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Re: 2119bis

2011-08-30 12:50:57
On Aug 30, 2011, at 12:46 PM, Eric Burger wrote:

Can you give an example of where a dangling SHOULD makes sense?  Most often I 
see something like:
      SHOULD implement security
meaning
      SHOULD implement security, unless you do not feel like it or are in an 
authoritarian regime that bans security

That wording doesn't make any sense.  Security implementation should almost 
always be a MUST, regardless of what any particular government might say.  We 
shouldn't relax the security requirements of our protocols because of 
brain-damaged governments (and I include my own country's government in that 
list).   

In cases like this it's sometimes important to distinguish between 
implementation and use.  "MUST implement, SHOULD use" is a common compromise.

Note also that MUST doesn't mean "you have to do this".   It means "if you 
don't do this, you don't comply with the specification".

I don't think the example above is a typical use of SHOULD, though it might be 
too common.

Keith

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