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

[Julian Reschke <[e-mail]>]

On 16.12.2019 21:26, Paul Kyzivat wrote:
> On 12/16/19 2:02 PM, Julian Reschke wrote:
>> On 16.12.2019 19:26, Paul Kyzivat wrote:
>>> On 12/16/19 1:04 PM, Julian Reschke wrote:
>>>
>>>> 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.
>>>
>>> This will only work when the reference is bound to a single immutable
>>> version of the document. It won't work for a wildcard reference to the
>>> "latest" version.
>>
>> Well, it *does* work for the "latest" version, if you have the URI of
>> the "latest" XML.
>>
>> Believe me, we (the HTTPBIS WG) have been doing this for a decade.
>
> I don't see how you are going to make that work.
>
> Suppose we have draft-foo that contains a reference to section-xyz of
> draft-bar. Now at the time draft-foo-00.xml is submitted the most recent
> version of draft-bar is -00 and in that section-xyz is Section 6. When
> it is posted, draft-foo-00.txt and draft-foo-00.html are generated.
>
> Later, draft-bar-01 is posted in which section-xyz is Section 8.
> Subsequently, what will the reference look like when I view
> draft-foo-00.txt and draft-foo-00.html in a browser? Note that these
> have not been regenerated from the xml since the original submission.

IDs and RFCs, once published, are immutable.

A *published* draft usually should not reference parts of editor's copy
of another draft.

What *does* work (and that's what I was referring to) is having
auto-computed references between drafts that are published in sync, such
as currently the three http-core specs.

Best regards, Julian