On Sat July 2 2005 15:02, Bill McQuillan wrote:
On Sat, 2005-07-02, Bruce Lilly wrote:
On Sat July 2 2005 09:23, Keith Moore wrote:
...
which essentially means "you MUST do this unless you have a
good reason to make an exception".
No. (sigh) I wish people would stop trying to reinterpret BCP 14 (a.k.a.
RFC 2119). The BCP 14 text is concise and clear. Here in their entirety
are sections 1-6 of BCP 14:
...
3. SHOULD This word, or the adjective "RECOMMENDED", mean that there
may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances to ignore a
particular item, but the full implications must be understood and
carefully weighed before choosing a different course.
I'm sorry, but with careful reading, it seems to me that Keith's statement is
an accurate paraphrase. Could you expand on what you see as the difference?
Keith said SHOULD means MUST ..., which is clearly not the case,
otherwise the separate terms wouldn't be defined in separate
sections with separate meanings and given separate conditions for
use (in section 6). In particular, MUST is an imperative and MUST
only be used where there is potential for harm or where required
for interoperation. It expresses an absolute requirement. SHOULD
is a recommendation. A recommendation which should not be made
lightly or ignored without a valid reason, but certainly not an
absolute requirement.