Re: [idn] IDN rechartering rev 3

["Eric A. Hall" <ehall@ehsco.com>]

How does this realignment conform to the plurality of independent voices
on this list who have expressed a desire for a UTF-8 label encoding?

Also, how does it conform to prior statements:

James Seng/Personal, Tue, 9 Oct 2001 17:30:02 +0800:

> We encourage further submission of drafts but take note that no draft
> will be accepted as wg drafts unless it comes with at least 7
> supportors.

Some sort of warning that ongoing work would not be accepted would be
preferred to an immediate cancellation of such efforts.

I would suggest that you delay such rechartering until after the Salt Lake
IETF meeting. If no suitable proposals are available by that time, a
rechartering may make sense then.


James Seng/Personal wrote:
> 
> This is based a lot more on Dave's suggestion then mine.
> 
> The Goal & Milestone section is revised. Note that the key milestone
> which is really of interest to IESG is the "initial draft" and "move
> forward for IESG".
> 
> Please comment
> 
> -James Seng
> 
> ---
> Domain Names are Internet identifiers. They are used both for
> machine and human processing, so the form of a Domain Name must
> be convenient for both processing venues.  The current set of valid
> Domain Name characters is limited to common Internet ASCII, which
> is inadequate for the broad range of human Internet users.  This
> working group will produce a standards-track specification for
> extending the range of characters that can be used in Domain Names,
> by humans. The enhancement will be designed to minimize changes to
> existing Domain Name software and operations. In particular, changes
> to the DNS infrastructure of storage and exchange mechanisms will
> be avoided.
> 
> The technical approach for the current specification effort shall be to
> permit use of international character, as recommended by the IAB, and
> then encode the characters, to permit their transmission and storage
> within existing DNS mechanisms.  Hence this enhancement to the DNS
> involves only end-user software.  In particular software that needs to
> be changed is restricted to:  DNS client.  No other modules will need
> to be changed.
> 
> Language information is not encoded in these identifiers.  That is,
> "names" from different languages are defined in a single namespace.
> 
> The WG will rely on, and reference, work from established efforts to
> internationalize digital characters, such as, Unicode Consortium and
> ISO/IEC.  Discussion of new codepoints, codepoint properties and
> mappings between codepoints is appropriate for these other venues,
> and is out of scope of this working group.
> 
> The group will not address the question of what, if any, body should
> administer or control usage of names that use this functionality.
> 
> The group will identify consequences to the current deployed DNS
> infrastructure, the protocols and the applications as well as transition
> scenarios, where applicable.
> 
> The working group will actively ensure communication with interested
> groups who are studying the same, or related, topics.
> 
> The Action Item(s) for the Working Group are:
> 
> 1.  An Informational RFC specifying the requirements for providing
> International character sets in domain names. The document should
> provide guidance for developing solutions to this problem, taking
> localized (e.g. writing order) and related operational issues into
> consideration.
> 
> 2.  A standard track specification on permitting international
> characters
> in domain names, including specifying any transition issues.
> 
> 3.  A standard track specification on an ASCII Compatible Encoding
> (ACE),
> to be used in the standard track specification on permitting
> international
> characters in domain names.
> 
> 4.  A standard track specification on normalization of domain name
> identifiers for the purpose of string comparisons. This document may
> include case folding, map outs, and prohibited characters.
> 
> Goal & Milestone:
> 
> Dec 2001        ACE specification send to IESG for advancement
> 
> Nov 2001        domain name identifiers normalization draft last call
> Dec 2001 domain name identifiers normalization draft send to IESG
>                 for advancement
> 
> Nov 2001        Draft of architecture relating input methods, namepreps
>                 and zonefiles
> Dec 2001        Second draft of architecture draft
> Feb 2002        Architecture draft last call
> Mar 2002        Architecture draft send to IESG for advancement
> 
> Dec 2001        IDN Protocol draft wg last call
> Jan 2002        IDN Protocol draft send to IESG for advancement

-- 
Eric A. Hall                                        http://www.ehsco.com/
Internet Core Protocols          http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/coreprot/