[httpapi] rfc7807 errata or just "more"

[Sanjay Dalal <[e-mail]>]

Hello all,

Thanks folks for providing instructions on how to provide feedback to an
RFC. This feedback is for RFC 7807 <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7807>,
"Problem Details for HTTP APIs".

I like RFC 7807. In fact, I have designed Error Catalog Service
<https://github.com/sdatspun2/error-catalog-service> such that the problem
types of RFC 7807 can be managed (CRUDL) and used in error responses, API
definition, API documentation, API testing, etc.

However, I find that RFC 7807 omitted one very common use case in its
proposed schema for Problem Details Object
<https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7807#section-3.1> (section 3.1). This
use case is about reporting of multiple errors of the same problem type in
an error response. RFC suggests defining an extension for this use case.

As you know, having multiple schema validation related errors in payload of
HTTP requests is a very common scenario for the HTTP APIs. How can we
improve the Problem Details Object schema to accommodate this common use
case? We should not expect API developers to respond with one error at a
time in the case of 400 scenarios. That would be an unpleasant developer
experience. Asking the API developers to define an extension for such a
common scenario hurts in adoption of the Problem Types.

In my opinion, instead of the proposed singular "*instance*" property of
type string, there should be an array of *instances. *You can find what we
have done for the error response of the Error Catalog service
<https://github.com/sdatspun2/error-catalog-service/blob/master/ErrorResponseInErrorCatalog.md>.There
could be other ways.

I have communicated with both Erik Wilde and Mark Nottingham about this
issue. Both of them are open to discussing a revision under this WG if the
group thinks it is necessary. Would love to get your comments, opinions,
approaches and suggestions.

thanks and regards,
sanjay


>    I am not too familiar with the process to comment an RFC but is there
in general
    a form where I can provide written feedback to existing specifications
or is
    this done through this mailing list?

>On Sat, Jan 9, 2021 at 9:40 AM Salz, Rich <rsalz=
[e-mail]> wrote:
RFC's are published documents, not drafts; the name "request for comments"
is a node to IETF history.  How to provide feedback on published RFC's
depends on the amount and nature of feedback.  If you have a well-contained
technical error, you want to report an "errata" against the RFC.  If it's
more philosophical or just "more", it might be better to find the WG that
published the RFC and post to that mailing list (see above).