Subject: (foo=*) v (foo;binary=*)

From: "Kurt D. Zeilenga" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 15:14:52 -0800

When ;binary appears in the AttributeDescription in a
Filter component, it indicates that the associated
AttributeValueAssertion is binary (BER) encoded.  If
the server does not support ;binary transfer of
assertion value, then it MUST treat the attribute
description as unrecognized.

But here, as the present CHOICE has no associated
AttributeValueAssertion, the transfer encoding option
(if recognized) is extraneous (otherwise treated as
unrecognized).

If a server which recognizes "foo;binary", it should likely
treat (foo=*) and (foo;binary=*) as equivalent.  That is,
both are asserting that the attribute "foo" (or one of its
subtypes) is present.

But note that a server may recognize "foo" but not "foo;binary"
and, in such cases, (foo=*) and (foo;binary=*) are not
equivalent.  That is, the former may evaluate to True yet
the latter to False.

Kurt