Yeah, it's in the URL spec. But it's somewhat muddled.
Here's what I suggest we standardize on:
1. ftp://host/dir/dir/dir/file
and we define the semantics in terms of the FTP RFC
and/or the MIME ftp access-type.
2. local-file:/dir/dir/dir/file
and
local-file://host/dir/dir/dir/file
again, see the MIME RFC for interpretation
And we support, for backwards compatibility
3. file://host/dir/file.ext
which means "try local-file, then ftp or rcp or whatever
other hacks are locally available"
Dan