RE: compare result codes

["Kurt D. Zeilenga" <Kurt@OpenLDAP.org>]

At 11:02 AM 6/21/00 -0400, Kristianne Leclair wrote:
>> 1) undefinedAttributeType
>> 2) inappropriateMatching
>Agreed. Currently the rescodes doc doesn't have this listed as a possible
>error for compare. This will have to be updated.

It's X.511 that actually needs updating.... or we need to
do something about that MUST X.511 in RFC 2251.

>> 3) noSuchAttribute (syntax not relevant in this case)
>> 4) noSuchAttribute
>> 5) invalidAttributeSyntax
>I'm not sure whether this would be invalidAttributeSyntax, I would have said
>compareFalse.  It depends on exactly how you read the definition of
>invalidAttributeSyntax; the key phrase is 'specified as an argument of the
>operation'. The only operations where the attribute value is specifically an
>argument of the operation are Add and Modify.

I feel it should apply to value of an attribute value assertion which
is an argument to a compare operation.  
>Now this is really splitting
>hairs here but we don't include this as an error for search either.

Guess you could split hairs over whether or not the value of an
attribute value assertion is an attribute value or not... but I
rather just clarify X.511 (and hence LDAPv3) that this result
code can (and should) be returned in this case.

>When a search filter is evaluated the attribute must be known and the value
>must conform to the syntax for the attribute. If both conditions are not met
>the filter is undefined and evaluates to false -- no error is returned if
>the attribute syntax is incorrect. 

Yes, but a compare, unlike search, should return an error instead
of applying three value logic to the assertion. 


>As I see it, the compare operation simply answers the question 'does the
>entry contain an attribute with this name and this value?', I don't think it
>matters whether the attribute is defined or not (I guess this really depends
>on how the server goes about checking this though). 

As I see it, compare provides key functional that cannot be
mimiced with search.  In particular, compare returns the reason
the assertion, if used in a search filter, would be undefined.

Kurt