Re: [Last-Call] Last Call: BCP 83 PR-Action Against Dan Harkins

[Keith Moore <[e-mail]>]

On 10/2/22 21:04, Brian E Carpenter wrote:

> On 03-Oct-22 13:17, Keith Moore wrote:
>> I would instead say that any group that, whether via the charter or 
>> the chair, is told "you have to do it this way" should be immediately 
>> shut down.
>
> Hang on. There are occasions when the charter is quite restrictive for 
> a good reason connected with the "running code" part of our mantra. 
> For example, I think the original NFS WG was restricted by 
> backwards-compatibility with proprietary NFS. (However, I don't know 
> where I'd look to find the original NFS charter.) In the current DMARC 
> charter it says:
>
> "The working group will seek to preserve interoperability with the
> installed base of DMARC systems, and provide detailed justification
> for any non-interoperability."
>
> I'm sure there are many other examples, as well as quite a lot of 
> charters referring to a personal I-D as a starting point. So while 
> charters cannot preempt the final rough consensus, they can certainly 
> restrict the starting point.

I will concede that there are a few good examples, particularly those 
for which interoperability with a substantial installed base is 
considered important.   But I've seen lots of charters that essentially 
dictate the solution without a good reason that I could see.

(It still troubles me, for example, that it's 2022 and the Internet 
still doesn't have a widely-applicable file system access protocol.)

Keith