Updates to RFC Publication Formats
draft-hoffman-pub-format-updates-00
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| Document | Type |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Author | Paul E. Hoffman | ||
| Last updated | 2024-04-04 | ||
| RFC stream | (None) | ||
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| Consensus boilerplate | Unknown | ||
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draft-hoffman-pub-format-updates-00
Network Working Group P. Hoffman
Internet-Draft ICANN
Updates: 7990, 7992, 7994, 7995, 8153 (if 4 April 2024
approved)
Intended status: Informational
Expires: 6 October 2024
Updates to RFC Publication Formats
draft-hoffman-pub-format-updates-00
Abstract
draft-rswg-rfc7990-updates, the successor to RFC 7990, defines the
definitive version of an RFC as a published RFC with is in RFCXML.
It defines publication versions of the RFC as published RFCs in the
publication formats such as PDF, plain text, and HTML. draft-rswg-
xml2rfcv3-implemented is updating the specification for the RFCXML
format.
This document updates some of the publication formats, specifically
updating RFC 7992, RFC 7994, RFC 7995, and RFC 8153. Because RFC
7990 mentions some of the features of the publication formats, this
document also updates RFC 7990.
There is a repository for this draft at
https://github.com/paulehoffman/pub-format-updates
(https://github.com/paulehoffman/pub-format-updates).
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 https://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 6 October 2024.
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2024 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 (https://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.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. PDF Publication Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1. Move Requirement from PDF/A-3 to PDF/A . . . . . . . . . 3
3. HTML Publication Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.1. Additional Information about an RFC . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Plain Text Publication Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4.1. Line Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
7. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1. Introduction
This document updates the RFCs that define the publication formats
for RFCs in plain-text and HTML formats. It updates "HTML Format for
RFCs" ([RFC7992]), "Requirements for Plain-Text RFCs" ([RFC7994]),
and two documents about the PDF format, "PDF Format for RFCs"
([RFC7995]) and "Digital Preservation Considerations for the RFC
Series" ([RFC8153]).
Future versions of this draft might also update "Cascading Style
Sheets (CSS) Requirements for RFCs" ([RFC7993]), "SVG Drawings for
RFCs: SVG 1.2 RFC" ([RFC7996]), and "'xml2rfc' Version 3 Preparation
Tool Description" ([RFC7998]), but does not do so yet.
Because [RFC7990] mentions some of the features of the publication,
this document also updates [RFC7990].
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It is important to note that this document does not update
[I-D.rswg-xml2rfcv3-implemented]. That is, this document updates
only some of the publication formats for RFCs, not the definitive
format (RFCXML).
2. PDF Publication Format
2.1. Move Requirement from PDF/A-3 to PDF/A
This document updates [RFC7995] and [RFC8153] by changing the
requirement from using the PDF/A-3 standard to using the PDF/A
standard, and by dropping the requirement that the XML be embedded in
the PDF publication version. Other parts of [RFC8153], particularly
the need to archive metadata about RFCs, are not changed.
3. HTML Publication Format
3.1. Additional Information about an RFC
This document significantly changes Section 6 of [RFC7992] to say
that the front matter will contain significantly more information
than is specified in [RFC7992]. In specific, the HTML will include
the metadata currently visible in the "HTMLized" version of RFCs seen
in the IETF Datatracker. This includes links to the following:
* The Datatracker page for the RFC
* Errata for the RFC
* How to report errata for the RFC
* The Datatracker page(s) for the author(s) of the RFC
It will also include a link to the Datatracker page for the draft
that became the RFC, links to including earlier versions of that
draft, and the ability to comapre earlier version of the RFC with the
RFC and with each other.
4. Plain Text Publication Format
4.1. Line Length
Section 4.3 of [RFC7994] says:
Each line must be limited to 72 characters followed by the
character sequence that denotes an end-of-line (EOL).
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This document updates that limit to 100 characters. The primary
reason for this update is that the 72-character limit forced document
authors to constrain the examples they use. With a wider maximum
line limit, those authors can construct more accurate and more useful
examples, and thus improve the quality of the RFC Series.
Note that the 72-character limit was imposed when RFCs were all in
the plain-text format and commonly printed on printers with an
80-character line limit. Printing from the plain-text format of
modern RFCs happens tremendously less often than earlier. Even in
cases where someone prints a plain-text publication format RFC with
lines longer than what that can fit on the page, the reader will
immediately see the problem and can instead read from the HTML or PDF
format for the same RFC.
5. IANA Considerations
This document has no IANA considerations.
6. Security Considerations
Changing the formats for plain-text and HTML publication versions of
RFCs is not expected to cause any security issues.
7. Acknowledgments
This document is inspired by many suggestions from many people in the
RSWG.
8. References
8.1. Normative References
[RFC7990] Flanagan, H., "RFC Format Framework", RFC 7990,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7990, December 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7990>.
[RFC7992] Hildebrand, J., Ed. and P. Hoffman, "HTML Format for
RFCs", RFC 7992, DOI 10.17487/RFC7992, December 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7992>.
[RFC7994] Flanagan, H., "Requirements for Plain-Text RFCs",
RFC 7994, DOI 10.17487/RFC7994, December 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7994>.
[RFC7995] Hansen, T., Ed., Masinter, L., and M. Hardy, "PDF Format
for RFCs", RFC 7995, DOI 10.17487/RFC7995, December 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7995>.
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[RFC8153] Flanagan, H., "Digital Preservation Considerations for the
RFC Series", RFC 8153, DOI 10.17487/RFC8153, April 2017,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8153>.
8.2. Informative References
[I-D.rswg-xml2rfcv3-implemented]
Levine, J. R. and P. E. Hoffman, "The "xml2rfc" version 3
Vocabulary as Implemented", Work in Progress, Internet-
Draft, draft-rswg-xml2rfcv3-implemented-03, 3 March 2024,
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-rswg-
xml2rfcv3-implemented-03>.
[RFC7993] Flanagan, H., "Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Requirements
for RFCs", RFC 7993, DOI 10.17487/RFC7993, December 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7993>.
[RFC7996] Brownlee, N., "SVG Drawings for RFCs: SVG 1.2 RFC",
RFC 7996, DOI 10.17487/RFC7996, December 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7996>.
[RFC7998] Hoffman, P. and J. Hildebrand, ""xml2rfc" Version 3
Preparation Tool Description", RFC 7998,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7998, December 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7998>.
Author's Address
Paul Hoffman
ICANN
Email: paul.hoffman@icann.org
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