RFC 1111

Request for Comments on Request for Comments 💖

okay bestie, RFC 1111 is the one that teaches everyone how to write RFCs 🌸 It was written by Jon Postel at ISI (USC Information Sciences Institute) in August 1989, and it's basically the style guide for the whole Internet 💅 It's a standard for the Internet community. It obsoletes RFC 825 🧚, and the header doesn't list any RFC it updates. Title's Instructions to RFC Authors ✨

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Status of this Memo 🌈

this RFC is a standard for the Internet community, and authors of RFCs are expected to adopt and implement it 🫶 Distribution of this memo is unlimited. 💜

1. Introduction ✨

so RFCs get shared online as public access files, and a short message goes out to the distribution list saying the memo is ready 📬

people copy those files and print or display them on their own equipment 🖨️ an RFC can also be sent by email if someone asks for it that way. the big takeaway is that the online format has to work with a huge range of printing and display gear, so it's kind of a big deal 😭

2. Format Rules 🎀

okay, to keep distribution working, there are only two allowed formats for RFCs: ASCII and PostScript 💖

the RFC Editor tries to keep the style consistent, so they might reformat your submission. honestly it's way easier if yours already matches the most recent RFCs, so go look at some and copy that vibe 👀

you have to send an editable online document to the RFC Editor. they might ask for small format or style changes, and they'll put in the actual RFC number 🔢

2a. ASCII Format Rules 💅

• The character codes are ASCII 🔤
• Each page is limited to 58 lines, followed by a form feed on a line by itself 📄
• Each line is limited to 72 characters, followed by carriage return and line feed ↩️
• No overstriking (or underlining) 🙅‍♀️
• These "height" and "width" constraints include headers, footers, page numbers, and left side indenting, so count everything 🧮
• Don't pad the text with extra spaces to make a straight right margin 🙈
• No hyphenating words at the right margin ✂️
• No footnotes! 💀 If you need notes, put them at the end of a section or at the end of the document 📝
• Single spacing inside a paragraph, and one blank line between paragraphs 🌸

ASCII RFCs can be emailed to the RFC Editor (or sent as online files) either in their finished publication format or in NROFF. if you're planning to send NROFF, check with the RFC Editor first 💌

2b. PostScript Format Rules 🦋

the standard page size is 8 1/2 by 11 inches 📏 the margin is 1 inch on all sides (top, bottom, left, and right) 🖼️

the main text should be at least 10 points with a line spacing of 12 points 🔠 footnotes and graph notations can be no smaller than 8 points, with a line spacing of 9.6 points 🔍

only three fonts are okay: Helvetica, Times Roman, and Courier, plus their bold and italic versions. those are the three standard fonts on most PostScript printers 🖨️

prepare your diagrams and images using the lowest common denominator PostScript. think about what common PostScript printers can do, and how much memory they've got 🧠

these PostScript commands should not be used: initgraphics, erasepage, copypage, grestoreall, initmatrix, initclip, banddevice, framedevice, nulldevice and renderbands 🚫

heads up: these PostScript rules will probably change and grow as people learn more 🔮

PostScript RFCs can be emailed to the RFC Editor (or sent as online files). since PostScript isn't editable, you also have to send an editable source version of the document 💕 if you're planning to submit in PostScript, check with the RFC Editor first 💜

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3. Status Statement 💫

every RFC has to include the "Status of this Memo" section on its first page, and it needs a paragraph describing what the RFC is for 📖 this section shows the status granted by the RFC Editor and the Internet Activities Board (IAB) 🏅 people publish RFCs for lots of reasons: to share info, to kick off or keep a discussion going about a cool idea, or to share the spec for a protocol 🧚

you can use these sample paragraphs to meet this requirement:

Proposed Protocol 🌷

This RFC suggests a proposed protocol for the Internet community, and asks for discussion and suggestions for improvements.

Specification 🎀

This RFC specifies a standard for the Internet community. Hosts on the Internet are expected to adopt and implement this standard.

Discussion 🗣️

The point of this RFC is to focus discussion on specific problems in the Internet and on possible ways to solve them. Any proposed solutions in this document are not meant to be standards for the Internet. The hope is that a general consensus forms about the right solution to these problems, which eventually leads to standards being adopted.

Information 📚

This RFC is being shared with the Internet community to gather their reactions to the proposals in it. The issues discussed might not be directly relevant to the Internet's research problems, but they could still be interesting to plenty of researchers and implementers.

Status 📅

Because the status and progress of various Internet community projects need to be kept up to date, this RFC is issued for the benefit of community members. The information here is accurate as of the publication date but can change, and later RFCs will reflect those changes.

these paragraphs don't have to be copied word for word, but the general intent of the RFC has to be clear 🫶

4. Distribution Statement 🌸

every RFC should also include a "distribution statement" 📮 usually RFCs have unlimited distribution, though there are a few cases where it makes sense to restrict it in some way 🔒

normally the distribution statement is just the sentence "Distribution of this memo is unlimited." tacked onto the "Status of this Memo" section 💖

5. Author's Address 🧚

every RFC must have, right at the very end, a section with the author's address. that includes the name and postal address, the telephone number, and the Internet email address 📬

6. Relation to other RFCs 🔗

sometimes an RFC adds info about a topic from an earlier RFC, or fully replaces an earlier one 🔄 there are two terms for these cases: UPDATES and OBSOLETES 💅 a document that obsoletes an earlier one can stand on its own. a document that only updates an earlier one can't stand alone. it has to be added to or inserted into the existing document, so it's only useful as a supplement 🧩 SUPERSEDES and REPLACES aren't used anymore 🙅‍♀️

UPDATES 🩹

use this to point to a previous document from a new item that can't be used alone, meaning one that supplements an older document. the newer publication is a part that gets added to the original, like an addendum or extra info 📎

OBSOLETES 🗑️

use this for an earlier document that this document replaces. this document either has revised info, or all of the same info plus some new stuff (however big or small that new stuff is). basically, this document can be used on its own without looking at the older one 🌟

here's an example:

On the Assigned Numbers RFCs, the term OBSOLETES should be used, since the new document actually adds new information (however small) into the existing text, is more up to date than the older document, and therefore replaces it and makes it OBSOLETE. 💀

in lists of RFCs or the RFC-Index (but not on the RFCs themselves), these can be used with early documents to point to later ones 📑

OBSOLETED-BY 🔜

use this to point to the newer document that replaces the older one 🔁

UPDATED-BY ➕

use this to point to the newer document that adds info to an existing document that's still useful 💜

7. The RFC Editor 👑

the RFC Editor is Jon Postel 💖

8. The RFC Announcement List 📣

new RFCs get announced to the RFC distribution list maintained by the SRI Network Information Center (NIC) ✨ if you want to be added or removed from that mailing list, contact the SRI-NIC by sending an email to RFC-REQUEST@NIC.DDN.MIL 💌

9. Obtaining RFCs 🦋

you can get RFCs over FTP from NIC.DDN.MIL, using the pathname RFC:RFCnnnn.TXT (where "nnnn" is the number of the RFC) 🗂️ log in with FTP, username ANONYMOUS, and password GUEST 🔑

sites that can't use FTP can use the NIC's automatic mail service. send the request to SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL and put the RFC number in the subject line, like Subject: RFC nnnn 📨

for special distribution (like hardcopy), email either the author of the RFC in question or NIC@NIC.DDN.MIL 🖨️

unless the RFC itself says otherwise, every RFC has unlimited distribution 🌈

you can also get RFCs from other information centers, including the CSNET Information Center (INFO@SH.CS.NET) and the NSFNET Information Service (INFO@NIS.NSF.NET) 🧚

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Author's Address 🎀

Jon Postel
USC Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, California  90292-6695

Phone:  213-822-1511

EMail:  POSTEL@ISI.EDU

that's the whole RFC, bestie 🌈💖✨