Re: [arch-d] [IAB] Call for Comment: <draft-iab-protocol-transitions> (Out With the Old and In With the New: Planning for Protocol Transitions)

[S Moonesamy <[e-mail]>]

Hi Martin, Eliot,
At 17:27 10-01-2017, Martin Thomson wrote:
>In my opinion, the question of whether you intend for the old version
>to eventually disappear is usually a moot question for protocols.  The
>HDTV example might not apply here.  I can't imagine we'd be looking to
>reassign the meaning of version 4 in the IP header any time soon.
>
>Protocols either die or they don't and we only care to the extent that
>we have to support them.  They usually just die by degrees.  For
>instance, while we might want SSLv2 to disappear completely, that's
>not something we worry about as long as we ourselves aren't exposed to
>it (we still carry the code for SSLv3, but it's been given notice).

I didn't catch Eliot's point about HDTV at first.  In the field of 
software, the developers sometimes drop support for an old version of 
a protocol [1].  From a SSO perspective, the IETF is said to have an 
open maintenance process for its standards.  Does that maintenance 
process apply to the obsolete version of the protocol?  Does that 
maintenance process only apply to bug fixing or does it also comprise 
adding new features to the obsolete protocol?

An observation about Bitcoin is included in Section 1 of the 
draft.  Bitcoin is not an IETF technical specification or 
protocol.  Bitcoin was described as "a peer-to-peer electronic cash 
system" [2].  The closest analogy, based on the arguments of an ITAT 
paper, is IPv6 as it comes with a built-in payment system.  The 
Early-Adopters incentive(s) did not work for IPv6.  How could the 
IETF provide a long-term advantage in its protocols?

Did having the policy-making organizations mentioned by example in 
the draft make a significant difference [3] in turning the IPv6 
transition into an example of a successful protocol transition?

Is the IAB responsible for planning for transition for an IETF protocol?

Regards,
S. Moonesamy

1. https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=807107
2. https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
3. I am not sure about the meaning of "enabled" or "facilitated".