Create URIs for ontologies that are independent of serialization

[cmungall]

URLs like http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/obi fall though to OCLC

Proposal:

• URLs like obo:foo refer to a logical resource independent of serialization
• OBO PURLs default to something like the owl if not otherwise registered (or homepage)
• Anyone can configure this for their ontology
• We agree on some predicate (in OMO?) to relate obo:foo.owl to obo:foo

[matentzn]

Lol i just took a note to make that exact request tomorrow!! My 100% support!

[jamesaoverton]

There's a base_redirect configuration parameter (see the README) that controls these http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/foo. Some projects use them, and some do not. I don't think we can change this behaviour across the board.

[matentzn]

I looked at the use of base_redirect, https://github.com/OBOFoundry/purl.obolibrary.org/search?p=1&q=base_redirect&type=code and it is without fail a link to the homepage.

What about this, we simply redirect it by default to https://obofoundry.org/ontology/bfo.html unless it is overwritten, add an SOP that it should be a link to an "informative page about the resource" and moving forward, recommend

http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/foo

To be the identifier of the resource itself - like say a wikidata identifier.

The cool thing would be that we don't have to make up new purls to denote "the ontology as a whole". I don't really think we care where the link resolves - just not "nowhere".

[matentzn]

Reviving the above, but adding another complication: the PURL prefix.

1. Can we redirect http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/foo by default to https://obofoundry.org/ontology/foo.html if its not otherwise specified and
2. Can we redirect http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/FOO (where FOO is the ontology preferred prefix) to the same place?