# Name of submitter: "Jonathan Wood" # # Security Considerations: If a web browser is tricked into retrieving # a malicious CFILE, it could suffer denial-of-service attacks, or # potentially betray confidential information. As such, the web browser # should take care to ensure that the CFILE is not malicious. The use # of SLP's protected scopes is a means of ensuring a CFILE's validity. #-------------------------------------------------------------------------- # This document describes the wpad abstract type. The wpad service # provides access to web proxy auto-discovery (WPAD) configuration # files (CFILEs). This service type can be used in conjunction with # the Service Location Protocol (SLP) to dynamically retrieve CFILEs # which can automatically configure web browsers with suitable web # proxies. # Introduction # The Service Location Protocol is defined in RFC 2608. Service templates # and abstract types are defined in RFC 2609. The wpad abstract type is # intended to organize information pertaining to the location and # access method needed to dynamically obtain CFILEs. For more # information on CFILEs and WPAD, see # # P. Gauthier, J. Cohen, M. Dunsmuir, C. Perkins, "Web Proxy # Auto-Discovery Protocol", Internet Draft, July 1999 (Work # In Progress) # # The content of the WPAD file is opaque as far as this service type # is concerned. Different browsers may interpret CFILEs in # different ways. Hence customized CFILEs may be needed to # service various browsers. A "config-method" attribute is specified # in the template to allow web browsers to use SLP to search for # a suitable CFILE. # # CFILEs tell web browsers which web proxies are available, and # how to select the proper one for its needs. This service type does # NOT contain any information about how to directly access web proxies. # # Similarly, CFILEs do NOT contain any configuration information # for other web browser functions. The wpad service is not an # application configuration service. # # The concrete type should be the access protocol used to retrieve # the CFILE. The URL should also specify the host that provides # access to the CFILE, and a path relative to the server host # that names the location of the CFILE. An example of a valid # wpad service: URL follows: # # service:wpad:http://wserver.sun.com:8080/proxy-config/eng.proxy # # A configuration URL (CURL) as defined in [WPAD] can be extracted from # this service: URL simply by removing the leading "service:". # # [WPAD] P. Gauthier, J. Cohen, M. Dunsmuir, C. Perkins, "Web Proxy # Auto-Discovery Protocol", Internet Draft, July 1999 (Work # In Progress) #-------------------------------------------------------------------------- template-type=wpad template-version=1.0 template-description= This is an abstract service type for WPAD configuration URLs. template-url-syntax= url-path= ; an URL for the configuration data, as defined in RFC ; 1738 as amended by RFC 1808. config-method= string M X # The method of determining the configuration. # Since this may vary from browser to browser, clients should # include this attribute in search requests to ensure that they # get a configuration method that will be applicable to their # specific browser. # # The values must refer to a browser type. If two different browsers # use the same configuration method, they may use the same value for # this attribute. For example, if Wiz Software creates a new browser # that uses the same method as Netscape's Communicator (i.e. # Javascript), it may use the "communicator" value. communicator,ie,mosaic,hotjava access-protocol= string # The protocol to be used to access this CFILE. This attribute # is useful for UAs which wish to query for a set of preferred # access protocols. This attribute should match the access protocol # given in the concrete type.