Evaluation of a Sample of RFCs Produced in 2018
RFC 8963
Document | Type |
RFC - Informational
(January 2021; Errata)
Was draft-huitema-rfc-eval-project (individual)
|
|
---|---|---|---|
Author | Christian Huitema | ||
Last updated | 2021-01-24 | ||
Stream | ISE | ||
Formats | plain text html xml pdf htmlized with errata bibtex | ||
IETF conflict review | conflict-review-huitema-rfc-eval-project | ||
Stream | ISE state | Published RFC | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Document shepherd | Adrian Farrel | ||
Shepherd write-up | Show (last changed 2020-10-25) | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 8963 (Informational) | |
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | Adrian Farrel <rfc-ise@rfc-editor.org> | ||
IANA | IANA review state | IANA OK - No Actions Needed | |
IANA action state | No IANA Actions |
Independent Submission C. Huitema Request for Comments: 8963 Private Octopus Inc. Category: Informational January 2021 ISSN: 2070-1721 Evaluation of a Sample of RFCs Produced in 2018 Abstract This document presents the author's effort to understand the delays involved in publishing an idea in the IETF or through the Independent Stream, from the first individual draft to the publication of the RFC. We analyze a set of randomly chosen RFCs approved in 2018, looking for history and delays. We also use two randomly chosen sets of RFCs published in 2008 and 1998 for comparing delays seen in 2018 to those observed 10 or 20 years ago. The average RFC in the 2018 sample was produced in 3 years and 4 months, of which 2 years and 10 months were spent in the working group, 3 to 4 months for IETF consensus and IESG review, and 3 to 4 months in RFC production. The main variation in RFC production delays comes from the AUTH48 phase. We also measure the number of citations of the chosen RFC using Semantic Scholar, and compare citation counts with what we know about deployment. We show that citation counts indicate academic interest, but correlate only loosely with deployment or usage of the specifications. Counting web references could complement that. Status of This Memo This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes. This is a contribution to the RFC Series, independently of any other RFC stream. The RFC Editor has chosen to publish this document at its discretion and makes no statement about its value for implementation or deployment. Documents approved for publication by the RFC Editor are not candidates for any level of Internet Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841. Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8963. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2021 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. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Methodology 2.1. Defining the Important Milestones 2.2. Selecting a Random Sample of RFCs 2.3. Conventions Used in This Document 3. Analysis of 20 Selected RFCs 3.1. RFC 8411 3.2. RFC 8456 3.3. RFC 8446 3.4. RFC 8355 3.5. RFC 8441 3.6. RFC 8324 3.7. RFC 8377 3.8. RFC 8498 3.9. RFC 8479 3.10. RFC 8453 3.11. RFC 8429 3.12. RFC 8312 3.13. RFC 8492 3.14. RFC 8378 3.15. RFC 8361 3.16. RFC 8472 3.17. RFC 8471 3.18. RFC 8466 3.19. RFC 8362 3.20. RFC 8468 4. Analysis of Process and Delays 4.1. Delays from First Draft to RFC 4.2. Working Group Processing Time 4.3. Preparation and Publication Delays 4.4. Copy Editing 4.5. Independent Stream 5. Citation Counts 5.1. Citation Numbers 5.2. Comparison to 1998 and 2008 5.3. Citations versus Deployments 5.4. Citations versus Web References 6. Observations and Next Steps 7. Security Considerations 8. IANA Considerations 9. Informative References Acknowledgements Author's Address 1. Introduction As stated on the organization's web site, "The IETF is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet." The specifications produced by the IETF are published in the RFC series, along with documents from the IAB, IRTF, and Independent streams (as per RFC 8729). In this memo, the author attempts to understand the delays involved in publishing an idea in the IETF or through the Independent Stream, from the first individual draft to the publication of the RFC. This is an individual effort, and the author's conclusions presented here are personal. There was no attempt to seek IETF consensus. The IETF keeps records of documents and process actions in the IETF Datatracker [TRKR]. The IETF Datatracker provides information about RFCs and drafts, from which we can infer statistics about the production system. We can measure how long it takes to drive a proposition from initial draft to final publication, and how these delays can be split between working group discussions, IETF reviews, IESG assessment, RFC Editor delays and final reviews by the authorsShow full document text