RE: Testing SHOULD

fantasai wrote:
> Ok, I'm adding two flags to the list:
>
> rec
>    Behavior tested is RECOMMENDED, but not REQUIRED. [RFC2119]
> optional
>    Behavior tested is preferred but OPTIONAL. [RFC2119] (These tests
>    must be reviewed by a test suite owner or peer.)
>
> I shortened 'recommended' to 'rec' in the interests of
>    a) keeping it short
>    b) avoiding spelling mistakes :)
>
> 'Optional' should be added only if the behavior tested is the preferred
> behavior: we don't want to encourage implementors to pass tests on
> discouraged behavior. (If there's a case where neither behavior is
> preferred,
> then both behaviors should be tested.) These tests require test suite
> Owner/Peer review because which behavior is preferred is not always
> obvious.
>
> Does that sound reasonable? (Arron?)

Yes this makes sense to me. Just to clarify though do SHOULD rules fall into the OPTIONAL category?

There are 10 keywords that are 'recommended' for use when describing information in the spec do we plan on adding flags for any additional keywords?

What is the exact mapping?

Keyword         Flag
MUST
MUST NOT
REQUIRED
SHALL
SHALL NOT
SHOULD
SHOULD NOT
RECOMMENDED             rec
MAY
OPTIONAL                optional

I think the first five (MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT) do not need flags. The remaining ones I think do but I am unsure if we want to map all of the remaining ones to the flag 'optional'. Technically all of the remaining five keywords are optional for user agents. There is nothing saying they have to follow the recommended solution though it is probably in their best interest to do so.

So I am left with this...

Personally I think SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, and RECOMMENDED are closely related and should all map to the same flag. I do not think 'rec' is the right flag for this since it can easily be confused to mean a W3C REC (Recommendation) status just like David stated. I would suggest the flag 'preferred'. The only problem I see with that flag is people will misspell it but that is true with almost any flag.

The MAY and OPTIONAL keywords, I think the flag 'optional' is fine for these. I don't see a need to separate those into separate flags.

--
Thanks,
Arron Eicholz

Received on Saturday, 3 May 2008 18:46:36 UTC