Network Working Group P. Hoffman Internet-Draft VPN Consortium Intended status: Informational January 29, 2011 Expires: August 2, 2011 Requirements for a Working Group Charter Tool draft-ietf-genarea-charter-tool-05 Abstract The IETF intends to provide a new tool to Area Directors for the creation, re-chartering, and closing of Working Groups. The tool will also allow the IETF community to view the status of the chartering process. This document describes the requirements for the proposed new tool, and it is intended as input to a later activity for the design and development of such a tool. 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 August 2, 2011. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2011 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 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 Hoffman Expires August 2, 2011 [Page 1] Internet-Draft WG Charter Tool Reqs January 2011 described in the Simplified BSD License. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.1. WG Charter Process Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.2. Discussion of These Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. General Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2.1. WG Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.2. Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.3. Naming of Charter Text Proposals . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.4. Wording of Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.5. Access to the Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.6. Showing Some Information Only to ADs and the Secretariat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.7. Initializing the Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3. Creating and Rechartering WGs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.1. Chartering a New WG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.2. Rechartering an Existing WG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.3. Ballots for Charter Approval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4. Requesting the Closing of a WG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5. Searching, Comparing, and Tracking Charters . . . . . . . . . 8 5.1. Viewing and Searching the Charter Database . . . . . . . . 8 5.2. Seeing Differences between Versions of Pre-approval Wordings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 5.3. Tracking Charters with an Atom Feed . . . . . . . . . . . 9 6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 8. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 9. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Appendix A. Differences between -04 and -05 . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Hoffman Expires August 2, 2011 [Page 2] Internet-Draft WG Charter Tool Reqs January 2011 1. Introduction [RFC2418] describes the guidelines and procedures for formation and operation of IETF Working Groups (WGs). Since its publication in 1998, the IETF has started many dozen new WGs, has shut down many dozen, and every WG that has had some (often dozens) of changes to its charter. Currently, virtually all of the tasks associated with creating, rechartering, and closing a WG are performed manually. An Area Director (AD) requests one of these actions by manually sending a message to the Secretariat's ticket system. A member of the Secretariat staff manually updates the internal Secretariat database and the IETF Datatracker, manually places the WG on the IESG teleconference agenda (when appropriate), and manually sends out all of the required messages and announcements. The IAOC would like to create a better tool for those tasks, and this document lists the requirements for such a tool. When complete, this document may be used to issue an RFP for the design and development of the tool. This document was prepared at the request of the IAOC. 1.1. WG Charter Process Overview As described in [RFC2418], a key responsibility of the IESG is the creation, re-chartering, and closing of WGs. Creation and rechartering of WGs is a multi-step process that involves internal review of a draft charter by the IESG and IAB, an external review of the draft charter by the IETF community, and (likely) approval of a final charter by the IESG. The internal review by the IESG and IAB, and the external review by the IETF community, often result in revisions to the draft charter. Closing of a WG does not require review or approval by the IESG. Rather, a WG may be closed at the request of an AD, normally the Area Advisor for the WG. 1.2. Discussion of These Requirements This document is being discussed on the charter-tool@ietf.org mailing list. See for more information. 2. General Requirements The tool described here holds records for new WGs that are being considered as well as for all WGs whose charter are under review. Hoffman Expires August 2, 2011 [Page 3] Internet-Draft WG Charter Tool Reqs January 2011 2.1. WG Records A WG record contains the following fields: o name of the WG o WG's acronym o names of the WG chairs (if known) o name of the WG secretary (if any) o shepherding AD o IETF area o charter text o mailing list address and archive location o previous mailing list (if any) In addition, a WG record contains the state of the WG in the review process. That state has one annotation: whether or not the state is for a proposed WG or for an existing WG undergoing rechartering. Some changes in state cause messages to be sent to the Secretariat so that the Secretariat can perform additional steps, such as sending out mail to various parties about the current state. Any AD can modify fields in an existing WG record. Any AD can use the tool to change the review state of a WG record. The normal order for steps is shown in this document, but an AD can change the states in any order desired. 2.2. Comments During the reviews for WG creation and rechartering, ADs can comment on the reviews. Any AD can add a comment to the record of a WG that is under review. Each comment can be flagged as private, meaning that it is only to be viewed by the IESG and IETF Secretariat. Also, each comment can be flagged as either "discuss" (meaning blocking forward movement until it is resolved) and "regular" (meaning that it is non-blocking but informative). 2.3. Naming of Charter Text Proposals Charter text proposals are to be kept for historical purposes. They are kept in files with a specific naming pattern. The pattern for Hoffman Expires August 2, 2011 [Page 4] Internet-Draft WG Charter Tool Reqs January 2011 charters before a WG is formed is wgacronym-proposal-nn, where "wgacronym" is the acronym of the proposed WG, and "nn" is a two- digit number assigned in sequence, starting at 00. When a WG is chartered, that charter gets the name whose pattern is wgacronym-charter-nn, with the first charter having sequence number 00. When a WG exists and is being rechartered, the pattern is wgacronym-recharter-ss-nn, where "ss" is the sequence number of the current charter. For example, the first time a WG is rechartered, the pattern would be wgacronym-recharter-00-nn. 2.4. Wording of Announcements An AD can view and edit the standard "WG Review" and "WG Action" announcements before they are sent out during the WG creation, rechartering, and closing processes. If the AD edits the message, the Secretariat is alerted to that fact when they receive the request. 2.5. Access to the Tool Area Directors and the IETF Secretariat currently have access to performing some actions in the Datatracker that other community members cannot; this access control continues to be used in many of the extensions listed in this document. Further, the IETF Secretariat and the IETF Chair can perform all actions that can be performed by any AD in this tool. 2.6. Showing Some Information Only to ADs and the Secretariat Some information, such as private comments, will be viewable only by ADs and the IESG Secretariat. Some information might be private for some charters but public for others; for example, some ADs have made their choices for potential WG chairs public in some BoF charters. 2.7. Initializing the Tool Records for all WGs that are being created, or are in the process of charter updates, will be added before the tool is first publicly deployed. The database should also be initialized with historical data, namely as much information as is currently known about closed WGs. 3. Creating and Rechartering WGs Hoffman Expires August 2, 2011 [Page 5] Internet-Draft WG Charter Tool Reqs January 2011 3.1. Chartering a New WG Any AD can create a new WG record using a simple web form. Creating a record should succeed as long as there is no other WG with the same name. The tool will warn the AD if acronym that is being proposed has been used in earlier WG charter proposals. The form comes with defaults of the AD who is filling in the form as the shepherding AD, that AD's area as the proposed area. The AD can fill in all the fields for the propose WG. The names of the WG chairs can be left off during the initial charterin process. Creating a new WG record causes the Datatracker state for this potential new WG to be "Informal IESG review". When the record is created, the AD proposes a length of time (in weeks) for the internal review time; the default is one week. The review states in which a WG can exist during its initial chartering are: o Informal IESG review -- This is the initial state, moved into by the tool when an AD creates a WG record. When the WG record is moved to this state, a message is sent to the Secretariat. The normal next state is "Initial IESG and IAB review" if the idea is accepted, or "Not currently under review" if the idea is abandoned. The tool should prompt the AD if they try to move to the next state in less than the minimum elapsed time is set by the AD when creating the WG. o Initial IESG and IAB review -- The IESG and IAB are reviewing the early draft of the charter. When moved to this state, a note is sent to the Secretariat to place this on the next IESG telechat and to inform the IAB. The usual next state is "External review" if the idea is adopted, or "Informal IESG review" if the IESG decides the idea needs more work, or "Not currently under review" if the idea is abandoned. o External review -- The IETF community and possibly other SDOs are reviewing the proposed charter. When moved to this state, a note is sent to the Secretariat to send out the external review announcement to the appropriate lists. The usual next state is "IESG review", although it might move to "Not currently under review" if the idea is abandoned during the external review. o IESG review -- The IESG is reviewing the discussion from the external review of the proposed charter. When moved to this state, a note is sent to the Secretariat to schedule discussion for the next IESG telechat. The usual next state is "WG exists", or "Not currently under review" if the idea is abandoned. Hoffman Expires August 2, 2011 [Page 6] Internet-Draft WG Charter Tool Reqs January 2011 o WG exists -- The WG was approved by the IESG. When moved to this state, a note is sent to the Secretariat to publish the charter and send the appropriate announcements. The WG remains in this state until there is a request to update the charter. o Not currently under review -- The proposed WG is not being considered at this time. A proposed WG charter will remain in this state until an AD moves it to "Informan IESG review". All states above, except for "WG exists", are given the annotation "Initial chartering". 3.2. Rechartering an Existing WG Any AD can request that a WG be rechartered using a simple web form. This form prompts with the current charter and allows all fields to be edited. Asking for a recharter causes the Datatracker state for this WG to be "Informal IESG review". When the recharter record is created, the AD proposes a length of time (in weeks) for the internal review time; the default is one week. The review states in which a WG can exist during rechartering are: o Informal IESG review -- This is the initial state, moved into by the tool when an AD asks for a WG to be rechartered. When the WG record is moved to this state, a message is sent to the Secretariat. The normal next state is "Initial IESG and IAB review" if the idea is accepted, or "WG exists" if this attempt to recharter is abandoned. The tool should prompt the AD if they try to move to the next state in less than the minimum elapsed time is set by the AD when asking to recharter the WG. o Initial IESG and IAB review -- The IESG and IAB are reviewing the proposed new charter. When moved to this state, a note is sent to the Secretariat to place this on the next IESG telechat and to inform the IAB. The usual next state is "External review" if the idea is adopted, or "Informal IESG review" if the IESG decides the idea needs more work, or "WG exists" if the current rechartering abandoned. o External review -- The IETF community and possibly other SDOs are reviewing the proposed new charter. When moved to this state, a note is sent to the Secretariat to send out the external review announcement to the appropriate lists. The usual next state is "IESG review", although it might move to "WG exists" if the current rechartering is abandoned during the external review. Hoffman Expires August 2, 2011 [Page 7] Internet-Draft WG Charter Tool Reqs January 2011 o IESG review -- The IESG is reviewing the discussion from the external review of the recharter. When moved to this state, a note is sent to the Secretariat to schedule discussion for the next IESG telechat. The usual next state is "WG exists", or "Not currently under review" if the idea is abandoned. o WG exists -- There is no active rechartering effort for this WG. All states above, except for "WG exists", are given the annotation "Rechartering". 3.3. Ballots for Charter Approval The current Datatracker has facilities for ballots on adoption of Internet Drafts to become RFCs. A separate facility needs to be created to allow balloting for initial chartering or rechartering during IESG review. 4. Requesting the Closing of a WG An AD can use the tool to request the Secretariat to close an existing WG. The request action will prompt the AD to provide instructions regarding the disposition of each active Internet Drafts (such as to withdraw the draft, move it to another WG, convert it to an individual submission, and so on), wording for the closure announcement, and the status of the WG mailing list (will it remain open or should it be closed). 5. Searching, Comparing, and Tracking Charters 5.1. Viewing and Searching the Charter Database All members of the IETF community can view the public portions of the charter database. They can also search for a WG record in the tool based on one or more of the following criteria: o WG name (full or partial) o WG acronym o WG charter state o Shepherding AD o Area Hoffman Expires August 2, 2011 [Page 8] Internet-Draft WG Charter Tool Reqs January 2011 o Text in any of the fields Further, all users can view all snapshots of earlier versions of a WG's charter. Snapshots include the Area, AD, WG name, WG acronym, chairs, and charter text 5.2. Seeing Differences between Versions of Pre-approval Wordings It needs to be easy to compare differences between different versions of proposed charter language, up to and including the approved version. Using the naming formats given in Section 2, this means that it must be easy to compare wgacronym-charter-ss (for the highest value of "ss") with wgacronym-recharter-ss-nn. It must also be possible to compare any two versions of approved charters (that is, of two values for "ss" in wgacronym-charter-ss). 5.3. Tracking Charters with an Atom Feed The tool needs to provide an Atom feed for the changes in a charter. The contents of the feed are the full WG record, plus an indication of what changed since the last entry in the feed. 6. IANA Considerations None. 7. Security Considerations Creating a new tool for tracking the charter of WGs does not affect the security of the Internet in any significant fashion. 8. Acknowledgements This document draws heavily on earlier work done on this topic by other writers, such as previous IESG and IAB members. Various members of the IESG contributed many suggestions to this document. In particular David Harrington, Robert Sparks, and Russ Housley contributed a great deal of wording and many ideas. 9. Normative References [RFC2418] Bradner, S., "IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures", BCP 25, RFC 2418, September 1998. Hoffman Expires August 2, 2011 [Page 9] Internet-Draft WG Charter Tool Reqs January 2011 Appendix A. Differences between -04 and -05 In 2.1, added the secretary to the list of attributes of the WG. In 2.1 and 3.1, made it clear that chairs don't have to be listed in WG proposals. In 2.1, made it clear that the AD can move a charter into any state desired. In 3.1, added "The tool will warn the AD if acronym that is being proposed has been used in earlier WG charter proposals." In 3.3, made it clear that a separate balloting mechanism is needed. In 4, made it clear that the tool is just prompting the AD to deal with the drafts; the tool is not doing any changes to drafts itself. Added 5.3 for Atom feeds for the charters. In 8, condensed the acknowledgements a bit. Got rid of the appendix for open issues. Author's Address Paul Hoffman VPN Consortium Email: paul.hoffman@vpnc.org Hoffman Expires August 2, 2011 [Page 10]