Re: [idn] I-D ACTION:draft-ietf-idn-idna-08.txt

[Dave Crocker <dhc@dcrocker.net>]

Looking forward to your detailed notes, I'll offer some sound bites:

At 10:46 AM 6/11/2002 -0400, John C Klensin wrote:
>(1) Is IDNA properly and adequately specified for the uses to
>which it will be put and is it designed appropriately for that
>range of uses?

Basically, IDNA replicates the model of MIME.  If there are problems with 
it, they are in the category of the usual, initial specification detail 
bugs that will be fixed as the document moves to Draft.  I haven't noticed 
any such detail bugs being cited yet.

It does not appear that there are any problems with the model.  The model 
has been incrementally improved and strikes me as having gotten quite clean 
at this point, for the purpose it is designed to serve.


>(2) Is IDNA closely bound to internationalization of the DNS or,
>as you note above, is it really "about a micro layer above DNS
>and below applications" and hence "has nothing to do with
>putting anything into RRs"?

Is MIME closely bound to multi-media email or is it a micro-layer above 
email?

The answer is yes to both parts, rather than representing mutually 
exclusive conditions, as the question implies.

That the general topic of internationalization is difficult and 
multifaceted will come as no surprise to folks who work on that challenging 
arena.  That it can benefit from divide and conquer should come as no 
surprise to folks experienced with IETF work.

To repeat:  Messing with RRs, for FURTHER internationalization sounds like 
a dandy idea.  Messing with RRs as part of IDNA will only have the effect 
of adding another couple of years of delay.


>(3) Should the applicability of IDNA in the DNS context, and the
>xxx-prep procedures to be used with it, be specified on a per-RR
>(and per-Class) basis?

An excellent starting question, for a separate, follow-on effort for 
FURTHER internationalization of the DNS.


>(4) To what extent should out-of-band communications between
>applications, which utilize strings which the applications might
>construe as internationalized domain names, influence the design
>of IDNA and, if so, what should the impact be?

I think your question nicely captures a source of confusion that is 
currently present.

My own answer is that

         a) making the scope of such an effort too large is a good way to 
ensure that it never gets done; however it is often easy to have that 
larger scope as a background agenda that is serviced along the way.

         b) we are some years too late for visiting that question upon this 
effort.

d/

----------
Dave Crocker <mailto:dave@tribalwise.com>
TribalWise, Inc. <http://www.tribalwise.com>
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