Skip to main content

Using CDDL for CSVs
draft-bormann-cbor-cddl-csv-02

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Active".
Author Carsten Bormann
Last updated 2023-02-27
RFC stream (None)
Formats
Stream Stream state (No stream defined)
Consensus boilerplate Unknown
RFC Editor Note (None)
IESG IESG state I-D Exists
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD (None)
Send notices to (None)
draft-bormann-cbor-cddl-csv-02
Network Working Group                                         C. Bormann
Internet-Draft                                    Universität Bremen TZI
Intended status: Standards Track                        27 February 2023
Expires: 31 August 2023

                          Using CDDL for CSVs
                     draft-bormann-cbor-cddl-csv-02

Abstract

   The Concise Data Definition Language (CDDL), standardized in RFC
   8610, is defined to provide data models for data shaped like JSON or
   CBOR.

   Another representation format that is quote popular is the CSV
   (Comma-Separated Values) file as defined by RFC 4180.

   The present document shows a way how to use CDDL to provide a data
   model for CSV files.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 31 August 2023.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2023 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
   and restrictions with respect to this document.  Code Components

Bormann                  Expires 31 August 2023                 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft                CDDL for CSVs                February 2023

   extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
   described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  CSV generic data model  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   3.  Examples  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  Security considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   6.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     6.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     6.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   Appendix A.  Example: ietf-system.sid represented in CSV  . . . .   6
   Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8

1.  Introduction

   The Concise Data Definition Language (CDDL), standardized in
   [RFC8610], is defined to provide data models for data shaped like
   JSON or CBOR.

   Another representation format that is quote popular is the CSV file
   as defined by [RFC4180].

   The present document shows how to use CDDL to provide a data model
   for CSV files.

1.1.  Terminology

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
   BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

   This specification uses terminology from [RFC8610].

2.  CSV generic data model

   The CSV format is defined in [RFC4180].  The generic data model for
   the data in a CSV file can be described in CDDL as:

Bormann                  Expires 31 August 2023                 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft                CDDL for CSVs                February 2023

   csv = [?header, *record]
   header = [+header-field]
   record = [+field]
   header-field = text
   field = text

   Note that the elements of this data model describe the interpretation
   of the data after processing and removal of lexical structure such as
   newlines, commas, escape characters, and quotation marks.

   For the purposes of a specific application, the data model level
   structure of each field may be described in a more elaborate way,
   e.g., as a number.  CDDL currently does not have a way to express the
   transformation from the text string in the CSV field to the number
   that this text string represents at the application data model level;
   the usage of anything but "text" for a field therefore MUST be
   accompanied by an instruction how to perform the translation.  As a
   preferred choice, the JSON representation of the data model item, if
   it exists, MAY be chosen by that instruction.

   Since the CSV media type text/csv defaults to using the US-ASCII
   character set (i.e., [STD80]; see Section 3 of [RFC4180]), many uses
   of CSV will need to specify the media type parameter charset.  (Note
   that CDDL can describe text information that is in UTF-8 form, which
   includes US-ASCII as that is a subset of UTF-8.  If a different form
   that is not a subset of UTF-8 is really still needed, some rules for
   conversion will need to be defined by the application.)

   The media type parameter header MAY be used to indicate the presence
   or absence of a header line; if it is not given, the grammar MUST NOT
   be ambiguous about the presence of a header (i.e., it MUST be either
   mandatory or absent).

   Note that the ABNF [STD68] in [RFC4180] does not quite handle the
   case that charset is not us-ascii.  For the purposes of the present
   specification, the ABNF is understood to allow all characters from
   the charset except %x22 and %x2C in TEXTDATA.  For the purposes of
   the present specification, the ABNF rule CRLF is read as:

   CRLF = [CR] LF

   as is hinted in Section 3 of [RFC4180].

3.  Examples

   A simplified CSV form definition of a SID file [I-D.ietf-core-sid]
   might look like this:

Bormann                  Expires 31 August 2023                 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft                CDDL for CSVs                February 2023

   ; header = absent

   SID-File = [meta-record,
               ?description-record,
               *dependency-record,
               *range-record,
               *item-record]

   meta-record = ["ietf-sid-file",
                  module-name: text,
                  module-revision: empty / text,
                  sid-file-revision: empty / text,
                  sid-file-status: empty / "unpublished" / "published"]

   description-record = ["description",
                         description: empty / text]

   dependency-record = ["dependency",
                        module-name: text,
                        module-revision: text]

   range-record = ["range",
                   entry-point: uint,
                   size: uint]

   item-record = [; "item", -- useful to elide for bulk of file
                  sid: uint
                  (
                    namespace: "module" / "identity" / "feature"
                    identifier: yang-identifier
                   //
                    namespace: "data"
                    identifier: schema-node-path
                  )
                  status: empty / "stable" / "unstable" / "obsolete"]

   yang-identifier = text .abnf ("yang-identifier" .det id-abnf)
   schema-node-path = text .abnf ("schema-node-path" .det id-abnf)
   id-abnf = '
     schema-node-path = "/" QID *( "/" OQID)
     yang-identifier = ID
     QID = ID ":" ID
     OQID = ID [":" ID]
     ID = I *C
     I = "_" / %x41-5a / %x61-7a
     C = I / %x30-39 / "-" / "."
   '

Bormann                  Expires 31 August 2023                 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft                CDDL for CSVs                February 2023

   empty = ""

   This CDDL data model assumes that the text strings representing the
   numbers entry-point, size, and sid are converted to uint.  (Note
   that, due to the way YANG-JSON [RFC7951] defines the representation
   of uint64 data items, these actually are text strings in JSON, which
   in CSV is indistinguishable from numbers.  However, the CDDL model
   for the CSV files will be more useful if it takes into account
   typical CSV applications that automatically convert integer-like text
   strings into numbers.)

   The result of representing in CSV the sid file ietf-system.sid (as
   defined in Appendix A of [I-D.ietf-core-sid]) is shown in Appendix A.

4.  IANA Considerations

   This document makes no requests of IANA.

5.  Security considerations

   The security considerations of [RFC8610] and [RFC4180] apply.

6.  References

6.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.

   [RFC4180]  Shafranovich, Y., "Common Format and MIME Type for Comma-
              Separated Values (CSV) Files", RFC 4180,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4180, October 2005,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4180>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

   [RFC8610]  Birkholz, H., Vigano, C., and C. Bormann, "Concise Data
              Definition Language (CDDL): A Notational Convention to
              Express Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR) and
              JSON Data Structures", RFC 8610, DOI 10.17487/RFC8610,
              June 2019, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8610>.

Bormann                  Expires 31 August 2023                 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft                CDDL for CSVs                February 2023

   [STD68]    Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
              Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5234, January 2008,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5234>.

6.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-core-sid]
              Veillette, M., Pelov, A., Petrov, I., Bormann, C., and M.
              Richardson, "YANG Schema Item iDentifier (YANG SID)", Work
              in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-core-sid-19, 26
              July 2022, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-
              ietf-core-sid-19>.

   [RFC7951]  Lhotka, L., "JSON Encoding of Data Modeled with YANG",
              RFC 7951, DOI 10.17487/RFC7951, August 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7951>.

   [RFC8792]  Watsen, K., Auerswald, E., Farrel, A., and Q. Wu,
              "Handling Long Lines in Content of Internet-Drafts and
              RFCs", RFC 8792, DOI 10.17487/RFC8792, June 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8792>.

   [STD80]    Cerf, V., "ASCII format for network interchange", STD 80,
              RFC 20, DOI 10.17487/RFC0020, October 1969,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc20>.

Appendix A.  Example: ietf-system.sid represented in CSV

   This appendix shows the CSV file that is automatically generated from
   Appendix A of [I-D.ietf-core-sid].  (Note that plaintext-based RFCs
   are limited to 72 columns; therefore five long lines in the CSV file
   have been folded as defined in [RFC8792].)

   =============== NOTE: '\' line wrapping per RFC 8792 ================

   ietf-sid-file,ietf-system,2014-08-06,,
   description,Example sid file
   dependency,ietf-yang-types,2013-07-15
   dependency,ietf-inet-types,2013-07-15
   dependency,ietf-netconf-acm,2018-02-14
   dependency,iana-crypt-hash,2014-08-06
   range,1700,100
   1700,module,ietf-system,
   1701,identity,authentication-method,
   1702,identity,local-users,
   1703,identity,radius,
   1704,identity,radius-authentication-type,

Bormann                  Expires 31 August 2023                 [Page 6]
Internet-Draft                CDDL for CSVs                February 2023

   1705,identity,radius-chap,
   1706,identity,radius-pap,
   1707,feature,authentication,
   1708,feature,dns-udp-tcp-port,
   1709,feature,local-users,
   1710,feature,ntp,
   1711,feature,ntp-udp-port,
   1712,feature,radius,
   1713,feature,radius-authentication,
   1714,feature,timezone-name,
   1715,data,/ietf-system:set-current-datetime,
   1716,data,/ietf-system:set-current-datetime/current-datetime,
   1717,data,/ietf-system:system,
   1718,data,/ietf-system:system-restart,
   1719,data,/ietf-system:system-shutdown,
   1720,data,/ietf-system:system-state,
   1721,data,/ietf-system:system-state/clock,
   1722,data,/ietf-system:system-state/clock/boot-datetime,
   1723,data,/ietf-system:system-state/clock/current-datetime,
   1724,data,/ietf-system:system-state/platform,
   1725,data,/ietf-system:system-state/platform/machine,
   1726,data,/ietf-system:system-state/platform/os-name,
   1727,data,/ietf-system:system-state/platform/os-release,
   1728,data,/ietf-system:system-state/platform/os-version,
   1729,data,/ietf-system:system/authentication,
   1730,data,/ietf-system:system/authentication/user,
   1731,data,/ietf-system:system/authentication/user-authentication-\
                                                                  order,
   1732,data,/ietf-system:system/authentication/user/authorized-key,
   1733,data,/ietf-system:system/authentication/user/authorized-key/\
                                                              algorithm,
   1734,data,/ietf-system:system/authentication/user/authorized-key/key\
                                                                  -data,
   1735,data,/ietf-system:system/authentication/user/authorized-key/\
                                                                   name,
   1736,data,/ietf-system:system/authentication/user/name,
   1737,data,/ietf-system:system/authentication/user/password,
   1738,data,/ietf-system:system/clock,
   1739,data,/ietf-system:system/clock/timezone-name,
   1740,data,/ietf-system:system/clock/timezone-utc-offset,
   1741,data,/ietf-system:system/contact,
   1742,data,/ietf-system:system/dns-resolver,
   1743,data,/ietf-system:system/dns-resolver/options,
   1744,data,/ietf-system:system/dns-resolver/options/attempts,
   1745,data,/ietf-system:system/dns-resolver/options/timeout,
   1746,data,/ietf-system:system/dns-resolver/search,
   1747,data,/ietf-system:system/dns-resolver/server,
   1748,data,/ietf-system:system/dns-resolver/server/name,

Bormann                  Expires 31 August 2023                 [Page 7]
Internet-Draft                CDDL for CSVs                February 2023

   1749,data,/ietf-system:system/dns-resolver/server/udp-and-tcp,
   1750,data,/ietf-system:system/dns-resolver/server/udp-and-tcp/\
                                                                address,
   1751,data,/ietf-system:system/dns-resolver/server/udp-and-tcp/port,
   1752,data,/ietf-system:system/hostname,
   1753,data,/ietf-system:system/location,
   1754,data,/ietf-system:system/ntp,
   1755,data,/ietf-system:system/ntp/enabled,
   1756,data,/ietf-system:system/ntp/server,
   1757,data,/ietf-system:system/ntp/server/association-type,
   1758,data,/ietf-system:system/ntp/server/iburst,
   1759,data,/ietf-system:system/ntp/server/name,
   1760,data,/ietf-system:system/ntp/server/prefer,
   1761,data,/ietf-system:system/ntp/server/udp,
   1762,data,/ietf-system:system/ntp/server/udp/address,
   1763,data,/ietf-system:system/ntp/server/udp/port,
   1764,data,/ietf-system:system/radius,
   1765,data,/ietf-system:system/radius/options,
   1766,data,/ietf-system:system/radius/options/attempts,
   1767,data,/ietf-system:system/radius/options/timeout,
   1768,data,/ietf-system:system/radius/server,
   1769,data,/ietf-system:system/radius/server/authentication-type,
   1770,data,/ietf-system:system/radius/server/name,
   1771,data,/ietf-system:system/radius/server/udp,
   1772,data,/ietf-system:system/radius/server/udp/address,
   1773,data,/ietf-system:system/radius/server/udp/authentication-port,
   1774,data,/ietf-system:system/radius/server/udp/shared-secret,

Acknowledgements

   Rob Wilton, unknowingly, made me write this specification.  I hope it
   will be useful.  Laurent Toutain inspired the SID CDDL format with an
   example.

Author's Address

   Carsten Bormann
   Universität Bremen TZI
   Postfach 330440
   D-28359 Bremen
   Germany
   Phone: +49-421-218-63921
   Email: cabo@tzi.org

Bormann                  Expires 31 August 2023                 [Page 8]