Technical Summary
This specification defines the UUIDs (Universally Unique IDentifiers)
and the UUID Uniform Resource Name (URN) namespace. UUIDs are also
known as GUIDs (Globally Unique IDentifiers). A UUID is 128 bits
long and is intended to guarantee uniqueness across space and time.
UUIDs were originally used in the Apollo Network Computing System and
later in the Open Software Foundation's (OSF) Distributed Computing
Environment (DCE), and then in Microsoft Windows platforms.
This specification is derived from the DCE specification with the
kind permission of the OSF (now known as The Open Group).
Information from earlier versions of the DCE specification have been
incorporated into this document. This document obsoletes RFC4122.
Working Group Summary
The document represents a strong concurrence of a many individuals, including
many from outside the IETF community who maintain running code.
Document Quality
Yes there are a number of implementators involved, and many have implemented
the changes.
The ITU-T and the ISO published documents similiar to RFC4122 at the time,
but they have not responded to this BIS process.
Personnel
The Document Shepherd for this document is Michael Richardson. The
Responsible Area Director is Murray Kucherawy.