[netmod] Unintended when-expression semantics in many IETF YANG modules

["Jan Lindblad (jlindbla)" <[e-mail]>]

Hi NETMOD,

A few days ago, as I was looking for examples of when-expressions in standard modules, I stumbled over this in RFC 8944:

     augment "/nw:networks/nw:network" {
       when '/nw:networks/nw:network/nw:network-types/l2t:l2-topology' {
         description
           "Augmentation parameters apply only for networks
            with L2 topology.";
       }
       description
         "Configuration parameters for the L2 network
          as a whole.";
       uses l2-topology-attributes;
     }

... and a few other similar constructs in there.

As you can see the when expression is unconstrained when it comes to which network it refers to, which changes the semantics from "Augmentation parameters apply only for networks with L2 topology" as the authors are wishing for to "Augmentation parameters apply to all networks as soon as there is at least one with L2 topology".

Aside from RFC 8944, I also noticed very similar problems in RFC 9094, RFC 8542, RFC 8294, RFC 8513 and RFC 8782. The list may be incomplete.

What do we do with the broken YANGs modules in these RFCs?

Since this seems to be a rather frequently occurring issue, are there any mitigation steps we should take in NETMOD, apart from strengthening the YANG Doctor review process?

What can we reasonably do to ensure all YANG Doctor reviews catch these valid, but unintended XPath expressions before publication?

Best Regards,
/Jan Lindblad