Proposal
Add as section 5.1 to Atom syndication format spec.
5.1 Feed Equivalence
Feed equivalence is defined as either...
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href in autodiscovery link matches exactly the uri of the feed being validated, as per RFC 2396bis.
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feed <id> element present and matching in both the original and "reflected" feed. Matching being defined as after relative URLs have been resolved.
Raison D'etre
Derived from PaceLinkReflection discussions.
Discussion
This should get pushed down the subsection of section 5. But I believe this is the appropriate section for this new section.
Equivalence for the purposes of what? -- MarkNottingham
The same feed may exist at varying URLs. The client aggregator needs to determine if he should track this new feed or if tracking an existing feed is adequate. -- RandyCharlesMorin
NormanWalsh suggests that "matches" and "matching" be more specifically defined as per Section 6.2.1 "Simple String Comparison" of 2396bis.