One document matched: draft-klensin-rfc-independent-03.txt
Differences from draft-klensin-rfc-independent-02.txt
Network Working Group J. Klensin, Ed.
Internet-Draft October 20, 2006
Intended status: Informational
Expires: April 23, 2007
Independent Submissions to the RFC Editor
draft-klensin-rfc-independent-03.txt
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
Abstract
There is a long-term tradition in the Internet community, predating
the IETF by many years, of use of the RFC series to publish materials
that are not rooted in the IETF standards process and its review and
approval mechanisms. These documents, known as "independent
submissions", serve a number of important functions for the Internet
community, both inside and outside of the community of active IETF
participants. This document discusses the independent submission
model, some reasons why it is important, and describes editorial and
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processing norms that can be used for independent submissions as we
go forward into new relationships between the IETF community and its
primary technical publisher.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1. Terminology Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2. Context and Philosophical Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. The Role of Independent Submissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Submission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.1. Posting of Draft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.2. Request for Publication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.3. Initial RFC Editor Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.4. Document Rejection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.5. Review and Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.6. Unsolicited Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.7. Additional Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.8. Formal IESG Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.9. Final Decision and Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.10. Intellectual Property Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.11. Final Editing and Publication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5. The Editorial Review Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
8. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
9. Changes since version -02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
10. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
10.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
10.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 13
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1. Introduction
There is a long-term tradition in the Internet community, predating
the IETF by many years, of use of the RFC series to publish materials
that are not rooted in the IETF standards process and its review and
approval mechanisms. These documents, known as "independent
submissions", serve a number of important functions for the Internet
community, both inside and outside of the community of active IETF
participants. This document discusses the independent submission
model, some reasons why it is important, and describes editorial and
processing norms that can be used for independent submissions as we
go forward into new relationships between the IETF community and its
primary technical publisher.
To understand the perspective of this document, it is important to
remember that the RFC-Editor function predates the creation of the
IETF. As of the time of this writing, the RFC series goes back 36
years while the IETF is celebrating its 20th anniversary. All of the
documents that were published before the IETF was created, and for
some years thereafter, would be considered independent submissions
today. As the IETF evolved, the IAB and then the IETF itself chose
to publish IETF documents as RFCs while fully understanding that the
RFC-Editor function was an independent publication mechanism. Other
decisions were possible: e.g., the IETF could have decided to create
it own publication series. It was felt that there was considerable
value in continuing to publish the IETF work in the same series as
the one used to publish the basic protocols for the Internet.
1.1. Terminology Note
This document describes what have historically been referred to a
"independent submissions". That term is distinguished from those
IETF and IAB community documents that originate from formal groups --
IAB, IRTF, IETF WGs -- and from submissions submitted to the IESG for
standards-track, informational, or experimental processing.
Documents produced by individuals, rather than IETF WGs or others
IETF-affiliated groups, but submitted for publication under Area
Director sponsorship, have been known historically as "individual
submissions".
For convenience and obvious historical reasons, the editor and
publisher of documents that are not processed through the IETF is
known below as the "RFC Editor". The RFC Editor will typically by an
organization or one or more senior people and associated staff, and
the term is used collectively below. That term is not intended to
predict the future, either in terms of who does the job or what they,
or the document series, are called.
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1.2. Context and Philosophical Assumptions
This document contains text that, if agreed to by the community, may
suggest a reexamination of and a corresponding update to RFC 3932
[RFC3932]. Those issues, and proposals for changes, are discussed in
a different document [RFC3932upd], but they are semi-independent of
the content of this document, which focuses on the review and
approval process for independent submissions.
This document complements the discussion and guidelines in [RFC4714],
which focuses on standards track documents. It takes a somewhat
stronger view than the discussions that lead up to that document,
starting from the belief that independent submissions are most
valuable if they are, in fact, independent of the IETF process. From
the perspective of the IETF, independent submissions are especially
important as checks on the IETF processes even though such checks are
not the only, or even a common, reason for them. That role is
compromised if IETF-related entities are able to block or deprecate
such documents to a degree beyond that needed to avoid difficulties
with the standards process.
2. The Role of Independent Submissions
When the RFC series was fairly new, RFCs could be used to publish
general papers on networking as well as the types of documents we
would describes as standards today. Those roles also developed as
part of the early design and development of the ARPANET, long before
anyone dreamt of the IETF and when the distinction between, e.g.,
standards and informational documents was less precisely drawn. In
more recent years, independent submissions have become important for
multiple reasons, some of them relatively new. They include:
o Discussion of Internet-related technologies that are not part of
the IETF agenda.
o Introduction of important new ideas as a bridge publication venue
between academia and IETF engineering.
o Informational discussions of technologies, options, or experience
with protocols.
o Informational publication of vendor-specific protocols.
o Critiques and discussions of alternatives to IETF standards-track
protocols. The potential for such critiques provides an important
check on the IETF's standards processes and should be seen in that
light.
o Documents considered by IETF Working Groups but not standardized.
While many documents of this type are published via the IESG
approval path (see RFC 3932, Section 1 [RFC3932]), the independent
submission path has traditionally been open to them. Because of
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their intimate connection to the IETF Standards Process and WG
activites and the consequent sensitivity to exact statements of
relationships and to timing, there is reason to believe that all
such documents should be published only at IESG request. In any
event, these documents are published for the historical record.
o Satirical materials.
o Meeting notes and reports (RFC 164 [RFC0164] is the earliest, 1109
[RFC1109] probably the most important).
o Editorials (the best example is IEN-137, not an RFC).
o Eulogies (RFC 2441 [RFC2441])
o Technical contributions (e.g., RFC 1810 [RFC1810]) and,
historically,
o RFC Editor and, at least prior to the handoff between ISI and
ICANN and the June 2000 MOU [RFC2860], IANA Policy Statements
(e.g., [RFC2223] and RFC 1591 [RFC1591]).
It should be clear from the list above that, to be effective, the
review and approval process for independent submissions should be
largely independent of the IETF. As a important principle that has
been applied historically, the RFC Editor should seek advice from the
IESG about possible relationships and conflicts with IETF work. The
IESG may ask that, as a courtesy, publication of particular documents
be deferred because their untimely publication could cause confusion
or other harm with proposals under consideration for standardization.
Absent compelling arguments to the contrary, the RFC Editor will
honor such requests. Similarly, any submission that constitutes an
alternative to, or is in conflict with, an IETF Standard or proposal
for standards-track adoption must clearly indicate that relationship.
The IESG may identify such conflicts as part of its review. If the
IESG identifies issues, it may recommend explanatory or qualifying
text for the RFC Editor to include in the document if it is
published.
The specific procedures to be followed in review are described in
Section 4.
3. Submission
Independent submissions are submitted directly to the RFC Editor.
They must first be posted as Internet Drafts, so the submission is
typically simply a note requesting that the RFC Editor consider a
particular Internet Draft for publication. The process is described
in more detail in [RFC2223] and a working draft of an update to it
[RFC2223bis].
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4. Review
While this document is consistent with the broad outline of
independent submission and review as practiced over the years, it
specifies some new arrangements in RFC Editor processing that will
improve the balance between openness and independent decisions.
In general, the steps in the review process are identified in the
subsections below. Any of them may be iterated and, at the
discretion of the RFC Editor, steps after the first may be taken out
of order.
4.1. Posting of Draft
The author(s) or editor(s) of a document post it as an Internet
Draft.
4.2. Request for Publication
After the normal opportunity for community review and feedback
provided by the submission of the I-D and the I-D repository
announcement thereof, the author or editor sends a request for
consideration for publication to the RFC Editor at
rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org. That request should note any community
discussion or reviews of the document that have occurred before
submission.4
4.3. Initial RFC Editor Review
RFC Editor Staff perform an initial check on the document. If they
believe there is a high likelihood of conflicts or other interactions
with IETF efforts (including believing that the document is one that
the IESG should probably process), they may forward it to the IESG,
or relevant ADs, for preliminary evaluation and comment.
4.4. Document Rejection
If the document does not appear publishable, the RFC Editor may
reject a submitted document at any point in the process specified
here. Such rejection would normally be based on the conclusion that
the submission does not meet the technical or editorial standards of
the RFC Series or is not relevant to the areas that the series
covers. Alternatively, the RFC Editor Staff may, at their
discretion, iterate with the author on the document to improve its
quality. If a document is rejected by the RFC Editor, the author may
request an additional review from the IAB, as described below, but
the IAB is not obligated to do that review, nor is the RFC Editor
obligated to publish even with a favorable IAB review.
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4.5. Review and Evaluation
The RFC Editor arranges for one or more reviews of the document.
This may include Editorial Board (see Section 5) reviews or
evaluation of reviews by others. Unless there is some substantive
reason to not do so, these reviews will be made public and posted on
the RFC Editor web site. The author may request that the reviews be
kept private and the request to publish their document be withdrawn.
This section does not preclude private communications between
reviewers, the Editorial Board, and the RFC Editor; such
communications will remain confidential. At minimum, the author
shall receive a written summary of the review(s).
While the reviews will generally be public, as discussed above,
reviewers are allowed to be anonymous at their request. The author
or reviewer may also request that reviews on a document that is
eventually published be kept private as well, with the understanding
that the best way to comment on, or dissent from, an RFC is generally
another RFC.
4.6. Unsolicited Reviews
Unsolicited reviews from parties independent of the author are
welcome at any time and will be handled as above. Unsolicited
reviews will be shared with the author including the identity of the
reviewer.
4.7. Additional Reviews
If the author is unsatisfied with the review(s), the author may
request that the RFC Editor solicit additional reviews. In
exceptional circumstances, the author may request that the IAB review
the documents. Such requests to the IAB, and any reviews the IAB
chooses to perform, will occur according to procedures of the IAB's
choosing. However, the IAB is not required to initiate a review or
comply with a request for one: a request to the IAB for a review is
not an appeal process. The RFC Editor is expected to consider all
competent reviews carefully, and in the absence of some unusual
circumstance, a preponderance of favorable reviews should lead to
publication.
4.8. Formal IESG Review
Once the RFC Editor has made a tentative decision to publish, the
document is forwarded to the IESG for evaluation with a relatively
short timeout.
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The IESG evaluation is not a technical one. Instead, it covers the
issues outlined above in Section 1.2 and listed in RFC 3932 or its
successors. That is, the evaluation should focus exclusively on
conflicts or confusion with IETF process and end runs around working
group activities.
At the time the document is forwarded to the IESG, the RFC Editor
will post an indication on its web pages that the document is under
IESG review and that comments on conflicts or harm can be sent to the
IESG with copies to the RFC Editor. Additional mechanisms may be
developed from time to time to inform a community that a document is
entering formal prepublication review. Comments not directly related
to IETF procedures or conflicts may be sent directly to the author(s)
and RFC Editor.
In addition to the IESG review for conflict with IETF work,
individuals in the IESG, or in the broader IETF community, are free
to review a draft and, if they have comments of any kind --including
the extreme case of believing that the proposal is damaging to the
Internet as a whole-- these comments should be directed to the
authors and the RFC Editor.
If the IESG, after completing its review, concludes that publication
of the document should be delayed for a reasonable period of time,
the RFC Editor will grant that request. The current agreement
between the RFC Editor and the IESG on requested delays is expected
to continue. That agreement permits the IESG to ask for a delay of
up to six months and, if necessary, to renew that request twice, for
a total possible delay of 18 months.
If the IESG concludes that the document should not be published as an
RFC, it will request that the RFC Editor not publish, providing
appropriate justification. The RFC Editor will consider the request
to not publish the document.
The RFC Editor or the author may request that the IAB review the
IESG's request to delay or not publish the document and for an
additional opinion. Such a request will be made public via the RFC
Editor web site. As with the IESG review itself, the IAB's opinion,
if any, will be advisory. And, as with author requests for an IAB
technical review (see Section 4.7), the IAB is not obligated to
perform this type of review.
4.9. Final Decision and Notification
In all cases, the ultimate decision to publish or not publish, and
with what language, rests with the RFC Editor.
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Information about the IESG requested publication delay or request to
not publish a document will be posted to the RFC Editor web site to
supplement document status information.
4.10. Intellectual Property Rights
IPR provisions for independent submissions are as specified in the
material on RFC Editor submissions in BCP 78 [RFC3978] although that
material should eventually be migrated into a successor of this
document.
4.11. Final Editing and Publication
Once a document is approved for publication, it is handled in a
fashion similar to other RFCs, with principles about priorities
worked out with the IAB as appropriate.
5. The Editorial Review Board
The RFC Editor appoints and maintains an Editorial Review Board
which, much like the Editorial Boards of professional journals and
publishers, provides the RFC Editor with both advice and reviews of
particular proposed publications and general and strategic policy
advice. The membership list of the Editorial Review Board is public
and can be found at http://www.rfc-editor.org/edboard.html. From
time to time, the RFC Editor will solicit suggestions for new
appointees from the IAB and other sources and will seek IAB comments
on those to be appointed and on the effectiveness of the review
process and the quality of documents being published and criteria
applied. However, to ensure the independence of the independent
submission process, the final decision to appoint (or not appoint)
Editorial Board members rests with the RFC Editor.
6. Security Considerations
This document specifies an RFC Editor (and IETF) administrative and
publication procedure. It has no specific security implications.
7. IANA Considerations
This document requires no actions by the IANA.
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8. Acknowledgments
Special thanks are due to Bob Hinden and Craig Partridge, who made
several suggestions for improved text in earlier versions of this
document and to Stewart Bryant, Scott Bradner, Brian Carpenter, Vint
Cerf, Leslie Daigle, and Olaf Kolkman who made a number of useful
suggestions about the organization and content of subsequent
versions.
9. Changes since version -02
This section summarizes changes between version -02 and version -03.
[[anchor17: RFC Editor: please remove this section before
publication]]
o Removed material suggesting specific revisions to RFC 3932. There
is still a forward pointer to a proposal for those revisions, but
it is not normative.
o Added new text questioning whether documents considered by, but
rejected in, WGs should be processed as independent submissions or
via the IESG (and, implicitly, subject to normal appeal procedures
if rejected there).
o Clarified that the order of actions in Section 4 is not a binding
requirement.
o Indicated that authors should submit notes on existing discussion
and reviews along with the request for publication itself.
o Brian Carpenter's suggested text about technical reviews was
incorporated (approximately) into Section 4.8.
o Clarified the status of review privacy on documents accepted for
publication.
o Added text to Section 5 to indicate that the RFC Editor will
solicit inputs about effectiveness and quality in addition to
names of individuals.
o Several small editorial and textual changes for clarity and
correctness.
10. References
10.1. Normative References
[RFC2026] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.
[RFC2223] Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, "Instructions to RFC Authors",
RFC 2223, October 1997.
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[RFC2223bis]
Reynolds, J., Ed. and R. Braden, Ed., "Instructions to
Request for Comments (RFC) Authors", <http://www.ietf.org/
internet-drafts/draft-rfc-editor-rfc2223bis-08.txt>.
[RFC3932] Alvestrand, H., "The IESG and RFC Editor Documents:
Procedures", BCP 92, RFC 3932, October 2004.
[RFC3932upd]
Klensin, J., Ed., "IESG Notes on Independent Submissions
to the RFC Editor".
[RFC3978] Bradner, S., "IETF Rights in Contributions", BCP 78,
RFC 3978, March 2005.
10.2. Informative References
[RFC0164] Heafner, J., "Minutes of Network Working Group meeting,
5/16 through 5/19/71", RFC 164, May 1971.
[RFC1109] Cerf, V., "Report of the second Ad Hoc Network Management
Review Group", RFC 1109, August 1989.
[RFC1591] Postel, J., "Domain Name System Structure and Delegation",
RFC 1591, March 1994.
[RFC1810] Touch, J., "Report on MD5 Performance", RFC 1810,
June 1995.
[RFC2441] Cohen, D., "Working with Jon Tribute delivered at UCLA,
October 30, 1998", RFC 2441, November 1998.
[RFC2860] Carpenter, B., Baker, F., and M. Roberts, "Memorandum of
Understanding Concerning the Technical Work of the
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority", RFC 2860, June 2000.
[RFC4714] Mankin, A. and S. Hayes, "Requirements for IETF Technical
Publication Service", RFC 4714, October 2006.
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Author's Address
John C Klensin (editor)
1770 Massachusetts Ave, #322
Cambridge, MA 02140
USA
Phone: +1 617 491 5735
Email: john-ietf@jck.com
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Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
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This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
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Acknowledgment
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