Just a quick (one-time I plan) note in support of John's position. I,
too, think it is counterproductive to avoid/deny registration in this
case. Maybe a slightly different way of saying it:
- A group of folks has designed an IP _option_ they intend to use
- They have documented the option (albeit not in IETF format)
- They are asking, in fact, "We are going to deploy this option, what
code point would you like us to use?"
The IETF/IESG have two choices IMHO:
A. Assign a code point. If someone later says "hey, that option
doesn't play well on my part of the network", you know _exactly_ what
code point to filter (drop packets) on. In a good community spirit one
might also write this up as an "option XYZ considered harmful" ID.
B. Deny the assignment of the code point, and forever wonder which
unknown code in an inbound packet might correspond to this option.
I suggest choice A. above is the better one of the two.
Also note that "C. Prevent the deployment of the option" does not exist.
On Jun 28, 2005, at 16:32, John C Klensin wrote:
Sigh. I'm going to try one last time. Probably I should just give up.
Bob and Keith,
As far as protocol changes, adding stuff to IP, etc., I am 100% in
agreement with you. We should be cautious, we should exercise
considerable diligence, we should not approve anything without
considerable evidence of informed IETF consensus. I can't figure out
how to say that more clearly.
_However_ if some rogue group comes along (and I hope that we are a
long distance from where Larry Roberts would be considered a "rogue
group", even though I have disagreed about some things he has
advocated in the past and may do so in the future) and has the
resources and commitment to deploy an IP option, I think we need to
register it to protect the community from the bad option, not pretend
that not registering it will somehow prevent them from deploying their
ideas.
And then, if we are convinced the idea is bad enough, we need to do
what _will_ prevent the bad idea from being actively used, which is to
do, and write up the analysis of why it is bad and what problems it
will cause.
But the notion that the IETF can prevent something from happening or
being deployed by declining to register it, or by turning our
collective backs on it without any real explanation -- even at the
waist of the hourglass-- is, in this world, just delusional. And, if
that delusion prevents the IETF community from explaining, carefully
and in public why the idea is a bad one, then it is we who are putting
the Internet at risk.
Hans Kruse, Associate Professor
J. Warren McClure School of Communication Systems Management
Adjunct Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science
292 Lindley Hall, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701
740-593-4891 voice, 740-593-4889 fax
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