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Re: Does being an RFC mean anything?

2009-03-12 14:02:04


--On Thursday, March 12, 2009 15:47 +0000 Tony Finch
<dot(_at_)dotat(_dot_)at> wrote:

They certainly have gone through an IETF process to get
published, whether they're a working group document or
individual contribution.

April 1st RFCs are one example of non-IETF RFCs.

So is the entire independent submission track (of which April 1
RFCs are a special case, special because they are not posted as
I-Ds first and not reviewed by the IESG).  For the rest of the
independent submission track, unless IANA assignments are
needed, the only required "IETF process" is review by the IESG
to determine whether they conflict with ongoing WG efforts.

Formally, the RFC Series has always been an independent document
series and process, predating the IETF by many years.  The IETF,
since its inception has chosen to publish several types of
documents in that series, using specific rules agreed to by the
RFC Editor and in which other groups choose to publish other
types of documents (naturally under somewhat different rules).
The IETF has never been required to use the RFC Series by any
external body and that requirement does not exist today.   If
the IETF decided to take its work and standards-track
publications elsewhere, we would presumably have some issues
with funding and organizational structure for the RFC Editor
function,  but, at least in principle, that function would not
change other than not having the IETF-produced portion of its
workload.  

Assertions that the fact that the IETF publishes standards-track
documents in that series changes the rules and conventions for
the appropriate series are interesting speculations but just
don't hold water.  

I would strongly encourage those who are participating in this
discussion to go back and reread RFCs 4844 and 4846 and, as a
non-IETF stream example, 4845.  That knowledge might help focus
this rather strange (IMO) thread a bit.  On the other hand, if
anyone participating in this discussion were to consider facts
merely an incidental inconvenience to the points they are trying
to make, I don't suppose those documents or this note will make
any difference.

      john

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