Hi,
I broadly in favour of this change, but I have a few comments.
First, a minor suggestion on the text itself:
OLD:
The responsible AD should
still check for downrefs before sending out the last call notice, but
any need to repeat a last call if this has not been done is at the
discretion of the IESG.
NEW:
The responsible AD should
still check for downrefs before sending out the last call notice, but
if an undetected downref is noticed during last call or IESG review,
any need to repeat the last call is at the discretion of the IESG.
Second,
there are no related security
considerations.
That bothers me a tiny bit. A missed downref could have security implications.
Third, I believe that in addition to this procedural change, there is a
little work needed on the ecosystem:
1. Make the downref registry an intrinsic part of the data tracker. I mean that
each document listed at
https://trac.tools.ietf.org/group/iesg/trac/wiki/DownrefRegistry
would instead be tagged as 'downref allowed' in the tracker, with appropriate
GUI
support for the IESG to apply this tag.
2. Enhance idnits slightly to check this tag when it detects a downref.
A downref to a 'downref allowed' document would be a warning, and a downref
to a non-downref-allowed document would be an error.
Regards
Brian Carpenter
On 19/10/2016 04:11, The IESG wrote:
The IESG has received a request from an individual submitter to consider
the following document:
- 'Updating when Standards Track Documents may Refer Normatively to
Documents at a Lower Level'
<draft-leiba-3967upd-downref-00.txt> as Best Current Practice
The IESG plans to make a decision in the next few weeks, and solicits
final comments on this action. Please send substantive comments to the
ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org mailing lists by 2016-11-15. Exceptionally, comments
may be
sent to iesg(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org instead. In either case, please retain the
beginning of the Subject line to allow automated sorting.
Abstract
RFC 3967 specifies a process for allowing normative references to
documents at lower maturity levels ("downrefs"), which involves
calling out the downref explicitly in the last call notice. That
requirement has proven to be unnecessarily strict, and this document
updates RFC 3967, allowing the IESG more flexibility in accepting
downrefs in Standards Track documents.
The file can be obtained via
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-leiba-3967upd-downref/
IESG discussion can be tracked via
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-leiba-3967upd-downref/ballot/
No IPR declarations have been submitted directly on this I-D.