Subject: subtle ABNF changes in syntaxes document

From: "Kurt D. Zeilenga" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 05 Mar 2002 14:52:51 -0800

A number of syntaxes in [syntaxes] (and in models] have
some subtle ABNF changes.  While I have no problem clarifying
a syntax or resolving a particular problem, we need to be
careful not to introduce any unnecessary changes.

In particular, many 'whsp' (zero or more spaces)
productions have been replaced with 'space' (one or
more spaces).  I have no problem with such changes
where there a space is needed for separation of
elements, however, I believe it inappropriate to
require a space where it is not needed for
separation (or there is another good reason for the
change).

For example, 
  delivery-value = pdm / ( pdm whsp "$" whsp delivery-value )

was changed to:
  delivery-value = pdm / ( whsp pdm space "$" space delivery-value )

This is an unnecessary change as the whsp was not as a
separator.  The change disallows "mhs$ia5" which was
previously acceptable.

Kurt