[Bug 4073] [Guidelines] Free standing statements

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=4073

           Summary: [Guidelines] Free standing statements
           Product: WS-Policy
           Version: FPWD
          Platform: PC
        OS/Version: Windows XP
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: Guidelines
        AssignedTo: fsasaki@w3.org
        ReportedBy: asirveda@microsoft.com
         QAContact: public-ws-policy-qa@w3.org


Title: [Guidelines] Free standing statements

Description:

This issue identifies 7 free standing statements in the Guidelines document
without any support from the framework or the attachment or an assertion
specification.


a) "WS-Policy Domain owners or WS-Policy authors are defined by the WS-Policy
Framework to be a community that chooses to exploit the WS-Policy Framework by
creating their own specification to define a set of assertions that express the
capabilities and constraints of that target domain." [1]

There isn't any such definition in the framework draft. Can't think of a reason
why this term should be defined either.


b) "WS-Policy Domain authors must also specify how to associate the assertions
they have defined with the policy subjects identified by the
WS-PolicyAttachment specification." [1]

A policy attachment mechanism defines how to associate policy expressions with
policy subjects.

Assertion authors are not required to specify how to associate an assertion
with a policy subject. But, an assertion description should specify a policy
subject. For instance, if a policy assertion were to be used with WSDL, an
assertion description should specify a WSDL policy subject. This topic is well
covered by Section 4.7 [2] in the Guidelines document.


c) "When a web service provider chooses to make its capabilities and
constraints available, it may also need to conform to requirements of other
policy specifications it utilizes" [3]

'it may also need to conform' maps to 'provider may also need to conform'.
Neither the framework nor the attachment document defines provider level
conformance. There aren't any assertion specification that defines provider
level conformance.


d) "If the domain authors want to delegate the processing to the framework,
utilizing nesting should be considered. Otherwise, domain specific comparison
algorithms will need to be devised and be delegated to the specific domain
handlers that are not visible to the WS-Policy framework." [4]

'will need to be devised' is too strong and doesn't have any basis to support
this statement. Suggest toning this statement to 'may'.


e) "WS-Policy is intended to communicate the requirements, capabilities,
preferences and behaviors of nodes that provide the message's path, not
specifically to declare properties of the message semantics." [5]

'preferences' cannot be represented using Web services Policy 1.5.


f) "In particular, the timing of a policy attachment or the role that a party
who attaches policy should have no bearing on the evaluation of the policy
assertion" [6] 

What does 'timing of a policy attachment' mean? Not aware of any such concept
in the framework or attachment draft.


g) "The policy framework only defines an algorithm for calculating effective
policies for WSDL 1.1 based subjects." [7]

This statement is incorrect. Policy framework neither defines any attachment
mechanisms nor any algorithm for calculating effective policies. The attachment
draft defines an algorithm for calculating the effective policy for a given
policy subject and effective policies for WSDL 11, WSDL 20 and UDDI policy
subjects.


Justification:

There is no basis to support these seven statements. These statements will
confuse and mislead the readers.


Proposal:

A. Drop a)

B. Replace b) with

'An assertion author should also specify a policy subject. For instance, if a
policy assertion were to be used with WSDL, an assertion description should
specify a WSDL policy subject.'

C. Drop c)

D. s/will need to be devised/may need to be devised/

E. s/capabilities, preferences and behaviors/capabilities and behaviors/

F. Drop f)

G. Drop g)

[1] http://tinyurl.com/y3as59#domain-owners
[2] http://tinyurl.com/y3as59#levels-of-abstraction 
[3] http://tinyurl.com/y3as59#providers  
[4] http://tinyurl.com/y3as59#which-one-to-use 
[5] http://tinyurl.com/y3as59#self-describing 
[6] http://tinyurl.com/y3as59#context-free-policies 
[7] http://tinyurl.com/y3as59#scenario

Received on Tuesday, 12 December 2006 20:02:57 UTC