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4279. §[fs.op.absolute] Non-normative encouragement should be Recommended practice

Section: 31.12.13.2 [fs.op.absolute] Status: New Submitter: Jonathan Wakely Opened: 2025-06-16 Last modified: 2025-10-14

Priority: 4

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Discussion:

[fs.op.absolute] has a note giving strong encouragement, which should be normative:

[Note 3: Implementations are strongly encouraged to not query secondary storage, and not consider !exists(p) an error. — end note]

The part about !exists(p) not being an error could definitely be a Recommended practice paragraph. Referring to "secondary storage" might need to be phrased differently to be normative (maybe with a note clarifying that the normative wording is referring to "secondary storage").

[2025-10-14; Reflector poll]

Set priority to 4 after reflector poll.

Could the !exists(p) part be implementation-defined?

Proposed resolution: