Re: [saag] SSH & Ntruprime

[Randy Presuhn <[e-mail]>]

Hi -

On 2024-03-25 3:23 PM, John C Klensin wrote:
> 
> 
> --On Monday, March 25, 2024 14:02 -0700 Randy Presuhn
> <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
>> Hi -
>>
>> On 2024-03-25 1:51 PM, S Moonesamy wrote:
>>> Hi Randy,
>>> At 01:19 PM 25-03-2024, Randy Presuhn wrote:
>>>> What is the conflict you see?  The text you cited seems to
>>>> me to present no conflict.  A posted Internet-Draft
>>>> certainly seems to fit within the realm of "a document
>>>> published outside of the RFC path, including informal
>>>> documentation."
>>>
>>> This takes the discussion to what Mike pointed out at
>>> https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf/FqmdAQY_C7jOGh_KV-
>>> HkC5MP7Xs
>>>
>>> I also mentioned "formal public specification".  If I am not
>>> mistaken,  that would include standards from other bodies or
>>> national standards for  which a code point is required.
>>
>> If it's ok to cite an I-D as "work in progress," how is that
>> different from "informal documentation" in any meaningful way?
> 
> If it is being used as part of the definition for an entry in an
> IANA registry, that makes it "reference material", not just a
> work in progress.  In addition, if it were actually a work in
> progress, that would make it unsuitable for part of the
> definition for a registry entry because it would be an odd
> indeed to have a registration of a moving target rather than a
> stable definition.
> 
> I think that may be just a different way to express Mike's
> concern.

The same criticisms might be leveled against any sort of "informal
documentation."  The question really needs to be whether the
document has sufficient information to support the registration -
and that, in turn, depends on the uses envisioned for that registry
at the time it was carved out, not every possible tweak that the
document might subsequently experience.  I think concerns about
stability are well-founded, but obsessing about them opens a massive
can of worms.  Think back to the various incarnations of ASN.1 since
the 1980s, or even the question of what "SNMP" has meant at various
points in time.

Randy