String Encodings - was RE: Applicability Stmt (AS) rescinding "IESG Note" and defining "LDAPv3"

["Steven Legg" <steven.legg@adacel.com.au>]

David,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Chadwick [mailto:d.w.chadwick@salford.ac.uk]
> Sent: Friday, 30 June 2000 3:38
> To: Jeff.Hodges@stanford.edu; ietf-ldapext@netscape.com
> Cc: RLBob Morgan
> Subject: Re: Applicability Stmt (AS) rescinding "IESG Note" 
> and defining
> "LDAPv3"

[snip]

> RFC2587 does not describe in detail the matching rules that 
> should be supported by LDAP servers, nor does it describe 
> how attribute value assertions for each matching rule 
> should be encoded in filter items (in fact these AVA 
> encodings are not currently described anywhere).

It's a shame the LDAP string encodings for attribute values weren't defined
by some algorithmic relationship to the ASN.1 type of the syntax, much
like the way ASN.1 value notation is related to the type. It wouldn't
then be necessary to define a string encoding for each new attribute
value syntax or assertion value syntax imported from X.500, X.509, etc.
The required string encoding would fall out naturally from the relevant
ASN.1 type.

It's never too late to start though.

Regards,
Steven