Clarifying Registry Procedures for the WebSocket Subprotocol Name Registry

Case-only variants of existing subprotocol names are refused to minimize potential confusion among different registered versions, even though matching is case-sensitive. This prevents a class of subtle interoperability bugs where implementations might differ only in capitalization.

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Registrants seeking to avoid naming collisions in the WebSocket Subprotocol Name Registry are encouraged to consult the non-normative Section 1.9 of RFC 6455 for guidance beyond the case-folding restriction.

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IANA is instructed to decline registrations in the WebSocket Subprotocol Name Registry which differ from existing registrations only as to case, in order to minimize potential confusion among different registered versions.

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Tokens registered in the WebSocket Subprotocol Name Registry are matched using case-sensitive string match.

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The WebSocket Subprotocol Name Registry (originally created by RFC 6455 Section 11.5) is clarified: registrations use First Come First Served procedures, tokens are case-sensitive, and case-only variants of existing registrations will be refused. Both RFC 6455 and RFC 7936 are listed as references for this registry.

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This document describes an update to registry policy rather than a protocol change; no new security considerations beyond those of RFC 6455 are introduced.

security, websocket