Default service priority

[Peter Davis]

On 1/18/2006 2:52 AM, "Martin Atkins" <mart at degeneration.co.uk> wrote:

> Johannes Ernst wrote:
>> If a service priority is not specified for a YADIS Service element,  but
>> all other Service elements have it, how should those Service  elements
>> be sorted? In other words, does the priority default to 0,  to
>> Inifinity, to -Infinity, ...?

The service priority attributes semantics are defined in the XRI resolution
spec (draft section 3.3.3) which presently suggests:

1. The client SHOULD select the element instance with the lowest numeric
value of the priority attribute. For example, an element with priority
attribute value of ³10² should be selected before an element with a priority
attribute value of ³11², and an element with priority attribute value of
³11² should be selected before an element with a priority attribute value of
³15². Zero is the highest priority attribute value. Null is the lowest
priority attribute value.

2. If an element has no priority attribute, its priority attribute value is
considered to be null.

3. If two or more instances of the same element type have identical priority
attribute values (including the null value), the client SHOULD select one of
the instances at random. This client SHOULD NOT simply choose the first
instance that appears in XML document order (this is important in order to
support intentional round-robin behaviour).

4. An element selected according to these rules is referred to as ³the
highest priority element². If this element is subsequently disqualified from
the set of qualified elements, the next element selected according to these
rules is referred to as ³the next highest priority element². If a protocol
operation specifying selection of the highest priority element fails, the
client SHOULD attempt to select the next highest priority element unless
otherwise specified. This process SHOULD be continued for all other element
instances until success is achieved or all instances are exhausted.

 
> 
> I don't think it really makes much difference. Just pick one.
> 
> Another possibility is to copy HTTP negotiation which (I think?) uses 1
> as the default and expects lesser items to be fractions of 1.
> 
> Might also be good to check to see if XRD already specifies this.
> 
> I think what's more important is to properly explain the meaning of
> priority; namely, that it only comes into play when the relying party
> really has no other means to decide on an item. And even then, some
> relying parties will probably just take the first one encountered and
> use it no matter what the spec says, because people tend to take
> shortcuts like that.
> 
> In other words, if you specify both LID and OpenID auth and prioritise
> OpenID, some relying parties might use LID anyway because they have a
> superior LID implementation, they don't support OpenID at all, or if
> they just like LID more, or whatever.
> 

=peterd  (http://public.xdi.org/=peterd)