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Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2012 18:22:56 -0500
From: Paul Kyzivat <pkyzivat@alum.mit.edu>
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Subject: [abnf-discuss] Some thoughts about how to make ABNF more convenient
	to use
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[Is this list live? As best I can tell there has only been one message, =

ever.]

I've been observing problems with the mechanics of using ABNF for ietf =

drafts, and contemplating some changes that could make things better. =

But I'd like to get some support and feedback before doing much about it.

I would like to better support current practice where one draft or RFC =

extends the ABNF from another draft or RFC, or references ABNF rules =

defined elsewhere when defining something new.

In my experience this is done using comments that identify the source of =

the referenced definitions. Formally processing this requires manual =

actions to cut and paste definitions from multiple documents in order to =

create a single ABNF source that can be processed for formal tools.

With the enhancements I have in mind, it will be possible to build ABNF =

tools that automatically extract the required definitions.

Also, often RFCs prefer to interleave ABNF rule definitions with =

descriptive text. But that makes it difficult to process. Sometimes =

rules are interleaved, and then also gathered together into a full ABNF, =

but this runs a risk of divergence. I'd also like to help with that.

The enhancements I have in mind are:

Extend ABNF syntax with:
=95 A way to assign a name to a rule list within a document.
   This allows multiple independent groups of rules to be defined
   within a single document and referenced independently.

=95 A way to reference a rule defined in a named collection of rules.

=95 A way to import rule definitions from another document.
   Optionally reference a specific named rule list within that document.

Extend xml2rfc with:
=95 A way to tag sections of the document that contain ABNF, so that
   its easy to extract just the ABNF from the XML document.

With these changes, an ABNF checker/compiler could be given the name of =

a draft or rfc, and could directly process the ABNF within. And that =

draft could reference and extend ABNF in another draft or rfc, and the =

checker/compiler could automatically retrieve that as well.

Do others think this would be useful?

	Thanks,
	Paul
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