From: "RubyTalk@..." <rubytalk@...>
Date: 2007-08-30T05:17:07+09:00
Subject: Re: Bug in URI.parse?

If it is a bug change toplabel in common.rb to this

TOPLABEL = "(?:[#{ALNUM}](?:[-#{ALNUM}]*[#{ALNUM}])?)"

Thanks to my friendly MySQL admin .

Stephen Becker IV

On 8/29/07, John Joyce <dangerwillrobinsondanger@gmail.com> wrote:
> I wouldn't call it a bug exactly, it does do what it is written to do.
> Instead, let's just say that URI.parse isn't very robust.
> It doesn't handle lots of real-world situations in ways you would
> expect.
> You would expect some sort of message saying the TLD (top level
> domain) is missing or bad, but also you would not expect this to end
> your program abruptly.
>
> A good URI parser will also accept IP addresses, since those are also
> valid, at least in the sense that they are real and do exist and are
> likely to be used or entered by users.
> Another problem is the way it handles URLs missing the www or http://
> or https://
> While strictly speaking this should be required, it clearly is not
> the reality of URLs in the world or the reality of how humans use
> them. People have become accustomed to using what are officially
> partial or bad URLs.
>
> Most web browsers will accept a simple string and attempt to find it,
> even if it means adding a TLD.
>
> ARPANET is pretty pointless now.
>
> I've begun my own script to check if a URL is correct, but only if it
> is the human readable variety.
> One of the biggest problems becomes the transitory nature of URLs.
> They can change or disappear without notice.
> Another problem is the path after a TLD. The path can be nearly
> anything and can only be determined to be the first single / after
> the apparent TLD.
>
>