Michal, > we have come across a situation that does not seem to be mentioned in the > specs. What exactly should happen if deprecated/obsolete data are invalid? > Specifically: > > Should the whole data be considered invalid? > > Are there differences between deprecated and obsolete data? > > If there are mandatory obsolete data missing, is that considered an error? > This is the actual problem we are not sure what to do about.
While 7950 and 8407 may not be totally crisp on the subject, the IMHO "usual definition" is that deprecated APIs are still fully functional. The deprecation is a warning to developers not to use it in new designs, and to maintainers of existing solutions that depend on it to migrate to a newer API within a grace period (at least a year suggested in 8407). Obsolete APIs, OTOH, may not be (fully) functional. Every server that declares an API should of course adhere to that API in order to be taken seriously. Breaking that API might even be construed as a legal breach of contract in certain situations. I think that definitely applies to deprecated data as much as current. I would say that obsolete data would still have to stick to the schema, but if some optional obsolete data is missing, I think that is generally acceptable. Obsolete APIs do not need to be usable, they just need to not break other things. But if that obsolete data is marked mandatory, the server must provide some valid value in order not to break the schema. Careful readers will find a lot of personal opinions and few references to RFCs in the above. In my mind, if we don't respect the schema, what is the schema for? If schemas can't be trusted, how do we build the next level of automation? Best Regards, /jan _______________________________________________ netmod mailing list [email protected] https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/netmod
