[Doc-SIG] reST: standalone hyperlinks

[Tony J Ibbs (Tibs)]

David Goodger wrote (well, some if it is me):
> > spec:`Standalone hyperlinks`_
> >
> >     You need to explain the explicit rules used to detect such an
> >     animal, otherwise this is too vague.
>
> I refer to RFC2396; I don't want to repeat it all. I've added this to
> "Standalone Hyperlinks":
>
>     Two forms of URI are recognized:
>
>     - absolute URIs beginning with a scheme ('http:', 'ftp:',
> 'mailto:',
>       'telnet:', etc.), and
>
>     - standalone email addresses ('user@host').
>
>     Standalone email addresses are treated as if they had a 'mailto:'
>     prefix.

Referring to the URI spec is not sufficient, since traditionally people
have used ad-hoc schemes to detect URIs (particularly since the REs to
detect them properly get, well, somewhat complex).

I don't particularly care what heuristic is used, so long as (a) it
handles the common cases (uncommon cases can be done with other means),
and (b) it is clearly documented how it works (oh, and (c) it is
unsurprising).

If you *are* handling all of RFC2396, you still need an executive
summary at some point!

Tibs

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Tony J Ibbs (Tibs)      http://www.tibsnjoan.co.uk/
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