RE: AUGMENTS clause

["C. M. Heard" <heard@pobox.com>]

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005, Wijnen, Bert (Bert) wrote:
> > So, an agent that implements the atmVclGenTable _would_ instantiate
> > atmVclGenSigDescrIndex but would give it the value zero.  And it is
> > obvious (to me, anyway) that setting atmVclGenSigDescrIndex to zero
> > is the correct way for an agent to interwork with a manager that
> > populates only the base row varbinds in a SetRequest-PDU.
> > 
> 
> So I do believe that the atmVclGenSigDescrIndex definition
> should have added a DEFVAL { 0 } in that case.

I have no argument with that.  We need to remember, however, that
DEFVAL is only a hint.  It does not constitute an instruction to the
agent implementor that the column MUST be populated in a particular
way.  If such instructions are wanted, they need to be put into the
DESCRIPTION clause.

Such instructions (as well as a DEFVAL clause) would have been a
good thing to have for atmVclGenSigDescrIndex, but I am frankly not
particularly concerned about their absence.

Mike