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RE: Further discussion about IANA Considerations for MIBs



Bob, I agree that we may need to re-evaluate a number of uses of MUST/SHOULD
language. 

But I DO think it is OK to use RFC2119 language in a document that we target
for BCP. So we cannot generically say that we shoul not use that language.

I am checking with IESG if I am correct in this (I think I am, but...
I have been wrong before for other things... )

Thanks,
Bert 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Braden [mailto:braden@ISI.EDU]
> Sent: zaterdag 5 juni 2004 21:34
> To: cotton@icann.org; conte@icann.org; rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org;
> mreview@ops.ietf.org; heard@pobox.com
> Subject: RE: Further discussion about IANA Considerations for MIBs
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike,
> 
> A few comments on your text.
> 
>   *> 
>   *> Michelle, Steve, RFC Editor, and MIB Doctors:
>   *> 
>   *> Based on your feedback, I have edited Section 3.7 and the related
>   *> checklist item 7 in Apendix A as shown below.  If you see any
>   *> problems please let me know.
>   *> 
>   *> Mike Heard
>   *> 
>   *> 3.7.  IANA Considerations Section
>   *> 
>   *>    In order to comply with IESG policy as set forth in
>   *>    http://www.ietf.org/ID-Checklist.html, every 
> Internet-Draft MUST
> 
> You need to be careful in your wording here.  I don't think you mean
> EVERY Internet Draft.  Internet Drafts cover a wide range, from very
> rough, preliminary documents ("drafts", after all) to finished
> documents that are going to be submitted to the IESG. Really,
> IDChecklist strictly applies ONLY to the latter, I believe.  It would
> be a mistake for the IESG to try to be too anal about ALL Internet
> Drafts!
> 
> Also, using a capitalized MUST here seems to me to be abusing the
> MUST/MAY/SHOULD notation, which is defined for applicability of
> technical specifications, not administrative policies of the IETF.
> [I am sensitive about this, because I myself invented the 
> MUST/SHOULD/MAY
> terminology for RFC 1122, 1123, and I hate to see it used in unnatural
> acts.]
> 
> 
>   *>    contain an IANA Considerations section.  The 
> requirements for this
>   *>    section vary depending what actions are required of the IANA.
>   *> 
>   *>    If an Internet-Draft defines a name space that is to 
> be administered
>   *>    by the IANA, then the rules in Section 4.7d of 
> [RFC2223bis] apply.
> 
> Not exactly. Section 4.7d is empty, containing only a ptr to 
> Section 2.10
> and a ref to RFC 2434. Section 2.10 basically does nothing more than
> point to RFC 2434. So I suggest collapsing these two sentences into:
> 
> 	If an Internet-Draft defines a name space that is to be 
> administered
>                                    new/
>   *>    by the IANA, the document MUST include an IANA 
> Considerations section
>   *>    conforming to the guidelines set forth in [RFC2434] 
> specifying how
>   *>    that name space is to be administered, and that 
> section MUST be
>   *>    retained in the final published RFC.
>   *> 
> 
> Whoa.  Who are you saying MUST to?? This document is directed 
> at authors,
> who have no control over this.  The most you can say is "will be"
> (which is true).
> 
>   *>    Name spaces defined by MIB documents generally 
> consist of the range
>   *>    of values for some type (usually an enumerated 
> INTEGER) defined by a
>   *>    TEXTUAL-CONVENTION (TC) or of a set of 
> administratively-defined
>   *>    OBJECT IDENTIFIER (OID) values.  In each case the 
> definitions are
>   *>    housed in stand-alone MIB modules that are maintained 
> by the IANA.
>   *>    These IANA-maintained MIB modules are separate from 
> the MIB modules
>   *>    defined in standards-track specifications so that new 
> assignments can
>   *>    be made without having to republish a standards-track 
> RFC.  Examples
>   *>    of IANA-maintained MIB modules include the IANAifType-MIB
>   *>    (http://www.iana.org/assignments/ianaiftype-mib), 
> which defines a
>   *>    name space used by the IF-MIB [RFC2863], and the 
> IANA-RTPROTO-MIB
>   *>    
> (http://www.iana.org/assignments/ianaiprouteprotocol-mib), which
>   *>    defines a name space used by the IPMROUTE-STD-MIB [RFC2932].
>   *> 
>   *>    The current practice for such cases is to include a 
> detailed IANA
>   *>    Considerations section complying with [RFC2434] in 
> the DESCRIPTION
>   *>    clause of the MODULE-IDENTITY invocation in each 
> IANA-maintained MIB
>   *>    module and for the IANA Considerations section of the 
> MIB document
>   *>    that defines the name spaces to refer to the URLs for 
> the relevant
>   *>    modules.  See RFC 2932 [RFC2932] for an example.  
> This creates a
>   *>    chicken-and-egg problem for MIB documents that have 
> not yet been
>   *>    published as RFCs because the relevant 
> IANA-maintained MIB modules
>   *>    will not yet exist.  The accepted way out of this 
> dilemma is to
>   *>    include the initial content of each IANA-maintained 
> MIB module in a
>   *>    non-normative section of the initial issue of the 
> document that
>   *>    defines the name space;  for an example see [RFC1573], which
>   *>    documents the initial version of the IANAifType-MIB.  
> That material
>   *>    is usually omitted from subsequent updates to the 
> document since the
>   *>    IANA-maintained modules are then available on-line 
> (cf. [RFC2863]).
>   *> 
>   *>    Reviewers of draft MIB documents to which these 
> considerations apply
>   *>    MUST check that the IANA Considerations section proposed for
> 
> Another misplaced MUST, IMHO.  How about "will"?
> 
>   *>    publication in the RFC is present and contains pointers to the
>   *>    appropriate IANA-maintained MIB modules.  Reviewers 
> of Internet
>   *>    Drafts that contain the proposed initial content of 
> IANA-maintained
>   *>    MIB modules MUST also verify that the DESCRIPTION 
> clauses of the
> 
> Ditto.
> 
>   *>    MODULE-IDENTITY invocations contain an IANA 
> Considerations section
>   *>    compliant with the guidelines in [RFC2434].
>   *> 
>   *>    If an Internet-Draft requires the IANA to update an 
> existing registry
>                         only/
>   *>    prior to publication as an RFC, then the IANA 
> Considerations section
>   *>    in the draft MUST document that fact.  Although 
> [RFC2223bis] does not
>   *>    require an IANA Considerations section in the final 
> published RFC in
> 
> I think there has been general agreement that RFC2223bis will be
> updated to add this "requirement"/RFC Editor policy.  But this issue,
> what stays/goes in the final published RFC, does not seem relevant to
> the ID-Checklist document?  I recommend omitting it.
> 
>   *>    this case, recent practice has been to include an 
> IANA Considerations
>   *>    section that documents the assignments actually made. 
>  MIB documents
>   *>    that contain the initial version of a MIB module will 
> generally
>   *>    require that the IANA assign an OBJECT IDENTIFIER 
> value for the MIB
>   *>    module's MODULE-IDENTITY value and possibly to make 
> other assignments
>   *>    as well.  Internet-Drafts containing such MIB modules 
> MUST contain an
>   *>    IANA Considerations section that specifies the 
> registries that are to
>   *>    be updated, the descriptors to which OBJECT 
> IDENTIFIER values are
>   *>    being assigned, and the subtrees under which the 
> values are to be
>   *>    allocated.  The text SHOULD be crafted so that after 
> publication it
>   *>    will serve to document the OBJECT IDENTIFIER assignments.  For
>   *>    example, something along the following lines would be 
> appropriate for
>   *>    an Internet-Draft containing a single MIB module with 
> MODULE-IDENTITY
>   *>    descriptor powerEthernetMIB that is to be assigned a 
> value under the
>   *>    'mib-2' subtree:
>   *> 
>   *>       The MIB module in this document uses the following 
> IANA-assigned
>   *>       OBJECT IDENTIFIER values recorded in the SMI 
> Numbers registry:
>   *> 
>   *>       Descriptor        OBJECT IDENTIFIER value
>   *>       ----------        -----------------------
>   *> 
>   *>       powerEthernetMIB  { mib-2 XXX }
>   *> 
>   *>       Editor's Note (to be removed prior to 
> publication):  the IANA is
>   *>       requested to assign a value for "XXX" under the 'mib-2'
>   *>       subtree and to record the assignment in the SMI 
> Numbers registry.
>   *>       When the assignment has been made, the RFC Editor 
> is asked to
>   *>       replace "XXX" (here and in the MIB module) with 
> the assigned
>   *>       value and to remove this note.
>   *> 
>   *>    Note well:  prior to official assignment by the IANA, a draft
>   *>    document MUST use placeholders (such as "XXX" above) 
> rather than
> 
> Another misbegotten MUST...
> 
>   *>    actual numbers.  See Section 4.5 for an example of 
> how this is done
>   *>    in a draft MIB module.
>   *> 
>   *>    If an Internet-Draft makes no requests of the IANA, 
> then that fact
>   *>    MUST be documented in the IANA Considerations 
> section.  When an
> 
> ditto
> 
>   *>    Internet-Draft contains an update of a previously 
> published MIB
>   *>    module, it typically will not require any action on 
> the part of the
>   *>    IANA, but it may inherit an IANA Considerations 
> section documenting
>   *>    existing assignments from the RFC that contains the 
> previous version
>   *>    of the MIB module.  In such cases the draft MUST 
> contain a note
>   *>    (which SHOULD be removed after publication) 
> explicitly indicating
> 
> Again, misdirected SHOULD.  How about "will be"?
> 
>   *>    that nothing is required from the IANA.  For example, 
> a draft that
>   *>    contains an updated version of the POWER-ETHERNET-MIB 
> [RFC3621] might
>   *>    include an IANA Considerations section like the following:
>   *> 
>   *>       The MIB module in this document uses the following 
> IANA-assigned
>   *>       OBJECT IDENTIFIER values recorded in the SMI 
> Numbers registry:
>   *> 
>   *>       Descriptor        OBJECT IDENTIFIER value
>   *>       ----------        -----------------------
>   *> 
>   *>       powerEthernetMIB  { mib-2 105 }
>   *> 
>   *>       Editor's Note (to be removed prior to 
> publication):  this draft
>   *>       makes no additional requests of the IANA.
>   *> 
>   *>    If an Internet-Draft makes no requests of the IANA 
> and there are no
>   *>    existing assignments to be documented, then there is 
> no need for an
>   *>    IANA Considerations section in the published RFC, and 
> suitable text
>   *>    for the draft would be something along the following lines:
>   *> 
>   *>       This document makes no request of the IANA.
>   *> 
>   *>       Note to RFC Editor:  this section may be removed 
> upon publication
>   *>       as an RFC.
>   *> 
> 
> You don't really need to go to this lengths. The RFC Editor 
> can be trusted
> to remove empty IANA Consideration sections.  We already do.
> 
>   *> [ Skipping down to Appendix A:  MIB Review Checklist ]
>   *> 
>   *>    7.) IANA Considerations Section -- this section must always be
>   *>    present.  If the draft requires no action from the 
> IANA, ensure that
>   *>    this is explicitly noted.  If the draft requires OID 
> values to be
>   *>    assigned, ensure that the IANA Considerations section 
> contains the
>   *>    information specified in Section 3.7 of these 
> guidelines.  If the
>   *>    draft contains the initial version of an 
> IANA-maintained module,
>   *>    verify that the MODULE-IDENTITY invocation contains 
> maintenance
>   *>    instructions that comply with the requirements in RFC 
> 2434.  In the
>   *>    latter case the IANA Considerations section that will 
> appear in the
>   *>    RFC MUST contain a pointer to the actual 
> IANA-maintained module.
>   *> 
> 
> Bob Braden
>