Internet DRAFT - draft-bormann-core-corr-clar

draft-bormann-core-corr-clar







Network Working Group                                         C. Bormann
Internet-Draft                                    Universität Bremen TZI
Updates: 6690, 7252, 7641, 7959, 8132, 8323 (if         28 February 2024
         approved)                                                      
Intended status: Standards Track                                        
Expires: 31 August 2024


Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP): Corrections and Clarifications
                    draft-bormann-core-corr-clar-03

Abstract

   RFC 7252 defines the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), along
   with a number of additional specifications, including RFC 7641, RFC
   7959, RFC 8132, and RFC 8323.  RFC 6690 defines the link format that
   is used in CoAP self-description documents.

   Some parts of the specification may be unclear or even contain errors
   that may lead to misinterpretations that may impair interoperability
   between different implementations.  The present document provides
   corrections, additions, and clarifications to the RFCs cited; this
   document thus updates these RFCs.  In addition, other clarifications
   related to the use of CoAP in other specifications, including RFC
   7390 and RFC 8075, are also provided.

About This Document

   This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.

   Status information for this document may be found at
   https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-bormann-core-corr-clar/.

   Discussion of this document takes place on the core Working Group
   mailing list (mailto:core@ietf.org), which is archived at
   https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/core/.  Subscribe at
   https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/core/.

   Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
   https://github.com/core-wg/corrclar.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.






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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 31 August 2024.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2024 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.1.  Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
       1.1.1.  Original text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
       1.1.2.  Proposed text based on IETF 117 and 2023-08-30 CoRE WG
               interim discussion  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.2.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   2.  RFC 7252  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.1.  RFC7252-5.10.5: Max-Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.2.  RFC7252-7.2.1: "ct" Attribute (content-format code) . . .   6
     2.3.  RFC 7252-12.3: Content-Format Registry  . . . . . . . . .   6
   3.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   5.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     5.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     5.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9






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1.  Introduction

   [RFC7252] defines the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), along
   with a number of additional specifications, including [RFC7641],
   [RFC7959], [RFC8132], and [RFC8323].  [RFC6690] defines the link
   format that is used in CoAP self-description documents.

   During implementation and interoperability testing of these RFCs, and
   in their practical use, some ambiguities and common
   misinterpretations have been identified, as well as a few errors.

   The present document summarizes identified issues and provides
   corrections needed for implementations of CoAP to interoperate, i.e.,
   it constitutes an update to the RFCs referenced.  This document also
   provides other clarifications related to common misinterpretations of
   the specification.  References to CoAP should, therefore, also
   include this document.

   In addition, some clarifications and corrections are also provided
   for documents that are related to CoAP, including RFC 7390 and RFC
   8075.

1.1.  Process

1.1.1.  Original text

   The present document is an Internet-Draft, which is not intended to
   be published as an RFC quickly.  Instead, it will be maintained as a
   running document of the CoRE WG, probably for a number of years,
   until the need for new entries tails off and the document can finally
   be published as an RFC.  (This paragraph to be rephrased when that
   happens.)

   The status of this document as a running document of the WG implies a
   consensus process that is applied in making updates to it.  The rest
   of this subsection provides more details about this consensus
   process.  (This is the intended status; currently, the document is an
   individual submission only.)

   (Consensus process TBD, but it will likely be based on an editor's
   version in a publicly accessible git repository, as well as periodic
   calls for consensus that lead to a new published Internet-Draft.)

1.1.2.  Proposed text based on IETF 117 and 2023-08-30 CoRE WG interim
        discussion

   This section describes the process that will be used for developing
   the present document (called "-corr-clar" colloquially).



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   This process might be revised as its execution progresses.

   0.  (Done as of this a draft): include the present process proposal.
       The document can then already be considered for WG adoption.

   1.  Go through the following available material and revise/create
       Github issues at ISSUES (https://github.com/core-wg/corrclar/
       issues) as needed:

       *  Existing issues at ISSUES (https://github.com/core-
          wg/corrclar/issues)

          -  More to be opened by Jon Shallow regarding Block-wise, see
             JON-ISSUES (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/minutes-
             interim-2023-core-11-202307051400/#attacks-on-the-
             constrained-application-protocol-coap-christian-amsuss-jon-
             shallow)

       *  CoAP FAQ at the CoRE WIKI WIKI-FAQ (https://github.com/core-
          wg/wiki/wiki/CoAP-FAQ)

          -  Each point likely to become a new, short issue

   2.  Categorize the Github issues at ISSUES (https://github.com/core-
       wg/corrclar/issues) as to the topics they relate to, by tagging
       them.
       Completing a first round of this will be a task for a dedicated
       team.

   3.  For each issue or set of issues at ISSUES (https://github.com/
       core-wg/corrclar/issues), confirm with the CoRE WG and gather
       feedback from affected protocol designers/implementors if the
       issue is best to be:

       *  Included and covered in -corr-clar, as is or revised

       *  Simply omitted in -corr-clar

       *  Omitted in -corr-clar and left for a possible -bis document.
          (For example, this might be the case for some specific points
          related to RFC 7959.)

   4.  Reshape the -corr-clar document in order to reflect a sequence of
       pairs (Diagnosis, Therapy), where:

       *  Diagnosis is the gist of a set of Github issues to cover, and

       *  Therapy is the correction or clarification to address those.



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       Even though at a high-level, the scope should be already clear by
       looking at the table of contents.  That is, at this stage, there
       is no need to necessarily elaborate the Therapy in detail, but it
       is necessary to make a reader understand "what we are dealing
       with and taking which direction".

   5.  WG document work can then focus on improving the therapy parts,
       until all points are satisfactorily addressed and documented.

1.2.  Terminology

   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.

   When a section of this document makes formal corrections, additions
   or invalidations to text in a referenced RFC, this is clearly
   summarized.  The text from the RFC that is being addressed is given
   and labeled "INCOMPLETE", "INCORRECT", or "INCORRECT AND
   INVALIDATED", followed by the correct text labeled "CORRECTED", where
   applicable.  When text is added that does not simply correct text in
   previous specifications, it is given with the label "FORMAL
   ADDITION".

   Where a resolution has not yet been agreed, the resolution is marked
   PENDING.

   In this document, a reference to a section in RFC nnnn is written as
   RFC nnnn-<number>, where <number> is the section number.

2.  RFC 7252

2.1.  RFC7252-5.10.5: Max-Age

   In the discussion of [RFC8516], a comment was made that it would be
   needed to define the point in time relative to which Max-Age is
   defined.  A sender might reference it to the time it actually sends
   the message containing the option (and paragraph 3 of RFC7252-5.10.5
   indeed requests that Max-Age be updated each time a message is
   retransmitted).  The receiver of the message does not have reliable
   information about the time of sending, though.  It may instead
   reference the Max-Age to the time of reception.  This in effect
   extends the time of Max-Age by the latency of the packet.  This
   extension was deemed acceptable for the purposes of [RFC8516], but
   may be suboptimal when Max-Age is about the lifetime of a response
   object.



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   INCOMPLETE:
      The value is intended to be current at the time of transmission.

   PENDING.

2.2.  RFC7252-7.2.1: "ct" Attribute (content-format code)

   As has been noted in [Err5078], there is no information in [RFC7252]
   about whether the "ct" target attribute can be present multiply or
   not.

   The text does indicate that the value of the attribute MAY be "a
   space-separated sequence of Content-Format codes, indicating that
   multiple content-formats are available", but it does not repeat the
   prohibition of multiple instances that the analogously structured
   "rt" and "if" attributes in Sections 3.1 and 3.2 of [RFC6690] have.

   This appears to be an oversight.  Published examples in Section 4.1
   of [RFC9148] and Section 4.3 of [RFC9176] further illustrate that the
   space-separated approach is generally accepted to be the one to be
   used.  There is no gain to be had from allowing both variants, and it
   would be likely to cause interoperability problems.

   At the 2022-11-23 CoRE WG interim meeting, there was agreement that
   [Err5078] should be marked "VERIFIED", which was done on 2023-01-18.

   INCOMPLETE; FORMAL ADDITION:
      The Content-Format code attribute MUST NOT appear more than once
      in a link.

2.3.  RFC 7252-12.3: Content-Format Registry

   Section 12.3 of [RFC7252] established the CoAP Content-Formats
   Registry, which maps a combination of an Internet Media Type with an
   HTTP Content Coding, collectively called a Content-Format, to a
   concise numeric identifier for that Content-Format.  The "Media Type"
   is more than a Media-Type-Name (see [RFC9193] for an extensive
   discussion), i.e., it may contain parameters beyond the mere
   combination of a type-name and a subtype-name registered in
   [IANA.media-types], as per [RFC6838], conventionally identified by
   the two names separated by a slash.  This construct is often called a
   Content Type to reduce the confusion with a Media-Type-Name (e.g., in
   Section 8.3 of [RFC9110], which then however also opts to use the
   term Media Type for the same information set).







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   The second column of the Content-Format registry is the Content
   Coding, which is defined in Section 8.4.1 of [RFC9110].  For
   historical reasons, the HTTP header field that actually carries the
   content coding is called Content-Encoding; this often leads to the
   misnaming of Content Coding as "content encoding".

   As has been noted in [Err4954], the text in Section 12.3 of [RFC7252]
   incorrectly uses these terms in the context of content types and
   content coding:

   1.  The field that describes the Content Type is called "Media Type".
       This can lead to the misunderstanding that this column just
       carries a Media-Type-Name (such as "text/plain"), while it
       actually also can carry media type parameters (as in "text/plain;
       charset=UTF-8").

   2.  The field that describes the Content Coding uses the incorrect
       name "Content Encoding".

   INCORRECT, CORRECTED:
      The VERIFIED Errata Report [Err4954] corrects the usage of
      "Content-Encoding" in the text and changes the name of the first
      column of the Content-Format registry to "Content Type" and the
      name of the second field to "Content Coding"; this change has been
      carried out by IANA.

3.  IANA Considerations

   This document makes no new requests to IANA.

   Individual clarifications may contain IANA considerations; as for
   example in Section 2.3.

4.  Security Considerations

   This document provides a number of corrections and clarifications to
   existing RFCs, but it does not make any changes with regard to the
   security aspects of the protocol.  As a consequence, the security
   considerations of the referenced RFCs apply without additions.

   (To be changed when that is no longer true; probably the security
   considerations will then be on the individual clarifications.)

5.  References

5.1.  Normative References





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   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.

   [RFC6690]  Shelby, Z., "Constrained RESTful Environments (CoRE) Link
              Format", RFC 6690, DOI 10.17487/RFC6690, August 2012,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6690>.

   [RFC7252]  Shelby, Z., Hartke, K., and C. Bormann, "The Constrained
              Application Protocol (CoAP)", RFC 7252,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7252, June 2014,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7252>.

   [RFC7641]  Hartke, K., "Observing Resources in the Constrained
              Application Protocol (CoAP)", RFC 7641,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7641, September 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7641>.

   [RFC7959]  Bormann, C. and Z. Shelby, Ed., "Block-Wise Transfers in
              the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP)", RFC 7959,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7959, August 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7959>.

   [RFC8132]  van der Stok, P., Bormann, C., and A. Sehgal, "PATCH and
              FETCH Methods for the Constrained Application Protocol
              (CoAP)", RFC 8132, DOI 10.17487/RFC8132, April 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8132>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

   [RFC8323]  Bormann, C., Lemay, S., Tschofenig, H., Hartke, K.,
              Silverajan, B., and B. Raymor, Ed., "CoAP (Constrained
              Application Protocol) over TCP, TLS, and WebSockets",
              RFC 8323, DOI 10.17487/RFC8323, February 2018,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8323>.

5.2.  Informative References

   [Err4954]  "Errata Report 4954", RFC 7252,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata/eid5078>.

   [Err5078]  "Errata Report 5078", RFC 7252,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata/eid5078>.





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   [IANA.media-types]
              IANA, "Media Types",
              <https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types>.

   [RFC6838]  Freed, N., Klensin, J., and T. Hansen, "Media Type
              Specifications and Registration Procedures", BCP 13,
              RFC 6838, DOI 10.17487/RFC6838, January 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6838>.

   [RFC8516]  Keranen, A., ""Too Many Requests" Response Code for the
              Constrained Application Protocol", RFC 8516,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8516, January 2019,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8516>.

   [RFC9110]  Fielding, R., Ed., Nottingham, M., Ed., and J. Reschke,
              Ed., "HTTP Semantics", STD 97, RFC 9110,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC9110, June 2022,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110>.

   [RFC9148]  van der Stok, P., Kampanakis, P., Richardson, M., and S.
              Raza, "EST-coaps: Enrollment over Secure Transport with
              the Secure Constrained Application Protocol", RFC 9148,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC9148, April 2022,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9148>.

   [RFC9176]  Amsüss, C., Ed., Shelby, Z., Koster, M., Bormann, C., and
              P. van der Stok, "Constrained RESTful Environments (CoRE)
              Resource Directory", RFC 9176, DOI 10.17487/RFC9176, April
              2022, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9176>.

   [RFC9193]  Keränen, A. and C. Bormann, "Sensor Measurement Lists
              (SenML) Fields for Indicating Data Value Content-Format",
              RFC 9193, DOI 10.17487/RFC9193, June 2022,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9193>.

Acknowledgements

   The present document is modeled after RFC 4815 and the Internet-
   Drafts of the ROHC WG that led to it.  Many thanks to the co-chairs
   of the ROHC WG and WG members that made this a worthwhile and
   successful experiment at the time.

Author's Address








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   Carsten Bormann
   Universität Bremen TZI
   Postfach 330440
   D-28359 Bremen
   Germany
   Phone: +49-421-218-63921
   Email: cabo@tzi.org












































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