GenDispatch B. E. Carpenter Internet-Draft Univ. of Auckland Intended status: Informational 1 October 2024 Expires: 4 April 2025 Organization of IETF Process Documents draft-carpenter-gendispatch-org-proc-docs-01 Abstract This document suggests that the IETF's many documents related to process and procedures need to be better organized and consolidated, and outlines a possible framework for this. About This Document This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC. Status information for this document may be found at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-carpenter-gendispatch-org- proc-docs/. Discussion of this document takes place on the GenDispatch Working Group mailing list (mailto:GenDispatch@ietf.org), which is archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/gendispatch/. Subscribe at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/GenDispatch/. 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 4 April 2025. Carpenter Expires 4 April 2025 [Page 1] Internet-Draft Process Document Organization October 2024 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. Code Components extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Consolidation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4. Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 7. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 8. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Appendix A. Change Log [RFC Editor: please remove] . . . . . . . 5 A.1. Draft-00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A.2. Draft-01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1. Introduction The IETF has a large number of documents (mainly RFCs) devoted to its standard process, its rules and procedures in general, and how it does its work. Some of these are BCPs, some of them are Informational RFCs, with occasional Experimental RFCs. In addition there are IESG Statements for specific topics, summaries of processes and procedures on the IETF web site, presentations made at IETF meetings or in educational material, snippets in email archives, unwritten rules, and external information such as this (https://sphericalcowconsulting.com/2024/09/20/more-on-standards- development/). At a rough estimate, to have a complete understanding of IETF processes and procedures, a person would need to consult about 65 BCPs and RFCs -- there is an out of date informal list (https://www.ietf.org/process/informal/). There are also at least 30 relevant IESG statements. Carpenter Expires 4 April 2025 [Page 2] Internet-Draft Process Document Organization October 2024 This situation is clearly problematic. Obviously it is a major stumbling block for newcomers. Even for people with years of IETF participation it can be a source of confusion, mistakes, and wasted time. This draft suggests that at the very least, the IETF needs an organizing principle or framework for its process and procedural documents. Beyond that it seems desirable to start a project, which would take many years to complete, of consolidating documents (where that is feasible) and ensuring that they fit together into a common framework that will help newcomers and experienced participants alike. Furthermore, a well-maintained guide to the IETF process is needed, for newcomers and experienced participants alike. Maintaining such a guide as part of the IETF web site would seem appropriate. 2. Framework The idea is that process documents would be organized to fit into one of a set of major topics, with as little overlap as possible. The following list of topics is only a suggestion. * Workflow in the IETF * Bodies involved in the process * Document types * Standards track documents * Review and approval process * Intellectual Property Rights * Conduct of participants * Publication process (RFC Editor) * Parameter registration process (IANA) * Meetings * Administration and support * Process for modifying process and procedures Carpenter Expires 4 April 2025 [Page 3] Internet-Draft Process Document Organization October 2024 3. Consolidation [I-D.rsalz-2026bis] and [I-D.rsalz-2418bis] are good examples of consolidation. If all the relevant RFCs and IESG statements could be consolidated in this way, resulting in say 10 or 15 documents fitting into the framework above, future participants would face much less complexity. There is a question of finding the effort to do this. It seems unlikely that it can be entirely performed on a voluntary basis. Most of the work is editorial in nature, and could be performed without any decisions of principle being needed. That implies that it could be performed as paid work. Any decisions of principle (such as reconciling inconsistencies between existing documents, or incorporating an IESG Statement in an RFC) must of course be subject to IETF review and consensus, as must the final documents. 4. Guide The informal list (https://www.ietf.org/process/informal/) of process-related documents mentioned above has been present on the IETF web site for many years. Since it was carefully written not to paraphrase or summarize content, but only to cite existing documents, it could serve as an model of how a regularly maintained guide might look. This maintenance will not involve any decisions of principle. 5. IANA Considerations No IANA actions are needed. 6. Security Considerations This document does not directly affect the security of the Internet. 7. Acknowledgements Useful comments were received from Jay Daley, Stephen Farrell, Ted Hardie, Eliot Lear, Eric Rescorla, Rich Salz, and others. 8. Informative References [I-D.rsalz-2026bis] Salz, R. and S. O. Bradner, "The Internet Standards Process", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-rsalz- 2026bis-10, 5 September 2024, . Carpenter Expires 4 April 2025 [Page 4] Internet-Draft Process Document Organization October 2024 [I-D.rsalz-2418bis] Salz, R. and S. O. Bradner, "IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft- rsalz-2418bis-05, 9 September 2024, . Appendix A. Change Log [RFC Editor: please remove] A.1. Draft-00 * Original version A.2. Draft-01 * Early comments incorporated Author's Address Brian E. Carpenter The University of Auckland School of Computer Science The University of Auckland PB 92019 Auckland 1142 New Zealand Email: brian.e.carpenter@gmail.com Carpenter Expires 4 April 2025 [Page 5]