Subject: Re: ABNF of numericoid

From: "Jim Sermersheim" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 01:43:20 -0600

>numericoid, like the BER
>encoding of an OID, needs to be capable of representing
>any OID value allowed by X.680.

Don't the BER-encoding rules for packing the first two object
identifier components into a single octet ((X * 40) + Y) constrain them
(albeit not constrained to today's constraints)?

Jim

>>> "Kurt D. Zeilenga" <[email-masked]> 7/14/03 5:54:08 AM >>>
At 12:45 AM 7/10/2003, Jim Sermersheim wrote:
>All,
>
>In [Models], we define:
>numericoid = number *( DOT number )
>
>This allows an invalid oid like 23.666.<whatever>
>
>Are there usages of numericoid that need to allow these non-valid
oids?
>If not, I think it'd be better to show the proper restrictions on the
>first two numbers.

I think it inappropriate to restrict the syntax of a OID
based upon current assignments and assignment practices.
These are subject to change.   numericoid, like the BER
encoding of an OID, needs to be capable of representing
any OID value allowed by X.680.

For example, 3 is a valid representation of an unassigned
OID. It may one day be assigned.  However, assigned or not,
3 may be a reasonable value of an attribute of syntax OID.

I can think of a number of applications where storing
unassigned OIDs in a directory may be useful.  For example,
in an application which tracked usage of unassigned OIDs in
Internet protocols.

Kurt

---

From: "Kurt D. Zeilenga" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 10:43:51 +0200

I've been advised that my previous post is mostly incorrect.
Steven will post the real scoop.

Kurt

---

From: "Steven Legg" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 17:37:53 +1000

X.680 defers to X.660 for the definition of OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
but notes that an OBJECT IDENTIFIER must have at least two components.
I don't have a copy of X.660 to check what other requirements
there are, however it is worth noting that the BER encoding of
OBJECT IDENTIFIER only supports values where the first component
is 0, 1 or 2. If the first component is 0 or 1 then the second
component must be in the range 0 to 39. If the first component
is 2 then the second component is unlimited.

Regards,
Steven

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email-masked]
> [mailto:[email-masked]]On Behalf Of Kurt D. Zeilenga
> Sent: Monday, 14 July 2003 18:44
> To: Jim Sermersheim
> Cc: [email-masked]; Duane Buss; Steve McLain; Tom Doman
> Subject: Re: ABNF of numericoid
> 
>