RFC 6433

Requirements for a Working Group Milestones Tool

(part 1 of 2) 🎀✨

Okay bestie, let's do the title block first 💅 This is RFC 6433, written by P. Hoffman from the VPN Consortium in November 2011. It's an Informational doc, so it's just here to share info and is not a Standards Track spec 🌸 It also updates RFC 6292, and the title block doesn't list anything it obsoletes. The ISSN is 2070-1721 📚

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Abstract

The IETF is planning a brand-new tool for Working Group chairs and Area Directors to create and update milestones in WG charters 🦋 This doc lists the requirements for that tool, and it's meant as input for a later design and development project. It also updates RFC 6292. 💖

Status of This Memo

This doc is not an Internet Standards Track spec, it's published for info only 🌈 It comes from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), it reflects consensus from the IETF community, it got public review, and the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) approved it for publication. Not every IESG-approved doc is a candidate for any level of Internet Standard, so check Section 2 of RFC 5741 if you're curious 🤓

If you want the latest status, errata, or a way to send feedback, head to http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6433 🧚

Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. 🔒

This doc is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) as they stood on the publication date. Please read them carefully, because they explain what you can and can't do with this doc. Code Components pulled out of this doc must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions, and they come with no warranty, as the Simplified BSD License describes 💜

1. Introduction ✨

[RFC2418] explains the guidelines and procedures for running IETF Working Groups (WGs). Every WG has milestones it's supposed to hit, like publishing a particular Internet-Draft or starting discussion on a specific topic 🍓 A WG charter has several parts, and milestones are one of them. Right now, changing milestones needs Area Director (AD) approval, but changing the charter text needs IESG approval. 💅

Today, the Secretariat handles creating and updating WG milestones by hand. Usually, WG chairs email their AD asking for milestones to be created or updated. They also send mail to their AD, or straight to the Secretariat, when one or more milestones have been met 📬 Outside of WG creation, these updates will go through a separate tool, once the requirements in this doc and in [RFC6292] are met. 🫶

Back in early 2011, the IETF approved a set of requirements for a tool that helps ADs with the WG chartering and rechartering process [RFC6292]. During the IESG discussion of that doc, it became super clear that everyone wanted more automation in the milestones process 🤖 This doc is meant to turn that discussion into general consensus on what the eventual tool needs. 🌸

Heads up: this doc only talks about updating milestones that an active WG is working against. As [RFC6292] describes, when a WG is rechartering, the new charter might also include new milestones. The tool described here MUST NOT change the milestones proposed for a WG recharter. In other words, the Datatracker MUST keep two sets of milestones, one for the current WG charter and one for a proposed recharter, and the tool described here MUST only affect the first of those two sets. This is a big deal, so don't mix them up 👑

The IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC) wants a better tool for creating and updating WG milestones, and this doc lists the requirements for it. Once it's finished, it may be used to issue a request for proposals for the design and development of the tool. The IAOC asked for this doc to be written. 🦋

2. Users of the Tool 💖

Only WG chairs and ADs can use this tool, and other members of the IETF community can't 🙅‍♀️ The tool will rely on the login and access control features already in place from the outcome of the tool created by [RFC6292]. Important note: some people chair more than one WG, and everyone MUST be able to use the tool for all of the WGs they chair. 🔑

Any AD can add or update any milestone for any WG. Usually, an AD would only add or update milestones for WGs they're the responsible AD for, but ADs are not bound by that limit. (This is the same model the Datatracker uses for other actions. It lets one AD carry the load for an AD who is temporarily unable to do those tasks 🫶) WG chairs can only add or update milestones for WGs they chair. 🌈

The IETF Secretariat needs to be able to do the same tasks as the ADs, so they can fix problems or make emergency changes 🚨

The database will record the date and the person who starts any addition of, or change to, a milestone. The contents of the database will be visible to the IETF community, so anyone can see who made a particular change to a milestone. Transparency, bestie 👀✨

3. Updating, Adding, and Deleting Milestones 🧚

A WG chair needs to see all of the milestones for their WG in the tool. The chair MUST be able to change any milestone record for their WG. In each existing record, the chair needs to be able to change the due date, the finished date, the associated Internet-Drafts, and the description of the milestone. The chair also needs to be able to delete existing milestones. 💅

A WG chair needs to be able to add one or more milestone records to the database for their WG. The chair needs to be able to specify the due date, zero or more associated Internet-Drafts, and the description of the record they are adding. 🍓

7. Viewing Changes in Milestones 👀✨

okay so bestie, [RFC6292] already gave us a tool for viewing, searching, and tracking changes to WG charters 💅. This document extends that same ask so the IETF community can do all of it for WG milestones too 🎀.

Section 5.1 of [RFC6292] gets an upgrade. Searching now works on any text in a milestone's description, and also on the name of any Internet-Draft that's mapped to any milestone 🔍🦋.

There's also a brand new capability that's giving the same energy as Section 5.2 of [RFC6292], except instead of comparing charters, it compares the entire set of milestones 🌈. Any time a milestone gets added, deleted, or has any of its fields changed, or the list gets reordered, the full set counts as changed 🔄. Users should be able to easily compare two full sets of milestones, with the differences highlighted so they pop 💖. When changes are viewed, the tool should show who made each change 🫶. And these features should live in the same place as the features in Section 5.2 of [RFC6292] 🏠.

The tool needs to provide an Atom feed [RFC4287] for the changes to a WG's milestones 📡. The feed's contents are the full WG record, plus an indication of what changed since the last entry in the feed and who made the change 🧚. This feed is different from the one in Section 5.3 of [RFC6292], but it should be offered to users in the same places that feed is offered 🌸.

When a milestone is marked as no longer due, the Datatracker displays the month and year that the change was made, plus the status, like "Done" or "On hold" 📅✅. Main character energy for the timeline 💜.

8. Security Considerations 🔐💀

Okay, deep breath, this part is serious bestie 🙈. Creating a new tool for updating the milestones of WGs does not affect the security of the Internet in any significant fashion. So no need to panic, the security vibes here are chill 🫶.

9. Acknowledgements 🙏💖

This document draws heavily on ideas from various WG chairs and ADs on the wgchairs@ietf.org mailing list 🌷. Huge thank-you to everyone in that group chat for making this happen ✨👑.

10. References 📚

10.1. Normative References 🧷

• [RFC2418] Bradner, S., "IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures", BCP 25, RFC 2418, September 1998.
• [RFC6174] Juskevicius, E., "Definition of IETF Working Group Document States", RFC 6174, March 2011.
• [RFC6292] Hoffman, P., "Requirements for a Working Group Charter Tool", RFC 6292, June 2011.

10.2. Informative References 🦋

• [RFC4287] Nottingham, M., Ed. and R. Sayre, Ed., "The Atom Syndication Format", RFC 4287, December 2005.

Author's Address 🎀

Paul Hoffman VPN Consortium

EMail: paul.hoffman@vpnc.org