[PWE3] fc-encap draft: Forthcoming reference changes

[<[e-mail]>]

This is a heads-up that the editing changes needed to get draft-ietf-pwe3-fc-encap
published are going to be a little more involved than I've lead the WG to expect
in the past.

A reminder of the situation: The Fibre Channel pseudowire (FC PW) is specified by
a pair of related specifications, the IETF fc-encap draft, and an FC-BB-* spec from
INCITS T11 (the Fibre Channel standards body).  When we got the fc-encap draft
finished, we found ourselves badly out of sync with T11 - the draft contains a
normative reference to [FC-BB-6] which will not be published as a standard for a
while to come (2013, maybe).  As a result, the fc-encap draft has been stuck in
reference wait at the RFC Editor (all other editing is done) for most of a year.

In order to deal with this situation, T11 has prepared a new standard that contains
their portion of the FC PW spec, FC-BB-5 Amendment 1 [FC-BB-5/AM1].  That standard
has now cleared its final technical approval stage and can be normatively referenced
(will be actually published in the next few months, but all the stages from here are
entirely procedural).  The original plan was to simply change the normative [FC-BB-6]
reference in the fc-encap draft to [FC-BB-5/AM1], but ...

FC-BB-6 is a large specification that includes other FC encapsulations in addition
to the FC-PW.  In contrast, FC-BB-5 Amendment 1 has been cut down to just the FC PW
material.  In looking at the fc-encap draft, I've discovered that FC-BB-6 is cited
both normatively and informatively in the text - the normative citations are for
the T11 portion of the FC PW, whereas the informative citations are for other FC
encapsulations (e.g., FCIP).  Therefore what I intend to do is:
- Move the existing [FC-BB-6] normative reference to an informative "work
	in progress" reference.
- Add a new normative reference to [FC-BB-5/AM1]
- Examine every current citation of [FC-BB-6] to determine whether it is
	normative for the FC PW (and needs to be changed to [FC-BB-5/AM1]
	vs. informative for other encapsulations (and needs to remain as a
	citation of [FC-BB-6].
The resulting editing instructions will take a bit of time to prepare, but should
go to the RFC Editor sometime this week.

Thanks,
--David (as one of the editors of the fc-encap draft, and T11's liaison to IETF).
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David L. Black, Distinguished Engineer
EMC Corporation, 176 South St., Hopkinton, MA  01748
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[e-mail]        Mobile: [phone]
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