David,
If you can quote words in RFC2119 that prescribe (normative) that the
keywords be in all caps, I might change my view. Merely observing that
most people use the keywords in all caps when they mean them in the RFC2119
sense doesn't cut it. If you want to be sure that developers interpret the
keywords as intended, you should expend the effort to avoid those words
where the RFC2119 sense is not intended. The CPPA team has already cleaned
up its document in this regard.
Regards,
Marty
*************************************************************************************
Martin W. Sachs
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
P. O. B. 704
Yorktown Hts, NY 10598
914-784-7287; IBM tie line 863-7287
Notes address: Martin W Sachs/Watson/IBM
Internet address: mwsachs @ us.ibm.com
*************************************************************************************
David Fischer <david@drummondgroup.com> on 02/17/2002 01:14:51 PM
To: ebXML Msg <ebxml-msg@lists.oasis-open.org>
cc:
Subject: RE: [ebxml-msg] Issue 15: Use of the word OPTIONAL
Here are some more responses from the IETF concerning the RFC2119 key
words. It
seems some of these words were actually identified in earlier RFCs,
particularly
1122 & 1123.
RFC1123 also includes the "Robustness Principle" which I have cited before.
"Be liberal in what you accept, and
conservative in what you send"
This says to me that we should ignore errors where we can and continue
processing which is one of the things I have been arguing for, without much
success. If we want true interoperability, we need to follow this
principle.
Regards,
David.