On 10/23/2017 01:35 PM, Martin Bjorklund wrote:

Vladimir Vassilev <[email protected]> wrote:
Hello,

I would like to use the occasion of this Errata report to point out
some additional issues with the instance-identifier type definition.

IMO the instance-identifier built-in type has 2 additional problems
that can be addressed with alternative and significantly more radical
errata or fixed in a new version of YANG.:

Problem 1: The obvious limitation inherited from Xpath 1.0 - inability
to escape single or double quote characters. In Xpath world this
limitation is worked around by use of concat() which is not available
in the YANG 1.1 instance-identifier definition. 2 examples of this
limitation:

1. It is impossible to create value of type instance-identifier
referencing nodes in lists with key string values containing both a
single and a double quote characters e.g. ...<interface><name>"It's
valid string!"</name></interface>.

2. Another example of the same problem would be a leaf of type
instance-identifier referencing another leaf of type
instance-identifier. With 2 references it works provided one is
encoded with single quotes and the other with double but it is
impossible to create third e.g.

YANG:

     list id-list {
       key "id";

       leaf id {
           type instance-identifier;
       }
     }

Data:

* /top/id-list[id="/top/list[idx='4']"]

* /top/id-list[id="/top/id-list[idx='/top/list[idx=4]'"] <assuming the
* proposed errata is also in effect>

* <next reference not possible with YANG 1.1>

Problem 2: The instance-identifier type lacks canonical form (which
makes it the only data type with implementation dependent
representation at the data level ... think of the integer types
allowing optional spaces between the digits). This is in fact the only
built-in data type that allows the server implementation to change the
configuration data replacing double quotes with single or the other
way around. Inserting white spaces where you did not have them when
the configuration was submitted. You can not simply read a
configuration and use fast data comparison without schema support just
because of this type. This is useless flexibility for simple data
type.

And this can be fixed if:

1. white spaces in instance-identifiers are prohibited

2. list key predicates are required in alphabetical order
Or perhaps use the order the keys are defined in the data model (the
"keys" statement").
This is an option but then the e.g. xpath2instid() function implementations will need schema support.

Vladimir

3. strict quotation convention with escape option is added. (only
3. contradicts the sec. 9.13 ".. instance-identifier is a subset of
the XPath ..")
I would like to change one more thing - I think it is unfortunate that
the lexical representation depends on the lexical context;
specifically that prefixes declared in the XML instance document is
used.  This applies also to identityref.  YANG 2.0 should use the same
encoding as JSON does for these datatypes.



/martin



Vladimir

On 10/21/2017 08:16 PM, Andy Bierman wrote:

On Sat, Oct 21, 2017 at 12:28 AM, Benoit Claise <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:

     Dear all,

     Shall I validate this one?



To add more context, this relates to the the RESTCONF JSON vs. XML
discussions in the NETCONF WG.

   leaf broken {
       type union {
         type int32;
         type string;
      }
   }

If all values of key leaf "broken" are sent as strings in an
instance-identifier,
then the int32 value may not match in all implementations, instead of
the string.
Allowing numbers as literals in addition to quoted strings allows the
sender
to be specific, and all implementations to be consistent.


     Regards, Benoit



Andy

         The following errata report has been submitted for RFC7950,
         "The YANG 1.1 Data Modeling Language".

         --------------------------------------
         You may review the report below and at:
         http://www.rfc-editor.org/errata/eid5157
         <http://www.rfc-editor.org/errata/eid5157>

         --------------------------------------
         Type: Technical
         Reported by: Andy Bierman <[email protected]
         <mailto:[email protected]>>

         Section: 14

         Original Text
         -------------
            key-predicate-expr  = node-identifier *WSP "=" *WSP
         quoted-string

         Corrected Text
         --------------
            key-predicate-expr  = node-identifier *WSP "=" *WSP
                  (quoted-string / integer-value / decimal-value)

         Notes
         -----
         An instance identifier is forced to specify every key value to
         be a string
         even though the YANG key leaf type could be a numeric type.
         XPath does not require a quoted string here, just YANG.

         Old:  /top/list[idx="4"]
         New: /top/list[idx=4]

         Instructions:
         -------------
         This erratum is currently posted as "Reported". If necessary,
         please
         use "Reply All" to discuss whether it should be verified or
         rejected. When a decision is reached, the verifying party
         can log in to change the status and edit the report, if necessary.

         --------------------------------------
         RFC7950 (draft-ietf-netmod-rfc6020bis-14)
         --------------------------------------
         Title               : The YANG 1.1 Data Modeling Language
         Publication Date    : August 2016
         Author(s)           : M. Bjorklund, Ed.
         Category            : PROPOSED STANDARD
         Source              : NETCONF Data Modeling Language
         Area                : Operations and Management
         Stream              : IETF
         Verifying Party     : IESG
         .





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