RE: [DR 702] Why compare two messages?

> Main concern:
> 
> The sentence starting "This mechanism... must ensure that given two XP
> messages..." seems to suggest that evolution is implemented 
> as a relation
> on two or more messages.  I don't think this is necessarily 
> so.  There are
> all sorts of ways to evolve protocols without there being a 1-for-1
> equivalence of messages.  Furthermore, the sense in which two messages
> might be "compatible" is not even defined informally.  Also, the
> requirement is a bit vague on the degree to which the intention is to
> ensure evolvability of XP itself, vs. protocols built using XP.

I think the last sentence might be the problem. I think the point of the
text above was to focus on evolvability of XP itself and not protocols
built using XP (and I agree with your concern if that is the case). One
way we might be able to clarify this is to change "given two XP messages"
to "given two XP envelopes". Comments?

Henrik

Received on Monday, 13 November 2000 20:57:33 UTC