Alvaro Retana's Discuss on draft-ietf-6man-rfc1981bis-06: (with DISCUSS)

[Alvaro Retana <[e-mail]>]

Alvaro Retana has entered the following ballot position for
draft-ietf-6man-rfc1981bis-06: Discuss

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DISCUSS:
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I'm putting in this point as a DISCUSS because I think that the current
text may be confusing and vague.

As others have pointed out, this document includes rfc2119-like language,
both capitalized and not.  I realize that rfc1981 was published before
rfc2119 and that no expectation on the language existed then.  However,
we're at a point in time where not only rfc2119 is in place, but
draft-leiba-rfc2119-update (which clarifies that only uppercase language
has special meaning) is in AUTH48.  I think that this leads to the
possibility that the average reader may interpret the requirements in
this document in a way that it wasn't intended.

While I would prefer that this document be consistent (and either use
capitalized rfc2119 language as intended, OR, not used it at all), I
understand the intent of not changing some of the original text.  I would
be happy with a note like this one: "Note:  This document is an update to
RFC1981 that was published prior to RFC2119 being published. 
Consequently while it does use "should/must" style language in upper and
lower case, the document does not cite the RFC2119 definitions.  This
update does not change that."   [I borrowed this text from the the INTDIR
review thread. [1]]

I find that including a note in the Shepherd's write-up is not enough
because the average reader/implementer will not consult it.


[1]
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/int-dir/bVH_0ydVdGssOiszJKhQXLYPuXY/?qid=4000f8a954b226266f429842911101f5