An Alarm Client that filters on any of the StateVariables or StateMachines will not get what is expect - since the retain flag is supposed to be sent once an alarm is no longer of interest (according to the server) for the client. The current implementation of the Retain bit do not handle this correctly. If the filter include any of the state variable - say only want not shelved alarms or not suppressed alarms, if an alarm is shelved the client will never get a notification for it being shelved and will never remove it from it's alarm screen.

On research it was discovered that the spec is not clear enough on this behavior, the specification needs to be clarified,

Since most implementations do not handle retain as defined in the specification (admittedly poorly) - that it should be sent when the alarm is no longer of interest (based on client subscription). A retain2 flag will need to be added (or other more general update - not just a clarification)