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Network Working Group J. Klensin
Request for Comments: 4897
BCP: 97 S. Hartman
Updates: 3967 MIT
Category: Best Current Practice June 2007
Handling Normative References to Standards-Track Documents
Status of This Memo
This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007).
Abstract
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Request for Comments
(RFC) Editor have a long-standing rule that a document at a given
maturity level cannot be published until all of the documents that it
references as normative are at that maturity level or higher. This
rule has sometimes resulted in very long publication delays for
documents and some claims that it was a major obstruction to
advancing documents in maturity level. The IETF agreed on a way to
bypass this rule with RFC 3967. This document describes a simpler
procedure for downward references to Standards-Track and Best Current
Practice (BCP) documents, namely "note and move on". The procedure
in RFC 3967 still applies for downward references to other classes of
documents. In both cases, annotations should be added to such
References.
Klensin & Hartman Best Current Practice [Page 1]
RFC 4897 Normative References June 2007
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................2
2. Terminology .....................................................3
3. Normative Reference Rule ........................................3
3.1. Source Documents Not Yet Processed by the IESG .............3
3.2. Documents Already in the RFC Editor Queue ..................4
4. Target Documents Not on the Standards Track .....................4
5. Target Documents that Can Be Referenced This Way ................4
6. Security Considerations .........................................5
7. Acknowledgements ................................................5
8. Normative References ............................................5
1. Introduction
The IETF and RFC Editor have a long-standing rule (see, e.g., RFC
2026, Section 4.2.4 [RFC2026] and the extended discussion in RFC 3967
[RFC3967]) that a document at a given maturity level cannot be
published until all of the documents to which it makes a normative
reference are at that maturity level or higher. This rule has
sometimes resulted in very long publication delays for documents and
some claims that it was a major obstruction to advancing documents in
maturity level. Recognizing the problems that this rule sometimes
caused, RFC 3967 established an exception procedure for normative
downward references under some specific circumstances. Perhaps
because of its fairly stringent requirements, RFC 3967 has not proven
adequate either to clear the backlog of documents awaiting upgraded
documents or to prevent additional documents from joining that queue.
This document replaces the long-standing rule for downward references
to Standards-Track documents (including BCPs) that are already
published. For normative references to Standards-Track and BCP
documents, that rule was to hold the newer, referencing, document
until the referenced ones could be brought to the appropriate
maturity level. It is now possible, following procedures described
below, to simply note the downward normative reference and move on.
This document also updates RFC 3967. When downward references from a
source document are approved under the procedure specified in that
specification, we recommend that the references in the approved
(source) document be annotated in the same way as references approved
under this rule.
Klensin & Hartman Best Current Practice [Page 2]
RFC 4897 Normative References June 2007
2. Terminology
A reference involves two documents, the one in which the reference is
embedded and the document referenced. Where needed for clarity,
these documents are referred to as the "source document" and "target
document", respectively.
The term "Standards-Track document", as used in this specification,
is assumed to include BCPs but not Informational or Experimental
documents of any variety or origin.
3. Normative Reference Rule
This document specifies an alternative to holding source documents
until all target documents referenced normatively are upgraded or by
applying the procedure of RFC 3967.
3.1. Source Documents Not Yet Processed by the IESG
An author or editor who requires a normative downward reference to a
Standards-Track RFC uses the following very simple procedure:
o The reference text (i.e., in the "Normative References" section of
the source document) is written as usual.
o A note is included in the reference text that indicates that the
reference is to a target document of a lower maturity level, that
some caution should be used since it may be less stable than the
document from which it is being referenced, and, optionally,
explaining why the downward reference is appropriate.
The Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) may, at its
discretion, specify the exact text to be used, establish procedures
regarding the text to use, or give guidance on this text. When
establishing procedures, the IESG should seek appropriate community
review.
These annotations are part of the source document. If members of the
community consider either the downward reference or the annotation
text to be inappropriate, those issues can be raised at any time
during the document life cycle, just as with any other text in the
document. There is no separate review of these references.
With appropriate community review, the IESG may establish procedures
for when normative downward references should delay a document and
when downward references should be noted. Absent specific guidance,
authors and reviewers should use their best judgment. It is assumed
that, in a significant majority of cases, noting a downward reference
is preferable to delaying publication.
Klensin & Hartman Best Current Practice [Page 3]
RFC 4897 Normative References June 2007
At the option of the author, similar notes may be attached to non-
normative references.
3.2. Documents Already in the RFC Editor Queue
The IESG may, at its discretion, specify a procedure to be applied to
source documents that are already in the RFC Editor queue, awaiting
target referenced documents. The IESG should encourage authors with
documents in the RFC Editor queue awaiting downward references to
Standards-Track RFCs to evaluate whether this new rule is appropriate
for their documents. If authors believe that adding an annotation
and releasing the document is the best way forward, then the IESG
should ensure that appropriate review is conducted and, if that
review agrees with that of the authors' evaluation, allow the
annotations to be added. The IESG will announce its decision via the
normal Protocol-Action or Document-Action mechanisms.
4. Target Documents Not on the Standards Track
In the case of a normative reference to a document not on the
standards track that is approved under the procedures defined in RFC
3967, the annotation described in Section 3.1 or the retrospective
annotation described in Section 3.2, SHOULD be added to the reference
unless the IESG, after consideration of Last Call input, concludes it
is inappropriate.
5. Target Documents that Can Be Referenced This Way
The "downward reference by annotation" model specified here is
applicable only to published Standards-Track RFCs at lower maturity
levels.
Obviously, such downward references are part of the relevant source
document at IETF Last Call and subject to comments from the
community.
Advancing documents, when appropriate, is still considered preferable
to the use of either this procedure or the one specified in RFC 3967.
This specification does not impose a specific test or requirement to
determine appropriateness. This is partially because it would be
impossible to do so for the general case, but more so because the
intention is to permit the IESG and the community to balance the
importance of getting a source document published against the time
and difficulty associated with upgrading a target document. That
requirement is intended to be less stringent than the one of RFC
3967.
Klensin & Hartman Best Current Practice [Page 4]
RFC 4897 Normative References June 2007
6. Security Considerations
This document specifies an IETF procedure. It is not believed to
raise any security issues although, in principle, relaxing the
normative downward reference rules for references associated with
security mechanisms could make a specification less stable and hence
less secure.
7. Acknowledgements
This proposal was suggested by a comment by Spencer Dawkins and many
complaints about the negative impact of the current rules. The
author is unsure about the validity of some of those complaints; the
proposal is, in part, a way to test the validity question. Spencer
also provided helpful comments on a preliminary version. It was
revised in response to extensive discussion in the IESG and benefited
significantly by comments from Brian Carpenter.
8. Normative References
[RFC2026] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.
[RFC3967] Bush, R. and T. Narten, "Clarifying when Standards Track
Documents may Refer Normatively to Documents at a Lower
Level", BCP 97, RFC 3967, December 2004.
Authors' Addresses
John C Klensin
1770 Massachusetts Ave, #322
Cambridge, MA 02140
USA
Phone: +1 617 491 5735
EMail: john-ietf@jck.com
Sam Hartman
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02139
USA
EMail: hartmans-ietf@mit.edu
Klensin & Hartman Best Current Practice [Page 5]
RFC 4897 Normative References June 2007
Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007).
This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
retain all their rights.
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Acknowledgement
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
Klensin & Hartman Best Current Practice [Page 6]