RFC 6722

Publishing the "Tao of the IETF" as a Web Page 🎀

Okay bestie, here's the vibe check on this one. ✨

• Series: Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
• Author: P. Hoffman, Ed., VPN Consortium 💅
• RFC number: 6722
• Date: August 2012
• Category: Informational
• ISSN: 2070-1721
• Obsoletes: 4677
• Updates: nothing listed in the header

Abstract 🦋

This document explains how the "Tao of the IETF", which used to be published as a series of RFCs, is now being published as a web page instead. It also covers the procedure for publishing and editing that web page. 💜

Status of This Memo 🌸

This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification. It's published for informational purposes, so it's giving overview, not rulebook. 📖

This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not every document the IESG approves is a candidate for any level of Internet Standard, so check Section 2 of RFC 5741 if you want the details. 🔥

Info about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to give feedback is at http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6722. 🧚

Copyright Notice 💖

Copyright (c) 2012 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. 🌈

This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) as they stand on the date this document is published. Please read these carefully because they spell out your rights and restrictions for this document. Code Components pulled out of this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions, and they come without warranty, as described in the Simplified BSD License. 🫶

1. Introduction ✨

The "Tao of the IETF" ("Tao") explains how IETF meetings and Working Groups work, talks about organizations related to the IETF, and introduces the standards process. It is not a formal IETF process document. It's an informational overview instead. 🎀

The Tao has traditionally been published as an RFC. It was published as RFCs 1391, 1539, 1718, and 3160, and it's currently [RFC4677]. 📚

When this document is published, the IETF community really wants to turn the Tao into a web page that's easier to update. This document describes that process. At the same time, it formally obsoletes the last version of the Tao that was published as an RFC. That's because RFC 4677 is no longer the "latest" version of the Tao. The new web page is. 👑

This document contains the procedure the IESG agreed to. The Tao has traditionally been an IETF consensus document, which means the IESG has had the final say about what the Tao contained before it went to the RFC Editor. So the IESG should have the final say over what the Tao says when it's a web page. 💅

2. Procedure for Publishing and Editing the Tao 🌸

The Tao is published at <http://www.ietf.org/tao.html> and <https://www.ietf.org/tao.html>. The starting content for the Tao web page is based on a draft document that was meant to replace RFC 4677. 🦋

One or more people, as designated by the IESG, edit the Tao. Suggestions for changes to the Tao get discussed on the tao-discuss@ietf.org mailing list. 💬

The editor of the Tao decides which proposed changes should go to the IESG for approval. The editor publishes the proposed changes in a version at <http://www.ietf.org/tao-possible-revision.html>. The IESG may accept as many of the proposed changes as it wishes. Then the IESG submits the changed version to the IETF Secretariat for publication on the IETF web page at the URLs given above. The Tao editor and the IESG should confirm that the page shows up on the web site as intended. ✅

Each version of the Tao has a visible timestamp near the beginning of the document. All published versions are archived using URLs of the form <http://www.ietf.org/tao-archive/tao-YYYYMMDD.html>, and a list of the revisions lives at <http://www.ietf.org/tao-archive/>. 🗂️

Every so often, versions of the Tao get translated into other languages. These translations do not represent IETF consensus and may be provided on an "as is" basis. How translations get recorded, made available, cross-referenced to versions of the Tao, and archived is outside the scope of this document and is left for future study. 🌍

3. Proposals for How the Tao Web Page Should Be Developed 💡

During the discussion that led to this document, people made lots of proposals for how the Tao, as a web page, should be published and edited. Some wanted just a web page. Some wanted a web page plus periodic snapshots as RFCs. Some wanted a wiki that anyone in the IETF community could easily edit, with a master editor who would revert bad edits. Some wanted a wiki with a more limited group of contributors. The procedure in Section 2 above was the rough consensus of that discussion. 🫶

5. Security Considerations 🔐

The Tao is available over Transport Layer Security (TLS) at <https://www.ietf.org/tao.html>. 💜

6. Informative References 📚

[RFC4677] Hoffman, P. and S. Harris, "The Tao of IETF - A Novice's Guide to the Internet Engineering Task Force", BCP 17, RFC 4677, September 2006.

Author's Address 🌈

Paul Hoffman (editor) VPN Consortium

EMail: paul.hoffman@vpnc.org