Issue 023 : Definition of expires is unclear

["Peter Furniss" <peter.furniss@choreology.com>]

This is now identified as ws-tx issue 023

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============================================================== 
Target document and draft:

Protocol:  Coord, AT, and BA 
Artifact:  spec
Draft: Coord - 1; AT - 1; BA - 2
 
Link  to the document referenced:

Coord - 
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/15738/WS-Coordination-
2005-11-22.pdf
AT - 
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/15719/WS-AT%20Working%
20Draft.pdf
BA - 
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/16465/Microsoft%20Word
%20-%20wstx-wsba-1.1-spec-wd-02.pdf
 
Section and PDF line number:

Coord - 2 Coordination Context, line 153 and 3.1.1 
CreateCoordinationContext, lines 235 - 237
AT - 3 Atomic Transaction Context, lines 76 - 79
BA - 2.1 Coordination context, lines 134 - 136
 
Issue type: Editorial
 
Related issues: None
 
Issue Description:

The definition of expires is arguably incomplete and as a result
unclear. 
The unit is only defined w.r.t CreateCoordinationContext in the WS-C
spec 
where it is specified as milliseconds, no unit is defined for the 
inclusion of expires in a CoordinationContext. The period to which
expires 
refers is not specified anywhere. The example in the WS-C spec (line
153) 
where it is 3000 would appear to imply that it is a period of time since

the creation or import of the coordination context however the text in
the 
AT and BA specs describes expires as specifying a "point in time" which 
could be interpreted as implying expires represents a period since the 
epoch.
 
Issue Details: N/A
 
Proposed Resolution:

WS-Coordination:

Add a new paragraph within section 2 to compliment the description on 
lines 236 and 237 that reads:

Expires is an optional element which represents the remaining expiration

for the CoordinationContext as an unsigned integer in milliseconds.

WS-AT:

Amend lines 76 - 79 by replacing "the earliest point in time at which" 
with "the period after which" such that they read:

A coordination context may have an Expires attribute. This attribute 
specifies the period after which a transaction may be terminated solely 
due to its length of operation. From that point forward, the transaction

manager may elect to unilaterally roll back the transaction, so long as
it 
has not transmitted a Commit or a Prepared notification.

WS-BA:

Amend lines 134 - 136 by replacing "the earliest point in time at which"

with "the period after which" such that they read:

A coordination context may have an Expires attribute. This attribute 
specifies the period after which a long-running activity may be
terminated 
solely due to its length of operation. A participant could terminate its

participation in the long running activity using the Exit protocol 
message.