Bob O'Hara writes...
I can't forecast what an official interpretation
response might say, but the text in clause 5 is taken from the
overview
section of the standard. The text prohibiting non-802.1X frames from
passing on the uncontrolled port is taken from clause 6, the
description
of the Data SAP. My opinion would be that the text in clause 6 would
be
given precedence, both because of its placement and because of its
specificity.
I offer a little historical perspective on the text under debate in this
thread. I am responsible for the text in Clause 5 that appears to allow
other protocols besides 802.1X/EAPOL, which terminate in the AP, i.e. do
not allow forwarding to the DS, to run over the 802.1X uncontrolled port
in the AP. I added this text to one of the 802.11i drafts specifically
to address a letter ballot comment on the previous draft. I was quite
active in TGi at the time, including the comment resolution work. TGi
voted to accept this comment resolution. It was arguably my mistake to
leave the apparent conflict with the text of Clause 6, but the comment
was probably only against Clause 5. Whether this comment resolution was
a good idea, in the long run, is of course open to debate. The intent
at the time was to allow operations such as those proposed in PANA, at
least to the extent that I understand them based on this thread. I'm
not sure this will help in resolving the issue, but at least it explains
the apparent conflict.
Regards,
Dave Nelson
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