Technical Summary
This document reserves a TLD label, "alt" to be used in non-DNS
contexts. It also provides advice and guidance to developers
developing alternative namespaces.
Working Group Summary
The WG consensus on the merits of the .alt proposal is reasonably
strong. It deals with a fairly esoteric subject, so many participants
in DNSOP didn't have strong views. No one thinks it's a perfect
solution to the problem it describes. However, there's consensus that
it's likely to help future protocol designers, potentially including
some in the IETF and some outside.
Regarding controversy, some participants felt it would not be appropriate
for the IETF to consider a proposal that they believed was properly in the
remit of ICANN as maintainer of the public DNS root zone. However, this was
eventually solved by being appropriately restricted about the scope of
the draft and the WG's job. The proposal relates only to protocols
that are not the DNS, but use domain names; and there is a liaison
relationship in place between the IETF and ICANN to handle any needed
clarifications. The WG was only obligated to consider the proposal on
the merits.
During IETF LC, a liaison statement was sent to ICANN to inform them of the
documents progress and to indicate how to provide comments during the last
call process. After the IETF LC period had ended, a liaison response was
received from ICANN, indicating that they appreciated the opportunity to
comment on the document, but had no comments to make.
Document Quality
The document is short, well written, and likely pretty widely reviewed.
The document quality is good.
Personnel
The Document Shepherd for this document is Suzanne Woolf.
The Responsible Area Director is Robert Wilton.