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RFC Design Team wiki space

Introduction

During IETF 86, the IAB formally approved the publication of “RFC Format Requirements and Future Development” (RFC 6949). That RFC outlines the requirements gathered from the communities of interest regarding the Canonical format for the RFC Series. With those requirements in hand, the next step is to explore how those requirements might be implemented and verify what is possible and reasonable for the Series going forward.

The direction we are exploring is one where the Canonical format - the format that is authoritative for content of an RFC - is XML using the xml2rfc DTD. From that format, four Publication formats will be rendered: Text, HTML, PDF, and EPUB. We are focusing on the xml2rfc DTD as something most likely to meet the requirements as defined in a reasonable time frame and budget because xml2rfc is:

  • well-known by many in the authoring community as well as the RFC Editor;
  • has a start on meeting most of the requirements already;
  • is based on a solid mark-up language that is expected to exist for the foreseeable future.

Authors may continue to submit XML or text files when their I-Ds are approved for publication.

Over the past few months, the RFC Format Design Team, formed in Berlin, has discussed the more detailed requirements for the XML Canonical format as well as the requirements of the different Publication formats and their associated character encoding. The results of that discussion, including documentation on items discussed but decided against as requirements, are documented in the pages below.

Requirements

Discussion topics

Other information

Format Requirements pulled from RFC 6949

    1.  The content of an RFC must not change, regardless of format,
        once published.
        
    2.  The Canonical format must be persistent and reliable across a
        large variety of devices, operating systems, and editing tools
        for the indefinite future.  This means the format must be both
        readable and editable across commonly used devices, operating
        systems, and platforms for the foreseeable future.
        
    3.  While several Publication formats must be allowed, in order to
        continue support for the most basic reading and search tools
        and to provide continuity for the Series, at least one
        Publication format must be plain text.
        
    4.  The boilerplate and overall structure of the RFC must be in
        accordance with current RFC and Style Guide requirements (see
        [RFC5741]).
        
    5.  The documents must be made accessible to people with visual
        disabilities through such means as including alternative text
        for images and limiting the use of color.  See the W3C's
        accessibility documents [WCAG20] and the United Nations
        "Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities"
        [UN2006] for guidance.  Appropriate authoring tools are highly
        desirable but focus on the creation of Internet-Drafts, a
        topic outside the scope of the RFC Editor.
        
    6.  The official language of the RFC Series is English.  ASCII is
        required for all text that must be read to understand or
        implement the technology described in the RFC.  Use of non-
        ASCII characters, expressed in a standard Unicode Encoding
        Form (such as UTF-8), must receive explicit approval from the
        document stream manager and will be allowed after the rules
        for the common use cases are defined in the Style Guide.
        
    7.  The Submission and Publication formats need to permit
        extending the set of metadata tags, for the addition of
        labeled metadata.  A predefined set of metadata tags must be
        created to make use of metadata tags consistent for the life
        of the Series.
        
    8.  Graphics may include ASCII art and a more complex form to be
        defined, such as SVG line art [SVG].  Color and grayscale will
        not be accepted.  RFCs must correctly display in monochromatic
        black-and-white to allow for monochrome displays, black-and-
        white printing, and support for visual disabilities.
        
    9.  The Canonical format must be renderable into self-contained
        Publication formats in order to be easily downloaded and read
        offline.
        
    10. Fixed-width fonts and non-reflowable text are required for
        ASCII-art sections, source code examples, and other places
        where strict alignment is required.
        
    11. At least one Publication format must support readable print to
        standard paper sizes.
        
    12. The Canonical format should be structured to enable easy
        program identification and parsing of code or specifications,
        such as MIB modules and ABNF.
design/start.1381877125.txt.gz · Last modified: 2013/10/15 15:45 by rsewikiadmin