Re: Test case metadata is not in scope (was: Re: Reasons to wait...)

[david_marston@us.ibm.com]

DP>>>Nowhere have I seen any rationale for test metadata, nor
>>>suggestions as to what it migh contain.
>>
DM>> That's because it's not in scope for a TC on TAs.
>
DP>Then why is it repeatedly raised here? Obfuscation?

One of the weak points of the current efforts to define test case
metadata is that it can only point at specs with the granularity that
the spec editors deigned to provide. Typically, this allows citing a
subsection, a span of a few (or maybe not so few) paragraphs. TAs are
what we really want to point at. Therefore, one of the desirable
qualities of a set of TAs is that each one have a unique identifier
of a form suitable for use in an attribute value or as part of a URL.
Requiring the unique IDs to be NCNames would be good.

More broadly, this shows that the conformance testing community has
identified several pieces of unfinished business. Each can be
advanced separately, but there are known points of synergy.
.................David Marston