RFC 裡面的 MUST/SHOULD/MAY

讀 RFC 文件時常看到會使用這組定義,甚至有些非 RFC 文件也會使用:

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.

這邊提到的 RFC 2119 就是 1997 年訂的「Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels」這篇,以 2020 年的現在來說,這組定義已經被人熟知,用這組定義可以讓閱讀的人很輕鬆的了解條件的強制性。

剛剛在讀新的文件時發現這段文字有更新,往回查發現是針對大小寫的差異提出更新:「Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words」,主要是這兩條:

  • The words have the meanings specified herein only when they are in all capitals.
  • When these words are not capitalized, they have their normal English meanings and are not affected by this document.

然後也更新了引用的部份:

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

不過就算是 2017 年之前應該也是這樣讀就是了...

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