rfc_metadata_in_the_v3

Notes on RFC metadata in the v3 era

New XSD is in place (10 Sept 2019): https://www.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc-index.xsd
rfc-index.txt, .html, .xml (and similar files) are slightly different from before, this is due to:
- added new publication formats and source format.
- removed file sizes. (Byte count is no longer included as metadata for each RFC.)
There is only one page count per RFC, even if it is available in multiple file formats.
- As a result, in rfc-index.xml, page-count has been “pulled up” a level.
For page count, source of data will change.
- For pre-v3 docs, it is the page count of the .txt file (except for a handful of old RFCs where there is no .txt file).
- For v3 docs, it will be the page count of the PDF file.

PDF naming conventions

Externally, PDFs are listed simply as “PDF” (whether v3 or otherwise).
Internally, the db holds “v3PDF” to mean v3 output; “PDF” is used for pre-v3.
As before, .txt.pdf files are not listed in index files.

TEXT naming conventions

Externally, .txt format (whether pre-v3 or not) is listed as “TEXT”.
Exception: rfc-index.xml: will display “ASCII” (for pre-v3) and “TEXT” (afterwards). Rationale: other index files were already using the “TEXT” instead of “ASCII”, so they weren't changed to start differentiating.
Internally, the db holds “TEXT” to mean v3 output; “ASCII” is used for pre-v3.

New resource: JSON files of RFC metadata

One JSON file per RFC was made available 11 September 2019.
Each file contains data similar to an entry in rfc-index.xml.
Sample file: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5234.json

Examples

Example: RFC4254

-- OLD
    <format>
    <file-format>ASCII</file-format>
        <char-count>50338</char-count>
        <page-count>24</page-count>
    </format>
    <format>
    <file-format>HTML</file-format>
    </format>

-- NEW

    <format>
        <file-format>ASCII</file-format>
        <file-format>HTML</file-format>
    </format>
    <page-count>24</page-count>

For comparison, the JSON record includes (among other data):

"format":["ASCII","HTML"],"page_count":"24"

Example: RFC8888 (v3 era)

-- NEW

    <format>
        <file-format>TEXT</file-format>
        <file-format>HTML</file-format>
        <file-format>PDF</file-format>
        <file-format>XML</file-format>
    </format>
    <page-count>48</page-count>

For comparison, the JSON record would include (among other data):

"format":["TEXT","HTML","PDF","XML"],"page_count":"48"