rdar:// urls

Radar is Apple's heavily-used internal bug tracking system. External folks use the web-based "Apple Bug Reporter", but its url belies its true name.

Each bug gets a serial number. Apple did something clever here*, they defined a Radar-specific URI scheme: rdar://. The payload is the bug serial number, like so: rdar://problem/4262085.

(The more-terse rdar://4262085 also works, but it's deprecated.)

You can also refer to multiple bugs in one go: rdar://problems/4252019&4262085.

This way Apple folks can just click on these rdar:// links to quickly pull up bugs. Handy.

However, chances are such links don't work for you, because you don't work for Apple and have the special software installed. If you're not among the select few, it may appear downright rude.

Still, I post my Radar numbers wrapped in rdar:// for two reasons:

• They're the lingua fraca for tossing bugs back and forth between Apple folks. Yes, the Apple folk population is small, but you want to make it as easy as possible for them to fix the bugs you're reporting.
• Semantic metadata. Raw integers have little context. By using rdar://, I can intelligently search for Radar bugs. I could also see writing an app that allows even non-Apple folks to click on them, probably by having a small app auto-login and auto-navigate RadarWeb right to your filed bug.

* I am aware unregistered URI schemes are considered bad behavior. Wake me when they bless a method to define adhoc schemes, like MIME's application/x-whatever.

Sunday, September 18, 2005
12:00 AM