One document matched: draft-iesg-discuss-criteria-00.txt
Network Working Group J. Peterson
Internet-Draft NeuStar
Expires: November 2, 2005 A. Mankin
Lucent
M. Wasserman
ThingMagic
May 2005
DISCUSS Criteria in IESG Review
draft-iesg-discuss-criteria-00
Status of this Memo
By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any
applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware
have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes
aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that
other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-
Drafts.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt.
The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
This Internet-Draft will expire on November 2, 2005.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).
Abstract
This document describes the role of the 'DISCUSS' position in the
IESG review process. It gives some guidance on when a DISCUSS should
and should not be issued. It also discusses procedures for DISCUSS
resolution.
Peterson, et al. Expires November 2, 2005 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft DISCUSS Criteria in IESG Review May 2005
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Document Classes Reviewed by the IESG . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Protocol Action Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1 DISCUSS Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2 DISCUSS Non-Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.3 Saying No to A Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. DISCUSS Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6.1 Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6.2 Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . 10
Peterson, et al. Expires November 2, 2005 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft DISCUSS Criteria in IESG Review May 2005
1. Introduction
The Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) is responsible for the
final review of IETF documents. Members of the IESG have the option,
when they review a document, of stating a 'DISCUSS' position. The
DISCUSS identifies one or more issues that must be discussed in
relation to the document before the document can become an RFC. As
such, 'DISCUSS' is a blocking position; the document cannot proceed
until any issues are resolved to the satisfaction of the Area
Director who issued the DISCUSS. For cases where the reasoning for
an unresolved DISCUSS does not reflect the consensus of the IESG,
override procedures can be invoked to unblock documents.
The criteria set forward in this document are intended to serve two
purposes: to educate and to improve consistency. When new members
join the IESG, it might not be immediately clear when it is
appropriate to issue a DISCUSS and when a non-blocking comment should
be preferred. Even among the standing IESG (at the time this
document was written), it is clear that different Area Directors use
different criteria for issuing a DISCUSS. While this is not innately
problematic, greater consistency in evaluating the severity of an
issue would reduce unnecessary document delays and blockages.
This document approaches IESG review as a review of "last resort".
Most documents reviewed by the IESG are produced and reviewed in the
context of IETF working groups. In those cases, the IESG cannot
overrule working group consensus without good reason; informed
community consensus should prevail.
While this document serves as commentary on the way the IESG applies
the IETF process rules, it is not intended to change any of the
underlying principles, including RFC2026. The IESG would welcome
comments on this document, which is expected to end up as an
informational web page. Comments can be sent to iesg@ietf.org.
2. Document Classes Reviewed by the IESG
The IESG reviews several classes of document, and applies different
criteria to each of these document types. The exemplary questions
that follow appear on each IESG agenda to remind the Area Directors
of the appropriate level of review for these classes:
Protocol Actions "Is this document a reasonable basis on which to
build the salient part of the Internet infrastructure? If not,
what changes would make it so?"
Peterson, et al. Expires November 2, 2005 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft DISCUSS Criteria in IESG Review May 2005
Document Actions (WG) "Is this document a reasonable contribution to
the area of Internet engineering which it covers? If not, what
changes would make it so?"
Document Actions (Individual) "Is this document a reasonable
contribution to the area of Internet engineering which it covers?
If not, what changes would make it so?"
Document Actions (from RFC-Editor) "Does this document represent an
end run around the IETF's working groups or its procedures? Does
this document present an incompatible change to IETF technologies
as if it were compatible?"
Of these document classes, the fundamental distinction between
"Protocol Actions" and "Document Actions" involves the relation of
these documents to the IETF Standards Track. Only Standards Track
and Best Common Practice documents are considered for "Protocol
Action"; Informational and Experimental documents are considered for
"Document Action".
Protocol Actions are naturally subject to greater scrutiny than
Document Actions; Area Directors are not even required to state a
position on a Document Action (the default being "No Objection").
Accordingly, the exact criteria used to evaluate Protocol Actions
would benefit from greater scrutiny.
3. Protocol Action Criteria
3.1 DISCUSS Criteria
The following are legitimate reasons that an Area Director might
state a DISCUSS position on a Protocol Action.
o The specification is impossible to implement due to technical or
clarity issues.
o The protocol has technical flaws that will prevent it from working
properly, or the description is unclear in such a way that the
reader cannot understand it without ambiguity.
o It is unlikely that multiple implementations of the specification
would interoperate, usually due to vagueness or incomplete
specification.
o Widespread deployment would be damaging to the Internet or an
enterprise network for reasons of congestion control, scalability,
or the like.
o The specification would create serious security holes, or the
described protocol has self-defeating security vulnerabilities.
o It would present serious operational issues in widespread
deployment, such as precluding network management entirely.
o Failure to conform with IAB architecture (e.g., RFC1958, or UNSAF)
in the absence of any satisfactory text explaining this
architectural decision.
Peterson, et al. Expires November 2, 2005 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft DISCUSS Criteria in IESG Review May 2005
o The specification was not properly vetted against the I-D
Checklist. Symptoms include broken ABNF or XML, missing Security
Considerations, and so on.
o The document does not meet criteria for advancement in its
designated standards track, for example because it is a document
going to Full Standard that contains 'down references' to RFCs at
a lower position in the standards track, or a Standards Track
document that contains only informational guidance.
o IETF process related to document advancement was not carried out;
e.g., there are unresolved and substantive Last Call comments
which the document does not address, the document is outside the
scope of the charter of the WG which requested its publication,
and so on.
o The IETF as a whole does not have consensus on the technical
approach or document. There are cases where individual working
groups or areas have forged rough consensus around a technical
approach which does not garner IETF consensus. An AD may DISCUSS
a document where she or he believes this to be the case. While
the Area Director should describe the technical area where call of
consensus is flawed, the focus of the DISCUSS and its resolution
should be on how to forge a cross-IETF consensus.
3.2 DISCUSS Non-Criteria
None of the following are criteria for which the IESG should DISCUSS
a document; though they might reasonably form the basis of a non-
blocking comment on a document.
o Disagreement with informed WG decisions that do not exhibit
problems outlined in Section 3.1. In other words, disagreement in
preferences among technically sound approaches.
o Reiteration of the issues that have been raised and discussed as
part of WG or IETF Last Call, unless the AD believes they have not
been properly addressed.
o Pedantic corrections to non-normative text. Oftentimes, poor
phrasing or misunderstandings in descriptive text are corrected
during IESG review. However, if these corrections are not
essential to the implementation of the specification, these should
not be blocking comments.
o Stylistic issues of any kind. The IESG are welcome to copy-edit
as a non-blocking comment, but this should not obstruct document
processing.
o The motivation for a particular feature of a protocol is not clear
enough. At the IESG review stage, protocols should not be blocked
because they provide capabilities beyond what seems necessary to
acquit their responsibilities.
o There is recent work or additional information that might be added
to the document. Although the cross-area perspective of the IESG
invites connections and comparison between disparate work in the
Peterson, et al. Expires November 2, 2005 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft DISCUSS Criteria in IESG Review May 2005
IETF, IESG review is not the appropriate time to append external
sources to the document.
o The document fails to cite a particular non-normative reference.
This is an appropriate non-blocking comment, but not a blocking
comment.
o Unfiltered external party reviews. While an AD is welcome to
consult with external parties, the AD is expected to evaluate, to
understand and to concur with issues raised by external parties.
Blindly cut-and-pasting an external party review into a DISCUSS is
inappropriate if the AD is unable to defend or substantiate the
issues raised in the review.
o New issues with unchanged text in documents previously reviewed by
the AD in question. Review is potentially an endless process; the
same eyes looking at the same document several times over the
course of years might uncover completely different issues every
time.
o "IOU" DISCUSS. Stating "I think there's something wrong here, and
I'll tell you what it is later" is not appropriate for a DISCUSS;
in that case, the AD should state the position DEFER (or, if the
document has already been DEFERed once, "No Objection").
3.3 Saying No to A Document
In some cases an AD may believe that a document has fundamental flaws
that cannot be fixed. Normally in such cases the AD will write up a
description of these flaws and enter an "Abstain" position on the
ballot. Such a position does not support publication of the document
but also does not block the rest of the IESG from approving the
document. Normally, entering an Abstain position is a sufficient
mechanism for an AD to voice his or her objections.
However, there may be cases where an AD believes that the mechanisms
described in a document may cause significant damage to the Internet
and/or that the mechanisms described in a document are sufficiently
incompatible with the Internet architecture that a document must not
be published, despite the fact that the document is within scope for
the WG and represents WG consensus. This situation should be
extremely rare, and an AD should not take this position lightly, but
this does represent an important cross-area "back-stop" function of
the IESG.
In this situation, the AD will enter a "DISCUSS" position on the
ballot and explain his or her position as clearly as possible in the
tracker. The AD should also be willing to explain his or her
position to the other ADs and to the WG.
It is possible in such a situation that the WG will understand the
AD's objections and choose to withdraw the document, perhaps to
Peterson, et al. Expires November 2, 2005 [Page 6]
Internet-Draft DISCUSS Criteria in IESG Review May 2005
consider alternatives, and the situation will be resolved.
Another possibility is that the WG will disagree with the AD, and
will continue to request publication of the document. In those cases
the responsible AD should work with both the WG and the AD holding
the DISCUSS to see of a mutually agreeable path can be found.
4. DISCUSS Resolution
The traditional method of DISCUSS resolution is the initiation of a
discussion about the issues in question. This discussion may include
only the IESG, or it may extend to document editors, working group
chairs, and entire working groups as necessary. As the conclusion of
this discussion, revisions to the document may or may not be
required. If revisions are required, it is customary for the Area
Director to clear their DISCUSS only when the revision containing the
necessary emendations has been published in the Internet-Drafts
repository.
While in many cases, DISCUSSes are resolved expeditiously, there are
common cases where a DISCUSS can take weeks or months to resolve,
given that revisions are frequently required, and such revisions need
to be checked by the AD that issued the DISCUSS. Accordingly,
DISCUSSes should be used sparingly.
If a DISCUSS cannot be resolved by the working group, and the AD
continues to hold his or her DISCUSS, the IESG has an alternative
balloting procedure that can be used to override a single discuss
vote. In the alternative procedure, all ADs are required to enter a
"yes" or "no" position on the document. A document will be published
if two-thirds of the IESG vote "yes", and no more than two ADs vote
"no". Two-thirds of the IESG is formally defined as two-thirds of
the sitting ADs (current 9), except for those who are recused from
voting on the document in question, rounded up to the next whole
number. If three or more ADs vote "no" on a document using the
alternative balloting procedure, or if a document fails to gather the
required number of "yes" votes, the document will be returned to the
WG with a "no" answer, which is one of the options described in RFC
2026.
The criteria provided in this document are intended to help the IESG
to restrict the usage of a DISCUSS to cases where it is necessary.
5. Security Considerations
This is a procedural document without security implications.
However, the ability of the IESG to review the security properties of
the submitted protocol specifications, point out and help resolve
Peterson, et al. Expires November 2, 2005 [Page 7]
Internet-Draft DISCUSS Criteria in IESG Review May 2005
security flaws in them is vital for Internet security.
6. References
6.1 Normative References
[1] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3",
RFC 2026, October 1996.
[2] Carpenter, B., "Architectural Principles of the Internet",
RFC 1958, June 1996.
[3] Daigle, L., "IAB Considerations for UNilateral Self-Address
Fixing (UNSAF) Across Network Address Translation", RFC 3424,
November 2002.
6.2 Informative References
Authors' Addresses
Jon Peterson
NeuStar, Inc.
1800 Sutter St
Suite 570
Concord, CA 94520
USA
Phone: +1 925/363-8720
Email: jon.peterson@neustar.biz
URI: http://www.neustar.biz/
Allison Mankin
Lucent Bell Labs
Email: mankin@psg.com
Peterson, et al. Expires November 2, 2005 [Page 8]
Internet-Draft DISCUSS Criteria in IESG Review May 2005
Margaret Wasserman
ThingMagic
One Broadway
14th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
USA
Phone: +1 617 758 4177
Email: margaret@thingmagic.com
URI: http://www.thingmagic.com/
Peterson, et al. Expires November 2, 2005 [Page 9]
Internet-Draft DISCUSS Criteria in IESG Review May 2005
Intellectual Property Statement
The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information
on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
http://www.ietf.org/ipr.
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at
ietf-ipr@ietf.org.
Disclaimer of Validity
This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). This document is subject
to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and
except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.
Acknowledgment
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
Peterson, et al. Expires November 2, 2005 [Page 10]
| PAFTECH AB 2003-2026 | 2026-04-23 11:46:47 |