i think my defense of the proposal as it stands is that the flag is not a command so much as it is a semantic declaration of the meaning of the provided data. in this sense, perhaps matchExactly is not the correct name as the term should be something declarative.
but i think the goal behind the proposal as-offered is:
- allow the server to express the semantic intention that the provided list of forms is to be interpreted as the canonical full set of forms the client is meant to use, rather than as a catalogue of forms the user can pick and choose from. whether the client chooses to honor this intent can be implementation- and situation-specific.
- do so in a way that minimally impacts the existing ecosystem.
- do so without requiring us to answer much more difficult questions like "what would a client configuration specification look like?"
- as @ln suggests, allow greater and finer control over rote administrative tasks from the server, and in a manner that offers much greater peace of mind that the administration is airtight.