Network Working Group M.T. Rose Internet-Draft Invisible Worlds, Inc. Category: Informational February 1999 Expires: August 02, 1999 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML draft-mrose-writing-rfcs-00.txt Status of this Memo This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." To view the entire list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories, see http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. This Internet-Draft will expire on August 02, 1999. Abstract This memo presents a technique for using XML as a source format for documents in the Internet-Drafts and RFC series. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. Using the DTD to Write I-Ds and RFCs . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.1 XML basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.2 Front matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.2.1 The title Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.2.2 The author Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.2.3 The date Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2.4 Meta Data Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2.5 The abstract Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.2.6 The note Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Rose Informational [Page 1] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 2.2.7 Status, Copyright Notice, Table of Contents . . . . . . 9 2.2.7.1 Conformance with RFC 2026 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.2.8 Everything in the Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.3 The Middle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.3.1 The section Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.3.1.1 The t Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2.3.1.1.1 The list Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2.3.1.2 The figure Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.3.1.3 The xref Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2.3.1.4 The eref Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2.3.1.5 The vspace Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2.4 Back matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2.4.1 The references Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2.4.2 Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.4.3 Copyright Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3. Processing the XML Source File . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3.1 Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3.1.1 Checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3.2 Converting to Text Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.3 Converting to HTML Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.4 Viewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.5 Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 A. The rfc Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 B. The RFC DTD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Rose Informational [Page 2] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 1. Introduction This memo describes how to write a document for the I-D and RFC series using the Extensible Markup Language[1] (XML). This memo has three goals: 1. To describe a simple XML Document Type Definition (DTD) that is powerful enough to handle the simple formatting requirements of RFC-like documents whilst allowing for meaningful markup of descriptive qualities. 2. To describe software that processes XML source files, including a tool that produces documents conforming to RFC 2223[2], HTML format, and so on. 3. To provide the proof-of-concept for the first two goals (this memo was written using this DTD and produced using that software). It is beyond the scope of this memo to discuss the political ramifications of using XML as a source format for RFC-like documents. Rather, it is simply noted that adding minimal markup to plain text: o allows the traditional production of textual RFC-like documents using familiar editors; o requires some, albeit minimal, additions to existing software environments; and, o permits information to be organized, searched, and retrieved using both unstructured and structured mechanisms. Rose Informational [Page 3] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 2. Using the DTD to Write I-Ds and RFCs We do not provide a formal or comprehensive description of XML. Rather, this section discusses just enough XML to use a Document Type Declaration (DTD) to write RFC-like documents. If you're already familiar with XML, skip to Appendix B to look at the DTD. 2.1 XML basics There are very few rules when writing in XML, as the syntax is simple. There are five terms you'll need to know: 1. An "element" usually refers to a start tag, an end tag, and all the characters in between, e.g., "text and/or nested elements" 2. An "empty element" combines the start tag and the end tag, e.g., "". You don't find these in HTML. 3. An "attribute" is part of an element. If present, they occur in the start tag, e.g., "". Of course, they can also appear in empty elements, e.g., "". 4. An "entity" is a textual macro that starts with "&". Don't worry about these, you'll only use them whenever you want to put a "&" or a "<" in your text. 5. A "token" is a string of characters. The first character is either a letter or an underscore ("_"). Any characters that follow are either letters, numbers, an underscore, or a period ("."). First, start your source file with an XML declaration, a reference to the DTD, and the "rfc" element: ... Ignore the first two lines -- the declaration and the reference -- and simply treat them as opaque strings. Nothing else should be present after the "" tag. (NOTE TO READER: when this memo is published as an RFC, the "XXXX" above will be replaced with the actual string to use in your source Rose Informational [Page 4] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 file.) Second, make sure that all elements are properly matched and nested. A properly matched element that starts with "" is eventually followed with "". (Empty elements are always matched.) Elements are properly nested when they don't overlap. For example, ... ... ... is properly nested. However, ... ... ... overlaps, so the elements aren't properly nested. Third, never use "<" or "&" in your text. Instead, use either "<" or "&", respectively. Fourth, there are two quoting characters in XML, 'apostrophe' and "quotation". Make sure that all attributes values are quoted, e.g., "", If the value contains one of the quoting characters, then use the other to quote the value, e.g., "", If the value contains both quoting characters, then use one of them to quote the value, and replace occurrances of that character in the attribute value with either ''' (apostrophe) or """ (quotation), e.g., "". If you want to put a comment in your source file, here's the syntax: Finally, XML is case sensitive. Rose Informational [Page 5] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 2.2 Front matter Immediately following the "" tag is the "front" element: <author ...> <author ...> <date ...> <area ...> <workgroup ...> <keyword ...> <keyword ...> <abstract ...> <note ...> </front> ... </rfc> (Note that in all examples, indentation is used only for expository purposes.) The "front" element consists of a "title" element, one or more "author" elements, a "date" element, one or more optional "area" elements, one or more optional "workgroup" elements, one or more optional "keyword" elements, an optional "abstract" element. and, one or more optional "note" elements. 2.2.1 The title Element The "title" element identifies the title of the document. Because the title will be used in the headers of the document when formatted according to [2], if the title is more than 42 characters, then an abbreviation should also be provided, e.g., <title abbrev="Much Ado about Nothing"> The IETF's Discussion on "Source Format of RFC Documents" Rose Informational [Page 6] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 2.2.2 The author Element Each "author" element identifies a document author. Since a document may have more than one author, more than one "author" element may be present. If the author is a person, then three attributes must be present in the "" tag, "initials", "surname", and "fullname", e.g., The "author" element itself consists of an "organization" element, and, an optional "address" element. The "organization" element is similar to the "title" element, in that an abbreviation may be paired with a long organization name using the "abbrev" attribute, e.g., USC/Information Sciences Institute The "address" element consists of an optional "postal" element, an optional "phone" element, an optional "facsimile" element, an optional "email" element, and, an optional "uri" element. The "postal" element contains one or more "street" elements, followed by any combination of "city", "region" (state or province), "code" (zipcode or postal code), and "country" elements, e.g., 950 Charter Street M/S 40 Redwood City CA 94063 US This flexibility is provided to allow for different national formats for postal addresses. Note however, that although the order of the "city", "region", "code", and "country" elements isn't specified, at most one of each may be present. Note that the value of the "country" element should be a two-letter code from ISO 3166. Rose Informational [Page 7] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 The "phone", "facsimile", "email", and "uri" elements are simple, e.g., +1 650 779 7081 mrose@not.invisible.net http://invisible.net/ 2.2.3 The date Element The "date" element identifies the publication date of the document. It consists of a month and a year, e.g., 2.2.4 Meta Data Elements The "front" element may contain meta data -- the content of these elements does not appear in printed versions of the document. A document has one or more optional "area", "workgroup" and "keyword" elements, e.g., General RFC Beautification Working Group RFC Request for Comments I-D Internet-Draft XML Extensible Markup Language The "area" elements identify a general category for the document (e.g., one of "Applications", "General", "Internet", "Management", "Operations", "Routing", "Security", "Transport", or "User"), while the "workgroup" elements identify the IETF working groups that produced the document, and the "keyword" elements identify useful search terms. Rose Informational [Page 8] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 2.2.5 The abstract Element A document may have an "abstract" element, which contains one or more "t" elements (Section 2.3.1.1). In general, only a single "t" element is present, e.g., This memo presents a technique for using XML as a source format for documents in the Internet-Drafts and RFC series. 2.2.6 The note Element A document may have one or more "note" elements, each of which contains one or more "t" elements (Section 2.3.1.1). There is a mandatory "title" attribute. In general, the "note" element contains text from the IESG, e.g., The IESG has something to say. 2.2.7 Status, Copyright Notice, Table of Contents Note that text relating to the memo's status, copyright notice, or table of contents is not included in the document's markup -- this is automatically inserted by an XML application when it produces either a text or HTML version of the document. 2.2.7.1 Conformance with RFC 2026 If an Internet-Draft is being produced, then the "ipr2026" attribute should be present in the "" tag at the beginning of the file. The value of the attribute should be one of: full: indicating that the document is in full conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026; noDerivativeWorks: indicating that the document is in full conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026 except that the right to produce derivative works is not granted; or, none: indicating that the document is NOT offerred in accordance with Section 10 of RFC 2026, and the author does not provide the IETF with any rights other than to publish as an Internet-Draft. In the latter case, a copyright notice will not be automatically Rose Informational [Page 9] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 inserted during processing by an XML application. Consult [3] for further details. 2.2.8 Everything in the Front So, putting it all together, we have, e.g., Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML Invisible Worlds, Inc.
950 Charter Street M/S 40 Redwood City CA 94063 US +1 650 779 7081 mrose@not.invisible.net http://invisible.net/
General RFC Beautification Working Group RFC Request for Comments I-D Internet-Draft XML Extensible Markup Language This memo presents a technique for using XML as a source format for documents in the Internet-Drafts and RFC series.
Rose Informational [Page 10] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 2.3 The Middle The "middle" element contains all the sections of the document except for the bibliography and appendices: ...
... The "middle" element consists of one or more "section" elements. 2.3.1 The section Element Each "section" element contains a section of the document. There is a mandatory attribute, "title", that identifies the title of the section. There is also an optional attribute, "anchor", that is used for cross-referencing with the "xref" element (Section 2.3.1.3), e.g.,
...
The "section" element is recursive -- each contains any number and combination of "t", "figure", and "section" elements, e.g.,
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Rose Informational [Page 11] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 2.3.1.1 The t Element The "t" element contains a paragraph, an item list, or a combination of the two. Paragraphs are simply text. If a cross-reference is needed to a section, figure, or reference, the "xref" element (Section 2.3.1.3) is used; similarly, if an external-reference is needed, the "eref" element (Section 2.3.1.4) is used. 2.3.1.1.1 The list Element The "list" element contains one or more items. Each item is a "t" element, allowing for recursion, e.g., The first item. The second item, which contains two bulleted sub-items: The first sub-item. The second sub-item. The "list" element has an optional attribute, "style", having the value "numbers" (for numeric lists), "symbols" (for bulleted lists), "hanging" (for hanging lists), or, "empty" (for indented text). If a "list" element is nested, the default value is taken from its closest parent; otherwise, the default value is "empty". When nested within a "hanging list" element, the "t" element has an optional attribute, "hangText" that specifies the text to be inserted, e.g., indicating that the document is in full conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026; indicating that the document is in full conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026 except that the right to produce derivative works is not granted; or, indicating that the document is NOT offerred in accordance with Section 10 of RFC 2026, and the author does not provide the IETF with any rights other than to publish as an Internet-Draft. Rose Informational [Page 12] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 2.3.1.2 The figure Element The "figure" element groups an optional "preamble" element, an "artwork" element, and an optional "postamble" element together. The "figure" element also has an optional "anchor" attribute that is used for cross-referencing with the "xref" element (Section 2.3.1.3). There is also an optional "title" attribute that identifies the title of the figure. The "preamble" and "postamble" elements, if present, are simply text. If a cross-reference is needed to a section, figure, or reference, the "xref" element (Section 2.3.1.3) is used; similarly, if an external-reference is needed, the "eref" element (Section 2.3.1.4) is used. The "artwork" element, which must be present, contains "ASCII artwork". Unlike text contained in the "t", "preamble", or "postamble" elements, both horizontal and vertical whitespace is significant in the "artwork" element. So, putting it all together, we have, e.g.,
So, putting it all together, we have, e.g., ascii artwork goes here... be sure to use "<" or "&" instead of "<" and "&", respectively! which is a very simple example.
which is a very simple example. Rose Informational [Page 13] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 If you have artwork with a lot of "<" characters, then there's an XML trick you can use:
If you have artwork with a lot of "<" characters, then there's an XML trick you can use: The "" construct is called a CDATA block -- everything between the innermost brackets is left alone by the XML application.
The "" construct is called a CDATA block -- everything between the innermost brackets is left alone by the XML application. Because the "figure" element represents a logical grouping of text and artwork, an XML application producing a text version of the document should attempt to keep these elements on the same page. Because RFC 2223[2] allows no more than 69 characters by 49 lines of content on each page, XML applications should be prepared to prematurely introduce page breaks to allow for better visual grouping. 2.3.1.3 The xref Element The "xref" element is used to cross-reference sections, figures, and references. The mandatory "target" attribute is used to link back to the "anchor" attribute of the "section", "figure", and "reference" elements. The value of the "anchor" and "target" attributes should be formatted according to the token syntax in Section 2.1. If used as an empty element, e.g., according to the token syntax in . then the XML application inserts an appropriate phrase during processing, such as "Section 2.1" or "XML Basics". Rose Informational [Page 14] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 If used with content, e.g., conforming to RFC 2223. then the XML application inserts an appropriate designation during processing, such as "RFC 2223[2]" or "RFC 2223". Although the XML application decides what "an appropriate designation" might be, its choice is consistent throughout the processing of the document. 2.3.1.4 The eref Element The "eref" element is used to reference external documents. The mandatory "target" attribute is a URI[4], e.g., Cafe con Leche. Note that while the "target" attribute is always present, the "eref" element may be empty, e.g., and the XML application inserts an appropriate designation during processing such as "[9]" or "http://invisible.net/". 2.3.1.5 The vspace Element The "vspace" element, which may occur only inside the "t" element, is used by the author to provide formatting guidance to the XML application. There is an attribute, "blankLines", that indicates the number of blank lines that should be inserted. A physical linebreak is specified by using the default value, "0". In addition, the "vspace" element can be used to force a new physical paragraph within a list item, e.g., This is list item. This is part of the same list item, although when displayed, it appears as a separate physical paragraph. An XML application producing a text version of the document should exercise care when encountering a value for "blankLines" that causes a pagebreak -- in particular, if a "vspace" element causes a pagebreak, then no further blank lines should be inserted. This Rose Informational [Page 15] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 allows authors to "force" a pagebreak by using an arbitrarily large value, e.g., "blankLines='100'". Finally, note that the "vspace" element is always empty -- it never contains any text. 2.4 Back matter Finally, the "back" element is used for references and appendices: ...
The "back" element consists of an optional "references" element, and, one or more optional "section" elements. The "back" element itself is optional, if your document doesn't have any references or appendices, you don't have to include it. 2.4.1 The references Element The "references" element contains the document's bibliography. It contains one or more "reference" elements. Each "reference" element contains a "front" element and one or more optional "seriesInfo" elements. We've already discussed the "front" element back in Section 2.2. The "seriesInfo" element identifies the document series and number of the reference, e.g., "RFC 2200", "STD 1", and so on. Rose Informational [Page 16] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 The "reference" element has an optional "anchor" attribute that is used for cross-referencing with the "xref" element (Section 2.3.1.3), e.g., Internet Official Protocol Standards USC/Information Sciences Institute RFC 2200 STD 1 The "reference" element also has an optional "target" attribute that is used for external references (c.f., Section 2.3.1.4). The XML application, if producing an HTML version of the document will use the "target" attribute accordingly; however, if the "seriesInfo" element starts with the string "RFC " (e.g., "RFC 2223") the XML application should automatically provide an appropriate default for the "target" attribute (e.g., "http://example.com/rfcs/rfc2223.txt"). 2.4.2 Appendices To include appendices after the bibliography, simply add more "section" elements. (For an example, look at the example at the beginning of Section 2.4.) 2.4.3 Copyright Status The copyright status for the document is not included in the document's markup -- this is automatically inserted by an XML application that produces either a text or HTML version of the document. Rose Informational [Page 17] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 3. Processing the XML Source File This section concerns itself with applications that operate on an XML source file. A lot of XML tools are available, as are many lists of XML resources, e.g., Cafe con Leche[5]. There are two kinds of XML tools: validating and non-validating. Both check that the source file conforms to the rules given in Section 2.1. However, in addition to making sure that the source file is well-formed, a validating tool also reads the DTD referenced by the source file to make sure that they match. There are a number of both validating and non-validating tools available. 3.1 Editing There are several XML editors available. Ideally, you want an editor that validates. This has two advantages: o the editor provides guidance in fleshing-out the document structure; and, o the editor validates that the source file matches the rules in the DTD. There are two major modes in Emacs that support XML: sgml-mode and psgml[6]. The latter mode allows you to validate the source file (by calling an external program). If you visit the source file in Emacs and the major mode isn't "SGML" or "XML", then usually all it takes is adding these lines to your ".emacs" file: (setq auto-mode-alist (cons (cons "\\.xml$" 'sgml-mode) auto-mode-alist)) and then restarting Emacs. The author uses both sgml-mode in Emacs, and a commercial validating editor, Clip! version 1.5[7], when editing source files. 3.1.1 Checking If your editor doesn't validate, then you should run a program to validate the source file. The author uses the AlphaWorks XML parser[8] for this purpose. It requires that your system have a Java virtual machine. In addition to Java, there are validating parsers written in C, Perl, Python, and Tcl. Rose Informational [Page 18] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 3.2 Converting to Text Format The author has written the xml2rfc tool[9], which reads the source file and produces both a text and HTML version of the document. (This memo was produced using the xml2rfc tool.) Note that xml2rfc isn't a validating tool, so it's a good idea to use either a validating editor or run a stand-alone validating parser prior to using the tool. 3.3 Converting to HTML Format The XML Style Language (XSL) is used to describe transformations from the source file into some other structured file. So, ideally you should use an XSL-capable formatter to convert an XML source file to HTML. However, as of this writing XSL is still in considerable flux. (Hence, no reference was included in this memo, as by the time you read this section, the reference would be outdated.) So, in the interim, the author uses the xml2rfc tool for this purpose, even though this tool doesn't provide much flexibility in its HTML layout. 3.4 Viewing Browsers that support either XSL or Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are able to view the source file directly. At present, the author doesn't use any of these browsers, instead converting source files to either text or HTML. 3.5 Searching As with text editors, any text-oriented search tool (e.g., grep) can be used on the source file. However, there are search tools available that understand structured source. The author uses sgrep version 1.9[10] for this purpose, e.g. sgrep -g xml 'ELEMENTS("title") not in ELEMENTS("back")' \ writing-rfcs.xml which extracts the title element from the source file. Rose Informational [Page 19] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 4. Security Considerations This memo raises no security issues; however, according to [2], your document should contain a section near the end that discusses the security considerations of the protocol or procedures that are the main topic of your document, e.g., ...
This memo raises no security issues; however, according to , your document should contain a section near the end that discusses the security considerations of the protocol or procedures that are the main topic of your document.
Rose Informational [Page 20] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 References [1] World Wide Web Consortium, "Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0", February 1998. [2] Postel, J., Reynolds, J., "Instructions to RFC Authors", RFC 2223, October 1997. [3] Bradner, S.O., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", RFC 2026, BCP 9, October 1996. [4] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R.T., Masinter, L., "Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 2396, August 1998. [5] http://metalab.unc.edu/xml/ [6] http://www.inria.fr/koala/plh/sxml.html [7] http://www.t2000-usa.com/ [8] http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/formula/xml/ [9] http://memory.palace.org/authoring/ [10] http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/~jjaakkol/sgrep.html Author's Address Marshall T. Rose Invisible Worlds, Inc. 950 Charter Street North 40 Redwood City, CA 94063 US Phone: +1 650 779 7081 EMail: mrose@not.invisible.net URI: http://invisible.net/ Rose Informational [Page 21] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 Appendix A. The rfc Element The "" tag at the beginning of the file, with only an "ipr2026" attribute (Section 2.2.7.1), produces an Internet-Draft. However, when other attributes are added to this tag by the RFC editor, an RFC is produced, e.g., At a minimum, the "number" attribute should be present. The other attributes are: o "obsoletes", having a comma-separated list of RFC numbers, that the document obsoletes; o "updates", having a comma-separated list of RFC numbers, that the document updates; o "category", having one of these values: 1. "std", for a Standards-Track document; 2. "bcp", "for a Best Current Practices document; 3. "exp", for an Experimental Protocol document; 4. "historic", for a historic document; or, 5. "info", the default, for an Informational document. o "seriesNo", having the corresponding number in the STD (std), BCP (bcp), or FYI (info) series. Finally, a special entity, "&rfc.number;", is available. Authors preparing an RFC should use this entity whenever they want to reference the number of the RFC within the document itself. In printed versions of the document, the appropriate substitution (or "XXXX") will occur. Rose Informational [Page 22] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 Appendix B. The RFC DTD Rose Informational [Page 23] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 Rose Informational [Page 24] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 Rose Informational [Page 25] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 Rose Informational [Page 26] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 Rose Informational [Page 27] Internet-Draft Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML February 1999 Full Copyright Statement Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved. This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or assist in its implmentation may be prepared, copied, published and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than English. The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns. This document and the information contained herein is provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Rose Informational [Page 28] ------- =_aaaaaaaaaa0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-ID: <20685.919210993.3@dbc.fv.com> Content-Description: draft-mrose-writing-rfcs-00.html Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML
 TOC 
Network Working GroupM.T. Rose
Internet-DraftInvisible Worlds, Inc.
Category: InformationalFebruary 1999
Expires: August 02, 1999 

Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML
draft-mrose-writing-rfcs-00.html

Status of this Memo

This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

To view the entire list of Internet-Drafts Shadow Directories, see http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.

This Internet-Draft will expire on August 02, 1999.

Abstract

This memo presents a technique for using XML as a source format for documents in the Internet-Drafts and RFC series.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.



 TOC 

Table of Contents

    1.  Introduction
    2.  Using the DTD to Write I-Ds and RFCs
    2.1  XML basics
    2.2  Front matter
    2.2.1  The title Element
    2.2.2  The author Element
    2.2.3  The date Element
    2.2.4  Meta Data Elements
    2.2.5  The abstract Element
    2.2.6  The note Element
    2.2.7  Status, Copyright Notice, Table of Contents
    2.2.7.1  Conformance with RFC 2026
    2.2.8  Everything in the Front
    2.3  The Middle
    2.3.1  The section Element
    2.3.1.1  The t Element
    2.3.1.1.1  The list Element
    2.3.1.2  The figure Element
    2.3.1.3  The xref Element
    2.3.1.4  The eref Element
    2.3.1.5  The vspace Element
    2.4  Back matter
    2.4.1  The references Element
    2.4.2  Appendices
    2.4.3  Copyright Status
    3.  Processing the XML Source File
    3.1  Editing
    3.1.1  Checking
    3.2  Converting to Text Format
    3.3  Converting to HTML Format
    3.4  Viewing
    3.5  Searching
    4.  Security Considerations
    §  References
    §  Author's Address
    A.  The rfc Element
    B.  The RFC DTD



 TOC 

1. Introduction

This memo describes how to write a document for the I-D and RFC series using the Extensible Markup Language[1] (XML). This memo has three goals:

  1. To describe a simple XML Document Type Definition (DTD) that is powerful enough to handle the simple formatting requirements of RFC-like documents whilst allowing for meaningful markup of descriptive qualities.
  2. To describe software that processes XML source files, including a tool that produces documents conforming to RFC 2223[2], HTML format, and so on.
  3. To provide the proof-of-concept for the first two goals (this memo was written using this DTD and produced using that software).

It is beyond the scope of this memo to discuss the political ramifications of using XML as a source format for RFC-like documents. Rather, it is simply noted that adding minimal markup to plain text:

  • allows the traditional production of textual RFC-like documents using familiar editors;
  • requires some, albeit minimal, additions to existing software environments; and,
  • permits information to be organized, searched, and retrieved using both unstructured and structured mechanisms.



 TOC 

2. Using the DTD to Write I-Ds and RFCs

We do not provide a formal or comprehensive description of XML. Rather, this section discusses just enough XML to use a Document Type Declaration (DTD) to write RFC-like documents.

If you're already familiar with XML, skip to The RFC DTD to look at the DTD.

2.1 XML basics

There are very few rules when writing in XML, as the syntax is simple. There are five terms you'll need to know:

  1. An "element" usually refers to a start tag, an end tag, and all the characters in between, e.g., "<example>text and/or nested elements</example>"
  2. An "empty element" combines the start tag and the end tag, e.g., "<empty/>". You don't find these in HTML.
  3. An "attribute" is part of an element. If present, they occur in the start tag, e.g., "<example name='value'>". Of course, they can also appear in empty elements, e.g., "<empty name='value'/>".
  4. An "entity" is a textual macro that starts with "&". Don't worry about these, you'll only use them whenever you want to put a "&" or a "<" in your text.
  5. A "token" is a string of characters. The first character is either a letter or an underscore ("_"). Any characters that follow are either letters, numbers, an underscore, or a period (".").

First, start your source file with an XML declaration, a reference to the DTD, and the "rfc" element:

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <!DOCTYPE rfc SYSTEM "rfcXXXX.dtd">
    <rfc>
        ...
    </rfc>

Ignore the first two lines -- the declaration and the reference -- and simply treat them as opaque strings. Nothing else should be present after the "</rfc>" tag.

(NOTE TO READER: when this memo is published as an RFC, the "&rfc.number;" above will be replaced with the actual string to use in your source file.)

Second, make sure that all elements are properly matched and nested. A properly matched element that starts with "<example>" is eventually followed with "</example>". (Empty elements are always matched.) Elements are properly nested when they don't overlap.

For example,

    <outer>
        ...
        <inner>
            ...
        </inner>
        ...
    </outer>

is properly nested.

However,

    <outer>
        ...
        <inner>
            ...
        </outer>
        ...
    </inner>

overlaps, so the elements aren't properly nested.

Third, never use "<" or "&" in your text. Instead, use either "&lt;" or "&amp;", respectively.

Fourth, there are two quoting characters in XML, 'apostrophe' and "quotation". Make sure that all attributes values are quoted, e.g., "<example name='value'>", If the value contains one of the quoting characters, then use the other to quote the value, e.g., "<example name='"'>", If the value contains both quoting characters, then use one of them to quote the value, and replace occurrances of that character in the attribute value with either '&apos;' (apostrophe) or "&quot;" (quotation), e.g., "<example name='"&apos;"'>".

If you want to put a comment in your source file, here's the syntax:

        <!-- comments can be multiline,
         if you wish -->

Finally, XML is case sensitive.

2.2 Front matter

Immediately following the "<rfc>" tag is the "front" element:

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <!DOCTYPE rfc SYSTEM "rfcXXXX.dtd">
    <rfc>
        <front>
            <title ...>
            <author ...>
            <author ...>
            <date ...>
            <area ...>
            <workgroup ...>
            <keyword ...>
            <keyword ...>
            <abstract ...>
            <note ...>
        </front>
        ...
    </rfc>

(Note that in all examples, indentation is used only for expository purposes.)

The "front" element consists of a "title" element, one or more "author" elements, a "date" element, one or more optional "area" elements, one or more optional "workgroup" elements, one or more optional "keyword" elements, an optional "abstract" element. and, one or more optional "note" elements.

2.2.1 The title Element

The "title" element identifies the title of the document. Because the title will be used in the headers of the document when formatted according to [2], if the title is more than 42 characters, then an abbreviation should also be provided, e.g.,

    <title abbrev="Much Ado about Nothing">
    The IETF's Discussion on "Source Format of RFC Documents"
    </title>

2.2.2 The author Element

Each "author" element identifies a document author. Since a document may have more than one author, more than one "author" element may be present. If the author is a person, then three attributes must be present in the "<author>" tag, "initials", "surname", and "fullname", e.g.,

    <author initials="M.T." surname="Rose"
            fullname="Marshall T. Rose">

The "author" element itself consists of an "organization" element, and, an optional "address" element.

The "organization" element is similar to the "title" element, in that an abbreviation may be paired with a long organization name using the "abbrev" attribute, e.g.,

    <organization abbrev="ISI">
        USC/Information Sciences Institute
    </organization>

The "address" element consists of an optional "postal" element, an optional "phone" element, an optional "facsimile" element, an optional "email" element, and, an optional "uri" element.

The "postal" element contains one or more "street" elements, followed by any combination of "city", "region" (state or province), "code" (zipcode or postal code), and "country" elements, e.g.,

    <postal>
        <street>950 Charter Street</street>
        <street>M/S 40</street>
        <city>Redwood City</city> <region>CA</region>
        <code>94063</code>
        <country>US</country>
    </postal>

This flexibility is provided to allow for different national formats for postal addresses. Note however, that although the order of the "city", "region", "code", and "country" elements isn't specified, at most one of each may be present. Note that the value of the "country" element should be a two-letter code from ISO 3166.

The "phone", "facsimile", "email", and "uri" elements are simple, e.g.,

    <phone>+1 650 779 7081</phone>
    <email>mrose@not.invisible.net</email>
    <uri>http://invisible.net/</uri>

2.2.3 The date Element

The "date" element identifies the publication date of the document. It consists of a month and a year, e.g.,

    <date month="February" year="1999"/>

2.2.4 Meta Data Elements

The "front" element may contain meta data -- the content of these elements does not appear in printed versions of the document.

A document has one or more optional "area", "workgroup" and "keyword" elements, e.g.,

    <area>General</area>
    <workgroup>RFC Beautification Working Group</workgroup>
    <keyword>RFC</keyword>
    <keyword>Request for Comments</keyword>
    <keyword>I-D</keyword>
    <keyword>Internet-Draft</keyword>
    <keyword>XML</keyword>
    <keyword>Extensible Markup Language</keyword>

The "area" elements identify a general category for the document (e.g., one of "Applications", "General", "Internet", "Management", "Operations", "Routing", "Security", "Transport", or "User"), while the "workgroup" elements identify the IETF working groups that produced the document, and the "keyword" elements identify useful search terms.

2.2.5 The abstract Element

A document may have an "abstract" element, which contains one or more "t" elements. In general, only a single "t" element is present, e.g.,

    <abstract>
        <t>This memo presents a technique for using XML as a
        source format for documents in the Internet-Drafts and RFC
        series.</t>
    </abstract>

2.2.6 The note Element

A document may have one or more "note" elements, each of which contains one or more "t" elements. There is a mandatory "title" attribute. In general, the "note" element contains text from the IESG, e.g.,

    <note title="IESG Note">
        <t>The IESG has something to say.</t>
    </note>

2.2.7 Status, Copyright Notice, Table of Contents

Note that text relating to the memo's status, copyright notice, or table of contents is not included in the document's markup -- this is automatically inserted by an XML application when it produces either a text or HTML version of the document.

2.2.7.1 Conformance with RFC 2026

If an Internet-Draft is being produced, then the "ipr2026" attribute should be present in the "<rfc>" tag at the beginning of the file. The value of the attribute should be one of:

full:
indicating that the document is in full conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026;
noDerivativeWorks:
indicating that the document is in full conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026 except that the right to produce derivative works is not granted; or,
none:
indicating that the document is NOT offerred in accordance with Section 10 of RFC 2026, and the author does not provide the IETF with any rights other than to publish as an Internet-Draft.
In the latter case, a copyright notice will not be automatically inserted during processing by an XML application.

Consult [3] for further details.

2.2.8 Everything in the Front

So, putting it all together, we have, e.g.,

    <front>
        <title>Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML</title>
    
        <author initials="M.T." surname="Rose"
                fullname="Marshall T. Rose">
            <organization>Invisible Worlds, Inc.</organization>
    
            <address>
                <postal>
                    <street>950 Charter Street</street>
                    <street>M/S 40</street>
                    <city>Redwood City</city> <region>CA</region>
                    <code>94063</code>
                    <country>US</country>
                </postal>
    
                <phone>+1 650 779 7081</phone>
                <email>mrose@not.invisible.net</email>
                <uri>http://invisible.net/</uri>
            </address>
        </author>
    
        <date month="February" year="1999"/>
    
        <area>General</area>
        <workgroup>RFC Beautification Working Group</workgroup>
        <keyword>RFC</keyword>
        <keyword>Request for Comments</keyword>
        <keyword>I-D</keyword>
        <keyword>Internet-Draft</keyword>
        <keyword>XML</keyword>
        <keyword>Extensible Markup Language</keyword>
        <abstract>
            <t>This memo presents a technique for using XML as a
            source format for documents in the Internet-Drafts and RFC
            series.</t>
        </abstract>
    </front>

2.3 The Middle

The "middle" element contains all the sections of the document except for the bibliography and appendices:

    ...
    </front>
    <middle>
        <section ...>
        <section ...>
        <section ...>
    </middle>
    <back>
    ...

The "middle" element consists of one or more "section" elements.

2.3.1 The section Element

Each "section" element contains a section of the document. There is a mandatory attribute, "title", that identifies the title of the section. There is also an optional attribute, "anchor", that is used for cross-referencing with the "xref" element, e.g.,

    <section anchor="intro" title="Introduction">
        ...
    </section>

The "section" element is recursive -- each contains any number and combination of "t", "figure", and "section" elements, e.g.,

    <section title="The Middle">
        ...
        <section title="The section Element">
            ...
            <section title="The t Element">
                ...
                <section title="The list Element">...</section>
            </section>
            <section title="The figure Element">...</section>
            <section title="The xref Element">...</section>
            <section title="The eref Element">...</section>
        </section>
    </section>

2.3.1.1 The t Element

The "t" element contains a paragraph, an item list, or a combination of the two. Paragraphs are simply text. If a cross-reference is needed to a section, figure, or reference, the "xref" element is used; similarly, if an external-reference is needed, the "eref" element is used.

2.3.1.1.1 The list Element

The "list" element contains one or more items. Each item is a "t" element, allowing for recursion, e.g.,

    <list style="numbers">
        <t>The first item.</t>
        <t>The second item, which contains two bulleted sub-items:
            <list style="symbols">
                <t>The first sub-item.</t>
                <t>The second sub-item.</t>
            </list>
        </t>
    </list>

The "list" element has an optional attribute, "style", having the value "numbers" (for numeric lists), "symbols" (for bulleted lists), "hanging" (for hanging lists), or, "empty" (for indented text). If a "list" element is nested, the default value is taken from its closest parent; otherwise, the default value is "empty".

When nested within a "hanging list" element, the "t" element has an optional attribute, "hangText" that specifies the text to be inserted, e.g.,

    <list>
        <t hangText="full:">indicating that the document is in full
        conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026;</t>

        <t hangText="noDerivativeWorks:">indicating that the document
        is in full conformance with all the provisions of Section 10
        of RFC 2026 except that the right to produce derivative works
	is not granted;
        or,</t>

        <t hangText="none:">indicating that the document is NOT offerred
        in accordance with Section 10 of RFC 2026, and the author does
	not provide the IETF with any rights other than to publish as
        an Internet-Draft.</t>
    </list>

2.3.1.2 The figure Element

The "figure" element groups an optional "preamble" element, an "artwork" element, and an optional "postamble" element together. The "figure" element also has an optional "anchor" attribute that is used for cross-referencing with the "xref" element. There is also an optional "title" attribute that identifies the title of the figure.

The "preamble" and "postamble" elements, if present, are simply text. If a cross-reference is needed to a section, figure, or reference, the "xref" element is used; similarly, if an external-reference is needed, the "eref" element is used.

The "artwork" element, which must be present, contains "ASCII artwork". Unlike text contained in the "t", "preamble", or "postamble" elements, both horizontal and vertical whitespace is significant in the "artwork" element.

So, putting it all together, we have, e.g.,

    <figure anchor="figure_example">
        <preamble>So,
        putting it all together, we have, e.g.,</preamble>
        <artwork>
            ascii artwork goes here...
    
            be sure to use "&lt;" or "&amp;" instead of "<" and "&",
            respectively!
        </artwork>
        <postamble>which is a very simple example.</postamble>
    </figure>

which is a very simple example.

If you have artwork with a lot of "<" characters, then there's an XML trick you can use:

    <figure>
        <preamble>If you have artwork with a lot of "&lt;"
        characters, then there's an XML trick you can use:</preamble>
        <artwork><![CDATA[
            ascii artwork goes here...
    
            just don't use "]]" in your artwork!
        ]]></artwork>
        <postamble>The "<![CDATA[ ... ]]>" construct is called
        a CDATA block -- everything between the innermost brackets is
        left alone by the XML application.</postamble>
    </figure>

The "<![CDATA[ ... ]]>" construct is called a CDATA block -- everything between the innermost brackets is left alone by the XML application.

Because the "figure" element represents a logical grouping of text and artwork, an XML application producing a text version of the document should attempt to keep these elements on the same page. Because RFC 2223[2] allows no more than 69 characters by 49 lines of content on each page, XML applications should be prepared to prematurely introduce page breaks to allow for better visual grouping.

2.3.1.3 The xref Element

The "xref" element is used to cross-reference sections, figures, and references. The mandatory "target" attribute is used to link back to the "anchor" attribute of the "section", "figure", and "reference" elements. The value of the "anchor" and "target" attributes should be formatted according to the token syntax in XML basics.

If used as an empty element, e.g.,

    according to the token syntax in <xref target="xml_basics"/>.

then the XML application inserts an appropriate phrase during processing, such as "Section 2.1" or "<a href="#xml_basics">XML Basics</a>".

If used with content, e.g.,

    conforming to <xref target="refs.RFC2223">RFC 2223</xref>.

then the XML application inserts an appropriate designation during processing, such as "RFC 2223[2]" or "<a href="#refs.RFC2223">RFC 2223</a>". Although the XML application decides what "an appropriate designation" might be, its choice is consistent throughout the processing of the document.

2.3.1.4 The eref Element

The "eref" element is used to reference external documents. The mandatory "target" attribute is a URI[4], e.g.,

    <eref target="http://metalab.unc.edu/xml/">Cafe con Leche</eref>.

Note that while the "target" attribute is always present, the "eref" element may be empty, e.g.,

    <eref target="http://invisible.net/"/>

and the XML application inserts an appropriate designation during processing such as "[9]" or "<a href="http://invisible.net/">http://invisible.net/</a>".

2.3.1.5 The vspace Element

The "vspace" element, which may occur only inside the "t" element, is used by the author to provide formatting guidance to the XML application. There is an attribute, "blankLines", that indicates the number of blank lines that should be inserted. A physical linebreak is specified by using the default value, "0".

In addition, the "vspace" element can be used to force a new physical paragraph within a list item, e.g.,

    <list style="numbers">
        <t>This is list item.
           <vspace blankLines="1"/>
           This is part of the same list item,
           although when displayed, it appears
           as a separate physical paragraph.</t>
    </list>

An XML application producing a text version of the document should exercise care when encountering a value for "blankLines" that causes a pagebreak -- in particular, if a "vspace" element causes a pagebreak, then no further blank lines should be inserted. This allows authors to "force" a pagebreak by using an arbitrarily large value, e.g., "blankLines='100'".

Finally, note that the "vspace" element is always empty -- it never contains any text.

2.4 Back matter

Finally, the "back" element is used for references and appendices:

        ...
        </middle>
        <back>
            <references>
                <reference ...>
                <reference ...>
            </references>
            <section ...>
            <section ...>
        </back>
    </rfc>

The "back" element consists of an optional "references" element, and, one or more optional "section" elements. The "back" element itself is optional, if your document doesn't have any references or appendices, you don't have to include it.

2.4.1 The references Element

The "references" element contains the document's bibliography. It contains one or more "reference" elements.

Each "reference" element contains a "front" element and one or more optional "seriesInfo" elements.

We've already discussed the "front" element back in Front matter.

The "seriesInfo" element identifies the document series and number of the reference, e.g., "RFC 2200", "STD 1", and so on.

The "reference" element has an optional "anchor" attribute that is used for cross-referencing with the "xref" element, e.g.,

    <reference anchor="refs.RFC2200">
        <front>
            <title>Internet Official Protocol Standards</title>
            <author initials="J." surname="Postel"
                    fullname="Jon Postel">
                <organization abbrev="ISI">
                USC/Information Sciences Institute
                </organization>
            </author>
    
            <date month="June" year="1997"/>
        </front>
        <seriesInfo>RFC 2200</seriesInfo>
        <seriesInfo>STD 1</seriesInfo>
    </reference>

The "reference" element also has an optional "target" attribute that is used for external references (c.f., The eref Element). The XML application, if producing an HTML version of the document will use the "target" attribute accordingly; however, if the "seriesInfo" element starts with the string "RFC " (e.g., "RFC 2223") the XML application should automatically provide an appropriate default for the "target" attribute (e.g., "http://example.com/rfcs/rfc2223.txt").

2.4.2 Appendices

To include appendices after the bibliography, simply add more "section" elements. (For an example, look at the example at the beginning of Back matter.)

2.4.3 Copyright Status

The copyright status for the document is not included in the document's markup -- this is automatically inserted by an XML application that produces either a text or HTML version of the document.



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3. Processing the XML Source File

This section concerns itself with applications that operate on an XML source file. A lot of XML tools are available, as are many lists of XML resources, e.g., Cafe con Leche.

There are two kinds of XML tools: validating and non-validating. Both check that the source file conforms to the rules given in XML basics. However, in addition to making sure that the source file is well-formed, a validating tool also reads the DTD referenced by the source file to make sure that they match. There are a number of both validating and non-validating tools available.

3.1 Editing

There are several XML editors available. Ideally, you want an editor that validates. This has two advantages:

  • the editor provides guidance in fleshing-out the document structure; and,
  • the editor validates that the source file matches the rules in the DTD.

There are two major modes in Emacs that support XML: sgml-mode and psgml. The latter mode allows you to validate the source file (by calling an external program). If you visit the source file in Emacs and the major mode isn't "SGML" or "XML", then usually all it takes is adding these lines to your ".emacs" file:

    (setq auto-mode-alist
          (cons (cons "\\.xml$" 'sgml-mode) auto-mode-alist))

and then restarting Emacs.

The author uses both sgml-mode in Emacs, and a commercial validating editor, Clip! version 1.5, when editing source files.

3.1.1 Checking

If your editor doesn't validate, then you should run a program to validate the source file.

The author uses the AlphaWorks XML parser for this purpose. It requires that your system have a Java virtual machine. In addition to Java, there are validating parsers written in C, Perl, Python, and Tcl.

3.2 Converting to Text Format

The author has written the xml2rfc tool, which reads the source file and produces both a text and HTML version of the document. (This memo was produced using the xml2rfc tool.) Note that xml2rfc isn't a validating tool, so it's a good idea to use either a validating editor or run a stand-alone validating parser prior to using the tool.

3.3 Converting to HTML Format

The XML Style Language (XSL) is used to describe transformations from the source file into some other structured file. So, ideally you should use an XSL-capable formatter to convert an XML source file to HTML.

However, as of this writing XSL is still in considerable flux. (Hence, no reference was included in this memo, as by the time you read this section, the reference would be outdated.) So, in the interim, the author uses the xml2rfc tool for this purpose, even though this tool doesn't provide much flexibility in its HTML layout.

3.4 Viewing

Browsers that support either XSL or Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are able to view the source file directly.

At present, the author doesn't use any of these browsers, instead converting source files to either text or HTML.

3.5 Searching

As with text editors, any text-oriented search tool (e.g., grep) can be used on the source file. However, there are search tools available that understand structured source.

The author uses sgrep version 1.9 for this purpose, e.g.

    sgrep -g xml 'ELEMENTS("title") not in ELEMENTS("back")' \
        writing-rfcs.xml

which extracts the title element from the source file.



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4. Security Considerations

This memo raises no security issues; however, according to [2], your document should contain a section near the end that discusses the security considerations of the protocol or procedures that are the main topic of your document, e.g.,

    <middle>
        ...
        <section title="Security Considerations">
            <t>This memo raises no security issues;
            however,
            according to <xref target="refs.RFC2223"/>,
            your document should contain a section near the end that
            discusses the security considerations of the protocol or
            procedures that are the main topic of your document.</t>
        </section>
    </middle>


 TOC 

References

[1] World Wide Web Consortium, "Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0", February 1998.
[2] Postel, J., Reynolds, J., "Instructions to RFC Authors", RFC 2223, October 1997.
[3] Bradner, S.O., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", RFC 2026, BCP 9, October 1996.
[4] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R.T., Masinter, L., "Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 2396, August 1998.


 TOC 

Author's Address

  Marshall T. Rose
  Invisible Worlds, Inc.
  950 Charter Street
  North 40
  Redwood City, CA 94063
  US
Phone:  +1 650 779 7081
EMail:  mrose@not.invisible.net
URI:  http://invisible.net/


 TOC 

Appendix A. The rfc Element

The "<rfc>" tag at the beginning of the file, with only an "ipr2026" attribute, produces an Internet-Draft. However, when other attributes are added to this tag by the RFC editor, an RFC is produced, e.g.,

    <rfc number="2200"
         obsoletes="2000, 1920, 1880, 1800, ..."
         category="std"
         seriesNo="1">

At a minimum, the "number" attribute should be present.

The other attributes are:

  • "obsoletes", having a comma-separated list of RFC numbers, that the document obsoletes;
  • "updates", having a comma-separated list of RFC numbers, that the document updates;
  • "category", having one of these values:
    1. "std", for a Standards-Track document;
    2. "bcp", "for a Best Current Practices document;
    3. "exp", for an Experimental Protocol document;
    4. "historic", for a historic document; or,
    5. "info", the default, for an Informational document.
  • "seriesNo", having the corresponding number in the STD (std), BCP (bcp), or FYI (info) series.

Finally, a special entity, "&rfc.number;", is available. Authors preparing an RFC should use this entity whenever they want to reference the number of the RFC within the document itself. In printed versions of the document, the appropriate substitution (or "XXXX") will occur.



 TOC 

Appendix B. The RFC DTD

<!--
  DTD for the RFC document series, draft of 99-01-30
  -->


<!--
  Contents

    DTD data types

    The top-level

    Front matter

    The Body

    Back matter
  -->


<!--
  DTD data types:

        entity        description
        ======        ===============================================
        NUMBER        [0-9]+
        NUMBERS       a comma-separated list of NUMBER

        MONTH         the month of the year, e.g., "January"
        YEAR          a four-digit year, e.g., "1999"

        URI           e.g., "http://invisible.net/"

        ATEXT/CTEXT   printable ASCII text (no line-terminators)

        TEXT          character data
  -->


<!ENTITY % NUMBER     "CDATA">
<!ENTITY % NUMBERS    "CDATA">

<!ENTITY % MONTH      "CDATA">
<!ENTITY % YEAR       "CDATA">

<!ENTITY % URI        "CDATA">

<!ENTITY % ATEXT      "CDATA">
<!ENTITY % CTEXT      "#PCDATA">

<!ENTITY % TEXT       "#PCDATA">

<!ENTITY   rfc.number "XXXX">


<!--
  The top-level
  -->


<!--
  attributes for the "rfc" element are supplied by the RFC
  editor. when preparing drafts, authors should leave them blank.

  the "seriesNo" attribute is used if the category is, e.g., BCP.
  -->
<!ELEMENT rfc         (front,middle,back?)>
<!ATTLIST rfc
          number      %NUMBER;           #IMPLIED
          obsoletes   %NUMBERS;          ""
          updates     %NUMBERS;          ""
          category    (std|bcp|info|exp|historic)
                                         "info"
          seriesNo    %NUMBER;           #IMPLIED
          ipr2026     (full|noDerivativeWorks|none)
                                         #IMPLIED>


<!--
  Front matter
  -->


<!ELEMENT front       (title,author+,date,area*,workgroup*,keyword*,
                       abstract?,note?)>

<!-- the "abbrev" attribute is used for headers, etc. -->
<!ELEMENT title       (%CTEXT;)>
<!ATTLIST title
          abbrev      %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED> 

<!ELEMENT author      (organization,address?)>
<!ATTLIST author
          initials    %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED
          surname     %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED
          fullname    %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED>

<!ELEMENT organization
                      (%CTEXT;)>
<!ATTLIST organization
          abbrev      %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED> 
 
<!ELEMENT address     (postal?,phone?,facsimile?,email?,uri?)>

<!-- at most one of each the city, region, code, and country
     elements may be present -->
<!ELEMENT postal      (street+,(city|region|code|country)*)>
<!ELEMENT street      (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT city        (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT region      (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT code        (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT country     (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT phone       (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT facsimile   (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT email       (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT uri         (%CTEXT;)>

<!ELEMENT date        EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST date
          month       %MONTH;            #REQUIRED
          year        %YEAR;             #REQUIRED>

<!-- meta-data... -->
<!ELEMENT area        (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT workgroup   (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT keyword     (%CTEXT;)>

<!ELEMENT abstract    (t)+>
<!ELEMENT note        (t)+>
<!ATTLIST note
          title       %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED>


<!--
  The body
  -->


<!ELEMENT middle      (section)+>

<!ELEMENT section     (t|figure|section)*>
<!ATTLIST section
          anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
          title       %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED>

<!ELEMENT t           (%TEXT;|xref|eref|list|vspace)*>
<!ATTLIST t
          hangText    %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED>

<!-- the value of the style attribute is inherited from the closest 
     parent -->
<!ELEMENT list        (t+)>
<!ATTLIST list
          style       (numbers|symbols|hanging|empty)
                                         "empty">

<!ELEMENT xref        (%CTEXT;)>
<!ATTLIST xref
          target      IDREF              #REQUIRED
          pageno      (true|false)       "false">

<!ELEMENT eref        (%CTEXT;)>
<!ATTLIST eref
          target      %URI;              #REQUIRED>

<!ELEMENT vspace      EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST vspace
          startBlank  %NUMBER;           "0">

<!ELEMENT figure      (preamble?,artwork,postamble?)>
<!ATTLIST figure
          anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
          title       %ATEXT;            "">

<!ELEMENT preamble    (%TEXT;|xref|eref)*>
<!ELEMENT artwork     (%TEXT;)*>
<!ATTLIST artwork
          xml:space   (default|preserve) "preserve">
<!ELEMENT postamble   (%TEXT;|xref|eref)*>


<!--
  Back matter
  -->


<!-- sections, if present, are appendices -->
<!ELEMENT back        (references?,section*)>

<!ELEMENT references  (reference+)>
<!ELEMENT reference   (front,seriesInfo*)>
<!ATTLIST reference
          anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
          target      %URI;              #IMPLIED>
<!ELEMENT seriesInfo  (%CTEXT;)>


 TOC 

Full Copyright Statement

------- =_aaaaaaaaaa0 Content-Type: text/xml; charset="us-ascii" Content-ID: <20685.919210993.4@dbc.fv.com> Content-Description: draft-mrose-writing-rfcs-00.xml Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML Invisible Worlds, Inc.
950 Charter Street North 40 Redwood City CA 94063 US +1 650 779 7081 mrose@not.invisible.net http://invisible.net/
General RFC Request for Comments I-D Internet-Draft XML Extensible Markup Language This memo presents a technique for using XML as a source format for documents in the Internet-Drafts and RFC series.
This memo describes how to write a document for the I-D and RFC series using the Extensible Markup Language (XML). This memo has three goals: To describe a simple XML Document Type Definition (DTD) that is powerful enough to handle the simple formatting requirements of RFC-like documents whilst allowing for meaningful markup of descriptive qualities. To describe software that processes XML source files, including a tool that produces documents conforming to RFC 2223, HTML format, and so on. To provide the proof-of-concept for the first two goals (this memo was written using this DTD and produced using that software). It is beyond the scope of this memo to discuss the political ramifications of using XML as a source format for RFC-like documents. Rather, it is simply noted that adding minimal markup to plain text: allows the traditional production of textual RFC-like documents using familiar editors; requires some, albeit minimal, additions to existing software environments; and, permits information to be organized, searched, and retrieved using both unstructured and structured mechanisms.
We do not provide a formal or comprehensive description of XML. Rather, this section discusses just enough XML to use a Document Type Declaration (DTD) to write RFC-like documents. If you're already familiar with XML, skip to to look at the DTD.
There are very few rules when writing in XML, as the syntax is simple. There are five terms you'll need to know: An "element" usually refers to a start tag, an end tag, and all the characters in between, e.g., "<example>text and/or nested elements</example>" An "empty element" combines the start tag and the end tag, e.g., "<empty/>". You don't find these in HTML. An "attribute" is part of an element. If present, they occur in the start tag, e.g., "<example name='value'>". Of course, they can also appear in empty elements, e.g., "<empty name='value'/>". An "entity" is a textual macro that starts with "&". Don't worry about these, you'll only use them whenever you want to put a "&" or a "<" in your text. A "token" is a string of characters. The first character is either a letter or an underscore ("_"). Any characters that follow are either letters, numbers, an underscore, or a period (".").
First, start your source file with an XML declaration, a reference to the DTD, and the "rfc" element: &rfc.number; ... ]]> Ignore the first two lines -- the declaration and the reference -- and simply treat them as opaque strings. Nothing else should be present after the "</rfc>" tag.
(NOTE TO READER: when this memo is published as an RFC, the "&rfc.number;" above will be replaced with the actual string to use in your source file.) Second, make sure that all elements are properly matched and nested. A properly matched element that starts with "<example>" is eventually followed with "</example>". (Empty elements are always matched.) Elements are properly nested when they don't overlap.
For example, ... ... ... ]]> is properly nested.
However, ... ... ... ]]> overlaps, so the elements aren't properly nested.
Third, never use "<" or "&" in your text. Instead, use either "&lt;" or "&amp;", respectively. Fourth, there are two quoting characters in XML, 'apostrophe' and "quotation". Make sure that all attributes values are quoted, e.g., "<example name='value'>", If the value contains one of the quoting characters, then use the other to quote the value, e.g., "<example name='"'>", If the value contains both quoting characters, then use one of them to quote the value, and replace occurrances of that character in the attribute value with either '&apos;' (apostrophe) or "&quot;" (quotation), e.g., "<example name='"&apos;"'>".
If you want to put a comment in your source file, here's the syntax: ]]>
Finally, XML is case sensitive.
Immediately following the "<rfc>" tag is the "front" element: &rfc.number; <author ...> <author ...> <date ...> <area ...> <workgroup ...> <keyword ...> <keyword ...> <abstract ...> <note ...> </front> ... </rfc> ]]></artwork> <postamble>(Note that in all examples, indentation is used only for expository purposes.)</postamble> </figure> <t>The "front" element consists of a "title" element, one or more "author" elements, a "date" element, one or more optional "area" elements, one or more optional "workgroup" elements, one or more optional "keyword" elements, an optional "abstract" element. and, one or more optional "note" elements.</t> <section title="The title Element"> <figure> <preamble>The "title" element identifies the title of the document. Because the title will be used in the headers of the document when formatted according to <xref target="refs.RFC2223"/>, if the title is more than 42 characters, then an abbreviation should also be provided, e.g.,</preamble> <artwork><![CDATA[ <title abbrev="Much Ado about Nothing"> The IETF's Discussion on "Source Format of RFC Documents" ]]>
Each "author" element identifies a document author. Since a document may have more than one author, more than one "author" element may be present. If the author is a person, then three attributes must be present in the "<author>" tag, "initials", "surname", and "fullname", e.g., ]]>
The "author" element itself consists of an "organization" element, and, an optional "address" element.
The "organization" element is similar to the "title" element, in that an abbreviation may be paired with a long organization name using the "abbrev" attribute, e.g., USC/Information Sciences Institute ]]>
The "address" element consists of an optional "postal" element, an optional "phone" element, an optional "facsimile" element, an optional "email" element, and, an optional "uri" element.
The "postal" element contains one or more "street" elements, followed by any combination of "city", "region" (state or province), "code" (zipcode or postal code), and "country" elements, e.g., 950 Charter Street M/S 40 Redwood City CA 94063 US ]]> This flexibility is provided to allow for different national formats for postal addresses. Note however, that although the order of the "city", "region", "code", and "country" elements isn't specified, at most one of each may be present. Note that the value of the "country" element should be a two-letter code from ISO 3166.
The "phone", "facsimile", "email", and "uri" elements are simple, e.g., +1 650 779 7081 mrose@not.invisible.net http://invisible.net/ ]]>
The "date" element identifies the publication date of the document. It consists of a month and a year, e.g., ]]>
The "front" element may contain meta data -- the content of these elements does not appear in printed versions of the document.
A document has one or more optional "area", "workgroup" and "keyword" elements, e.g., General RFC Beautification Working Group RFC Request for Comments I-D Internet-Draft XML Extensible Markup Language ]]> The "area" elements identify a general category for the document (e.g., one of "Applications", "General", "Internet", "Management", "Operations", "Routing", "Security", "Transport", or "User"), while the "workgroup" elements identify the IETF working groups that produced the document, and the "keyword" elements identify useful search terms.
A document may have an "abstract" element, which contains one or more "t" elements. In general, only a single "t" element is present, e.g., This memo presents a technique for using XML as a source format for documents in the Internet-Drafts and RFC series. ]]>
A document may have one or more "note" elements, each of which contains one or more "t" elements. There is a mandatory "title" attribute. In general, the "note" element contains text from the IESG, e.g., The IESG has something to say. ]]>
Note that text relating to the memo's status, copyright notice, or table of contents is not included in the document's markup -- this is automatically inserted by an XML application when it produces either a text or HTML version of the document.
If an Internet-Draft is being produced, then the "ipr2026" attribute should be present in the "<rfc>" tag at the beginning of the file. The value of the attribute should be one of: indicating that the document is in full conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026; indicating that the document is in full conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026 except that the right to produce derivative works is not granted; or, indicating that the document is NOT offerred in accordance with Section 10 of RFC 2026, and the author does not provide the IETF with any rights other than to publish as an Internet-Draft. In the latter case, a copyright notice will not be automatically inserted during processing by an XML application. Consult for further details.
So, putting it all together, we have, e.g., Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML Invisible Worlds, Inc.
950 Charter Street M/S 40 Redwood City CA 94063 US +1 650 779 7081 mrose@not.invisible.net http://invisible.net/
General RFC Beautification Working Group RFC Request for Comments I-D Internet-Draft XML Extensible Markup Language This memo presents a technique for using XML as a source format for documents in the Internet-Drafts and RFC series. ]]>
The "middle" element contains all the sections of the document except for the bibliography and appendices:
... ]]> The "middle" element consists of one or more "section" elements.
Each "section" element contains a section of the document. There is a mandatory attribute, "title", that identifies the title of the section. There is also an optional attribute, "anchor", that is used for cross-referencing with the "xref" element, e.g., ...
]]>
The "section" element is recursive -- each contains any number and combination of "t", "figure", and "section" elements, e.g., ...
...
...
...
...
...
...
]]>
The "t" element contains a paragraph, an item list, or a combination of the two. Paragraphs are simply text. If a cross-reference is needed to a section, figure, or reference, the "xref" element is used; similarly, if an external-reference is needed, the "eref" element is used.
The "list" element contains one or more items. Each item is a "t" element, allowing for recursion, e.g., The first item. The second item, which contains two bulleted sub-items: The first sub-item. The second sub-item. ]]> The "list" element has an optional attribute, "style", having the value "numbers" (for numeric lists), "symbols" (for bulleted lists), "hanging" (for hanging lists), or, "empty" (for indented text). If a "list" element is nested, the default value is taken from its closest parent; otherwise, the default value is "empty".
When nested within a "hanging list" element, the "t" element has an optional attribute, "hangText" that specifies the text to be inserted, e.g., indicating that the document is in full conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026; indicating that the document is in full conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026 except that the right to produce derivative works is not granted; or, indicating that the document is NOT offerred in accordance with Section 10 of RFC 2026, and the author does not provide the IETF with any rights other than to publish as an Internet-Draft. ]]>
The "figure" element groups an optional "preamble" element, an "artwork" element, and an optional "postamble" element together. The "figure" element also has an optional "anchor" attribute that is used for cross-referencing with the "xref" element. There is also an optional "title" attribute that identifies the title of the figure. The "preamble" and "postamble" elements, if present, are simply text. If a cross-reference is needed to a section, figure, or reference, the "xref" element is used; similarly, if an external-reference is needed, the "eref" element is used. The "artwork" element, which must be present, contains "ASCII artwork". Unlike text contained in the "t", "preamble", or "postamble" elements, both horizontal and vertical whitespace is significant in the "artwork" element.
So, putting it all together, we have, e.g., So, putting it all together, we have, e.g., ascii artwork goes here... be sure to use "<" or "&" instead of "<" and "&", respectively! which is a very simple example.
]]> which is a very simple example.
If you have artwork with a lot of "<" characters, then there's an XML trick you can use: <figure> <preamble>If you have artwork with a lot of "&lt;" characters, then there's an XML trick you can use:</preamble> <artwork><![CDATA[ ascii artwork goes here... just don't use "]]" in your artwork! ]]></artwork> <postamble>The "<![CDATA[ ... ]]>" construct is called a CDATA block -- everything between the innermost brackets is left alone by the XML application.</postamble> </figure> The "<![CDATA[ ... ]]>" construct is called a CDATA block -- everything between the innermost brackets is left alone by the XML application.
Because the "figure" element represents a logical grouping of text and artwork, an XML application producing a text version of the document should attempt to keep these elements on the same page. Because RFC 2223 allows no more than 69 characters by 49 lines of content on each page, XML applications should be prepared to prematurely introduce page breaks to allow for better visual grouping.
The "xref" element is used to cross-reference sections, figures, and references. The mandatory "target" attribute is used to link back to the "anchor" attribute of the "section", "figure", and "reference" elements. The value of the "anchor" and "target" attributes should be formatted according to the token syntax in .
If used as an empty element, e.g., . ]]> then the XML application inserts an appropriate phrase during processing, such as "Section 2.1" or XML Basics"]]>.
If used with content, e.g., RFC 2223. ]]> then the XML application inserts an appropriate designation during processing, such as "RFC 2223[2]" or RFC 2223"]]>. Although the XML application decides what "an appropriate designation" might be, its choice is consistent throughout the processing of the document.
The "eref" element is used to reference external documents. The mandatory "target" attribute is a URI, e.g., Cafe con Leche. ]]>
Note that while the "target" attribute is always present, the "eref" element may be empty, e.g., ]]> and the XML application inserts an appropriate designation during processing such as "[9]" or http://invisible.net/"]]>.
The "vspace" element, which may occur only inside the "t" element, is used by the author to provide formatting guidance to the XML application. There is an attribute, "blankLines", that indicates the number of blank lines that should be inserted. A physical linebreak is specified by using the default value, "0".
In addition, the "vspace" element can be used to force a new physical paragraph within a list item, e.g., This is list item. This is part of the same list item, although when displayed, it appears as a separate physical paragraph. ]]>
An XML application producing a text version of the document should exercise care when encountering a value for "blankLines" that causes a pagebreak -- in particular, if a "vspace" element causes a pagebreak, then no further blank lines should be inserted. This allows authors to "force" a pagebreak by using an arbitrarily large value, e.g., "blankLines='100'". Finally, note that the "vspace" element is always empty -- it never contains any text.
Finally, the "back" element is used for references and appendices:
]]> The "back" element consists of an optional "references" element, and, one or more optional "section" elements. The "back" element itself is optional, if your document doesn't have any references or appendices, you don't have to include it.
The "references" element contains the document's bibliography. It contains one or more "reference" elements. Each "reference" element contains a "front" element and one or more optional "seriesInfo" elements. We've already discussed the "front" element back in . The "seriesInfo" element identifies the document series and number of the reference, e.g., "RFC 2200", "STD 1", and so on.
The "reference" element has an optional "anchor" attribute that is used for cross-referencing with the "xref" element, e.g., Internet Official Protocol Standards USC/Information Sciences Institute RFC 2200 STD 1 ]]>
The "reference" element also has an optional "target" attribute that is used for external references (c.f., ). The XML application, if producing an HTML version of the document will use the "target" attribute accordingly; however, if the "seriesInfo" element starts with the string "RFC " (e.g., "RFC 2223") the XML application should automatically provide an appropriate default for the "target" attribute (e.g., ).
To include appendices after the bibliography, simply add more "section" elements. (For an example, look at the example at the beginning of .)
The copyright status for the document is not included in the document's markup -- this is automatically inserted by an XML application that produces either a text or HTML version of the document.
This section concerns itself with applications that operate on an XML source file. A lot of XML tools are available, as are many lists of XML resources, e.g., Cafe con Leche. There are two kinds of XML tools: validating and non-validating. Both check that the source file conforms to the rules given in . However, in addition to making sure that the source file is well-formed, a validating tool also reads the DTD referenced by the source file to make sure that they match. There are a number of both validating and non-validating tools available.
There are several XML editors available. Ideally, you want an editor that validates. This has two advantages: the editor provides guidance in fleshing-out the document structure; and, the editor validates that the source file matches the rules in the DTD.
There are two major modes in Emacs that support XML: sgml-mode and psgml. The latter mode allows you to validate the source file (by calling an external program). If you visit the source file in Emacs and the major mode isn't "SGML" or "XML", then usually all it takes is adding these lines to your ".emacs" file: and then restarting Emacs.
The author uses both sgml-mode in Emacs, and a commercial validating editor, Clip! version 1.5, when editing source files.
If your editor doesn't validate, then you should run a program to validate the source file. The author uses the AlphaWorks XML parser for this purpose. It requires that your system have a Java virtual machine. In addition to Java, there are validating parsers written in C, Perl, Python, and Tcl.
The author has written the xml2rfc tool, which reads the source file and produces both a text and HTML version of the document. (This memo was produced using the xml2rfc tool.) Note that xml2rfc isn't a validating tool, so it's a good idea to use either a validating editor or run a stand-alone validating parser prior to using the tool.
The XML Style Language (XSL) is used to describe transformations from the source file into some other structured file. So, ideally you should use an XSL-capable formatter to convert an XML source file to HTML. However, as of this writing XSL is still in considerable flux. (Hence, no reference was included in this memo, as by the time you read this section, the reference would be outdated.) So, in the interim, the author uses the xml2rfc tool for this purpose, even though this tool doesn't provide much flexibility in its HTML layout.
Browsers that support either XSL or Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are able to view the source file directly. At present, the author doesn't use any of these browsers, instead converting source files to either text or HTML.
As with text editors, any text-oriented search tool (e.g., grep) can be used on the source file. However, there are search tools available that understand structured source.
The author uses sgrep version 1.9 for this purpose, e.g. sgrep -g xml 'ELEMENTS("title") not in ELEMENTS("back")' \ writing-rfcs.xml which extracts the title element from the source file.
This memo raises no security issues; however, according to , your document should contain a section near the end that discusses the security considerations of the protocol or procedures that are the main topic of your document, e.g., ...
This memo raises no security issues; however, according to , your document should contain a section near the end that discusses the security considerations of the protocol or procedures that are the main topic of your document.
]]>
Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 World Wide Web Consortium
MIT Laboratory for Computer Science 545 Technology Square Cambridge MA 02139 US + 1 617 253 2613 + 1 617 258 5999 timbl@w3.org http://www.w3c.org
Instructions to RFC Authors USC/Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way Marina del Rey CA 90292 US +1 310 822 1511 +1 310 823 6714 Postel@ISI.EDU
USC/Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way Marina del Rey CA 90292 US +1 310 822 1511 +1 310 823 6714 jkrey@isi.edu
RFC 2223
The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3 Harvard University
Holyoke Center, Room 813 1350 Massachusettes Avenue Cambridge MA 02138 US +1 617 495 3864 sob@harvard.edu
RFC 2026 BCP 9
Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax World Wide Web Consortium
MIT Laboratory for Computer Science 545 Technology Square Cambridge MA 02139 US +1 617 253 5702 +1 617 258 8682 timbl@w3.org
University of California, Irvine
Department of Information and Computer Science University of California, Irvine Irvine CA 92697-3425 US +1 949 824 7403 +1 949 824 1715 fielding@ics.uci.edu
Xerox PARC
3333 Coyote Hill Road Palo Alto CA 94304 US +1 650 812 4365 +1 650 812 4333 masinter@parc.xerox.com
RFC 2396
The "<rfc>" tag at the beginning of the file, with only an "ipr2026" attribute, produces an Internet-Draft. However, when other attributes are added to this tag by the RFC editor, an RFC is produced, e.g., ]]> At a minimum, the "number" attribute should be present.
The other attributes are: "obsoletes", having a comma-separated list of RFC numbers, that the document obsoletes; "updates", having a comma-separated list of RFC numbers, that the document updates; "category", having one of these values: "std", for a Standards-Track document; "bcp", "for a Best Current Practices document; "exp", for an Experimental Protocol document; "historic", for a historic document; or, "info", the default, for an Informational document. "seriesNo", having the corresponding number in the STD (std), BCP (bcp), or FYI (info) series. Finally, a special entity, "&rfc.number;", is available. Authors preparing an RFC should use this entity whenever they want to reference the number of the RFC within the document itself. In printed versions of the document, the appropriate substitution (or "XXXX") will occur.
]]>