Subject: [Tools-team] Re: Checking of boilerplate for Internet-Drafts

From: Henrik Levkowetz <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 19:28:10 +0200

Hi Barbara,

    With this announcement out, I wonder if you would be interested in
trying out the idnits tool I'm maintaining, in order to check the
boilerplate conformance - http://ietf.levkowetz.com/tools/idnits/

Currently the idnits tool checks most of the requirements of the ID-checklist;
you could use it as it is, but you would get comments not only about 
boilerplate conformance, but also also regarding other nits which are 
not relevant for regular I-D submissions.

However, I already have as the next item on the to-do list for this tool
to add a mode where it is only reporting errors for missing boilerplate,
not for all the nits in ID-checklist.html; I could try to do this soon,
if it would be of interest to you.

Let me know what you think,

	Henrik

Harald Alvestrand wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> A bit before the August IETF, we announced that it was time to use the new 
> boilerplate from RFC 3667 in internet-drafts, and instructed the secretariat to 
> heck that boilerplate.
> Due to some confusion, and the impending meeting, we asked them to stop checking
> after a while.
> 
> But we have to move on.... it is now almost a year since RFC 3667 was 
> published, and the legal issues that the document was set to address ARE 
> important to the continued operation of the IETF.
> 
> I have therefore instructed the secretariat to check some items of the 
> boilerplate again, starting from September 28, 2004.
> 
> On the particular issue of the boilerplate that got changed between RFC 3667 
> and the "fixed" draft-ietf-ipr-subm-rights-fix, I have asked them to check that 
>  statement is present, and that it contains words that indicate that it was 
> intended to be a conformant boilerplate - we will make those instructions 
> tighter once draft-ietf-ipr-subm-rights-fix is published, but not now.
> 
> Instructions for making conformant drafts can be found at the usual URL:
> http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-guidelines.txt
> 
> Pay particular attention to the section "Notices required in internet-drafts".
> 
> (Note: Any recent version of xml2rfc should be compatible with these rules, 
> provided you use the "rfc ipr=full3667" directive)
> 
> If the secretariat finds a violation of the rules, the secretariat is to return
> the wording of the violated rule to the submitter; this should eliminate 
> ambiguity about WHAT is wrong with a submission.
> 
> With the hope of being able to go forward without worrying,
> 
>                             Harald

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---

From: "Barbara B. Fuller" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 13:36:24 -0400

Hi Henrik:

Thank you so much for offering the use of your I-D Nits checking tool to 
check I-D submissions for conformance with the new IPR boilerplate 
requirements.  After reviewing the capabilities of the tool with the 
Secretariat staff who post I-Ds, as well as with the Secretariat tools 
developers, we have come to the conclusion that the tool does not meet our 
needs at this time.

First of all, the tool does not check most of the items on the 
Secretariat's I-D submission checklist.  Secondly, the boilerplate checks 
performed by the tool are not consistent with the instructions that the 
Secretariat has received from the IESG for checking IPR 
boilerplate.  Finally, since IETF procedures and requirements change quite 
frequently, the Secretariat really needs its internal tools to run on 
Secretariat servers so that we can tailor them to our explicit needs and 
maintain and update them rapidly when needed.

The Secretariat is close to finishing an I-D checking tool (for internal 
use only) that will match our current requirements.  However, we truly 
appreciate your suggestions for tools that would assist us in doing our 
job, and we thank you once again for your offer.

Regards,

Barbara
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
At 07:28 PM 9/20/2004 +0200, you wrote:
>boilerplate conformance, but also also regarding other nits which are not 
>relevant for regular I-D submissions.
>
>>A bit before the August IETF, we announced that it was time to use the 
>>new boilerplate from RFC 3667 in internet-drafts, and instructed the 
>>secretariat to heck that boilerplate.
>>On the particular issue of the boilerplate that got changed between RFC 
>>3667 and the "fixed" draft-ietf-ipr-subm-rights-fix, I have asked them to 
>>check that  statement is present, and that it contains words that 
>>indicate that it was intended to be a conformant boilerplate - we will 
>>make those instructions tighter once draft-ietf-ipr-subm-rights-fix is 
>>published, but not now.
>>(Note: Any recent version of xml2rfc should be compatible with these 
>>rules, provided you use the "rfc ipr=full3667" directive)
------------------------------------------------
Barbara B. Fuller
Acting Executive Director
Internet Engineering Task Force

Natick, Massachusetts Office:

Phone: +1-508-650-4020
Fax:     +1-508-650-4639

Reston, Virginia Office:

Phone: +1-703-620-9053
Fax:     +1-703-620-9071