Subject: [netmod] Backward Compatibility Question

From: JOEY BOYD <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2017 14:05:46 +0000

Hi all,

Suppose I had a published YANG model with the following leaf.

  leaf thing1 {
    type uint8;
    description
      "Thing 1.";
  }

Later, I realize that I wish I had modeled this in a choice as I now have a mutually exclusive option to 'thing1' which I want to add to the model.

  leaf thing2 {
    type empty;
    description
      "Thing 2.";
  }

This is a very simplified example but should be sufficient to demonstrate the problem. 

If I look at the XML representation of 'thing1', it looks like this.

<thing1>123</thing1>

If I were to move 'thing1' into a choice with a single case, it would look like this.

choice things {
  case thing1 {
    leaf thing1 {
      type uint8;
      description
        "Thing 1.";
    }
  }
}

Looking to the XML representation, it looks the same as before.

<thing1>123</thing1>

To me, this means that taking a single node or set of nodes and moving them under a case within a new choice statement is a backward compatible change. This assumes, of course, any mandatory or default behavior is preserved. I now can add 'thing2' to the existing model as an option to 'thing1'.

choice things {
  case thing1 {
    leaf thing1 {
      type uint8;
      description
        "Thing 1.";
    }
  }
  case thing2 {
    leaf thing2 {
      type empty;
      description
        "Thing 2.";
    }
  }
}

Do you agree with this analysis or am I missing something?

Best regards,
Joey