The virtues (or lack thereof) of xml2rfc are a separate discussion. The
question isn't how we generate the normative output, but what the normative
output should be.
Seems to me that this discussion has reached the point at which
running code is needed in order to get any further.
May I suggest that those interested in changing the normative format
come up with an example based on a couple of RFCs, one recent and one
ancient. For instance, if you believe that an XML format is the right
one, present us with an example RFC in normative XML format along with
some XSLT transformations that can be used to produce HTML and ASCII
text format versions. PDF shouldn't be an issue since it is easy to
change just about anything into a PDF file, but it might be useful to
document the workflow and toolchain required to go from normative XML
to archival PDF/A since it seems sensible maintain archive copies of
all RFCs as well as normative. Note that a PDF/A document could
contain an appendix with the source code of the normative XML
document, thus archiving that as well.
If it can be demonstrated that an XML normative format is workable and
can be easily transformed into other needed formats using a variety of
common tools, then there is some point in extending the discussion to
editing and submission formats.
I do believe that one can trivially export a normative XML document
into formats suitable for viewing in all the contexts discussed in
this and previous threads on the topic. It is therefore trivial for
the IETF to offer a download tool for every RFC that allows the user
to choose a set of formats and receive a package of files in their
choice of .ZIP, .7z, .tar.gz and other formats. Each file would have a
copy of the specified RFC in the chosen formats such as HTML, HTML
with printable CSS, ASCII text, UNICODE text, specified column width
text, paginated or unpaginated text with specified page length, PDF,
PDF/A, XML, .doc, .docx, .sdw, .odt, etc...
If nobody is willing to produce a sample normative XML format RFC,
then let's drop the whole topic.
--Michael Dillon
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