Network Working Group H. Flanagan
Internet-Draft RFC Editor
Intended status: Informational 29 October 2019
Expires: 1 May 2020
RFC Series Model Process
draft-flanagan-rseme-01
Abstract
This draft offers a proposal to form a new IAB program called the RFC
Editor Future Development Program. This proposal is based on the
discussions held during three virtual meetings in September and
October 2019, and requests a new program, open to all, that will
drive consensus around any changes to the RFC Editor model through
extensive community engagement and outreach to a broad set of
stakeholder communities.
Status of This Memo
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 1 May 2020.
Copyright Notice
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Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Summaries from Virtual Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1. First Virtual Meeting Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2. Second Virtual Meeting Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.3. Third Virtual Meeting Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Proposal - RFC Editor Future Development Program . . . . . . 4
4. Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Appendix A. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. Introduction
The RFC Series has come to a crossroads where questions must be
answered regarding how the Series should be managed, the role of the
RFC Series Editor, and the oversight of the RFC Editor function. The
RFC Editor, editor and publisher of the Series, publishes RFCs for
the IETF, the IRTF, the IAB, and the Independent Submissions streams.
Those RFCs are referred to by other Standards Development
Organizations (SDOs), by organizations and governments in their
procurement processes, by academics, by network operators, and more.
Decisions on the future of the RFC Editor and the RFC Series must
include input from both the producers and the consumers of RFCs.
Three virtual meetings were organized, scheduled to be sensitive to a
wide range of time zones, to discuss purely the process by which the
communities of interest can determine consensus on the RFC Series
model. These meetings were coordinated by Heather Flanagan, RFC
Series Editor, and explicit invitations were sent to:
* IETF, IRTF, IAB, and Independent Submission authors and
participants via various mailing lists, including the rfc-
interest, ietf-announce, and wgchairs mailing lists
* IETF liaison contacts [IETF-LIAISONS]
* REFEDS [REFEDS]
Invitations were considered for ISOC chapter heads and NANOG Board
leadership, but the invitations were not delivered in time for the
meetings.
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2. Summaries from Virtual Meetings
2.1. First Virtual Meeting Summary
Approximately 24 people attended this meeting.
The stream managers and and a small number of community at-large
members should be part of a committee that would work much like a
design team [DESIGN]. A chair and a co-chair should be chosen from
within that committee to run a working group. That working group is
not to be part of the IETF (though much participation is expected
from within the IETF community). An important characteristic of the
chair (and possibly co-chair) is clearly identifying any potential
Conflict of Interest that the chair(s) have before they call
consensus.
A key characteristic and requirement of the working group is openness
of participation and process.
While external stakeholders may not be interested in defining and
developing the RFC Editor model, they should still be offered another
opportunity to comment on any plans after those plans are developed
(and before a full consensus call is made).
2.2. Second Virtual Meeting Summary
Approximately 12 people attended this meeting.
Despite current the current tension between the community and the
IAB, the IAB is the correct home, from a logical and organizational
architecture perspective, to host the discussion for the RFC Editor
model. The IAB should organize a program that follows the principles
of open participation (e.g., the model of an IETF working group), and
run a community-wide call for volunteers to both find chairs for this
group and to invite participation. The program should have a clear,
concrete, and objective charter that can be published as an Internet-
Draft. Organizations external to the IETF should be invited to
participate as well as to offer feedback on any proposed products
from the group (assuming the external organizations do not actively
participate in developing those final products).
Reaching consensus through this group should be expected to take a
long time, but it is important that that time be taken so as to avoid
a bigger mess in the future.
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2.3. Third Virtual Meeting Summary
Approximately 6 people attended this meeting.
While there was no agreement on whether or not the group that drives
the discussion and consensus needs to be an entirely new group
outside the existing leadership structure, there was consensus that
some IAB involvement was critical. One suggestion was to bring in
past IAB and IETF chairs as core membership to the group, and that
the group must look to the long-term structure of the RFC Editor (as
opposed to looking at short-term, tactical matters).
In terms of what needs to be decided for the long-term (where 'long-
term' was defined as 6-8 years), decisions that will need to be made
include: business (funding), administration (hiring/firing) as well
as more about publishing documents (who gets to say no to publishing
something). There will be a role for many of the existing groups
(e.g., IETF LLC Board, since they hold contracts). The model must be
clear around when the RSE can be overridden (and when they can't be).
The model cannot be designed around one individual or entity, which
means the roles themselves has to be more clearly described.
3. Proposal - RFC Editor Future Development Program
Based on the discussions from the virtual meetings, this proposal
suggest the immediate formation of a new IAB program. The role of
the IAB is to convene this program; the work and the participation
should be open and transparent, and must focus on the long-term needs
of the RFC Series and the communities it serves.
An IAB program, run correctly, covers many of the required
characteristic of this group. For example, an IAB program is
designed to support a long-term perspective, and to exist beyond any
given IAB cohort.[IAB-PROGRAM]
Note that while programs are not generally required to produce
minutes, this group should regularly offer updates on its activities,
either in the form of minutes, blog posts, or other easily found
community reports, for the sake of individuals who cannot actively
participate, and to support a historic record of discussions and
decisions.
This program should be led by a chair and a co-chair, selected from
the community. Past IAB or IETF chairs would likely be good choices.
The chair/co-chair roles are responsible for general outreach,
whereas the IAB Program Lead will act as the liaison to the IAB. In
all cases, clear Conflict of Interest statement should be made by
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both chairs, and the IAB Program Lead must be neutral in all
decisions.
Stream managers -- the IETF Chair or their delegate, the IAB Chair or
their delegate, the IRTF Chair or their delegate, or the Independent
Submissions Editor -- are strongly encouraged to participate in this
program, as recommendations will be made that impact all document
streams.
The program should be modeled closely on an IETF working group
[BCP25], using a mailing list to validate consensus among the
participants, and adhering to the IETF Note Well [BCP78] [BCP79].
Decisions are expected to be made using rough consensus.[RFC7282].
The program may choose to create one or more design teams to focus on
specific aspects of the questions being raised; this model should
definitely be supported if the community decides it to be useful.
The scope of work for this group includes:
* Determining the full scope of responsibilities and authority
within the RFC Editor, in particular focusing on the RFC Series
Editor.
* Considering and proposing business and administrative requirements
to support proposed changes (e.g., funding, administration).
* Soliciting input from organizations that are expected to be
directly impacted by any changes to the RFC Editor model.
A note about the RFC Series Oversight Committee (RSOC), also a
program of the IAB: the RSOC should continue to oversee day-to-day
running of the RFC Editor, and be available to assist with any
immediate, tactical questions, as well as acting as the search
committee for any of the roles defined by the new program. RSOC
members are encouraged to participate in the new program, and equally
encouraged to request subject matter expertise from participants in
this program on matters of job descriptions, statements of work, and
any other areas impacted by changes in the RFC Editor model as
recommended by this program.
4. Timeline
* IETF 106: community discussion, complete proposal
* December 2019: IAB to announce new program, start a new mailing
list, select chairs, and solicit membership.
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* IETF 107: Program to meet
* IETF 108: First draft(s) of future-dev proposals; iterate on
improvements
5. Informative References
[DESIGN] IETF, "On Design Teams", October 2019,
.
[IAB-PROGRAM]
IAB, "IAB Programs", October 2019,
.
[IETF-LIAISONS]
IETF, "Liaisons", October 2019,
.
[REFEDS] REFEDS, "REFEDS", October 2019, .
[BCP25] Bradner, S., "IETF Working Group Guidelines and
Procedures", BCP 25, RFC 2418, September 1998.
Wasserman, M., "Updates to RFC 2418 Regarding the
Management of IETF Mailing Lists", BCP 25, RFC 3934,
October 2004.
Resnick, P. and A. Farrel, "IETF Anti-Harassment
Procedures", BCP 25, RFC 7776, March 2016.
[BCP78] Bradner, S., Ed. and J. Contreras, Ed., "Rights
Contributors Provide to the IETF Trust", BCP 78, RFC 5378,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5378, November 2008,
.
[BCP79] Bradner, S. and J. Contreras, "Intellectual Property
Rights in IETF Technology", BCP 79, RFC 8179,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8179, May 2017,
.
[RFC7282] Resnick, P., "On Consensus and Humming in the IETF",
RFC 7282, DOI 10.17487/RFC7282, June 2014,
.
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Appendix A. Acknowledgments
With many thanks to the individuals who attended the virtual calls
and who engaged constructively on the mailing lists.
Author's Address
Heather Flanagan
RFC Editor
Email: rse@rfc-editor.org
URI: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2647-2220
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