Re: comments on draft-ietf-sming-reqs-02.txt: Strange Import Rules

[Frank Strauss <strauss@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de>]

Hi!

>> > 4.3.17 ...
>> > 69: We believe this belongs to section 4.1. The argument that this is
>> >     a no-brainer does not hold since SMIv2 and SPPI both suffer from
>> >     strange import rules. We suggest to remove the Notes.
>> 
>> [Dave] As I recall, people were confused as to what the problem was here...
>> Probably because few people really understand how the current import
>> mechanisms work. Nevertheless, I don't see any objections to avoiding stupid
>> import scenarios. It would be helpful to list what exactly these "strange
>> import rules" are. Anyone have an objection to moving 4.3.17 back to a
>> requirement?

DH> I have a bit of a concern moving 4.3.17 to a requirement. The
DH> description is rather unclear, and as a result it is unclear what the
DH> requirement would be. While I agree that we should try to fix the
DH> problem, and it deserves reasonably high priority, I think this
DH> description needs to be rewritten to be clear what the proposed
DH> requirement is. 

DH> I think the note is the clearest expression of the proposed requirement,
DH> so removing the note seems like a bad idea, although removing the first
DH> two sentences of the note may be a good idea.

So this is my proposal for a new description of 4.3.17:

   Description: In SMI and SPPI modules some language keywords like
      macros and some basetypes have to be imported from different SMI
      language defining modules, e.g. OBJECT-TYPE, MODULE-IDENTITY,
      Integer32 must to be imported from SNMPv2-SMI and
      TEXTUAL-CONVENTION must be imported from SNMPv2-TC, if used. MIB
      authors are continuously confused about these rules. In SMIng
      only defined identifiers should be imported. All SMIng language
      keywords should be implicitly known and there should not be a
      need to import them from any module.

Since every aspect is stated in the description, the Notes should now
be removed completely.

 -frank