Re: [dispatch] [rfc-i] Advice when converting W3C ED to I-D

["Martin J. Dürst" <[e-mail]>]

On 2023-09-19 07:15, John C Klensin wrote:

> I think the conclusion when they are taken together is that W3C
> has different norms, conventions, and vocabulary than the IETF
> and that, in the general case, automated mapping from one of
> their documents to one of ours is unlikely to work and may
> create something that is conceptually different from the
> original.  Some of the differences derive from WC3 being a
> membership organization while the IETF is a different sort of
> creature.   Two particularly important examples have not even,
> AFAICT, come up in the discussion: Even though the required text
> is usually generated as boilerplate rather than spelled out by
> authors, our IPR rules are largely based on an obligation to
> disclose while W3C's, at least when last I paid careful
> attention, involved an obligation to release rights.

IANAL, but while there's indeed an obligation for RF, there are also 
procedures for exclusion at certain stages of the process (see 
https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20200915/#sec-Exclusion)

So while the procedural details differ quite a bit, the actual results 
(a general preference for RF, ways to make sure everybody knows about 
patents claims when they are relevant, and ways to work around patent 
claims where necessary) are quite similar.

The differences come from how things grew historically in each 
organization, and also from the fact that in general, the IETF is a bit 
closer to hardware than the W3C, and patents are a better fit for 
hardware than for software.

Regards,    Martin.

> Similarly,
> our requirement for a Security Considerations section and what
> is supposed to be in it, have, AFAICT, no strong W3C parallel.
> 
> So, my advice to authors wanting to move a document over is that
> it is necessary to at least minimally understand the IETF's
> rules and requirements and then rewrite accordingly.  That may
> involve some, perhaps even a lot of, copying and pasting but
> those operations then will require some hand=editing of the text.
> 
> best,
>     john
>