Re: [alto] Subject: RtgDir Early review: draft-ietf-alto-new-transport-07

[Lachlan Keller <[e-mail]>]

Hi Russ,

Thank you so much for taking a thorough look at this.

With regards to the nit comment, data does not not necessarily need to be
pushed in the correct order, only the client must apply the patches in the
correct order, given how JSON merge patch functions. For example, over an
HTTP/3 connection, a client can concurrently request multiple update
patches at the same time, with the possibility that they will be received
out of order. The client should buffer the update items and then apply them
in the order that the sequence number indicates.

We’ve now added a paragraph in Section 8.4 (Considerations for Client
Processing Updates) to address this:
<t>Though a server SHOULD send update items sequentially, it is possible
that a client receives the update items out of order (in the case of a
retransmitted update item or a result of concurrent fetch).  The client
MUST buffer the update items if they arrive out of order and then apply
them sequentially (based upon the sequence numbers) due to the operation of
JSON merge patch and JSON patch.</t>

Best,
Lachlan


On Thu, Mar 30, 2023 at 9:51 AM [e-mail] <[e-mail]> wrote:

> Hello
>
> I have been selected to do a routing directorate “early” review of this
> draft.
> https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-alto-new-transport/
>
> The routing directorate will, on request from the working group chair,
> perform an “early” review of a draft before it is submitted for
> publication to the IESG. The early review can be performed at any time
> during the draft’s lifetime as a working group document. The purpose of
> the early review depends on the stage that the document has reached.
>
> As this document is in working group last call, my focus for the review
> was to determine whether the document is ready to be published. Please
> consider my comments along with the other working group last call
> comments.
>
> For more information about the Routing Directorate, please see
> ​http://trac.tools.ietf.org/area/rtg/trac/wiki/RtgDir
>
> Document: draft-ietf-alto-new-transport-07
> Reviewer: Russ White
> Review Date: 30 March 2023
> Intended Status: Standards
>
> Summary:
>
> This document is basically ready for publication, but has nits that
> should be considered prior to being submitted to the IESG.
>
> Comments:
>
> This draft covers a complex protocol and use cases. I had to go back and
> read the previous drafts and other documents to get a good perspective
> on these use cases. Given the inherent complexity, this draft is well
> written, and gives good explanations of the solution proposed. The
> example given towards the beginning of the document was very helpful.
>
> Nits:
>
> This document assumes data will be pushed in the correct order, but it
> doesn't seem to say this is a requirement. Since the document is dealing
> with changes to a network topology (for instance), it seems like this
> would be a requirement to mention someplace. It could be that I missed
> this requirement, however.
>