Network Working Group R. Herriot Request for Comments: 3510 I. McDonald Updates: 2910 High North Inc. Category: Standards Track April 2003
Internet Printing Protocol/1.1: IPP URL Scheme
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This memo defines the "ipp" URL (Uniform Resource Locator) scheme. This memo updates IPP/1.1: Encoding and Transport (RFC 2910), by expanding and clarifying Section 5, "IPP URL Scheme", of RFC 2910. An "ipp" URL is used to specify the network location of a print service that supports the IPP Protocol (RFC 2910), or of a network resource (for example, a print job) managed by such a print service.
This memo conforms to all of the requirements in Registration Procedures for URL Scheme Names [RFC2717]. This memo also follows all of the recommendations in Guidelines for new URL Schemes [RFC2718].
See section 1, "Introduction", of [RFC2911] and section 1, "Introduction", of [RFC3196] for overview information about IPP. See section 10, "Description of the Base IPP Documents", of [RFC3196] for a full description of the IPP document set.
This memo updates IPP/1.1: Encoding and Transport (RFC 2910), by expanding and clarifying Section 5, "IPP URL Scheme", of RFC 2910, but does not define any new parameters or other new extensions to the syntax of IPP URLs.
The IPP URL scheme defined in this document is based on the ABNF for the HTTP URL scheme defined in HTTP [RFC2616], which in turn is derived from the URI Generic Syntax [RFC2396] and further updated for IPv6 by [RFC2732]. An IPP URL is transformed into an HTTP URL according to the rules specified in section 5 of IPP Protocol [RFC2910].
This document defines IPP URL scheme applicability, associated port (631), associated MIME type ("application/ipp"), character encoding, and syntax.
This document is laid out as follows:
- Section 2 defines the terminology used throughout the document.
- Section 3 supplies references to the IPP Printer and IPP Job object model defined in IPP Model [RFC2911].
The uppercase terms "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT" "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119]. These terms are used to specify conformance requirements for all implementations (both print clients and print services) of this specification.
See section 2, "IPP Objects", section 2.1, "Printer Object", and section 2.2, "Job Object", in [RFC2911] for a full description of the IPP object model and terminology.
In this document, "IPP Client" means the software (on some hardware platform) that submits, monitors, and/or manages print jobs via the IPP Protocol [RFC2910] to a print spooler, print gateway, or physical printing device.
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In this document, "IPP Printer object" means the software (on some hardware platform) that receives print jobs and/or printer/job operations via the IPP Protocol [RFC2910] from an "IPP Client".
In this document, "IPP Printer" is a synonym for "IPP Printer object".
In this document, "IPP Job object" means the set of attributes and documents for one print job instantiated on an "IPP Printer".
In this document, "IPP Job" is a synonym for "IPP Job object".
In this document, "IPP URL" means a URL with the "ipp" scheme.
Note: In this document, "IPP URL" is a synonym for "ipp-URL" (in section 4, "IPP URL Scheme", of this document) and "ipp-URL" (in section 5, "IPP URL Scheme", of [RFC2910]).
The "ipp" URL scheme MUST only be used to specify absolute URLs (relative IPP URLs are not allowed) for IPP print services and their associated network resources. The "ipp" URL scheme MUST only be used to specify the use of the abstract protocol defined in IPP Model [RFC2911] over an HTTP [RFC2616] transport, as defined in IPP Protocol [RFC2910]. Any other transport binding for the abstract protocol defined in IPP Model [RFC2911] would require a different URL scheme.
The "ipp" URL scheme allows an IPP client to choose an appropriate IPP print service (for example, from a directory). The IPP client can establish an HTTP connection to the specified IPP print service. The IPP client can send IPP protocol requests (for example, a "Print-Job" request) and receive IPP protocol responses over that HTTP connection.
All IPP URLs MUST be used to specify network print services which support the "application/ipp" MIME media type as registered in [IANA-MIMEREG] for IPP protocol requests and responses.
IPP URLs MUST use [RFC2396] encoding, as do their equivalent HTTP URLs. Characters other than those in the "reserved" and "unsafe" sets [RFC2396] are equivalent to their ""%" HEX HEX" encoding.
The abstract protocol defined in IPP Model [RFC2911] places a limit of 1023 octets (NOT characters) on the length of a URI (see section 4.1.5, "uri", in [RFC2911]).
Note: IPP Printers ought to be cautious about depending on URI lengths above 255 bytes, because some older client implementations might not properly support these lengths.
IPP URLs MUST be represented in absolute form. Absolute URLs MUST always begin with a scheme name followed by a colon. For definitive information on URL syntax and semantics, see "Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax and Semantics" [RFC2396]. This specification adopts the definitions of "host", "port", "abs_path", and "query" from [RFC2396], as updated for IPv6 by [RFC2732].
If the port is empty or not given, port 631 is assumed. The semantics are that the identified resource (see section 5.1.2 of [RFC2616]) is located at the IPP print service listening for HTTP connections on that port of that host, and the Request-URI for the identified resource is 'abs_path'.
If the 'abs_path' is not present in the URL, it MUST be given as "/" when used as a Request-URI for a resource (see section 5.1.2 of [RFC2616]).
The following are examples of well-formed IPP URLs for IPP Printers (for example, to be used as protocol elements in 'printer-uri' operation attributes of 'Print-Job' request messages):
Each of the above URLs are well-formed URLs for IPP Printers and each would reference a logically different IPP Printer, even though some of those IPP Printers might share the same host system. The 'bob' or 'ira' last path components might represent two different physical printer devices, while 'tiger' might represent some grouping of IPP Printers (for example, a load-balancing spooler). Or the 'bob' and 'ira' last path components might represent separate human recipients on the same physical printer device (for example, a physical printer supporting two job queues). In either case, both 'bob' and 'ira' would behave as different and independent IPP Printers.
The following are examples of well-formed IPP URLs for IPP Printers with (optional) ports and paths:
The first and second IPP URLs above MUST be resolved to port 631 (IANA assigned well-known port for IPP). The second and third IPP URLs above are equivalent (see section 4.7 below).
The following are examples of well-formed IPP URLs for IPP Jobs (for example, to be used as protocol elements in 'job-uri' attributes of 'Print-Job' response messages):
IPP Job URLs are valid and meaningful only until Job completion and possibly an implementation defined optional period of persistence after Job completion (see IPP Model [RFC2911]).
Ambiguously, section 4.3.1 'job-uri' of IPP Model [RFC2911] states that:
"the precise format of a Job URI is implementation dependent."
Thus, the relationship between the value of the "printer-uri" operation attribute used in a 'Print-Job' request and the value of the "job-uri" attribute returned in the corresponding 'Print-Job' response is implementation dependent. Also, section 4.3.3 'job- printer-uri' of IPP Model [RFC2911] states that the 'job-printer-uri' attribute of a Job object:
"permits a client to identify the Printer object that created this Job object when only the Job object's URI is available to the client."
However, the above statement is false, because the transform from an IPP Job URL to the corresponding IPP Printer URL is unspecified in either IPP Model [RFC2911] or IPP Protocol [RFC2910].
IPP Printers that conform to this specification SHOULD only generate IPP Job URLs (for example, in the "job-uri" attribute in a 'Print- Job' response) by appending exactly one path component to the corresponding IPP Printer URL (for interoperability).
When comparing two IPP URLs to decide if they match or not, an IPP Client MUST use the same rules as those defined for HTTP URI comparisons in [RFC2616], with the sole following exception:
- A port that is empty or not given MUST be treated as equivalent to the well-known port for that IPP URL (port 631);
See: Section 3.2.3, "URI Comparison", in [RFC2616].
a) MUST only send IPP protocol connections to the port specified in each given IPP URL (if present) or otherwise to IANA assigned well-known port 631;
b) MUST only send IPP URLs used as protocol elements in outgoing IPP protocol request messages (for example, in the "printer-uri" operation attribute in a 'Print-Job' request) that conform to the ABNF specified in section 4.5, "IPP URL Scheme Syntax, of this document;
c) MUST only convert IPP URLs to their corresponding HTTP URL forms according to the rules in section 5, "IPP URL Scheme", in [RFC2910].
a) MUST listen for incoming IPP protocol connections on IANA-assigned well-known port 631, unless explicitly configured by system administrators or site policies;
b) SHOULD NOT listen for incoming IPP protocol connections on any other port, unless explicitly configured by system administrators or site policies;
c) SHOULD only accept IPP URLs used as protocol elements in incoming IPP protocol request messages (for example, in the "printer-uri" operation attribute in a 'Print-Job' request) that conform to the ABNF specified in section 4.5, "IPP URL Scheme Syntax", of this document;
d) SHOULD only send IPP URLs used as protocol elements in outgoing IPP protocol response messages (for example, in the "job-uri" attribute in a 'Print-Job' response) that conform to the ABNF specified in section 4.5, "IPP URL Scheme Syntax", of this document;
e) SHOULD only generate IPP Job URLs (for example, in the "job-uri" attribute in a 'Print-Job' response) by appending exactly one path component to the corresponding IPP Printer URL (for interoperability);
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f) SHOULD NOT use literal IPv6 or IPv4 addresses in configured or locally generated IPP URLs.
This IPP URL Scheme specification does not introduce any additional internationalization considerations, beyond those described in [RFC2910] and [RFC2911].
See: Section 7, "Internationalization Considerations", in [RFC2910]. See: Section 7, "Internationalization Considerations", in [RFC2911].
This IPP URL Scheme specification does not introduce any additional security considerations, beyond those described in [RFC2910] and [RFC2911], except the following:
a) An IPP URL might be faked to point to a rogue IPP print service, thus collecting confidential document contents from IPP clients. Server authentication mechanisms and security mechanisms specified in the IPP Protocol [RFC2910] are sufficient to address this threat.
b) An IPP URL might be used to access an IPP print service by an unauthorized IPP client. Client authentication mechanisms and security mechanisms specified in the IPP Protocol [RFC2910] are sufficient to address this threat.
c) An IPP URL might be used to access an IPP print service at a print protocol application layer gateway (for example, an IPP to LPD gateway [RFC2569]) causing silent compromise of IPP security mechanisms. There is no practical defense against this threat by a client system. System administrators should avoid such compromising configurations.
d) An IPP URL does not have parameters to specify the required client authentication mechanism (for example, 'certificate' as defined in section 4.4.2, "uri-authentication-supported", of IPP Model
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[RFC2911]) and required security mechanism (for example, 'tls' as defined in section 4.4.3, "uri-security-supported", of IPP Model [RFC2911]). Service discovery or directory protocols might be used to discover the required client authentication and security mechanisms associated with given IPP URLs.
Historical Note: During the development of this document, consideration was given to the addition of standard IPP URL parameters for the client authentication and security mechanisms. However, based on a strong IETF IPP Working Group consensus, no parameters were added to the "ipp" URL scheme as originally defined in IPP Protocol [RFC2910] in September 2000, for reasons of backwards compatibility with the many currently shipping implementations of IPP/1.1.
The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; neither does it represent that it has made any effort to identify any such rights. Information on the IETF's procedures with respect to rights in standards-track and standards-related documentation can be found in BCP-11. Copies of claims of rights made available for publication and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementors or users of this specification can be obtained from the IETF Secretariat.
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights which may cover technology that may be required to practice this standard. Please address the information to the IETF Executive Director.
[RFC2234] Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997.
[RFC2396] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R. and L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 2396, August 1998.
[RFC2616] Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Frystyk, H., Masinter, L., Leach, P. and T. Berners-Lee, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", RFC 2616, June 1999.
[RFC2732] Hinden, R., Carpenter, B. and L. Masinter, "Format for Literal IPv6 Addresses in URL's", RFC 2732, December 1999.
[RFC2910] Herriot, R., Butler, S., Moore, P., Turner, R. and J. Wenn, "IPP/1.1 Encoding and Transport [IPP Protocol]", RFC 2910, September 2000.
[RFC2911] Hastings, T., Herriot, R., deBry, R., Isaacson, S. and P. Powell, "IPP/1.1 Model and Semantics [IPP Model]", RFC 2911, September 2000.
[US-ASCII] Coded Character Set -- 7-bit American Standard Code for Information Interchange, ANSI X3.4-1986.
This document is a product of the Internet Printing Protocol Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
Thanks to Pat Fleming (IBM), Tom Hastings (Xerox), Harry Lewis (IBM), Hugo Parra (Novell), Don Wright (Lexmark), and all the members of the IETF IPP WG.
Section 5, "IPP URL Scheme", in IPP Protocol [RFC2910] was the primary input to this IPP URL Scheme specification.
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Appendix A - Registration of "ipp" URL Scheme
Note: The following registration obsoletes section 5, "IPP URL Scheme", of IPP Protocol [RFC2911].
IPP URLs MUST use [RFC2396] encoding, as do their equivalent HTTP URLs. Characters other than those in the "reserved" and "unsafe" sets [RFC2396] are equivalent to their ""%" HEX HEX" encoding.
Intended Usage:
The intended usage of the "ipp" URL scheme is COMMON.
An "ipp" URL is used to specify the network location of a print service that supports the IPP Protocol [RFC2910], or of a network resource (for example, a print job) managed by such a print service. An IPP client can choose to establish an HTTP connection to the specified print service for transmission of IPP protocol requests (for example, IPP print job submission requests).
Applications or Protocols which use this URL scheme:
See: Section 9, "Interoperability with IPP/1.0 Implementations", in IPP Protocol [RFC2910].
Security Considerations:
See: Section 8, "Security Considerations", in IPP Protocol [RFC2910].
Relevant Publications:
[RFC2910] Herriot, R., Butler, S., Moore, P., Turner, R. and J. Wenn, "IPP/1.1 Encoding and Transport [IPP Protocol]", RFC 2910, September 2000.
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[RFC2616] Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Frystyk, H., Masinter, L., Leach, P. and T. Berners-Lee, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", RFC 2616, June 1999.
[RFC3510] Herriot, R. and I. McDonald, "IPP/1.1: IPP URL Scheme", RFC 3510, April 2003.
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Robert Herriot Consultant 706 Colorado Ave Palo Alto, CA 94303
Phone: +1 650-327-4466 EMail: bob@herriot.com
Ira McDonald High North Inc 221 Ridge Ave Grand Marais, MI 49839
Usage questions and comments on this IPP URL Scheme should be sent directly to the editors at their above addresses (and to the IPP mailing list, if you are a subscriber - see below).
To subscribe to the IPP mailing list, send the following email:
1) send it to majordomo@pwg.org
2) leave the subject line blank
3) put the following two lines in the message body: subscribe ipp
Implementers of this specification are encouraged to join the IPP Mailing List in order to participate in any discussions of clarification issues and comments. In order to reduce spam the mailing list rejects mail from non-subscribers, so you must subscribe to the mailing list in order to send a question or comment to the IPP mailing list.
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