November 8, 2005"Field of Use" RFC Modification1 “Field of Use” RFC Modification Permissions David L. Black EMC Corporation November 8, 2005

"Field of Use" RFC Modification2 Problem: RFC text changes Want to change RFC text to support its implementation (draft-josefsson, Sec. 2): 1.Source code comments 2.Table re-formatting for implementation 3.Non-functional ASN.1 edits (e.g., for tool compatibility) 4.Non-functional source/header edits (e.g., for compiler compatibility) 5.Extract/reformat text for online help and manuals All of these involve interoperable implementation of the original RFC !!

November 8, 2005"Field of Use" RFC Modification3 Proposed “Field of Use” Solution Allow anyone to change the text of an RFC in support of implementation of the original RFC –No notice to or permission from the IETF would be required –Does not permit use of changed RFC text for incompatible implementations (will come back to this) Legalese components –Within the “field of use” of implementation of the original RFC, –Anyone is allowed to make, distribute, etc. a “derived work” All 5 examples on previous slide are allowed –Including ASN.1 changes when protocol is not affected

November 8, 2005"Field of Use" RFC Modification4 Changing the Protocol Changing the protocol is outside the “field of use” of implementation of the original RFC. Solution: “Send Draft !!” (Open Issue) –Document the changes in an Internet-Draft. It’s ok to use any RFC text in an Internet-Draft. –The “field of use” permissions apply to that draft All 5 text modification examples on slide 2 are now allowed Note: Based on the Internet-Draft, not the original RFC Distribution of the original RFC and the Internet- Draft are (and remain) unlimited

November 8, 2005"Field of Use" RFC Modification5 New Examples Simon’s , Monday, November 7 1 – Open source protocol modifications –Send Draft - see previous slide. (Open Issue) 2 – Educational usage –Could add education to “field of use” for modification when subject of education is the unmodified protocol –Would forbid assigning a class project to implement an incompatibly modified RFC. Can still write a separate document to specify changes –That document could even be an Internet-Draft Distribution of the original RFC remains unlimited.

November 8, 2005"Field of Use" RFC Modification6 Next Steps Decide whether “field of use” is the WG’s preferred approach –And what the resulting permissions should be If so, assign a small team (including Jorge?) to write the precise legal text. –I am not a lawyer...