One document matched: draft-iab-rfc-nonascii-02.xml
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<rfc category="info" docName="draft-iab-rfc-nonascii-02" ipr="trust200902" updates="7322">
<front>
<title abbrev="non-ASCII in RFCs">The Use of Non-ASCII Characters in RFCs</title>
<author fullname="Heather Flanagan" initials="H." role="editor"
surname="Flanagan">
<organization>RFC Editor</organization>
<address>
<postal>
<street></street>
<city></city>
<region></region>
<code></code>
<country></country>
</postal>
<phone></phone>
<email>rse@rfc-editor.org</email>
<uri>http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2647-2220</uri>
</address>
</author>
<date month="April" year="2016" day="25"/>
<area>General</area>
<workgroup>Internet Architecture Board</workgroup>
<keyword>RFC Series, UTF-8, ASCII, format, non-ASCII</keyword>
<abstract>
<t>
In order to support the internationalization of protocols and a more
diverse Internet community, the RFC Series must evolve to allow for
the use of non-ASCII characters in RFCs. While English remains the
required language of the Series, the encoding of future RFCs will
be in UTF-8, allowing for a broader range of characters than typically
used in the English language. This document describes the RFC Editor
requirements and guidance regarding the use of non-ASCII characters in RFCs.
</t>
<t>
This document updates RFC 7322. Please review the PDF version of this draft.
</t>
</abstract>
</front>
<middle>
<section title="Introduction">
<t>
Please review the PDF version of this draft.
</t>
<t>
For much of the history of the RFC Series, the character encoding used
for RFCs has been <xref target="RFC0020">ASCII</xref>.
This was a sensible choice at the time: the language of the Series has
always been English, a language that primarily uses ASCII-encoded characters
(ignoring for a moment words borrowed from more richly decorated alphabets);
and, ASCII is the "lowest common denominator" for character encoding, making
cross-platform viewing trivial.
</t>
<t>
There are limits to ASCII, however, that hinder its continued use as the
exclusive character encoding for the Series. The increasing need for
easily readable, internationalized content suggests it is time to allow
non-ASCII characters in RFCs where necessary. To support this move away
from ASCII, RFCs will switch to supporting UTF-8 as the default character
encoding and allow support for a broad range of Unicode character support.
<xref target="UnicodeCurrent"/> Note that the RFC Editor may reject any
codepoint that does not render adequately in enough formats or on in enough
rendering engines using the current tooling.
</t>
<t>
Given the continuing goal of maximum readability across platforms, the
use of non-ASCII characters should be limited in a document to only where
necessary within the text. This document describes the rules under which
non-ASCII characters may be used in an RFC. These rules will be applied
as the necessary changes are made to submission checking and editorial
tools.
</t>
<t>
This document updates the <xref target="RFC7322">RFC Style Guide</xref>.
</t>
<t>The details described in this document are expected to change based on experience gained in implementing the RFC production center's toolset. Revised documents will be published capturing those changes as the toolset is completed. Other implementers must not expect those changes to remain backwards-compatible with the details described in this document.</t>
</section>
<section title="Basic Requirements">
<t>
Two fundamental requirements inform the guidance and examples provided
in this document. They are:
</t>
<t><list style="symbols">
<t>Searches against RFC indexes and database tables need to return
expected results and support appropriate Unicode string matching
behaviors; </t>
<t>RFCs must be able to display correctly across a wide range of
readers and browsers. People whose systems do not have the fonts needed to
display a particular RFC need to be able to read the various publication
formats and the XML correctly in order to understand and implement the
information described in the document.</t>
</list>
</t>
</section>
<section title="Rules for the Use of Non-ASCII Characters">
<t>
This section describes the guidelines for the use of non-ASCII characters
in an RFC. If the RFC Editor identifies areas where the use of non-ASCII
characters negatively impacts
the readability of the text, they will request alternate text.
</t>
<t>
The RFC Editor may, in cases of entire words represented in non-ASCII
characters, ask for a set of reviewers to verify the meaning, spelling,
characters, and grammar of the text.
</t>
<section title="General Usage Throughout a Document">
<t>
Where the use of non-ASCII characters is purely as part of an example
and not otherwise required for correct protocol operation, escaping
the non-ASCII character is not required. Note, however, that as the
language of the RFC Series is English, the use of non-ASCII characters
is based on the spelling of words commonly used in the English language
following the guidance in the <xref target="MerrWeb">Merriam-Webster
dictionary</xref>.
</t>
<t>
The RFC Editor will use the primary spelling listed in that dictionary
by default.
</t>
<t>Example of non-ASCII characters that do not require escaping
(the example from Section 3.1.1.12 of RFC4475, with a hex dump
replaced by the actual character glyphs) <xref target="RFC4475"/>:
<figure>
<artwork><![CDATA[
This particular response contains unreserved and non-ascii
UTF-8 characters.
This response is well formed. A parser must accept this message.
Message Details : unreason
SIP/2.0 200 = 2**3 * 5**2 но сто девяносто девять - простое
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP 192.0.2.198;branch=z9hG4bK1324923
Call-ID: unreason.1234ksdfak3j2erwedfsASdf
CSeq: 35 INVITE
From: sip:user@example.com;tag=11141343
To: sip:user@example.edu;tag=2229 Content-Length: 154
Content-Type: application/sdp
]]></artwork>
</figure>
</t>
</section>
<section title="Person Names">
<t>
Person names may appear in several places within an RFC. When a script
outside the Unicode Latin blocks is used for a person name, an
author-provided, ASCII-only identifier will appear immediately after the
non-Latin characters, surrounded by parentheses. This will improve general
readability of the text. <xref target="UNICODE-CHART"/>.
</t>
<t>Example for the header:</t>
<figure>
<artwork><![CDATA[
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) J. Tong
Request for Comments: 7380 C. Bi, Ed.
Category: Standards Track China Telecom
ISSN: 2070-1721 רוני אבן (R. Even)
吴钦 (Q. Wu), Ed.
R. Huang
Huawei
November 2014
]]></artwork>
</figure>
<t>
Example for the Acknowledgements:
</t>
<t>
OLD:
The following people contributed significant text to early versions of
this draft: Patrik Faltstrom, William Chan, and Fred Baker.
</t>
<t>
PROPOSED/NEW:
The following people contributed significant text to early versions of
this draft: Patrik Fältström, 陈智昌 (William Chan),
and Fred Baker.
</t>
<t>Example for References:</t>
<t>OLD:</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
[RFC6630] Cao, Z., Deng, H., Wu, Q., and G. Zorn, Ed., "EAP
Re-authentication Protocol Extensions for Authenticated
Anticipatory Keying (ERP/AAK)", RFC 6630, June 2012.
]]></artwork>
</figure>
<t>NEW</t>
<figure><artwork><![CDATA[
[RFC6630] Cao, Z., Deng, H., 吴钦 (Wu, Q.), and G. Zorn, Ed., "EAP
Re-authentication Protocol Extensions for Authenticated
Anticipatory Keying (ERP/AAK)", RFC 6630, June 2012.
]]></artwork>
</figure>
</section>
<section title="Company Names">
<t>
Company names may appear in several places within an RFC. In all
cases, valid Unicode is required. For names that include characters
outside of the Unicode Latin and Latin Extended script, an
author-provided, ASCII-only identifier is required to assist in search
and indexing of the document.
</t>
</section>
<section anchor="botd" title="Body of the Document">
<t>
When the mention of non-ASCII characters is required for correct
protocol operation and understanding, the characters' Unicode character
name or code point MUST be included in the text.
</t>
<t><list style="symbols">
<t>Non-ASCII characters will require identifying the Unicode code
point.</t>
<t>Use of the actual UTF-8 character (e.g., Δ) is encouraged so that
a reader can more easily see what the character is, if their device can
render the text.</t>
<t>The use of the Unicode character names like "INCREMENT" in
addition to the use of Unicode code points is also encouraged. When
used, Unicode character names should be in all capital letters.</t>
</list>
</t>
<t>Examples:</t>
<t>OLD <xref target="RFC7564"/>: </t>
<figure>
<artwork><![CDATA[
However, the problem is made more serious by introducing the full
range of Unicode code points into protocol strings. For example,
the characters U+13DA U+13A2 U+13B5 U+13AC U+13A2 U+13AC U+13D2 from
the Cherokee block look similar to the ASCII characters "STPETER" as
they might appear when presented using a "creative" font family.
]]></artwork>
</figure>
<t>NEW/ALLOWED:</t>
<figure>
<artwork><![CDATA[
However, the problem is made more serious by introducing the full
range of Unicode code points into protocol strings. For example,
the characters U+13DA U+13A2 U+13B5 U+13AC U+13A2 U+13AC U+13D2
(ᏚᎢᎵᎬᎢᎬᏒ) from the Cherokee block look similar to the ASCII
characters "STPETER" as they might appear when presented using a
"creative" font family.
]]></artwork>
</figure>
<t>ALSO ACCEPTABLE:</t>
<figure>
<artwork><![CDATA[
However, the problem is made more serious by introducing the full
range of Unicode code points into protocol strings. For example,
the characters "ᏚᎢᎵᎬᎢᎬᏒ" (U+13DA U+13A2 U+13B5 U+13AC U+13A2
U+13AC U+13D2) from the Cherokee block look similar to the ASCII
characters "STPETER" as they might appear when presented using a
"creative" font family.
]]></artwork>
</figure>
<t>Example of proper identification of Unicode
characters in an RFC:</t>
<t>Acceptable:</t>
<t><list style="symbols">
<t>Temperature changes in the Temperature Control Protocol are indicated
by the U+2206 character.</t>
</list>
</t>
<t> Preferred: </t>
<t><list style="numbers">
<t>Temperature changes in the Temperature Control Protocol are
indicated by the U+2206 character ("Δ").</t>
<t>Temperature changes in the Temperature Control Protocol are
indicated by the U+2206 character (INCREMENT).</t>
<t>Temperature changes in the Temperature Control Protocol are
indicated by the U+2206 character ("Δ", INCREMENT).</t>
<t>Temperature changes in the Temperature Control Protocol are
indicated by the U+2206 character (INCREMENT, "Δ").</t>
<t>Temperature changes in the Temperature Control Protocol are
indicated by the "Delta" character "Δ" (U+2206).</t>
<t>Temperature changes in the Temperature Control Protocol are
indicated by the character "Δ" (INCREMENT, U+2206).</t>
</list>
</t>
<t>
Which option of (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), or (6) is preferred may depend
on context and the specific character(s) in question. All are acceptable
within an RFC. BCP 137, "ASCII Escaping of Unicode Character" describes
the pros and cons of different options for identifying Unicode characters
in an ASCII document <xref target="BCP137">BCP137</xref>.
</t>
</section>
<section title="Tables">
<t>
Tables follow the same rules for identifiers and characters as in
<xref target="botd">"Body of the Document"</xref>. If it is sensible (i.e., more
understandable for a reader) for a given document to have two tables --
one including the identifiers and non-ASCII characters and a second with
just the non-ASCII characters -- that will be allowed on a case-by-case
basis.
</t>
<t>
Original text from "Preparation, Enforcement, and Comparison of Internationalized Strings Representing Usernames and Passwords" <xref target="RFC7613"/>.
</t>
<figure>
<preamble>Table 3: A sample of legal passwords</preamble>
<artwork><![CDATA[
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| # | Password | Notes |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| 12| <correct horse battery staple> | ASCII space is allowed |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| 13| <Correct Horse Battery Staple> | Different from example 12 |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| 14| <πßå> | Non-ASCII letters are OK |
| | | (e.g., GREEK SMALL LETTER |
| | | PI, U+03C0) |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| 15| <Jack of ♦s> | Symbols are OK (e.g., BLACK |
| | | DIAMOND SUIT, U+2666) |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| 16| <foo bar> | OGHAM SPACE MARK, U+1680, is |
| | | mapped to U+0020 and thus |
| | | the full string is mapped to |
| | | <foo bar> |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
]]></artwork>
</figure>
<t>Preferred text:</t>
<figure>
<preamble>Table 3: A sample of legal passwords</preamble>
<artwork><![CDATA[
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| # | Password | Notes |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| 12| <correct horse battery staple> | ASCII space is allowed |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| 13| <Correct Horse Battery Staple> | Different from example 12 |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| 14| <πß๗> | Non-ASCII letters are OK |
| | | (e.g., GREEK SMALL LETTER |
| | | PI, U+03C0; LATIN SMALL |
| | | LETTER SHARP S, U+00DF; THAI |
| | | DIGIT SEVEN, U+0E57) |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| 15| <Jack of ♦s> | Symbols are OK (e.g., BLACK |
| | | DIAMOND SUIT, U+2666) |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| 16| <foo bar> | OGHAM SPACE MARK, U+1680, is |
| | | mapped to U+0020 and thus |
| | | the full string is mapped to |
| | | <foo bar> |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------+
]]></artwork>
</figure>
</section>
<section title="Code Components">
<t>
The RFC Editor encourages the use of the U+ notation except within a
code component where you must follow the rules of the programming
language in which you are writing the code.
</t>
<t>
Code components are generally expected to use fixed-width fonts. Where
such fonts are not available for a particular script, the best script-
appropriate font will be used for that part of the code component.
</t>
</section>
<section title="Bibliographic Text">
<t>
The reference entry must be in English; whatever subfields are present
must be available in ASCII-encoded characters. For references to RFCs
and Internet Drafts, the author's name will be included in the reference
as listed on the front header of the RFC or Internet Draft. As long as
good sense is used, the reference entry may also include non-ASCII
characters at the author's discretion and as provided by the author.
The RFC Editor may request a review of any non-ASCII reference entry.
This applies to both normative and informative references.
</t>
<t>Example:</t>
<figure>
<artwork><![CDATA[
[GOST3410] "Information technology. Cryptographic data security.
Signature and verification processes of [electronic]
digital signature.", GOST R 34.10-2001, Gosudarstvennyi
Standard of Russian Federation, Government Committee of
Russia for Standards, 2001. (In Russian)
Allowable addition to the above citation:
"Информационная технология. Криптографическая защита
информации. Процессы формирования и проверки
электронной цифровой подписи", GOST R 34.10-2001,
Государственный стандарт Российской Федерации, 2001.
Alternatively:
[GOST3410] "Information technology. Cryptographic data security.
Signature and verification processes of [electronic]
digital signature.", GOST R 34.10-2001, Gosudarstvennyi
Standard of Russian Federation, Правительственная комиссия
России по стандартам (Government Committee of
Russia for Standards), 2001. (In Russian)
]]></artwork>
</figure>
</section>
<section title="Keywords and Citation Tags">
<t>
Keywords (as tagged with the <keyword> element in XML), and citation
tags (as defined in the anchor attributes of <reference> elements) must be
ASCII only.
</t>
</section>
<section title="Address Information">
<t>
The purpose of providing address information, either postal or e-mail,
is to assist readers of an RFC to contact the author or authors. Authors
may include the official postal address as recognized by their company or
local postal service without additional non-ASCII character escapes. If
the email address includes non-ASCII characters and is a valid email
address at the time of publication, non-ASCII character escapes are not
required.
</t>
<t>Example:</t>
<figure>
<artwork><![CDATA[
Qin Wu (editor)
Huawei
101 Software Avenue, Yuhua District
Nanjing, Jiangsu 210012
China
Alternate contact information:
吴钦 (editor)
华为技术有限公司
雨花区软件大道101号
江苏南京 210012
中国
------
Roni Even
Huawei
14 David Hamelech
Tel Aviv 64953
Israel
Alternate contact information:
רוני אבן
וואווי
דוד המלך 14
תל אביב 64953
ישראל
]]></artwork>
</figure>
</section>
</section>
<section title="Normalization Forms">
<t>
Authors should not expect normalization forms to be preserved. If a
particular normalization form is expected, note that in the text of the
RFC.
</t>
</section>
<section title="XML Markup">
<t>As described above, use of non-ASCII characters in areas such as
email, company name, addresses, and name is allowed. In order to make it
easier for code to identify the appropriate ASCII alternatives, authors
must include an "ascii" attribute to their XML markup when an ASCII
alternative is required. See <xref target="I-D.iab-xml2rfc"/> for
more detail on how to tag ASCII alternatives.
</t>
</section>
<section title="IANA Considerations">
<t>
This document makes no request of IANA.
</t>
<t>
Note to RFC Editor: this section may be removed on publication as an
RFC.
</t>
</section>
<section title="Internationalization Considerations">
<t>
The ability to use non-ASCII characters in RFCs in a clear and consistent
manner will improve the ability to describe internationalized protocols
and will recognize the diversity of authors. However, the goal of readability
will override the use of non-ASCII characters within the text.
</t>
</section>
<section title="Security Considerations">
<t>
Valid Unicode that matches the expected text must be verified in order
to preserve expected behavior and protocol information.
</t>
</section>
<section title="Change log - to be removed by the RFC Editor">
<section title="draft-iab-rfc-nonascii-01 to -02">
<t>Authors, Contributors: section renamed "Person names", text simplified, example of a reference added.</t>
<t>Bibliographic Text: added an alternate example for a reference with non-ASCII characters.</t>
</section>
<section title="draft-iab-rfc-nonascii-00 to -01">
<t>Code Components: added fixed-width font clarification</t>
<t>Authors, Bibliographic info: Clarified requirements for full name, how name will be displayed</t>
</section>
<section title="draft-flanagan-nonascii to draft-iab-rfc-nonascii-00">
<t>Changed requirement for all nonASCII names (including company names) to require an ASCII equivalent to requiring it only for non-Latin characters. Extended Latin is also acceptable without an ASCII equivalent.</t>
</section>
<section title="-04 to -05">
<t>Keywords: expanded section to include citation tags.</t>
<t>Internationalization considerations: reiterated that the use of non-ASCII
characters is not automatically guaranteed.</t>
</section>
<section title="-04 to -05">
<t>Introduction: added statement regarding document subject to change.</t>
<t>Tables: added example.</t>
<t>Code: removed placeholder for example.</t>
</section>
<section title="-02 to -04">
<t>Introduction and Abstract: change to be clearer about what/why non-ASCII
characters are being allowed.</t>
<t>XML Markup: section added.</t>
</section>
</section>
</middle>
<back>
<references title="References">
&RFC0020;
&STD64;
&RFC4475;
&RFC6949;
&RFC7322;
&RFC7564;
&RFC7613;
&I-D.iab-xml2rfc;
<reference anchor="BCP137" target="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/bcp137">
<front>
<title>ASCII Escaping of Unicode Characters</title>
<author initials="J." surname="Klensin" fullname="J. Klensin">
<organization />
</author>
<date year="2008" month="February" />
</front>
<seriesInfo name='BCP' value='137'/>
<seriesInfo name='RFC' value='5137'/>
</reference>
<reference anchor="MerrWeb">
<front>
<title>Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition</title>
<author>
<organization>Merriam-Webster,Inc.</organization>
</author>
<date year="2009" />
</front>
</reference>
<reference anchor="UnicodeCurrent" target="http://www.unicode.org/versions/latest/">
<front>
<title>The Unicode Standard</title>
<author>
<organization>The Unicode Consortium</organization>
</author>
<date year="2014-present"/>
</front>
</reference>
<reference anchor="UNICODE-CHART" target="http://www.unicode.org/charts">
<front>
<title>The Unicode Standard</title>
<author>
<organization>The Unicode Consortium</organization>
</author>
<date year="2014-present"/>
</front>
</reference>
</references>
<section title="Acknowledgements">
<t>
With many thanks to the members of the IAB i18n program and the RFC Format
Design Team.
</t>
</section>
</back>
</rfc>
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