Network Working Group                                            M. Rose
Request for Comments: 3349                  Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.
BCP: 59                                                        July 2002
Category: Best Current Practice


  A Transient Prefix for Identifying Profiles under Development by the
         Working Groups of the Internet Engineering Task Force

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
   Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   As a part of their deliverables, working groups of the IETF may
   develop BEEP profiles.  During the development process, it is
   desirable to assign a transient identifier to each profile.  If the
   profile is subsequently published as an RFC, then a permanent
   identifier is subsequently assigned by the IANA.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   3.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
       References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   A.  Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   B.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
       Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
       Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6

1. Introduction

   Each BEEP profile [1] is identified by a URI [2].  The BEEP
   specification uses URIs to identify a BEEP profile both:

   o  statically, when a profile is formally defined (RFC 3080's Section
      5.1); and,

   o  dynamically, during channel management (RFC 3080's Section 2.3.1).

   If the BEEP profile appears on the standards-track [3], then the IANA
   is responsible for assigning the URI associated with the BEEP
   profile.  Otherwise, the entity specifying the BEEP profile is free
   to assign a URI under its administration to the profile.

   If a working group of the IETF is developing a BEEP profile, then,
   during the development process, it is desirable to use a transient
   identifier for the profile.  Further, it is desirable that the
   transient identifier be associated with the working group.

   This memo defines the practice for making such an assignment.  Note
   that this practice does not apply to activities outside of working
   groups -- anyone able to assign a URL is capable of defining a URI
   for the purposes of identifying the BEEP profiles that they develop.

2. Practice

   When a working group is formed, the IETF secretariat assigns a brief
   mnemonic prefix to the working group, e.g., "provreg" or "sacred".

   When a working group begins development of a document which specifies
   a BEEP profile, the working group chair assigns a transient
   identifier of the form "http://iana.org/beep/transient/XXX/YYY" where
   "XXX" is the working group's mnemonic and "YYY" is a unique string.
   Although the resulting URI must conform to the URI syntax, the "YYY"
   portion is otherwise arbitrary.  For example, it may contain a sub-
   hierarchy (e.g., "epp/1.0").

   For example,

       http://iana.org/beep/transient/provreg/epp/1.0
       http://iana.org/beep/transient/sacred/pdm

   might be assigned by the chairs of the "provreg" and "sacred" working
   groups, respectively.

   Following this, the working group chair completes a BEEP profile
   registration template, and submits this information to the IANA.

   Note that although the IETF hasn't established a practice with
   respect to the use of capitalization in URLs employed for namespace
   purposes, the W3C has a lowercase-only policy.  Working group chairs
   are encouraged to consider this when making assignments.

3. Security Considerations

   This document describes an administrative convention and raises no
   additional security considerations.  Of course, each BEEP-based
   protocol has its own set of security considerations, which should be
   described in the relevant specification.

References

   [1]  Rose, M., "The Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol Core", RFC
        3080, March 2001.

   [2]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R. and L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource
        Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 2396, August 1998.

   [3]  Hovey, R. and S. Bradner, "The Organizations Involved in the
        IETF Standards Process", BCP 11, RFC 2028, October 1996.

Appendix A. Acknowledgements

   The author gratefully acknowledges the contributions of: Dan Kohn and
   Bob Wyman.

Appendix B. IANA Considerations

   The IANA maintains a registry of transient identifiers used for BEEP
   profiles under development in the IETF, using the profile
   registration template defined in Section 5.1 of [1].

   Note that unlike the registration procedures defined in Appendix B of
   [1], the working group chair (instead of the IESG) is responsible for
   authorizing the registration.

Author's Address

   Marshall T. Rose
   Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.
   POB 255268
   Sacramento, CA  95865-5268
   US

   Phone: +1 916 483 8878
   EMail: mrose@dbc.mtview.ca.us

Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002).  All Rights Reserved.

   This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
   others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
   or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
   and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
   kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
   included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
   document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
   the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
   Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
   developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
   copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
   followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
   English.

   The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
   revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

   This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
   TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
   BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
   HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
   MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Acknowledgement

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
   Internet Society.