From IETF RFC 1630. This helped me further understand why it is called a managed path. The path is the namespace that we use to tunnel through to the object. the question mark (?) denotes the end of the path and the beginning of the query. The URI (URL) from the root to the question mark is the hierarchical method of finding the object: the portion of the URL after the question mark denotes the query on the object that the URI (URL) points to. However, the portion of the URL that we often call the “path“ may not be a “path“ if the protocol is different. We call it a “protocol“, 1630 calls it a “scheme“.
AND, the reason we don’t have excluded managed paths in 2007, is because ALL undefined paths are excluded. The reason we call it a managed path in SharePoint Server 2007 is because Windows SharePoint Services is managing this path. Otherwise, if WSS is not managing this path, then we could call it path.
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Here is a typical URI dissected:
http://example.com:992/animal/bird?species=seagull#wings
\__/ \_________/ \_/\__________/ \_____________/ \___/
| | | | | |
scheme host port path query fragment
Anyways, I found this interesting reading (which means I'm probably more of a geek than I'd care to admit). But perhaps this will help you understand paths in SharePoint Server 2007.
Bill English
Mindsharp