Network Working Group P. Hoffman Internet-Draft ICANN Updates: 2026, 7322 (if approved) November 23, 2015 Intended status: Standards Track Expires: May 26, 2016 Referencing Internet-Drafts in RFCs draft-hoffman-id-references-01 Abstract RFC 2026 places restrictions on how Internet-Drafts can be referred to in RFCs. Over time, the way that the IETF community uses Internet-Drafts has changed. The restrictions from RFC 2026 sometimes make RFCs inaccurate (because many drafts that are referred to are not actually "works in progress", and also make references to Internet-Drafts nearly useless to RFC readers. This document updates the one part of RFC 2026, and the one part of RFC 7322, that covers referencing Internet-Drafts. Status of This Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. 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." This Internet-Draft will expire on May 26, 2016. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2015 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect Hoffman Expires May 26, 2016 [Page 1] Internet-Draft Referencing Internet-Drafts in RFCs November 2015 to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Change to RFC 2026 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3. Change to RFC 7322 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 7. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1. Introduction [RFC2026], "The Internet Standards Process - Revision 3", places restrictions on how Internet-Drafts can be referred to in RFCs and other Internet-Drafts. These restrictions were well-intentioned at the time but now have become outdated. This document updates the section of RFC 2026that restricts how Internet-Drafts can be referenced. It also updates [RFC7322], "RFC Style Guide", to reflect the changes from RFC 2026. Note that this document narrowly updates just one section of [RFC2026]. Earlier proposals to make the changes here were abandoned because there was a belief that changing one part of RFC 2026 could not be done without opening all of RFC 2026 to change, and that was too onerous of a task. This document proves that a limited change can be made to RFC 2026 without having to take on the many changes that different people in the IETF community may or may not want. 2. Change to RFC 2026 The last paragraph of Section 2.2 of RFC 2026 says: Note: It is acceptable to reference a standards-track specification that may reasonably be expected to be published as an RFC using the phrase "Work in Progress" without referencing an Internet-Draft. This may also be done in a standards track document itself as long as the specification in which the reference is made would stand as a complete and understandable document with or without the reference to the "Work in Progress". This paragraph is replaced with: Hoffman Expires May 26, 2016 [Page 2] Internet-Draft Referencing Internet-Drafts in RFCs November 2015 It is acceptable to reference an Internet-Draft in another Internet- Draft or RFC. Such a reference must be to a specific edition of an Internet-Draft by indicating its full filename, such as "draft-ietf- somewg-someprotocol-03". 3. Change to RFC 7322 Section 4.8.6.4 of RFC 7322, "Referencing Internet-Drafts", says: ============ References to Internet-Drafts may only appear as informative references. Given that several revisions of an I-D may be produced in a short time frame, references must include the posting date (month and year), the full Internet-Draft file name (including the version number), and the phrase "Work in Progress". Authors may reference multiple versions of an I-D. If the referenced I-D was also later published as an RFC, then that RFC must also be listed. [SYMBOLIC-TAG] Last name, First initial., Ed. (if applicable) and First initial. Last name, Ed. (if applicable), "I-D Title", Work in Progress, draft-string-NN, Month Year. Example: [RFC-STYLE] Flanagan, H. and S. Ginoza, "RFC Style Guide", Work in Progress, draft-flanagan-style-01, June 2013. ============ This section is replaced with: ============ References to Internet-Drafts may only appear as informative references. Given that several revisions of an I-D may be produced in a short time frame, references must include the posting date (month and year), the full title, the full Internet-Draft file name (including the version number), and a URL to that specific version of the draft on the IETF Tools site. Authors may reference multiple versions of an I-D. If the referenced I-D was also later published as an RFC, then that RFC must also be listed. Hoffman Expires May 26, 2016 [Page 3] Internet-Draft Referencing Internet-Drafts in RFCs November 2015 [SYMBOLIC-TAG] Last name, First initial., Ed. (if applicable) and First initial. Last name, Ed. (if applicable), "I-D Title", draft-string-NN, Month Year, . Example: [RFC-STYLE] Flanagan, H. and S. Ginoza, "RFC Style Guide", draft-flanagan-style-01, June 2013, . ============ 4. IANA Considerations None. 5. Security Considerations None. 6. Acknowledgements This idea has been kicked around for a few decades by many people. 7. Normative References [RFC2026] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, DOI 10.17487/RFC2026, October 1996, . [RFC7322] Flanagan, H. and S. Ginoza, "RFC Style Guide", RFC 7322, DOI 10.17487/RFC7322, September 2014, . Author's Address Paul Hoffman ICANN Email: paul.hoffman@icann.org Hoffman Expires May 26, 2016 [Page 4]