RFC 7841: RFC Streams, Headers, and Boilerplates | RFC Editor

Skip to content Primary navigationThe RFC SeriesFor AuthorsAbout UsHomeRFC 7841 View as: Plain Text, Compact HTML Info RFC 7841: RFC Streams, Headers, and BoilerplatesRFC seriesMay 2016. J. Halpern, Ed., L. Daigle, Ed., O. Kolkman, Ed.InformationalSubscribe19 subscribed Add to Set Added to 6 Sets Read aloud This RFC was updated, see RFC 9280, RFC 9920.Internet Architecture Board (IAB) J. Halpern, Ed. Request for Comments: 7841 L. Daigle, Ed. Obsoletes: 5741 O. Kolkman, Ed. Category: Informational May 2016 ISSN: 2070-1721 RFC Streams, Headers, and Boilerplates Abstract RFC documents contain a number of fixed elements such as the title page header, standard boilerplates, and copyright/IPR statements. This document describes them and introduces some updates to reflect current usage and requirements of RFC publication. In particular, this updated structure is intended to communicate clearly the source of RFC creation and review. This document obsoletes RFC 5741, moving detailed content to an IAB web page and preparing for more flexible output formats. Status of This Memo This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes. This document is a product of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and represents information that the IAB has deemed valuable to provide for permanent record. It represents the consensus of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). Documents approved for publication by the IAB are not a candidate for any level of Internet Standard; see 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/rfc7841. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2016 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. Halpern, et al. Informational [Page 1] RFC 7841 RFC Streams, Headers, Boilerplates May 2016 Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. RFC Streams and Internet Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. RFC Structural Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3.1. The Title Page Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3.2. The Status of This Memo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.3. Paragraph 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.4. Paragraph 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.5. Paragraph 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.6. Noteworthy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4. Additional Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5. Other Structural Information in RFCs . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 7. RFC Editor Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Appendix A. Initial Formatting Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 A.1. RFC Title Page Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 A.2. Constructing a "Status of This Memo" Section . . . . . . 10 A.2.1. First Paragraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 A.2.2. Second Paragraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 A.2.3. Third Paragraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 IAB Members at Time of Approval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1. Introduction Previously, RFCs (e.g., [RFC4844]) contained a number of elements that were there for historical, practical, and legal reasons. They also contained boilerplate material to clearly indicate the status of the document and possibly contained "Notes" to indicate how the document interacts with IETF Standards-Track documents. As the RFC Series has evolved over the years, there has been increasing concern over appropriate labeling of the publications to make clear the status of each RFC and the status of the work it describes. Chiefly, there is a requirement that RFCs published as part of the IETF's review process not be easily confused with RFCs that may have had a very different review and approval process. Various adjustments have been made over the years, including evolving text of "Notes" included in the published RFC. With the definition of the different RFC streams [RFC4844], it is appropriate to formalize the definition of the various pieces of standard RFC boilerplate and introduce some adjustments to ensure Halpern, et al. Informational [Page 2] RFC 7841 RFC Streams, Headers, Boilerplates May 2016 better clarity of expression of document status, aligned with the review and approval processes defined for each stream. This memo identifies and describes the common elements of RFC boilerplate structure. It describes the content required for each kind of information. Details of the exact textual and layout requirements are left to a web page maintained by the IAB, with due consultation with the community, for ease of maintenance. This document obsoletes [RFC5741]. The changes introduced by this memo should be implemented as soon as practically possible after the document has been approved for publication. 2. RFC Streams and Internet Standards Users of RFCs should be aware that while all Internet Standards- related documents are published as RFCs, not all RFCs are Internet Standards-related documents. The IETF is responsible for maintaining the Internet Standards Process, which includes the requirements for developing, reviewing, and approving Standards