Re: [xml2rfc] can xref section= reference an anchor?

[Julian Reschke <[e-mail]>]

On 16.12.2019 18:53, Carsten Bormann wrote:
> On Dec 16, 2019, at 17:47, Robert Moskowitz <[e-mail]> wrote:
>>
>> I see examples of section=5 for RFCs, but for IDs, the section number will tend to be version specific.
>>
>> Is there a way to reference the anchor label for the desired section?
>
> To translate the anchor label into a section number (or a section title), the referencing spec would need access to the referenced spec.  To generate a standalone document, this could be implemented by including the referenced spec into the referencing document, or more reasonably just an abstraction of it that leaves only the information needed for that translation (a “side file” in traditional formatter jargon).
>
> I believe the best way to handle this would be to keep extracted “side files” of this kind for all specs (drafts and RFCs), ready for inclusion just like we include the extracted reference information itself into a referencing spec.  This does not just require changes to xml2rfc and related tools, but also to the infrastructure we use to keep copies of specs and their reference extractions.
> ...

That wouldn't work well for specs that are revised and published in sync
(such as QUIC and http-core).

The simplest possible approach for *that* use case is an extension of
<reference> that provides the location of the XML source; the formatter
can then read the source and derive the section number.

Best regards, Julian