Internet DRAFT - draft-wilde-updating-rfcs

draft-wilde-updating-rfcs







Network Working Group                                           E. Wilde
Internet-Draft                                           CA Technologies
Intended status: Standards Track                      September 14, 2016
Expires: March 18, 2017


                             Updating RFCs
                      draft-wilde-updating-rfcs-00

Abstract

   As part of document metadata, RFCs can reference existing RFC that
   they update or obsolete.  While obsoleting is well-understood
   (replace the obsoleted RFC in its entirety), updating has more
   nuances because the updated RFC remains valid.  This document
   contains some clarifications about how to handle updating in a way
   that makes it easier for readers to understand how the original and
   the updating RFC relate.

Note to Readers

   This draft should be discussed on the wgchairs mailing list [1].

   Online access to all versions and files is available on github [2].

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
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   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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   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 March 18, 2017.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2016 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.





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   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
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Reasons for updating RFC 7233 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   3.  Documenting the Update Reasons  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.2.  Non-Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   Appendix A.  Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4

1.  Introduction

   The "RFC Style Guide" [1] defines two possible ways in which an RFC
   can relate to existing RFCs: It can obsolete existing RFCs, and/or it
   can update existing RFCs.  When obsoleting an RFC, the obsoleted RFC
   is effectively replaced in its entirety by the obsoleting RFC (or
   parts of it).  For updates, the relationship is a little less clear.

   The obsoleted "Instructions to RFC Authors" [2] in Section 12
   describe what "Updates" and "Obsoletes" mean.  These descriptions do
   not appear in RFC 7322, and even if they did, they might still not
   always be sufficient to understand the exact nature of the update.

   This memo therefore recommends that RFC authors should include
   explicit information about any updates that their RFC makes, and
   include this in a place where it is easy to locate.  This way,
   readers of the updated RFC as well as those of the updating RFC can
   easily understand how the two documents relate.

2.  Reasons for updating RFC 7233

   This document clarifies the way in which RFCs should describe their
   relationship to updated RFCs.  It proposes to include individual
   "Reasons for updating RFC ..." sections for all updated RFCs as
   section(s) early on in the document.  These sections are supposed to
   supplement the more formal "Updates" metadata and are not intended to
   replace it.



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3.  Documenting the Update Reasons

   RFC authors that use "Updates" in their document should include
   individual "Reasons for updating ..." sections for each updated RFC.
   These sections should be placed relatively early in the document.  In
   each of these sections, there should be a short description of the
   nature of the update.

   Authors should note that these sections are in no way intended to
   replace the more formal "Updates" metadata in the RFC itself.
   Instead, for each of the RFCs listed in the "Updates" metadata, one
   such section should be added.

   When writing these sections, it helps to specifically think about the
   two possible perspectives:

      When reading the updating RFC, there is a clear dependency on the
      updated RFC.  The most important question for somebody reading and
      implementing the updating RFC is how this will affect
      interoperability with implementations only implementing the
      updated RFC.  Documenting the expected behavior will make it
      easier for implementers to understand the how different
      implementations can be expected to interact.

      When reading the updated RFC, it is important to keep in mind that
      it is still valid as a standalone document.  The most important
      question for somebody who has implemented the updated RFC is how
      the new updating RFC may affect interoperability.  Documenting why
      the updating RFC chose to explicitly update (instead of just being
      an extension/add-on) will make it easier to understand the nature
      of the update.

   Generally speaking, using "Updates" often has one of two possible
   motivations: One is a bug fix or a clarification that negatively
   affected the original specification, in at least some of the
   scenarios and implementations.  In such a case, the update should be
   of interest to everybody implementing the updated RFC, and the
   section clearly state why and how that is the case.

   The second motivation is that the updating RFC is a backwards
   compatible extension, which means that strictly speaking, it does not
   even need to mention the updated RFC.  However, there may be reasons
   to establish the relationship between the RFCs so the implementers
   are aware of it and that new implementations of the updated RFC are
   more likely to also implement the extension in the updating RFC.  In
   such a case, the section should be clear about the fact that the
   update is optional, and may make a case for new implementations to
   support the extension as well.



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   In case of non-protocol documents (such as this one), the general
   question is the same: Does the updated practice specified in the
   updating document warrant mentioning in the updated RFC?  Once again,
   if the author of the updating RFC thinks that this would be
   appropriate, the explanation of the practice update should be given
   in the "Reasons for updating ..." Section Section 3, so that it is
   easy to understand why and how the practice was updated.

4.  References

4.1.  Normative References

   [1]        Flanagan, H. and S. Ginoza, "RFC Style Guide", RFC 7322,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7322, September 2014,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7322>.

4.2.  Non-Normative References

   [2]        Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, "Instructions to RFC Authors",
              RFC 2223, DOI 10.17487/RFC2223, October 1997,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2223>.

Appendix A.  Acknowledgements

   Thanks for comments and suggestions provided by Benoit Claise and
   Tony Hansen.

Author's Address

   Erik Wilde
   CA Technologies

   Email: dret@ca.com
   URI:   http://dret.net/netdret/

















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