OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) TC

  • 1.  Controlled Vocabulary

    Posted 05-17-2006 10:39
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    Subject: Controlled Vocabulary


    Michael and Friends,
    
    I have compared RFC 2119 and Annex H of the ISO Directives and prepared 
    the following mapping:
    
    MUST/SHALL
    
    RFC 2119: These as synonyms, that is they mean the same thing and may be 
    used interchangably without loss of precision.
    
    Or, in the words of RFC 2119:
    
    1. MUST   This word, or the terms "REQUIRED" or "SHALL", mean that the
       definition is an absolute requirement of the specification.
    
    Compare that to SHALL in ISO Annex H (MUST is not given as an alternative):
    
    "The verbal forms shown in Table H.1 shall be used to indicate 
    requirements strictly to be
    followed in order to conform to the document and from which no deviation 
    is permitted."
    
    Table H. 1 lists shall with the following alternative phrasing for use 
    in different contexts:
    
    is to
    is required to
    it is required that
    has to
    only … is permitted
    it is necessary
    
    Conclusion: We can change MUST to shall without loss of meaning or 
    changing the meaning of the use of MUST/SHALL in ODF.
    
    MUST NOT/SHALL NOT:
    
    RFC 2119: Again, these are synonyms.
    
    In the words of RFC 2119:
    
    2. MUST NOT   This phrase, or the phrase "SHALL NOT", mean that the
       definition is an absolute prohibition of the specification.
    
    
    Compare that to "shall not" (must not is not an alternative) in ISO Annex H:
    
    Same header, and provides the following alternative forms for shall not:
    
    is not allowed [permitted] [acceptable] [permissible]
    is required to be not
    is required that … be not
    is not to be
    
    Conclusion: We can change MUST NOT to shall not without loss of meaning 
    or changing the meaning of the use of MUST NOT/SHALL NOT in ODF.
    
    BTW, a footnote in Annex H notes the following reason to avoid the use 
    of "must" for "shall":
    
    "Do not use “must” as an alternative for “shall”. (This will avoid any 
    confusion
    between the requirements of a document and external statutory obligations.)"
    
    SHOULD/RECOMMENDED:
    
    RFC 2119 provides:
    
    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.
    
    
    ISO Directives, Annex H says (for should/should not):
    
    The verbal forms shown in Table H.2 shall be used to indicate that among 
    several possibilities
    one is recommended as particularly suitable, without mentioning or 
    excluding others, or that a
    certain course of action is preferred but not necessarily required, or 
    that (in the negative form)
    a certain possibility or course of action is deprecated but not prohibited.
    
    Conclusion: Recommended can be changed to should (4 occurrences, see my 
    earlier summary) and reference made to Annex H without loss or changing 
    of the meaning used for should/recommended in ODF.
    
    SHOULD NOT:
    
    RFC 2119:
    
    4. SHOULD NOT   This phrase, or the phrase "NOT RECOMMENDED" mean that
       there may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances when the
       particular behavior is acceptable or even useful, but the full
       implications should be understood and the case carefully weighed
       before implementing any behavior described with this label.
    
    
    Conclusion: Same as for should/recommended, no change in meaning.
    
    MAY
    
    RFC 2119 says:
    
    5. MAY   This word, or the adjective "OPTIONAL", mean that an item is
       truly optional.  One vendor may choose to include the item because a
       particular marketplace requires it or because the vendor feels that
       it enhances the product while another vendor may omit the same item.
       An implementation which does not include a particular option MUST be
       prepared to interoperate with another implementation which does
       include the option, though perhaps with reduced functionality. In the
       same vein an implementation which does include a particular option
       MUST be prepared to interoperate with another implementation which
       does not include the option (except, of course, for the feature the
       option provides.)
    
    
    MAY and OPTIONAL are synonyms (note that OPTIONAL does not appear 
    outside of the terms list in 1.2 Notation)
    
    ISO Directives, Annex H says:
    
    The verbal forms shown in Table H.3 shall be used to indicate a course 
    of action permissible
    within the limits of the document.
    
    The forms listed there are:
    
    may, or
    
    is permitted
    is allowed
    is permissible
    
    Conclusion: Same as MAY as used in ODF so no change in meaning.
    
    Note that REQUIRED and OPTIONAL, along with SHALL and SHALL NOT never 
    appear outside of 2.1, Notation.
    
    Apologies for not having done this by the numbers sooner.
    
    After reviewing the language, I think we will all conclude that we can 
    conform to the ISO Directives usage without changing the meaning of any 
    parts of ODF. (but that is just my opinion, sing out if you disagree).
    
    Hope everyone is having a great day!
    
    Patrick
    
    
    
    
    -- 
    Patrick Durusau
    Patrick@Durusau.net
    Chair, V1 - Text Processing: Office and Publishing Systems Interface
    Co-Editor, ISO 13250, Topic Maps -- Reference Model
    Member, Text Encoding Initiative Board of Directors, 2003-2005
    
    Topic Maps: Human, not artificial, intelligence at work! 
    
    
    
    


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