Feature request: support clause number permanence option

[gesa]

A CLI option that makes the number attribute mandatory in every clause and throws if there's a missing (or duplicated, or out-of-order) clause. This would require authors to explicitly indicate to readers if a clause has been deleted between versions.

It would be imperfect—for example it wouldn't catch if the last subclause in a list vanished—but it would be a great move in the right direction for clause permanence across versions.

[ljharb]

Is the intent to have clause numbers not change across editions? 262 just renumbers everything when a clause is removed.

[gesa]

That is the goal. It provides a more stable document for backwards and forwards compatible referencing.

I can dream of 262 publishing in this way, but don't worry that's not the point of this feature request. The point of this feature request is to provide the option for editors of other Ecma specifications.

[michaelficarra]

Why not generate/consume a persistent file mapping section IDs to clause numbers? New sections will get added to the mapping with clause numbers appropriate for their position, and deleted sections will continue to reserve a clause number in the mapping. The file can be version controlled in the repo with the spec document.

[gesa]

Sure. I honestly care very little about the implementation. I would just really like this as an option for our documents as a good SDO citizen.