

Objectives

  1. The URI for a resource should, as far as possible, never change.
  2. URIs should be easy to infer, and 'clean'.
  3. URIs should be chosen to avoid tying unrelated services to the same hostname.
  4. Each resource should have only one URI.

Rules

  1. Do not chose URIs with machine names in them. This makes it difficult to move services between machines and violates 1, 2 and 3.
  2. URIs beginning www.ox.compsoc.net should be for resources which are part of the CompSoc website. Do not add random stuff under www, find a proper place for it (see below).
  3. Do not be afraid to invent a new hostname under ox.compsoc.net if your resource does not logically fit under any of the existing ones.
  4. URIs for web user directories (e.g. users.ox.compsoc.net/~username/) should be on the host 'users.ox.compsoc.net' for current students, and 'alumni.ox.compsoc.net' for alumni. They should not be under www.ox.compsoc.net.
  5. When configuring web servers, please make sure URL paths do not accidentally work under multiple hostnames, as this violates objectives 3 and 4.
  6. URIs for SVN repositories should use the HTTPS protocol, not svn+ssh or file. This avoids file permissions becoming messy (see here).
  7. Please consult the sysadmin team before making major changes or introducing a significant new family of URIs.