The Internet Standards Process
RFC 1310
Document | Type |
RFC - Informational
(March 1992; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 1602
Was draft-iab-standardsprocess (individual)
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Authors | |||
Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
Stream | Legacy | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
Stream | Legacy state | (None) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
RFC Editor Note | (None) | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 1310 (Informational) | |
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group Internet Activities Board Request for Comments: 1310 Lyman Chapin, Chair March 1992 The Internet Standards Process Status of this Memo This informational memo presents the current procedures for creating and documenting Internet Standards. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................. 2 1.1. Internet Standards ....................................... 2 1.2. Organization ............................................. 3 2. THE INTERNET STANDARDS PROCESS ............................... 4 2.1. Introduction ............................................. 4 2.2. The Internet Standards Track ............................. 5 2.3. Requests for Comments (RFCs) ............................. 5 2.4. Internet Drafts .......................................... 6 2.5. Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA) ................ 7 2.6. Review and Approval ...................................... 8 2.7. Entering the Standards Track ............................. 9 2.8. Advancing in the Standards Track ......................... 9 2.9. Revising a Standard ...................................... 10 3. NOMENCLATURE ................................................. 10 3.1 Types of Specifications .................................. 10 3.2 Standards Track Maturity Levels .......................... 12 3.3 Non-Standards Track Maturity Levels ...................... 13 3.4 Requirement Levels ....................................... 14 4. EXTERNAL STANDARDS AND SPECIFICATIONS ........................ 15 5. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ................................. 17 6. PATENT POLICY ................................................ 17 6.1 Statement from Patent Holder ............................. 18 6.2 Record of Statement ...................................... 18 6.3 Notice ................................................... 18 6.4 Identifying Patents ...................................... 19 7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND REFERENCES ............................... 19 APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY ............................................. 20 APPENDIX B: UNRESOLVED ISSUES .................................... 21 Security Considerations .......................................... 23 Author's Address ................................................. 23 IAB [Page 1] RFC 1310 Internet Standards Process March 1992 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Internet Standards This memo documents the process currently used for the standardization of Internet protocols and procedures. The Internet, a loosely-organized international collaboration of autonomous, interconnected networks, supports host-to-host communication through voluntary adherence to open protocols and procedures defined by Internet Standards. There are also many isolated internets, i.e., sets of interconnected networks, that are not connected to the Internet but use the Internet Standards. The architecture and technical specifications of the Internet are the result of numerous research and development activities conducted over a period of two decades, performed by the network R&D community, by service and equipment vendors, and by government agencies around the world. In general, an Internet Standard is a specification that is stable and well-understood, is technically competent, has multiple, independent, and interoperable implementations with operational experience, enjoys significant public support, and is recognizably useful in some or all parts of the Internet. The principal set of Internet Standards is commonly known as the "TCP/IP protocol suite". As the Internet evolves, new protocols and services, in particular those for Open Systems Interconnection (OSI), have been and will be deployed in traditional TCP/IP environments, leading to an Internet that supports multiple protocol suites. This document concerns all protocols, procedures, and conventions used in the Internet, not just the TCP/IP protocols. In outline, the process of creating an Internet Standard is straightforward: a specification undergoes a period of development and several iterations of review by the Internet community and perhaps revision based upon experience, is adopted as a Standard by the appropriate body (see below), and is published. In practice, the process is somewhat more complicated, due to (1) the number and type of possible sources for specifications; (2)Show full document text