Problem with oid root used in RFC 1274

[Peter Furniss <[e-mail]>]

 
Steve,

Some while ago we exchanged messages about this problem, with no final
conclusion. The JNT's OSI technical group has suggested I bring it to
this mailing list.

RFC 1274 (The COSINE and Internet X.500 Schema) defines Directory 
objects and attributes which have the following object id root for their 
identifications:

      {ccitt(0) data(9) pss(2342) ucl(19200300) pilot(100)}

However, it appears that this is not a valid object id, as annex C of
ISO/IEC 8824:1990 identifies only four arcs below ccitt(0). CCITT (now
ITU-TS) have not assigned any new arcs. (as far as I can make out)

The OSI-tg interest is because some of the attributes cover transition 
from the UK NRS scheme to Directory. The problem is whether the oid 
root should be changed to a valid one, or we just carry on and don't 
worry.

If we don't change, there is some risk that some (commercial)
Directory implementation may include something that refuses to allow
invalid oids, and which therefore could not accept or access entries
using the 1274 schema. Since the awkward implementation could claim to
be a more accurate implementation of the CCITT/ISO standard, this
might produce some strange arguments.  We would be propagating
something that is nearly, but not quite osi.

There would obviously be some difficulty with a change-over to 
synonymous valid oids. It will be extremely difficult unless Directory 
implementations can handle synonyms - but I believe many can.

If the oid root is changed, it would be possible to make it appreciably 
shorter - using an additional, IANA-assigned, arc from the same root as 
SNMP uses would seem sensible.

What should be done ?

Peter Furniss