Re: [netmod] [Technical Errata Reported] RFC7950 (5157)

[Vladimir Vassilev <[e-mail]>]

On 10/24/2017 03:42 AM, Andy Bierman wrote:

>
>
> On Mon, Oct 23, 2017 at 4:57 AM, Vladimir Vassilev 
> <[e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]>> wrote:
>
>     On 10/23/2017 01:35 PM, Martin Bjorklund wrote:
>
>         Vladimir Vassilev <[e-mail]
>         <mailto:[e-mail]>> wrote:
>
>             Hello,
>
>             I would like to use the occasion of this Errata report to
>             point out
>             some additional issues with the instance-identifier type
>             definition.
>
>             IMO the instance-identifier built-in type has 2 additional
>             problems
>             that can be addressed with alternative and significantly
>             more radical
>             errata or fixed in a new version of YANG.:
>
>             Problem 1: The obvious limitation inherited from Xpath 1.0
>             - inability
>             to escape single or double quote characters. In Xpath
>             world this
>             limitation is worked around by use of concat() which is
>             not available
>             in the YANG 1.1 instance-identifier definition. 2 examples
>             of this
>             limitation:
>
>             1. It is impossible to create value of type
>             instance-identifier
>             referencing nodes in lists with key string values
>             containing both a
>             single and a double quote characters e.g.
>             ...<interface><name>"It's
>             valid string!"</name></interface>.
>
>             2. Another example of the same problem would be a leaf of type
>             instance-identifier referencing another leaf of type
>             instance-identifier. With 2 references it works provided
>             one is
>             encoded with single quotes and the other with double but it is
>             impossible to create third e.g.
>
>             YANG:
>
>                  list id-list {
>                    key "id";
>
>                    leaf id {
>                        type instance-identifier;
>                    }
>                  }
>
>
>
>
> Although the instance-identifier is problematic, it is rarely used at all,
> let alone using it as a list key.
It is used as a key in ietf-alarms /alarms/alarm-list/alarm.
>
> The XPath mixed-quotes problem is well-known, and the suggested
> solution seems to be use the "concat" function
>
>    /foo/bar[name=concat("It's a", ' "valiid" string')]
>
> Not very user friendly, is it?
I think people naming their interfaces "It's a valid string!" can take 
it. Prettier escaping solutions are available e.g. C string but it will 
require more work then a line in the next YANG version RFC. IMO solution 
is needed either concat or an alternative one.

Practical reason: YANG 1.1 can not create instance-identifier to the 
alarm /alarms/alarm-list/alarm[... 
resource="/interfaces/interface[name='eth0']"]. And this is not the 
"That's a valid string!" named interface. The "That's a valid string!" 
interface alarms can not be reported as a valid ietf-alarms 
instance-identifier based resource alarm at all.

>
>
>             Data:
>
>             * /top/id-list[id="/top/list[idx='4']"]
>
>             * /top/id-list[id="/top/id-list[idx='/top/list[idx=4]'"]
>             <assuming the
>             * proposed errata is also in effect>
>
>             * <next reference not possible with YANG 1.1>
>
>             Problem 2: The instance-identifier type lacks canonical
>             form (which
>             makes it the only data type with implementation dependent
>             representation at the data level ... think of the integer
>             types
>             allowing optional spaces between the digits). This is in
>             fact the only
>             built-in data type that allows the server implementation
>             to change the
>             configuration data replacing double quotes with single or
>             the other
>             way around. Inserting white spaces where you did not have
>             them when
>             the configuration was submitted. You can not simply read a
>             configuration and use fast data comparison without schema
>             support just
>             because of this type. This is useless flexibility for
>             simple data
>             type.
>
>             And this can be fixed if:
>
>             1. white spaces in instance-identifiers are prohibited
>
>
>             2. list key predicates are required in alphabetical order
>
>         Or perhaps use the order the keys are defined in the data
>         model (the
>         "keys" statement").
>
>     This is an option but then the e.g. xpath2instid() function
>     implementations will need schema support.
>
>
>
> All the YANG tools I have seen generate the predicates in YANG key order.
Yes.

If Xpath came with a canonical form definition (prohibiting spaces, 
redundant duplication of namespace prefixes in children, order of 
predicates, canonical quotation rule, and some flexibility as of the 
node prefix semantics) we would not need to have this discussion. Seems 
no other modeling language of hierarchical data has reusable 
instance-identifier datatype with the necessary properties and I can see 
this as something that can go in separate RFC specifying generic data 
type making canonic definition from Xpath that YANG can reuse. In that 
case the alphabetic order makes sense moving some constraints into the 
generic definition of the type one can validate without the context 
schema but it is not of significant importance.

> The issue of canonical instance-identifier has been discussed many times,
> and it is not possible to require the usage of specific prefixes in XML.
> (Note that Lada fixed this for JSON in RFC 7951)
Yes.
>
> Only the string + expanded names can be properly compared in XML, not 
> the literal string
> representing the XPath expression.
Yes.

I do not see the need of major rework just making the Xpath subset rules 
stricter with canonical requirement and either allowing concat() (also 
with canonic rule producing predictable result e.g. to be used only for 
escaping single quotes and prohibiting double quotes in predicates 
otherwise). Even with RFC7951 prefix rules added in the 
instance-identifier can still be a valid Xpath subset requiring trivial 
prefix replacements so that it can be used with non-YANG aware XML tools 
keeping that option open.

Vladimir
>
>
>     Vladimir
>
>
>
> Andy
>
>
>             3. strict quotation convention with escape option is
>             added. (only
>             3. contradicts the sec. 9.13 ".. instance-identifier is a
>             subset of
>             the XPath ..")
>
>         I would like to change one more thing - I think it is
>         unfortunate that
>         the lexical representation depends on the lexical context;
>         specifically that prefixes declared in the XML instance
>         document is
>         used.  This applies also to identityref.  YANG 2.0 should use
>         the same
>         encoding as JSON does for these datatypes.
>
>
>
>         /martin
>
>
>
>             Vladimir
>
>             On 10/21/2017 08:16 PM, Andy Bierman wrote:
>
>
>                 On Sat, Oct 21, 2017 at 12:28 AM, Benoit Claise
>                 <[e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]>
>                 <mailto:[e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]>>>
>                 wrote:
>
>                      Dear all,
>
>                      Shall I validate this one?
>
>
>
>                 To add more context, this relates to the the RESTCONF
>                 JSON vs. XML
>                 discussions in the NETCONF WG.
>
>                    leaf broken {
>                        type union {
>                          type int32;
>                          type string;
>                       }
>                    }
>
>                 If all values of key leaf "broken" are sent as strings
>                 in an
>                 instance-identifier,
>                 then the int32 value may not match in all
>                 implementations, instead of
>                 the string.
>                 Allowing numbers as literals in addition to quoted
>                 strings allows the
>                 sender
>                 to be specific, and all implementations to be consistent.
>
>
>                      Regards, Benoit
>
>
>
>                 Andy
>
>                          The following errata report has been
>                 submitted for RFC7950,
>                          "The YANG 1.1 Data Modeling Language".
>
>                          --------------------------------------
>                          You may review the report below and at:
>                 http://www.rfc-editor.org/errata/eid5157
>                 <http://www.rfc-editor.org/errata/eid5157>
>                          <http://www.rfc-editor.org/errata/eid5157
>                 <http://www.rfc-editor.org/errata/eid5157>>
>
>                          --------------------------------------
>                          Type: Technical
>                          Reported by: Andy Bierman <[e-mail]
>                 <mailto:[e-mail]>
>                          <mailto:[e-mail]
>                 <mailto:[e-mail]>>>
>
>                          Section: 14
>
>                          Original Text
>                          -------------
>                             key-predicate-expr  = node-identifier *WSP
>                 "=" *WSP
>                          quoted-string
>
>                          Corrected Text
>                          --------------
>                             key-predicate-expr  = node-identifier *WSP
>                 "=" *WSP
>                                   (quoted-string / integer-value /
>                 decimal-value)
>
>                          Notes
>                          -----
>                          An instance identifier is forced to specify
>                 every key value to
>                          be a string
>                          even though the YANG key leaf type could be a
>                 numeric type.
>                          XPath does not require a quoted string here,
>                 just YANG.
>
>                          Old:  /top/list[idx="4"]
>                          New: /top/list[idx=4]
>
>                          Instructions:
>                          -------------
>                          This erratum is currently posted as
>                 "Reported". If necessary,
>                          please
>                          use "Reply All" to discuss whether it should
>                 be verified or
>                          rejected. When a decision is reached, the
>                 verifying party
>                          can log in to change the status and edit the
>                 report, if necessary.
>
>                          --------------------------------------
>                          RFC7950 (draft-ietf-netmod-rfc6020bis-14)
>                          --------------------------------------
>                          Title               : The YANG 1.1 Data
>                 Modeling Language
>                          Publication Date    : August 2016
>                          Author(s)           : M. Bjorklund, Ed.
>                          Category            : PROPOSED STANDARD
>                          Source              : NETCONF Data Modeling
>                 Language
>                          Area                : Operations and Management
>                          Stream              : IETF
>                          Verifying Party     : IESG
>                          .
>
>
>
>
>
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