Re: Importing items used in MODULE-COMPLIANCE and AGENT-CAPABILITIES

[Juergen Schoenwaelder <schoenw@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de>]

>>>>> C M Heard writes:

Mike> The item in question is this:

Mike> Although exemptions to this general requirement are granted
Mike> by RFC 2580 Sections 5.4.3 and 6.5.2 for names of objects
Mike> appearing in the OBJECT clause of a MODULE-COMPLIANCE macro
Mike> invocation or in the VARIATION clause of an AGENT-CAPABILITIES
Mike> macro invocation, it is nonetheless RECOMMENDED by these
Mike> guidelines that such symbols be included in the module's IMPORTS
Mike> statement.

I agree with this statement. I believe that two simple rules should
be followed:

(a) All items that must be imported from other MIB modules should be
    imported in an IMPORTS clause.

(b) If there is a name clash within a MIB module, the ambiguity is
    resolved by using the <Module>.<descriptor> notation instead of
    the <descriptor> notation.

I believe that any syntax rules that aim to (a) provide shortcuts for
MIB authors so they do not have to import or (b) try to accomodate
broken implementations are counter productive and a pain in the longer
term.

/js

-- 
Juergen Schoenwaelder    <http://www.informatik.uni-osnabrueck.de/schoenw/>