Tables: BackwardCompatible Maintanence

Martin Duerst duerst at it.aoyama.ac.jp
Wed Dec 10 02:52:36 CET 2008


But isn't this exactly what we do NOT want? If I understand
correctly, BackwardCompatible is a purely administrative thing,
ideally we give IANA an algorithm, and they execute it and
put the result into the registry when there is an update
to Unicode properties that requires a balancing entry in
BackwardsCompatibile. Bothering the IETF at large with this
is pretty useless; having an expert reviewer as a "goto guy"
for IANA will probably help.

On the other hand, for Context, changes are usuall something
new and unexpected, and potentially even political. A somewhat
more serious/heavy process seems appropriate.

Regards,    Martin.

At 08:22 08/12/10, Patrik F$BgM(Btstr$B‹N(B wrote:
>Thanks! Will fix this.
>
>    paf
>
>On 9 dec 2008, at 15.36, Erik van der Poel wrote:
>
>> Hi Patrik,
>>
>> Currently, the Tables draft is a bit asymmetric with respect to
>> BackwardCompatible and Context Registry:
>>
>> http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-idnabis-tables-04#section-5.1
>>
>> For BackwardCompatible, it says "appointed expert" and for Context
>> Registry, it says "IETF Review". It would be nice if they both said
>> the same thing, and I would personally prefer IETF Review.
>>
>> Erik
>>
>> On Tue, Dec 9, 2008 at 3:39 AM, Patrik F$BgM(Btstr$B‹N(B <patrik at frobbit.se>  
>> wrote:
>>> I am still missing input from wg participants on this very large  
>>> change.
>>>
>>> The problem for me is that I have problems saying exactly to IANA  
>>> what
>>> they should do. I do, as I said last time in Minneapolis, that I am
>>> extremely nervous over changes like these. When is IANA to add  
>>> things,
>>> and how? Do we really know IANA should add every difference to the
>>> backward compatibility list? I have seen enough discussions that say
>>> "some changes should be possible to make".
>>>
>>> Overall, there is a reason Unicode Consortium is making a very very
>>> rare change that create a non-backward compatible change for IDNA. I
>>> am personally very nervous telling IANA that the backward compatible
>>> list is absolute. I really want IETF process to have a look at that
>>> very rare change and decide what should be done. Either add to
>>> backward compatibility list, or do something else. Maybe change from
>>> PVALID to CONTEXT.
>>>
>>> But, as editor, the problem I have is that I see Mark's suggestion,
>>> and I hear my own personal argument against Marks suggestion. Then
>>> support from Ken saying he does not see any problem with Mark's
>>> suggestion.
>>>
>>> As Editor, I would like to get more input.
>>>
>>> And as individual, I once again say that the rules are very easy to
>>> relax later on, but not the other way around.
>>>
>>>   Patrik
>>>
>>> On 5 dec 2008, at 22.50, Mark Davis wrote:
>>>
>>>> Patrick asked about consensus for this item. I don't want it to fall
>>>> through
>>>> the cracks, so would anyone object to a change?
>>>> Mark
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 08:17, Mark Davis <mark at macchiato.com>  
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> BackwardCompatible Maintanence Changes to BackwardCompatible are a
>>>>> completely different beast than adjustments to PVALID and
>>>>> DISALLOWED. The
>>>>> latter we can hope to never happen. But changes to  
>>>>> BackwardCompatible
>>>>> MUST be done to preserve backwards compatibility, it is not an
>>>>> option! And
>>>>> we know that there is a non-zero likelyhood that this will happen
>>>>> with each
>>>>> Unicode version (every year or so). The BackwardCompatible list,
>>>>> like the
>>>>> Context Rules Registry, should be under the aegis of IANA, with
>>>>> precise and
>>>>> strict instructions to add exactly (all and only) those characters
>>>>> necessary
>>>>> to preserve backwards compatibility with each new version of
>>>>> Unicode. This
>>>>> is not a new concept: BCP 47 (RFC 4646) has a section describing
>>>>> exactly
>>>>> what to do with each new version of a source ISO standard. The
>>>>> textual
>>>>> changes to do this are small, and I can supply suggested text.
>>>>> *Minor*
>>>>>
>>>>> This document uses different reference names for the same
>>>>> documents, eg
>>>>> [TR15]. All of the IDNA2008 documents should use the same notation
>>>>> for
>>>>> common references.
>>>>>
>>>>> Mark
>>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
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>>
>
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#-#-#  Martin J. Du"rst, Assoc. Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University
#-#-#  http://www.sw.it.aoyama.ac.jp       mailto:duerst at it.aoyama.ac.jp     



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