RE: [xacml] PDP REST Interface - proposal

[<remon.sinnema@emc.com>]

Anil/TC,


From: Anil Saldhana [mailto:Anil.Saldhana@redhat.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 12:12 AM
To: David Brossard
Cc: xacml@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: Re: [xacml] PDP REST Interface - proposal

>> XACML is a XML language that defines access control rules.  If we want to use json as one of the authoring means, we have to rename it to jacml. ;) <<

The X in XACML stands for eXtensible, not for XML. The spec makes it clear that an implementation is not required to use XML at all. For instance, Section 3.2 states that
"The PDP is not required to operate directly on the XACML representation of a policy.  It may operate directly on an alternative representation".

Having said that, Section 2 mentions that
"XML is a natural choice as the basis for the common security-policy language, due to the ease with which its syntax and semantics can be extended to accommodate the unique requirements of this application, and the widespread support that it enjoys from all the main platform and tool vendors."

So I don't think there is anything that prevents us to look at alternatives to XML. JSON makes a lot of sense for a web client perspective, and it shouldn't be too hard to define a XML -> JSON mapping for the XACML requests and responses.

Thanks,
Ray