Protocol Action: Telnet Environment Option to Proposed Standard

[IESG Secretary <[e-mail]>]

The IESG has approved the Internet-Draft "Telnet Environment Option"
<draft-ietf-telnet-envmnt-option-03.txt> as a Proposed Standard. This
document is the product of the TELNET Working Group. The IESG contact
persons are John Klensin and Erik Huizer.


Technical Summary

   This document specifies a mechanism for passing environment
   information between a telnet client and server.  Use of this
   mechanism enables a telnet user to propagate configuration
   information to a remote host when connecting.

   The environment option provides a general mechanism for passing
   data, which in addition to the aforementioned convenience, is
   intended to stave off an explosion of options, each passing a
   specific piece of information.

Working Group Summary

    The environment option was originally described in RFC 1408,
    a Proposed Standard.  An error was found in that document in
    which some implementations had followed the document and
    others had followed an initial implementation.  After
    discussion within the WG and with the area directors, the WG
    concluded that the best long-term strategy was to define a
    new, unambiguous, option (replacing the one in RFC 1408).  A
    transition strategy from both interpretations of RFC 1408 is
    provided in a companion informational RFC.

    This strategy also eliminates some other historical problems
    with RFC 1408 and generally cleans things up.


Protocol Quality

    The specification, and the associated transition plan, have
    been reviewed for IESG by John Klensin.  They appear to
    provide a satisfactory solution to the problem of
    negotiating multiple small options discussed above.

    One implementation is available from Dave Borman on a
    limited basis; general release is planned for Real Soon Now.