draft-mrose-writing-rfcs.txt

                                                                 M. Rose
                                            Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.
                                                       February 28, 2008


               Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML (revised)













































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Abstract

   This memo presents a technique for using XML (Extensible Markup
   Language) as a source format for documents in the Internet-Drafts
   (I-Ds) and Request for Comments (RFC) series.  This memo is an
   upwards-compatible revision to RFC 2629.


Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  Using the DTD to Write I-Ds and RFCs . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     2.1.  XML basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     2.2.  Front matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       2.2.1.  The title Element  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       2.2.2.  The author Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       2.2.3.  The date Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
       2.2.4.  Meta Data Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
       2.2.5.  The abstract Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
       2.2.6.  The note Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
       2.2.7.  Status, Copyright Notice, Table of Contents  . . . . .  9
       2.2.8.  Everything in the Front  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
     2.3.  The Middle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
       2.3.1.  The section Element  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
       2.3.2.  The appendix Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
     2.4.  Back matter  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
       2.4.1.  The references Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
       2.4.2.  Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
       2.4.3.  Copyright Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   3.  Processing the XML Source File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
     3.1.  Editing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
       3.1.1.  Checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
     3.2.  Converting to Text Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
     3.3.  Converting to HTML Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
     3.4.  Searching  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
   Appendix A.  The rfc Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
   Appendix B.  The DTD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
   Appendix C.  Changes from RFC 2629 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
   Appendix D.  Conformance with RFC 2026 or RFC 3667 (Historic)  . . 37
   Appendix E.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
   4.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
   5.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
   Index  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
   Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42







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1.  Introduction

   This memo describes how to write a document for the I-D and RFC
   series using the Extensible Markup Language [1] (XML).  This memo has
   three goals:

   1.  To describe a simple XML Document Type Definition (DTD) that is
       powerful enough to handle the simple formatting requirements of
       RFC-like documents whilst allowing for meaningful markup of
       descriptive qualities.

   2.  To describe software that processes XML source files, including a
       tool that produces documents conforming to RFC 2223 [2], HTML
       format, and so on.

   3.  To provide the proof-of-concept for the first two goals (this
       memo was written using this DTD and produced using that
       software).

   It is beyond the scope of this memo to discuss the political
   ramifications of using XML as a source format for RFC-like documents.
   Rather, it is simply noted that adding minimal markup to plain text:

   o  allows the traditional production of textual RFC-like documents
      using familiar editors;

   o  requires some, albeit minimal, additions to existing software
      environments; and,

   o  permits information to be organized, searched, and retrieved using
      both unstructured and structured mechanisms.




















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2.  Using the DTD to Write I-Ds and RFCs

   We do not provide a formal or comprehensive description of XML.
   Rather, this section discusses just enough XML to use a Document Type
   Declaration (DTD) to write RFC-like documents.

   If you're already familiar with XML, skip to Appendix B to look at
   the DTD.

2.1.  XML basics

   There are very few rules when writing in XML, as the syntax is
   (deceptively) simple.  There are five terms you'll need to know:

   1.  An "element" usually refers to a start tag, an end tag, and all
       the characters in between, e.g., "<example>text and/or nested
       elements</example>".

   2.  An "empty element" combines the start tag and the end tag, e.g.,
       "<empty/>".  For readability, I prefer to write this as "<empty
       />" -- both are legal XML.  You don't find empty elements in
       HTML.

   3.  An "attribute" is part of an element.  If present, they occur in
       the start tag, e.g., "<example name='value'>".  Of course, they
       can also appear in empty elements, e.g., "<empty name='value'
       />".

   4.  An "entity" is a textual macro that starts with "&".  Usually,
       you'll only use them whenever you want to put a "&" or a "<" in
       your text.

   5.  A "token" is a string of characters.  The first character is
       either a letter or an underscore ("_").  Any characters that
       follow are either letters, numbers, an underscore, or a period
       (".").

   First, start your source file with an XML declaration, a reference to
   the DTD, and the rfc element:

       <?xml version='1.0' ?>
       <!DOCTYPE rfc SYSTEM 'rfcXXXX.dtd'>
       <rfc>
           ...
       </rfc>

   Ignore the first two lines -- the declaration and the reference --
   and simply treat them as opaque strings.  Nothing else should be



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   present after the </rfc> tag.

   Second, make sure that all elements are properly matched and nested.
   A properly matched element that starts with "<example>" is eventually
   followed with "</example>".  (Empty elements are always matched.)
   Elements are properly nested when they don't overlap.

   For example,

       <outer>
           ...
           <inner>
               ...
           </inner>
           ...
       </outer>

   is properly nested.

   However,

       <outer>
           ...
           <inner>
               ...
           </outer>
           ...
       </inner>

   overlaps, so the elements aren't properly nested.

   Third, never use "<" or "&" in your text.  Instead, use either "&lt;"
   or "&amp;", respectively.

   Fourth, there are two quoting characters in XML, apostrophe (') and
   quotation (").  Make sure that all attributes values are quoted,
   e.g., "<example name='value'>".  If the value contains one of the
   quoting characters, then use the other to quote the value, e.g.,
   "<example name='"'>", If the value contains both quoting characters,
   then use one of them to quote the value, and replace occurrences of
   that character in the attribute value with either "&apos;"
   (apostrophe) or "&quot;" (quotation), e.g., "<example
   name='"&apos;"'>".

   If you want to put a comment in your source file, here's the syntax:

           <!-- comments can be multiline,
            if you wish -->



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   Finally, XML is case sensitive, which means that "<foo>" is different
   from "<Foo>".

2.2.  Front matter

   Immediately following the <rfc> tag is the front element:

       <?xml version='1.0'?>
       <!DOCTYPE rfc SYSTEM 'rfcXXXX.dtd'>
       <rfc>
           <front>
               <title ...>
               <author ...>
               <author ...>
               <date ...>
               <area ...>
               <workgroup ...>
               <keyword ...>
               <keyword ...>
               <abstract ...>
               <note ...>
           </front>
           ...
       </rfc>

   (Note that in all examples, indentation is used only for expository
   purposes.)

   The front element consists of a title element, one or more author
   elements, a date element, one or more optional area elements, one or
   more optional workgroup elements, one or more optional keyword
   elements, an optional abstract element. and, one or more optional
   note elements.

2.2.1.  The title Element

   The title element identifies the title of the document.  Because the
   title will be used in the headers of the document when formatted
   according to [2], if the title is more than 42 characters, then an
   abbreviation should also be provided, e.g.,

       <title abbrev='Much Ado about Nothing'>
       The IETF's Discussion on "Source Format of RFC Documents"
       </title>







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2.2.2.  The author Element

   Each author element identifies a document author.  Since a document
   may have more than one author, more than one author element may be
   present.  If the author is a person, then three attributes must be
   present in the <author> tag, initials, surname, and fullname, e.g.,

       <author initials='F.J.' surname='Flintstone'
               fullname='Frederick Flintstone'>

   There is also an optional role attribute, which, if present, must
   take the value "editor".

   The author element itself consists of an organization element, and,
   an optional address element.

   The organization element is similar to the title element, in that an
   abbreviation may be paired with a long organization name using the
   abbrev attribute, e.g.,

       <organization abbrev='ISI'>
           USC/Information Sciences Institute
       </organization>

   The address element consists of an optional postal element, an
   optional phone element, an optional facsimile element, an optional
   email element, and, an optional uri element.

   The postal element contains one or more street elements, followed by
   any combination of city, region (state or province), code (zipcode or
   postal code), and country elements, e.g.,

       <postal>
           <street>660 York Street</street>
           <street>M/S 40</street>
           <city>San Francisco</city> <region>CA</region>
           <code>94110</code>
           <country>US</country>
       </postal>

   This flexibility is provided to allow for different national formats
   for postal addresses.  Note however, that although the order of the
   city, region, code, and country elements isn't specified, at most one
   of each may be present.  Regardless, these elements must not be re-
   ordered during processing by an XML application (e.g., display
   applications must preserve the ordering of the information contained
   in these elements).  Finally, the value of the country element should
   be a two-letter code from ISO 3166.



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   The phone, facsimile, email, and uri elements are simple, e.g.,

       <phone>+1 916 555 1234</phone>
       <email>fred@example.com</email>
       <uri>http://example.com/</uri>

2.2.3.  The date Element

   The date element identifies the publication date of the document.  It
   consists of a month and a year, e.g.,

       <date month='February' year='1999' />

   The date element also has an optional day attribute.  (Actually, due
   to popular demand, all three attributes are optional.)

2.2.4.  Meta Data Elements

   The front element may contain meta data -- the content of these
   elements does not appear in printed versions of the document.

   A document has one or more optional area, workgroup, and keyword
   elements, e.g.,

       <area>General</area>
       <workgroup>RFC Beautification Working Group</workgroup>
       <keyword>RFC</keyword>
       <keyword>Request for Comments</keyword>
       <keyword>I-D</keyword>
       <keyword>Internet-Draft</keyword>
       <keyword>XML</keyword>
       <keyword>Extensible Markup Language</keyword>

   The area elements identify a general category for the document (e.g.,
   one of "Applications", "General", "Internet", "Management",
   "Operations", "Routing", "Security", "Transport", or "User"), while
   the workgroup elements identify the IETF working groups that produced
   the document, and the keyword elements identify useful search terms.













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2.2.5.  The abstract Element

   A document may have an abstract element, which contains one or more t
   elements (Section 2.3.1.1).  In general, only a single t element is
   present, e.g.,

       <abstract>
           <t>This memo presents a technique for using XML
           (Extensible Markup Language) as a source format
           for documents in the Internet-Drafts (I-Ds) and
           Request for Comments (RFC) series.</t>
       </abstract>

2.2.6.  The note Element

   A document may have one or more note elements, each of which contains
   one or more t elements (Section 2.3.1.1).  There is a mandatory title
   attribute.  In general, the note element contains text from the IESG,
   e.g.,

       <note title='IESG Note'>
           <t>The IESG has something to say.</t>
       </note>

2.2.7.  Status, Copyright Notice, Table of Contents

   Note that text relating to the memo's status, copyright notice, or
   table of contents is not included in the document's markup -- this is
   automatically inserted by an XML application when it produces either
   a text or HTML version of the document.

2.2.7.1.  Conformance with RFC 3978

   If an Internet-Draft is being produced, then the ipr attribute should
   be present in the "<rfc>" tag at the beginning of the file.  The
   value of the attribute should be one of: "full3978",
   "noModification3978", or "noDerivatives3978".  For the latter two
   options, an additional attribute, iprExtract, will be consulted.  If
   present, its value is an anchor that is used to cross-reference the
   section of the document that may be extracted as-is for separate use.

   Consult [3] for further details.

   If the Internet-Draft is being submitted to an automated process,
   then the docName attribute should be present in the <rfc> tag at the
   beginning of the file.  The value of this attribute contains the
   document (not file) name associated with this Internet-Draft, e.g.,




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       <rfc ipr='full3978' docName='draft-mrose-writing-rfcs-01'>
           ...
       </rfc>

   Finally, an xml:lang attribute may be present to indicate that the
   document is written in some language other than English (for writing
   things other than RFCs).












































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2.2.8.  Everything in the Front

   So, putting it all together, we have, e.g.,

       <front>
           <title>Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML</title>

           <author initials='F.J.' surname='Flintstone'
                   fullname='Frederick Flintstone'>
               <organization>Slate Construction, Inc.</organization>

               <address>
                   <postal>
                       <street>660 York Street</street>
                       <street>M/S 40</street>
                       <city>San Francisco</city> <region>CA</region>
                       <code>94110</code>
                       <country>US</country>
                   </postal>

                   <phone>+1 916 555 1234</phone>
                   <email>fred@example.com</email>
                   <uri>http://example.com/</uri>
               </address>
           </author>

           <date month='February' year='1999' />

           <area>General</area>
           <workgroup>RFC Beautification Working Group</workgroup>
           <keyword>RFC</keyword>
           <keyword>Request for Comments</keyword>
           <keyword>I-D</keyword>
           <keyword>Internet-Draft</keyword>
           <keyword>XML</keyword>
           <keyword>Extensible Markup Language</keyword>
           <abstract>
               <t>This memo presents a technique for using XML
               (Extensible Markup Language) as a source format
               for documents in the Internet-Drafts (I-Ds) and
               Request for Comments (RFC) series.</t>
           </abstract>
       </front>








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2.3.  The Middle

   Note well:  Although this draft refers to the appendix element, the
               text referring to that element is entirely speculative
               (until such time as this advisory is removed).

   The middle element contains all the sections of the document except
   for the bibliography and the boilerplate:

       ...
       </front>
       <middle>
           <section ...>
           <section ...>
           <section ...>
           <appendix ...>
           <appendix ...>
       </middle>
       <back>
       ...

   The middle element consists of one or more section elements,
   optionally followed by one or more appendix elements, optionally
   followed by one or more section elements.

2.3.1.  The section Element

   Each section element contains a section of the document.  There is a
   mandatory attribute, title, that identifies the title of the section.
   There are also two optional attributes, anchor, that is used for
   cross-referencing with the xref element (Section 2.3.1.5), e.g.,

       <section anchor='intro' title='Introduction'>
           ...
       </section>


   and the toc attribute, which is used to indicate whether the section
   should appear in the table of contents.  (The choices are "exclude",
   "include", and "default").











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   The section element is recursive -- each contains any number and
   combination of t, figure, texttable, iref, and section elements,
   e.g.,

       <section title='The Middle'>
           ...
           <section title='The section Element'>
               ...
               <section title='The t Element'>...</section>
               <section title='The list Element'>...</section>
               <section title='The figure Element'>...</section>
               <section title='The texttable Element'>...</section>
               <section title='The xref Element'>...</section>
               <section title='The eref Element'>...</section>
               <section title='The iref Element'>...</section>
               <section title='The cref Element'>...</section>
               <section title='The spanx Element'>...</section>
               <section title='The vspace Element'>...</section>
           </section>
       </section>

   Note that the section element is tail-recursive.

2.3.1.1.  The t Element

   Paragraphs are contained in t elements.  A paragraph can consist of
   text, lists, figures, and other t element-delimited paragraphs, in
   any number or combination.

   If a cross-reference is needed to a section, figure, table, or
   reference, the xref element (Section 2.3.1.5) is used; similarly, if
   an external-reference is needed, the eref element (Section 2.3.1.6)
   is used.  Indexing of text is provided by the the iref element
   (Section 2.3.1.7).

   Note well:  Although RFC2629 allows the figure element to be nested
               within the t element, authors are strongly encouraged to
               avoid this usage -- it is always preferable to place the
               figure element as a direct subordinate of the section
               element.











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2.3.1.2.  The list Element

   The list element contains one or more items.  Each item is a t
   element, allowing for recursion, e.g.,

       <list style='numbers'>
           <t>The first item.</t>
           <t>The second item, which contains two bulleted sub-items:
               <list style='symbols'>
                   <t>The first sub-item.</t>
                   <t>The second sub-item.</t>
               </list>
           </t>
       </list>

   The list element has an optional attribute, style, having the value
   "numbers" (for numeric lists), "letters" (for alphabetic lists),
   "symbols" (for bulleted lists), "hanging" (for hanging lists),
   "format" (for auto-formatted lists), or, "empty" (for indented text).
   If a list element is nested, the default value is taken from its
   closest parent; otherwise, the default value is "empty".

   When nested within a hanging list element, the t element has an
   optional attribute, hangText that specifies the text to be inserted,
   e.g.,

       <list style='hanging'>
           <t hangText="counter:">the "counting designation" is
           rendered
           (e.g., "2.1" or "A.2");</t>

           <t hangText="title:">the title attribute of the
           corresponding element is rendered
           (e.g., "XML Basics");</t>

           <t hangText="none:">no additional designation is rendered;
           or,</t>

           <t hangText="default:">a suitable designation is rendered,
           e.g., "Section 2.1" or
           "&lt;a href='#xml_basics'>XML Basics&lt;/a>"
           (the default).</t>
       </list>








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   The style attribute value for an auto-formatted list starts with the
   seven letters "format ", and is followed by a string which must
   contain exactly one instance of "%d" and "%c".  Hanging text is
   automatically generated for each nested t element, e.g.,

       <list style='format R%d:'>
           <t>Text for R1.</t>

           <t>Text for R2.</t>
       </list>
       ...
       <list style='format Directive %c:'>
           <t>Text for Directive A.</t>

           <t>Text for Directive B.</t>
       </list>
       ...
       <list style='format R%d:'>
           <t>Text for R3.</t>
       </list>

   If the list is auto-formatted, then the optional counter attribute is
   consulted, which controls the numbering.  By default, the value of
   this attribute is the same as the formatting string, e.g.,

       <list style='format R%d:' counter='Requirements'>
           <t>Text for R1.</t>

           <t>Text for R2.</t>
       </list>
       ...
       <list style='format Directive %c:' counter='Directives'>
           <t>Text for Directive A.</t>

           <t>Text for Directive B.</t>
       </list>
       ...
       <list style='format R%d:' counter='Requirements'>
           <t>Text for R3.</t>
       </list>











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   If the style attribute has the value "hanging" or "format", then a
   second, optional, attribute called hangIndent is consulted.  This
   overrides the default indentation used for the text of each t
   element, ensuring that each t element has the same indentation, e.g.,

       <list style='format R%d:' hangIndent='5'>
           <t>Text for R1.</t>

           <t>Text for R2.</t>

           ...

           <t>Text for R12.</t>
       </list>

   The final item will read "R12: Text for R12."

2.3.1.3.  The figure Element

   The figure element groups an optional preamble element, an artwork
   element, and an optional postamble element together.  The figure
   element also has an optional anchor attribute that is used for cross-
   referencing with the xref element (Section 2.3.1.5).  There is also
   an optional title attribute that identifies the title of the figure.

   The preamble and postamble elements, if present, are simply text.  If
   a cross-reference is needed to a section, figure, table, or
   reference, the xref element (Section 2.3.1.5) is used; similarly, if
   an external-reference is needed, the eref element (Section 2.3.1.6)
   is used.  Indexing of text is provided by the the iref element
   (Section 2.3.1.7).

   The artwork element, which must be present, contains "ASCII artwork".
   Unlike text contained in the t, preamble, or postamble elements, both
   horizontal and vertical whitespace is significant in the artwork
   element.















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   So, putting it all together, we have, e.g.,

       <figure anchor='figure_example'>
           <preamble>So,
           putting it all together, we have, e.g.,</preamble>
           <artwork>
               ascii artwork goes here...

               be sure to use "&lt;" or "&amp;" instead of "<" and "&",
               respectively!
           </artwork>
           <postamble>which is a very simple example.</postamble>
       </figure>

   which is a very simple example.

   If you have artwork with a lot of "<" characters, then there's an XML
   trick you can use:

       <figure>
           <preamble>If you have artwork with a lot of "&lt;"
           characters, then there's an XML trick you can
           use:</preamble>
           <artwork><![CDATA[
               ascii artwork goes here...

               just don't use "]]" in your artwork!
           ]]></artwork>
           <postamble>The "&lt;![CDATA[ ... ]]>" construct is called
           a CDATA block -- everything between the innermost brackets
           is left alone by the XML application.</postamble>
       </figure>

   The <![CDATA[ ... ]]> construct is called a CDATA block -- everything
   between the innermost brackets is left alone by the XML application.

   Because the figure element represents a logical grouping of text and
   artwork, an XML application producing a text version of the document
   should attempt to keep these elements on the same page.  Because RFC
   2223 [2] allows no more than 69 characters by 49 lines of content on
   each page, XML applications should be prepared to prematurely
   introduce page breaks to allow for better visual grouping.

   Finally, the artwork element has two optional attributes: name and
   type.  The former is used to suggest a filename to use when storing
   the content of the artwork element, whilst the latter contains a
   suggestive data-typing for the content.




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2.3.1.4.  The texttable Element

   The texttable element groups an optional preamble element, one or
   more ttcol elements, zero or more c elements, and an optional
   postamble element together.  The texttable element also has an
   optional anchor attribute that is used for cross-referencing with the
   xref element (Section 2.3.1.5).  There is also an optional title
   attribute that identifies the title of the table.

   The preamble and postamble elements have already been described in
   Section 2.3.1.3.

   The ttcol element, of which at least one must be present, defines a
   column header for the table, along with the desired width and
   alignment for the column:

   o  the optional width attribute, if present, indicates the desired
      amount of horizontal space taken by the column, and is expressed
      as a percentage (e.g., "30%"), and the remaining space is divided
      equally among all columns for which the width is unspecified; and,

   o  the optional align attribute, if present indicates whether the
      column should be justified to the "left", "center", or "right".

   The c element, is present for each cell in the table, and contains
   text along with the usual cross-reference and indexing elements.

   So, putting it all together, we have, e.g.,

       <texttable anchor='table_example'>
           <preamble>So,
           putting it all together, we have, e.g.,</preamble>
           <ttcol align='center'>ttcol #1</ttcol>
           <ttcol align='center'>ttcol #2</ttcol>
           <c>c #1</c>
           <c>c #2</c>
           <c>c #3</c>
           <c>c #4</c>
           <c>c #5</c>
           <c>c #6</c>
           <postamble>which is a very simple example.</postamble>
       </texttable>

   which is a very simple example.







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                So, putting it all together, we have, e.g.,

                          +----------+----------+
                          | ttcol #1 | ttcol #2 |
                          +----------+----------+
                          |   c #1   |   c #2   |
                          |          |          |
                          |   c #3   |   c #4   |
                          |          |          |
                          |   c #5   |   c #6   |
                          +----------+----------+

                      which is a very simple example.

   As with the figure element, the texttable element represents a
   logical grouping of text, hence an XML application producing a text
   version of the document should attempt to keep these elements on the
   same page.

2.3.1.5.  The xref Element

   The xref element is used to cross-reference sections, figures,
   tables, and references.  The mandatory target attribute is used to
   link back to the anchor attribute of the section, figure, and
   reference elements.  The value of the anchor and target attributes
   should be formatted according to the token syntax in Section 2.1.

   If used as an empty element, e.g.,

       according to the token syntax in <xref target='xml_basics' />.

   then the XML application inserts an appropriate phrase during
   processing.

   What's "appropriate" depends on the value of the optional format
   attribute.  There are four possible values:

   counter:  the "counting designation" is rendered (e.g., "2.1" or
      "A.2");

   title:  the title attribute of the corresponding element is rendered
      (e.g., "XML Basics");

   none:  no additional designation is rendered; or,







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   default:  a suitable designation is rendered, e.g., "Section 2.1" or
      "<a href='#xml_basics'>XML Basics</a>" (the default).

   If used with content, e.g.,

       conforming to <xref target='RFC2223'>RFC 2223</xref>.

   then the XML application inserts an appropriate designation during
   processing, such as "RFC 2223[2]" or "<a href='#refs.RFC2223'>RFC
   2223</a>".  Although the XML application decides what "an appropriate
   designation" might be, its choice is consistent throughout the
   processing of the document.

2.3.1.6.  The eref Element

   The eref element is used to reference external documents.  The
   mandatory target attribute is a URI [6], e.g.,

       <eref target='http://www.ibiblio.org/xml/'>Cafe con Leche</eref>

   Note that while the target attribute is always present, the eref
   element may be empty, e.g.,

       <eref target='http://example.com/' />

   and the XML application inserts an appropriate designation during
   processing such as "[9]" or "<a
   href='http://example.com/'>http://example.com/</a>".

2.3.1.7.  The iref Element

   The iref element is used to add information to an index, typically
   rendered at the end of the document.  The mandatory item attribute is
   the primary key the information is stored under, whilst the optional
   subitem attribute is the secondary key, e.g.,

       <iref item='indexing' subitem='how to' />

   The optional primary attribute can be used to indicate that this
   particular indexing entry should be considered "primary".

   Finally, note that the iref element is always empty -- it never
   contains any text.

2.3.1.8.  The cref Element

   The cref element is used to add commentary information to a draft
   being written, typically rendered at the end of the document.  The



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   element's character data contains the comment, and the optional
   source attribute can be used for attribute.

   One or more processing directives are used to indicate whether the
   commentary information should be rendered, and if so, whether it
   should be rendered inline or in a separate section at the end of the
   document.

2.3.1.9.  The spanx Element

   The spanx element, which may occur only inside the t element, is used
   by the author to provide formatting guidance to the XML application.
   There is an attribute, style, that indicates how the text inside the
   element should be rendered.  (Note that leading and trailing
   whitespace is significant.)

   At this time, the list of possible values for the style isn't
   enumerated, but implementations should, at a minimum, support:

         emph:  indicates emphasis;

       strong:  indicates stronger emphasis; and,

         verb:  indicates sample input for programs.

2.3.1.10.  The vspace Element

   The vspace element, which may occur only inside the t element, is
   used by the author to provide formatting guidance to the XML
   application.  There is an attribute, blankLines, that indicates the
   number of blank lines that should be inserted.  A physical linebreak
   is specified by using the default value, "0".

   In addition, the vspace element can be used to force a new physical
   paragraph within a list item, e.g.,

       <list style='numbers'>
           <t>This is list item.
              <vspace blankLines='1' />
              This is part of the same list item,
              although when displayed, it appears
              as a separate physical paragraph.</t>
       </list>

   An XML application producing a text version of the document should
   exercise care when encountering a value for blankLines that causes a
   pagebreak -- in particular, if a vspace element causes a pagebreak,
   then no further blank lines should be inserted.  This allows authors



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   to "force" a pagebreak by using an arbitrarily large value, e.g.,
   "blankLines='100'".

   Finally, note that the vspace element is always empty -- it never
   contains any text.

2.3.2.  The appendix Element

   The appendix element is identical to the the section element
   (Section 2.3.1).  It has the same attributes (the mandatory title and
   the optional anchor).

   As with the section element, it is tail-recursive -- each appendix
   element contains any number and combination of t, figure, texttable,
   iref, and appendix elements.

2.4.  Back matter

   Finally, the back element is used for references:

           ...
           </middle>
           <back>
               <references>
                   <reference ...>
                   <reference ...>
               </references>
               <section ...>
               <section ...>
           </back>
       </rfc>

   The back element consists of zero or more references elements, and,
   one or more optional section elements.  The back element itself is
   optional, if your document doesn't have any references or appendices,
   you don't have to include it.

2.4.1.  The references Element

   The references element contains the document's bibliography.  The
   optional title attribute defaults to "References", if not present.
   This element contains one or more reference elements.

   Each reference element contains a front element, one or more optional
   seriesInfo elements, one or more optional format elements, and one or
   more optional annotation elements.

   We've already discussed the front element back in Section 2.2.



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   The seriesInfo element has two attributes, name and value that
   identify the document series and series entry, respectively.

   The reference element has an optional anchor attribute that is used
   for cross-referencing with the xref element (Section 2.3.1.5), e.g.,

       <reference anchor='RFC2200'>
           <front>
               <title>Internet Official Protocol Standards</title>
               <author initials='J.' surname='Postel'
                       fullname='Jon Postel'>
                   <organization abbrev='ISI'>
                   USC/Information Sciences Institute
                   </organization>
               </author>

               <date month='June' year='1997' />
           </front>
           <seriesInfo name='RFC' value='2200' />
           <seriesInfo name='STD' value='1' />
           <format type='TXT' octets='94506'
                   target='ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2200.txt' />
       </reference>

   The format element has a mandatory type attribute (typically having
   the value "TXT"), and two optional elements

   o  octets, which indicates the size in octets of the formatted
      document; and,

   o  target, which is an external to the formatted document.

   The reference element also has an optional target attribute that is
   used for external references (c.f., Section 2.3.1.6).  The XML
   application, if producing an HTML version of the document will use
   the target attribute accordingly; however, if the name attribute of
   the seriesInfo element has the value "RFC", then the XML application
   should automatically provide an appropriate default for the target
   attribute (e.g., "http://example.com/in-notes/rfc2200.txt").

   Finally, the annotation element may be used to annotate a citation.
   Zero or more annotations may be present, and each contains text along
   with the usual cross-reference and indexing elements.

2.4.2.  Appendices

   To include appendices after the bibliography, simply add more section
   elements.



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2.4.3.  Copyright Status

   The copyright status for the document is not included in the
   document's markup -- this is automatically inserted by an XML
   application that produces either a text or HTML version of the
   document.













































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3.  Processing the XML Source File

   This section concerns itself with applications that operate on an XML
   source file.  A lot of XML tools are available, as are many lists of
   XML resources, e.g., Cafe con Leche [9].

   There are two kinds of XML tools: validating and non-validating.
   Both check that the source file conforms to the rules given in
   Section 2.1.  However, in addition to making sure that the source
   file is well-formed, a validating tool also reads the DTD referenced
   by the source file to make sure that they match.  There are a number
   of both validating and non-validating tools available.

3.1.  Editing

   There are several XML editors available.  Ideally, you want an editor
   that validates.  This has two advantages:

   o  the editor provides guidance in fleshing-out the document
      structure; and,

   o  the editor validates that the source file matches the rules in the
      DTD.

   There are three major modes in Emacs that support XML: nxml [10],
   tdtd [11], and psgml [12].  The author uses nxml mode, which has a
   built in XML validator.  The psgml mode allows you to validate the
   source file (by calling an external program).  If you visit the
   source file in Emacs and the major mode isn't "SGML" or "XML", then
   usually all it takes is adding these lines to your ".emacs" file:

       (setq auto-mode-alist
             (cons (cons "\\.xml$" 'sgml-mode) auto-mode-alist))

   and then restarting Emacs.  If this doesn't work, try one of the
   sources above.

   The author uses both sgml-mode in Emacs, and a commercial validating
   editor, XML Spy [13], when editing source files.

3.1.1.  Checking

   If your editor doesn't validate, then you should run a program to
   validate the source file.

   The author uses the AlphaWorks XML parser [14] for this purpose.  It
   requires that your system have a Java virtual machine.  In addition
   to Java, there are validating parsers written in C, Perl, Python, and



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   Tcl.

3.2.  Converting to Text Format

   The author has written the xml2rfc tool [15], which reads the source
   file and produces both text, HTML, and nroff versions of the
   document.  (This memo was produced using the xml2rfc tool.)  The
   xml2rfc tool doesn't validate; however, a web-based service is also
   available at the same location, which runs a validator prior to
   invoking the tool.

3.3.  Converting to HTML Format

   Extensible Style Language [7] (XSLT) is used to describe
   transformations from the source file into some other structured file.
   So, you can use an XSLT-capable formatter to convert an XML source
   file to HTML.

   Julian Reschke has written an XSLT file [16] for the format described
   in this memo.  It requires one of the MSXML, Saxon, or Xalan
   extensions to XSLT.  For example, by including the line:

   <?xml-stylesheet type='text/xsl'
                href='http://xml.resource.org/authoring/rfc2629.xslt' ?>

   after the XML declaration in your source file, IE6 will render the
   file as HTML.

3.4.  Searching

   As with text editors, any text-oriented search tool (e.g., grep) can
   be used on the source file.  However, there are search tools
   available that understand structured source.

   The author uses sgrep version 1.9 [17] for this purpose, e.g.

       sgrep -g xml 'ELEMENTS("title") not in ELEMENTS("back")' \
           writing-rfcs.xml

   which extracts the title element from the source file.











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Appendix A.  The rfc Element

   The <rfc> tag at the beginning of the file, with only an ipr
   attribute (Section 2.2.7.1), produces an Internet-Draft.  However,
   when other attributes are added to this tag by the RFC editor, an RFC
   is produced, e.g.,

       <rfc number='2200'
            obsoletes='2000, 1920, 1880, 1800, ...'
            category='std'
            seriesNo='1'>

   At a minimum, the number attribute should be present.

   The other attributes are:

   o  obsoletes, having a comma-separated list of RFC numbers, that the
      document obsoletes;

   o  updates, having a comma-separated list of RFC numbers, that the
      document updates;

   o  category, having one of these values:

      1.  "std", for a Standards-Track document;

      2.  "bcp", for a Best Current Practices document;

      3.  "exp", for an Experimental Protocol document;

      4.  "historic", for a historic document; or,

      5.  "info", the default, for an Informational document.

   o  seriesNo, having the corresponding number in the STD ("std"), BCP
      ("bcp"), or FYI ("info") series.

   Finally, a special entity, "&rfc.number;", is available.  Authors
   preparing an RFC should use this entity whenever they want to
   reference the number of the RFC within the document itself.  In
   printed versions of the document, the appropriate substitution (or
   "XXXX") will occur.









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Appendix B.  The DTD

<!--
  revised DTD for the RFC document series, draft of 2008-02-01
  -->


<!--
  Typical invocation:
      <!DOCTYPE rfc PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD RFC 2629//EN"
                "http://xml.resource.org/authoring/rfc2629.dtd" [
        ... dtd subset ...
      ]>
    or
      <!DOCTYPE rfc SYSTEM "rfc2629.dtd" [
        ... dtd subset ...
      ]>
  -->


<!--
  Contents

    Character entities

    DTD data types

    The top-level

    Front matter

    The Body

    Back matter
  -->


<!--
  Character entities
  -->


<!ENTITY % rfc2629-xhtml
         PUBLIC "-//IETF//ENTITIES XHTML subset for RFC 2629//EN"
                "rfc2629-xhtml.ent">
%rfc2629-xhtml;

<!ENTITY % rfc2629-other



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         PUBLIC "-//IETF//ENTITIES Other for RFC 2629//EN"
                "rfc2629-other.ent">
%rfc2629-other;


<!--
  DTD data types:

        entity        description
        ======        ===============================================
        NUMBER        [0-9]+
        NUMBERS       a comma-separated list of NUMBER

        DAY           the day of the month, e.g., "1"
        MONTH         the month of the year, e.g., "January"
        YEAR          a four-digit year, e.g., "1999"

        URI           e.g., "http://invisible.net/"

        ATEXT/CTEXT   printable ASCII text (no line-terminators)

        TEXT          character data
  -->


<!ENTITY % NUMBER     "CDATA">
<!ENTITY % NUMBERS    "CDATA">

<!ENTITY % DAY        "CDATA">
<!ENTITY % MONTH      "CDATA">
<!ENTITY % YEAR       "CDATA">

<!ENTITY % URI        "CDATA">

<!ENTITY % ATEXT      "CDATA">
<!ENTITY % CTEXT      "#PCDATA">

<!ENTITY % TEXT       "#PCDATA">

<!ENTITY   rfc.number "XXXX">


<!--
  The top-level
  -->


<!--



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  attributes for the "rfc" element are supplied by the RFC
  editor. when preparing drafts, authors should leave them blank.

  the "seriesNo" attribute is used if the category is, e.g., BCP.
  -->
<!ELEMENT rfc         (front,middle,back?)>
<!ATTLIST rfc
          number      %NUMBER;           #IMPLIED
          obsoletes   %NUMBERS;          ""
          updates     %NUMBERS;          ""
          category    (std|bcp|info|exp|historic)
                                         #IMPLIED
          seriesNo    %NUMBER;           #IMPLIED
          ipr         (full2026|noDerivativeWorks2026|none
                      |full3667|noModification3667|noDerivatives3667
                      |full3978|noModification3978|noDerivatives3978)
                                         #IMPLIED
          iprExtract  IDREF              #IMPLIED
          submissionType
                      (IETF|independent) "IETF"
          docName     %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED
          xml:lang    %ATEXT;            "en">


<!--
  Front matter
  -->


<!ELEMENT front       (title,author+,date,area*,workgroup*,keyword*,
                       abstract?,note*)>

<!-- the "abbrev" attribute is used for headers, etc. -->
<!ELEMENT title       (%CTEXT;)>
<!ATTLIST title
          abbrev      %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED>

<!ELEMENT author      (organization,address?)>
<!ATTLIST author
          initials    %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED
          surname     %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED
          fullname    %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED
          role        (editor)           #IMPLIED>

<!ELEMENT organization
                      (%CTEXT;)>
<!ATTLIST organization
          abbrev      %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED>



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<!ELEMENT address     (postal?,phone?,facsimile?,email?,uri?)>

<!-- this content model should be more strict:
     at most one of each the city, region, code, and country
     elements may be present -->
<!ELEMENT postal      (street+,(city|region|code|country)*)>
<!ELEMENT street      (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT city        (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT region      (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT code        (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT country     (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT phone       (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT facsimile   (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT email       (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT uri         (%CTEXT;)>

<!ELEMENT date        EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST date
          day         %DAY;              #IMPLIED
          month       %MONTH;            #IMPLIED
          year        %YEAR;             #IMPLIED>

<!-- meta-data... -->
<!ELEMENT area        (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT workgroup   (%CTEXT;)>
<!ELEMENT keyword     (%CTEXT;)>

<!ELEMENT abstract    (t)+>
<!ELEMENT note        (t)+>
<!ATTLIST note
          title       %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED>


<!--
  The body
  -->


<!-- later on, may be (section+,appendix*,section*) -->
<!ELEMENT middle      (section+)>

<!ELEMENT section     ((t|figure|texttable|iref)*,section*)>
<!ATTLIST section
          anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
          title       %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED
          toc         (include|exclude|default)
                                         "default">




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<!--
<!ELEMENT appendix    ((t|figure|texttable|iref)*,appendix*)>
<!ATTLIST appendix
          anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
          title       %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED
          toc         (include|exclude|default)
                                         "default">
  -->

<!-- use of <figure/> is deprecated... -->
<!ELEMENT t      (%TEXT;|list|figure|xref|eref|iref|cref|spanx|vspace)*>
<!ATTLIST t
          anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
          hangText    %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED>

<!-- the value of the style attribute is inherited from the closest
     parent -->
<!ELEMENT list        (t+)>
<!ATTLIST list
          style       %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED
          hangIndent  %NUMBER;           #IMPLIED
          counter     %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED>

<!ELEMENT xref        (%CTEXT;)>
<!ATTLIST xref
          target      IDREF              #REQUIRED
          pageno      (true|false)       "false"
          format      (counter|title|none|default)
                                         "default">

<!ELEMENT eref        (%CTEXT;)>
<!ATTLIST eref
          target      %URI;              #REQUIRED>

<!ELEMENT iref        EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST iref
          item        %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED
          subitem     %ATEXT;            ""
          primary    (true|false)       "false">

<!ELEMENT cref        (%CTEXT;)>
<!ATTLIST cref
          anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
          source      %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED>

<!ELEMENT spanx       (%CTEXT;)>
<!ATTLIST spanx
          xml:space   (default|preserve) "preserve"



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          style       %ATEXT;            "emph">

<!ELEMENT vspace      EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST vspace
          blankLines  %NUMBER;           "0">

<!ELEMENT figure      (iref*,preamble?,artwork,postamble?)>
<!ATTLIST figure
          anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
          title       %ATEXT;            ""
          suppress-title (true|false)    "false"
          src         %URI;              #IMPLIED
          align       (left|center|right) "left"
          alt         %ATEXT;            ""
          width       %ATEXT;            ""
          height      %ATEXT;            "">

<!ELEMENT preamble    (%TEXT;|xref|eref|iref|cref|spanx)*>
<!ELEMENT artwork     (%TEXT;)*>
<!ATTLIST artwork
          xml:space   (default|preserve) "preserve"
          name        %ATEXT;            ""
          type        %ATEXT;            ""
          src         %URI;              #IMPLIED
          align       (left|center|right) "left"
          alt         %ATEXT;            ""
          width       %ATEXT;            ""
          height      %ATEXT;            "">

<!ELEMENT postamble   (%TEXT;|xref|eref|iref|cref|spanx)*>

<!ELEMENT texttable   (preamble?,ttcol+,c*,postamble?)>
<!ATTLIST texttable
          anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
          title       %ATEXT;            ""
          suppress-title (true|false)    "false"
          align       (left|center|right) "center"
          style       (all|none|headers|full) "full">
<!ELEMENT ttcol       (%CTEXT;)>
<!ATTLIST ttcol
          width       %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED
          align       (left|center|right) "left">
<!ELEMENT c           (%TEXT;|xref|eref|iref|cref|spanx)*>


<!--
  Back matter
  -->



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<!-- sections, if present, are appendices -->
<!ELEMENT back        (references*,section*)>

<!ELEMENT references  (reference+)>
<!ATTLIST references
          title       %ATEXT;            "References">
<!ELEMENT reference   (front,seriesInfo*,format*,annotation*)>
<!ATTLIST reference
          anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
          target      %URI;              #IMPLIED>
<!ELEMENT seriesInfo  EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST seriesInfo
          name        %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED
          value       %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT format      EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST format
          target      %URI;              #IMPLIED
          type        %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED
          octets      %NUMBER;           #IMPLIED>
<!ELEMENT annotation  (%TEXT;|xref|eref|iref|cref|spanx)*>































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Appendix C.  Changes from RFC 2629

   The following changes were made from the format originally defined in
   RFC 2629 [8]:

   o  New elements:

      *  spanx

      *  texttable, ttcol, and c

      *  annotation

      *  cref

   o  New choices for enumerated attributes:

      rfc ipr:   "full3978", "noModification3978", and
         "noDerivatives3978"

      list style:   "letters"

      list style:   formatted (starts with "format")

   o  Previously mandatory attributes, now optional:

      date:   month, year

   o  New, optional attributes:

               rfc:   xml:lang, iprextract

            author:   role

            section:   toc

            list:   hangIndent (when "hanging" or formatted)

            list:   counter (when formatted)

          figure:   suppress-title

         artwork:   name, type

      references:   title






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            xref:   format

            iref:   primary

   o  Content model changes:

         section:  is now tail-recursive

      references:  may occur more than once in the back element (e.g.,
                   for normative and non-normative references)

          format:  may occur zero or more times in the reference element

          figure:  should not appear within a t element

            iref:  may appear directly within section and figure
                   elements


































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Appendix D.  Conformance with RFC 2026 or RFC 3667 (Historic)

   If an Internet-Draft is being produced in conformance with RFC 2026
   or RFC 3667, then the ipr attribute should be present in the "<rfc>"
   tag at the beginning of the file, and the value of the attribute
   should be one of:

   full2026:  indicating that the document is in full conformance with
      all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026;

   noDerivativeWorks2026:  indicating that the document is in full
      conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026
      except that the right to produce derivative works is not granted

   none:  indicating that the document is NOT offered in accordance with
      Section 10 of RFC 2026, and the author does not provide the IETF
      with any rights other than to publish as an Internet-Draft;

   full3667:  indicating that the document conforms with Section 5.1 of
      RFC 3667;

   noModification3667:  indicating that the document conforms with
      Sections 5.1 and 5.2(a) of RFC 3667; or,

   noDerivatives3667:  indicating that the document conforms with
      Sections 5.1 and 5.2(b) of RFC 3667.

   In the "none" case, a copyright notice will not be automatically
   inserted during processing by an XML application.

   Consult [4] and [5] for further details.




















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Appendix E.  Acknowledgements

   The author gratefully acknowledges the contributions of: Alan
   Barrett, Steven M. Bellovin, Scott Brim, Brad Burdick, Brian
   Carpenter, Steve Deering, Patrik Faltstrom, Jim Gettys, Charles
   Levert, Henrik Levkowetz, Carl Malamud, Chris Newman, Julian Reschke,
   Kurt Starsinic, and, Frank Strauss.












































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                Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML (revised)  February 2008


4.  Security Considerations

   According to [2], your document should contain a section near the end
   that discusses the security considerations of the protocol or
   procedures that are the main topic of your document, e.g.,

       <middle>
           ...
           <section title='Security Considerations'>
               <t>According to <xref target='RFC2223' />,
               your document should contain a section near the end
               that discusses the security considerations of the
               protocol or procedures that are the main topic of your
               document.</t>
           </section>
       </middle>

   The name attribute of the artwork element allows an author to suggest
   a filename to use when storing the element's content.  Any software
   processing this attribute must ensure that if it uses this filename
   that its contents will not be stored or interpreted, without the user
   explicitly initiating that action.  Accordingly, implementors must be
   aware to the potential hazards on their target systems.




























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5.  References

   [1]  Paoli, J., Maler, E., Bray, T., and C. Sperberg-McQueen,
        "Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Second Edition)", World
        Wide Web Consortium FirstEdition REC-xml-20001006, October 2000,
        <http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xml-20001006>.

   [2]  Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, "Instructions to RFC Authors",
        RFC 2223, October 1997.

   [3]  Bradner, S., "IETF Rights in Contributions", BCP 78, RFC 3978,
        March 2005.

   [4]  Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3",
        BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.

   [5]  Bradner, S., "IETF Rights in Contributions", RFC 3667,
        February 2004.

   [6]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
        Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 2396,
        August 1998.

   [7]  Clark, J., "XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.0", World Wide
        Web Consortium Recommendation REC-xslt-19991116, November 1999,
        <http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xslt-19991116>.

   [8]  Rose, M., "Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML", RFC 2629,
        June 1999.

   [9]   <http://www.ibiblio.org/xml/>

   [10]  <http://www.thaiopensource.com/download/>

   [11]  <http://www.menteith.com/tdtd/>

   [12]  <http://www.lysator.liu.se/projects/about_psgml.html>

   [13]  <http://www.xmlspy.com/>

   [14]  <http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/xml>

   [15]  <http://xml.resource.org/>

   [16]  <http://xml.resource.org/authoring/rfc2629.xslt>

   [17]  <http://www.cs.Helsinki.FI/u/jjaakkol/sgrep.html>




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Index

   I
      indexing
         how to  20














































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Author's Address

   Marshall T. Rose
   Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.
   POB 255268
   Sacramento, CA  95865-5268
   US

   Phone: +1 916 483 8878
   Email: mrose@dbc.mtview.ca.us









































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