RE: [ws-tx] Issue 058 - definition of Referencing Specification

["Ram Jeyaraman" <Ram.Jeyaraman@microsoft.com>]

Providing a definition of the term "Referencing specification" seems
fine. But I suggest we do not define what such Referencing
specifications may or may not do.

How about:

"Referencing Specification

One or more other specifications, such as, but not limited to,
WS-AtomicTransaction, that may reference the WS-Coordination
specification."

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Little [mailto:mark.little@jboss.com] 
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 3:35 AM
To: Ram Jeyaraman
Cc: ws-tx@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: Re: [ws-tx] Issue 058 - definition of Referencing Specification

So let's take this one line at a time then (well, almost) ...

"One or more other specifications, such as (but not limited to)
WS-AtomicTransaction may reference the WS-Coordination specification. "


All this says is that in what follows, we'll use the term RS to mean
anything that uses WS-Coordination. Surely you can't have an issue with
that?

"Referencing Specifications are generally used to construct concrete 
protocols based on WS-Coordination."

And this just gives an indication of what a RS may do (it uses the work
"generally" which doesn't mean that all RS have to construct concrete
protocols). Again, I don't see a problem with this.


"The usage of optional items in 
WS-Coordination, or those protocol aspects where terms such as MAY or 
SHOULD are used, may be further restricted by the requirements of a 
Referencing Specification."

All this says is that a user of WS-Coordination can further restrict
some of the optional features of WS-C. Restriction further up the stack
is fine and we can't/shouldn't prevent implementations from doing that.
In fact, this is in line with what you say here: "Further, the current
WS-Coordination specification does not preclude the possibility of
referencing specifications restricting the optional behavior described
in the WS-Coordination specification." so I am beginning to wonder if
you just misunderstood why we're defining Referencing Specification?

"For the purpose of this document, the term Referencing Specification
covers both formal specifications and more general applications that use
WS-Coordination."

And the last line simply says that some RS may be laid down in
specification documents whereas others could be informally defined.

The agreed text to cover issue 030 uses the term Referencing
Specification. As I pointed out at the time, I think we need a
definition of RS as a result (it's generally a bad idea to leave loose
ends like this in a standard or specification). This is an attempt at
producing such a definition and it is deliberately written to not
preclude things like WS-AT or WS-BPEL. It allows us to talk purely in
terms of Referencing Specifications in the rest of the WS-Coordination
specification without reverting to text like "transaction or workflow
specifications" which, although accurate, is not all inclusive for users
of WS-Coordination.

Mark.



Ram Jeyaraman wrote:
> It is hard to anticipate how other specifications from other standards
> bodies that may refer to the WS-Coordination specification are defined
> and used. Further, the current WS-Coordination specification does not
> preclude the possibility of referencing specifications restricting the
> optional behavior described in the WS-Coordination specification.
>
> So, it is probably best not to make a statement about Referencing
> specifications.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ram Jeyaraman [mailto:Ram.Jeyaraman@microsoft.com] 
> Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2006 1:52 PM
> To: ws-tx@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: [ws-tx] Issue 058 - definition of Referencing Specification
>
> This is identified as WS-TX issue 058.
>
> Please ensure follow-ups have a subject line starting "Issue 058 -
> definition of Referencing Specification".
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Little [mailto:mark.little@jboss.com] 
> Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2006 9:21 AM
> To: ws-tx@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: [ws-tx] NEW issue: definition of Referencing Specification
>
> NOTE: Please defer discussions on this issue until a time this issue
is 
> accepted and is assigned a number by the TC.
>
> Reference documents:
>
>
http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/ws-tx/download.php/17311/ws
> tx-wscoor-1.1-spec-cd-01.pdf
>
> with amendment from issue 030
>
> Description:
>
> Text within WS-C refers to Referencing Specification. We have no
formal
> definition of that.
>
> Resolution:
>
> One or more other specifications, such as (but not limited to) 
> WS-AtomicTransaction may reference the WS-Coordination specification. 
> Referencing Specifications are generally used to construct concrete 
> protocols based on WS-Coordination. The usage of optional items in 
> WS-Coordination, or those protocol aspects where terms such as MAY or 
> SHOULD are used, may be further restricted by the requirements of a 
> Referencing Specification.  For the purpose of this document, the term

> Referencing Specification covers both formal specifications and more 
> general applications that use WS-Coordination.
>
> Mark.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>