XFN Links

An XFN link affects name resolution in the following way. Suppose lname is a link bound to the atomic name aname in the context ctx. If at some point resolution of a composite name cname reaches the context ctx and the next atomic name is aname, resolution of aname results in the resolution of the link name lname. This is termed "following the link." If the first component of the link lname is the atomic name ".", the remaining components of lname are resolved relative to ctx; otherwise, lname is resolved from the initial context. The resolution of any remaining portion of the name cname proceeds from the reference that results by resolving lname.

The link name can itself cause resolution to resolve through other links. This gives rise to the possibility of a cycle of links whose resolution could not terminate normally. As a simple means to avoid such nonterminating resolutions, implementations can define limits on the number of XFN links that can may be resolved in any single operation invoked by the caller.