Conformance statements and IMPORT

["C. M. Heard" <heard@pobox.com>]

Greetings,

In RFC 2580, it is stated that the objects specified in an OBJECT
clauses of a MODULE-COMPLIANCE invocation or in a VARIATION clause
of an AGENT-CAPABILITIES invocation do not need to be imported:

5.4.3.  Mapping of the OBJECT clause
[ ... ]
   By definition, each object specified in an OBJECT clause follows a
   MODULE clause which names the information module in which that object
   is defined.  Therefore, the use of an IMPORTS statement, to specify
   from where such objects are imported, is redundant and is not
   required in an information module.

6.5.2.  Mapping of the VARIATION clause
[ ... ]
   By definition, each object specified in a VARIATION clause follows a
   SUPPORTS clause which names the information module in which that
   object is defined.  Therefore, the use of an IMPORTS statement, to
   specify from where such objects are imported, is redundant and is not
   required in an information module.

The same reasoning that applies to objects referenced by an OBJECT
clause or a VARIATION clause also applies to notifications referenced
by a VARIATION clause and to object groups and notification groups
referenced by a MANDATORY-GROUPS clause, a GROUP clause, or a
SUPPORTS clause.  However, RFC 2580 does not explicitly say that
notifications, object groups, and notification groups do not need
to be imported in order to be used in these contexts.  I would guess
that this is an inadvertent omission.  If so, it might be worth putting
into a "technical corrigendum" document, if one is issued someday
to update the SMIv2 documents.

Regards,

Mike