// use InetAddresses.toUriString to convert the result to a string in
    // canonical form.
    InetAddress addr = null;
    try {
      addr = InetAddresses.forString(host);
    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
      // It is not an IPv4 or IPv6 literal
    }

    if (addr != null) {
      return new HostSpecifier(InetAddresses.toUriString(addr));
    }