IESG Procedures for Handling of Independent and IRTF Stream Submissions
RFC 5742

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                     H. Alvestrand
Request for Comments: 5742                                        Google
BCP: 92                                                       R. Housley
Obsoletes: 3932                                           Vigil Security
Updates: 2026, 3710                                        December 2009
Category: Best Current Practice
ISSN: 2070-1721

                           IESG Procedures for
            Handling of Independent and IRTF Stream Submissions

Abstract

   This document describes the procedures used by the IESG for handling
   documents submitted for RFC publication from the Independent
   Submission and IRTF streams.

   This document updates procedures described in RFC 2026 and RFC 3710.

Status of This Memo

   This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   BCPs is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at http://www.rfc-
   editor.org/info/rfc5742.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2009 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
   described in the BSD License.

Alvestrand & Housley     Best Current Practice                  [Page 1]
RFC 5742                   Update to RFC 3932              December 2009

1.  Introduction and History

   RFC 4844 [N1] defines four RFC streams.  When a document is submitted
   for publication, the review that it receives depends on the stream in
   which it will be published.  The four streams defined in RFC 4844
   are:

      - The IETF stream
      - The IAB stream
      - The IRTF stream
      - The Independent Submission stream

   The IETF is responsible for maintaining the Internet Standards
   Process, which includes the requirements for developing, reviewing
   and approving Standards Track and BCP RFCs.  These RFCs, and any
   other IETF-generated Informational or Experimental documents, are
   reviewed by appropriate IETF bodies [N2] and published as part of the
   IETF stream.

   Documents published in streams other than the IETF stream might not
   receive any review by the IETF for such things as security,
   congestion control, or inappropriate interaction with deployed
   protocols.  Generally, there is no attempt for IETF consensus or IESG
   approval.  Therefore, the IETF disclaims, for any of the non-IETF
   stream documents, any knowledge of the fitness of those RFCs for any
   purpose.

   IESG processing described in this document is concerned only with the
   last two categories, which comprise the Independent Submission stream
   and the IRTF stream, respectively [N1].

   Following the approval of RFC 2026 [N2] and prior to the publication
   of RFC 3932 [I1], the IESG reviewed all Independent Submission stream
   documents before publication.  This review was often a full-scale
   review of technical content, with the Area Directors (ADs) attempting
   to clear points with the authors, stimulate revisions of the
   documents, encourage the authors to contact appropriate working
   groups (WGs), and so on.  This was a considerable drain on the
   resources of the IESG, and because this was not the highest priority
   task of the IESG members, it often resulted in significant delays.

   In March 2004, the IESG decided to make a major change in this review
   model, with the IESG taking responsibility only for checking for
   conflicts between the work of the IETF and the documents submitted.
   Soliciting technical review is deemed to be the responsibility of the
   RFC Editor.  If an individual AD chooses to review the technical

Alvestrand & Housley     Best Current Practice                  [Page 2]
RFC 5742                   Update to RFC 3932              December 2009

   content of the document and finds issues, that AD will communicate
   these issues to the RFC Editor, and they will be treated the same way
   as comments on the documents from other sources.

   Prior to 2006, documents from the IRTF were treated as either IAB
   submissions or Independent Submissions via the RFC Editor.  However,