NEW ISSUE: (3622) Policy assertion equivalence and generality

Title -
         Policy assertion equivalence and generality

Description -
         Policy assertions are domain specific and opaque from the  
point of view
of the operators. However, there are certain relations between  
assertions that
could be asserted without breaking that opacity. For example, a  
policy writer
could know that, from their point of view, two assertions were  
exactly the
same, or that one was a more general version of the other. For  
example, one
might want to specify that some form of reliable messaging is  
required, without
specifying which specific forms.

Justification -
         Equivalence pretty much falls out of subsumption/generality.  
Let me
focus on generality.

         Having assertions related by subsumption allows one to  
write  *general*
policies that can be refined in particular cases. It also allows one to
*organize* policies in a hierarchy. Thus, even if the only policies  
one deploys
are fully specific, it can be useful to group policies by their  
semantics.

Target -
         framework

Proposal -
         One would need two new operators, and a place to put them.  
Perhaps a
header element, which could be external to the policy (thus shared by  
many).
<http://www.mindswap.org/2005/services-policies/> shows how to use  
policy
subsumption.

Received on Friday, 25 August 2006 11:34:00 UTC