Re: [ws-tx] Issue 102 - WS-AT: Editorial comments

["Monica J. Martin" <Monica.Martin@Sun.COM>]

>>mm1: The AT Coordinator control whether all actions that participants are responsible for succeed or abort,
>>rather than directly persist or rollback data.  If the participant is a durable one (rather than a volatile one), it could be persisting data. Or, do you believe your text is consistent with that view? Thanks.
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>Ian Robinson wrote: The text I proposed is trying to more precisely state exactly this. Its a very minor thing but I think that if we are going to clarify ths text as suggested in issue 102 then we should make it clear that the AT commit is simply directing the participants to make their tentative changes final. Previously the text might have been interpreted that "tentative" meant "not persistent" and so "commit" meant "make persistent". For some participants that is exactly what it means but not, typically, for Volatile2PC participants. And, even for those participants where commit does result in a tentative change being made persistent, it is the participant (or a resource manager it delegates to) and not the coordinator that deals with persisting the data and making it visible.
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mm2: We have consistent views then, Ian. Perhaps if we separate the sentences:

Your proposed text:
"The actions taken by a transaction participant prior to commit are only tentative (and so typically are neither made persistent nor made visible to other activities)...Commit directs the participants to make the tentative actions final so they may, for example, be persisted and made visible to other transactions.  Abort directs the participants to make the tentative actions appear as if the actions never happened."

To:
"The actions taken by a transaction participant prior to commit are only tentative. Typically those actions are neither made persistent nor made visible to other activities....Commit directs the participants to make the tentative actions final.  For example, they could then be persisted and made visible to other transactions.  Abort directs the participants to make the tentative actions appear as if the actions never happened."