TIPP: Support for linked/external content

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Currently, the only type of package object is the ObjectFile, which is 
contained inline in the package.

There is a long-standing intention to allow external/referenced content that is 
accessible remotely, eg via http.  Although the schema changes necessary to 
support this are not enormous, there are a number of important questions to 
answer first:

- From Micah: Is there any intersection between interoperability level and the 
use of linked content? In one sense, if one of the tools can't access the 
remote content, it's not really interoperable. In another sense, where every 
tool has the same access to the same stuff, it could be perfectly interoperable.
- What sort of access is allowed?  HTTP?  FTP?  What support, if any, do we 
include for necessary authentication?  My personal feeling is to support HTTP 
only, and only allow the embedding of a direct link (meaning the resource must 
be public, or a one-time/hashed URL must be used).  I could probably be argued 
into supporting HTTP Basic authentication or something.
- As seen in Issue #9, does the manifest need to state whether it is 
self-contained or contains referenced resources?

Original issue reported on code.google.com by tingley on 25 Mar 2012 at 9:23

• Blocking: TIPP: Should packages have to identify themselves as self-contained? #9

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Original comment by tingley on 25 Mar 2012 at 9:24

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Per group discussions at LocWorld Seattle, this will not be handled in 1.5.

Original comment by tingley on 8 Feb 2013 at 6:54