Meta-service doc/collection

[Tim Bray <Tim.Bray@xxxxxxx>]

I'm turning back to mod_atom after ignoring it for a couple of  
months.  One of the problems is that you create a blog by adding a  
line to the Apache config file.  One config-file line, one  
publication, nice and simple.  This doesn't scale if you want to  
create/destroy pubs much at all.  So I've been wondering how you'd go  
about allowing people to create publications without screwing with  
config files.  The answer is obvious: you have one service doc and  
collection, where the entries represent the publications, with links  
to the service docs.  Then you can create and delete publications and  
update their metadata via the Atom Protocol with POST/PUT/DELETE to  
the "meta-service" doc and the links in the "meta-collection" doc.

Interesting question: to create a new publication, do you need to post  
an Entry with <content type="application/atomsvc+xml">?  I don't think  
so...

Anyhow... is that all one needs to say?  Or are there some other  
things to be worked out that might benefit from standardization?  I'll  
have a more informed opinion after I finish implementing.

It occurs to me that having a <link rel="meta-service" href="URI of  
meta-service doc" /> might be nice.  But I don't need one so maybe  
YAGNI.

  -Tim