Re: [netmod] Text in import to indicate whether a module is needed as import-only or as implemented

On Wed, Jan 8, 2020 at 1:11 AM Ladislav Lhotka <lhotka@nic.cz> wrote:

> On Tue, 2020-01-07 at 14:29 +0000, Balázs Lengyel wrote:
> > If that is the consensus, I can remove the description statements, no big
> > deal. (I actually like the statements, but they are not important for
> this
> > draft)
>
> Of course, it is not that important, but I don't see how this information
> could
> be harmful, if it is included with the import. In my view, it is not meant
> as a
> conformance requirement but just an info from the module author about the
> meaning of the import statement.
>
>
It adds a lot of extra work but more importantly the import-stmt is the
wrong place
to document such a complex and unrelated issue as server conformance
requirements.

The root of this problem (and design flaw of YANG, IMO) is that import is
> "overloaded" with two different purposes, one of which effectively
> requires that
> the imported module be also implemented, while the other doesn't.
>
>
The import-stmt is only used to map a local prefix to an external module.
This proposal to add conformance info the the import-stmt would overload it
with
another purpose.

Not even a typedef is easy to classify  (e.g., leafref requires
implementation of a data node).
I certainly agree that YANG conformance is poorly specified, poorly
understood, and
in real need of improvement. Likewise, the import-stmt is also in need of
some improvement
since import-by-exact-revision is (and has always been) poorly designed.

Lada
>
> > Balazs
>

Andy

> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Martin Bjorklund <mbj@tail-f.com>
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 7, 2020 2:38 PM
> > To: Balázs Lengyel <balazs.lengyel@ericsson.com>
> > Cc: andy@yumaworks.com; lhotka@nic.cz; netmod@ietf.org
> > Subject: Re: [netmod] Text in import to indicate whether a module is
> needed as
> > import-only or as implemented
> >
> > Hi
> >
> > I agree w/ Andy and others that we should not add this to the import's
> > description.  I don't think this kind of conformance text belongs to the
> > import's description.  If you think it is important to state this, the
> best
> > place is probably as plain text in the document itself.
> >
> >
> >
> > /martin
> >
> >
> > Balázs Lengyel <balazs.lengyel=40ericsson.com@dmarc.ietf.org> wrote:
> > > As a draft author who was asked to add text about the imports IMHO
> > >
> > > *   it would be easy for me to remove the description from the import.
> > > Actually I really just want to know what is acceptable to the group,
> so I
> > > can proceed
> > > *   I also think that adding this text is in most cases easy and it
> does not
> > > need updates later.
> > > *   The rules in some cases might not be trivial.
> > >
> > > *   Imported YAMs need to be implemented if
> > >
> > > *   Imported parts are included in Xpath (augment, when, must, require-
> > > instance)
> > >
> > > *   Imported YAMs do not need to be implemented if only the following
> are
> > > used
> > >
> > > *   Types
> > > *   Features
> > > *   extensions
> > >
> > > *   Ambiguous if
> > >
> > > *   groupings are used
> > > *   if the dependency is not formally defined by YANG, but functionally
> > > needed. (E.g. notification-capabilities does not formally need
> YANG-Push to
> > > be implemented, however there is no sense in defining capabilities if
> YANG-
> > > Push is itself not implemented.)
> > > *   deviation ?
> > > *   other cases ?
> > >
> > > Regards Balazs
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > From: netmod <netmod-bounces@ietf.org> On Behalf Of Andy Bierman
> > > Sent: 2019. december 19., csütörtök 17:23
> > > To: Ladislav Lhotka <lhotka@nic.cz>
> > > Cc: NetMod WG <netmod@ietf.org>
> > > Subject: Re: [netmod] Text in import to indicate whether a module is
> > > needed as import-only or as implemented
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 8:00 AM Ladislav Lhotka <lhotka@nic.cz
> <mailto:
> > > lhotka@nic.cz> > wrote:
> > >
> > > On Thu, 2019-12-19 at 07:52 +0000, Schönwälder, Jürgen wrote:
> > > > On Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 08:23:27AM +0100, Ladislav Lhotka wrote:
> > > > > I don't see how YANG syntax defines this. If a module imports
> > > > > ietf-netconf- acm, it could be because
> > > > >
> > > > > - it just uses a typedef, such as "node-instance-identifier", and
> then
> > > > >   ietf-netconf-acm needn't be implemented (but can be),
> > > > >
> > > > > or
> > > > >
> > > > > - it augments ietf-netconf-acm, which makes sense only if the
> latter
> > > > >   module is implemented.
> > > > >
> > > > > It it the YANG library that specifies whether a module is
> > > > > implemented or not, but the "import" statement itself doesn't tell
> you
> > > > > anything.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > Can we not assume that an implementor will figure out the difference?
> > >
> > > An implementor should be able to figure it out, but other potential
> > > module users may not. For example, if somebody is evaluating whether
> > > to use a module for their device or not, it is important to know that
> > > NACM has to be implemented (or not).
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > You seem to be talking about a new conformance documentation procedure
> > >
> > > that attempts to solve the problem "to use modules A, B, and C
> > > together
> > >
> > > to achieve some functionality X, all these conditions need to be met"..
> > >
> > > (Sounds more like a problem for YANG Packages to solve)
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > IMO this is a much harder problem than something that can be solved
> > >
> > > with extra description-stmt text. The writer is likely to get it wrong
> > > or not
> > >
> > > keep it up to date, so a tool to analyze the file seems like a better
> > > solution.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Lada
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Andy
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > Or someone writes a pyang plugin to determine from the schema tree
> > > > the kind of imports there are (for a given set of features).
> > > >
> > > > /js
> > > >
> > > --
> > > Ladislav Lhotka
> > > Head, CZ.NIC Labs
> > > PGP Key ID: 0xB8F92B08A9F76C67
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > netmod@ietf.org <mailto:netmod@ietf.org>
> > > https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/netmod
> > >
> --
> Ladislav Lhotka
> Head, CZ.NIC Labs
> PGP Key ID: 0xB8F92B08A9F76C67
>
>