Hi all,
Three suggestions for edits:
First: I suggest adding a brief note to this text in Appendix B:
2. When parameter names might have significant meaning. However,
this case too is rare, since implementers can almost always find
a synonym for an existing term (e.g., "urgency" instead of
"priority") or simply invent a more creative name (e.g., "get-it-
there-fast").
At the end, I suggest adding an additional sentence:
The existence of multiple similarly-named paramaters can
be confusing, but this is true regardless if there is an
attempt to segregate standard and non-standard (e.g.,
"X-Priority" can be confused with "Urgency").
Second, consider this the text in Appendix B:
Furthermore, often standardization of a non-standard parameter or
protocol element leads to subtly different behavior (e.g., the
standard version might have different security properties as a result
of security review provided during the standardization process). If
implementers treat the old, non-standard parameter and the new,
standard parameter as equivalent, interoperability and security
problems can ensue.
This is of course true, but I think it is somewhat misleading: If a
parameter starts out as non-standard, gets some deployment, then as
part of an effort to standardize it, flaws are discovered which
require different behavior, I think we want the new, standardized
parameter to have a different name so it can be distinguished and the
new, more desirable behavior mandated. This is the same regardless
if the old and new parameters are, say, "x-priority" and "priority",
or "priority" and "urgency". In either case, implementers shouldn't
treat the old parameter as identical to the new, standardized one.
Further, I think it's a good thing when an old, non-standard
parameter is standardized and flaws are corrected. We should
encourage, not discourage this.
It would be good to have at least a little text along these lines.
Specifically, I suggest adding new text at the end:
Analysis of non-standard parameters and protocol elements
to detect and correct flaws is in general a good thing and
is not intended to be discouraged by the lack of
distinction in element names. Whenever an originally
non-standard parameter or protocol element is standardized
and the new form has differences which affect
interoperability or security properties, implementations
MUST NOT treat the old form as identical to the new form.
Further in the appendix, justification 1 is over-drawn. I suggest
toning it down slightly, from:
1. Implementers are easily confused and can't be expected to know
that a parameter is non-standard unless it contains the "X-"
prefix. However, implementers already are quite flexible about
using both prefixed and non-prefixed names based on what works in
the field, so the distinction between de facto names (e.g.,
"X-foo") and de jure names (e.g., "foo") is without force.
To:
1. Implementers may confuse parameters that have similar
names; a rigid distinction such as an "X-" prefix can make
this clear. However, in practice implementers are forced
to blur the distinction (e.g., by treating "X-foo" as a de
facto standard) and so it inevitably becomes meaningless.
--
Randall Gellens
Opinions are personal; facts are suspect; I speak for myself only
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There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and
that is not being talked about. --Oscar Wilde
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