Subject: End-game progress

From: Tim Bray <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 09:18:31 -0800

This is on behalf of Paul and myself as co-chairs.

Greetings again. The end is in sight. As Robert posted earlier, the -06 
draft is now out, but not yet posted to this list by the IETF. However 
we expect that to happen today (it's already in the Internet Draft 
archive).

As he also pointed out, there was some divergence between the editor's 
interpretation of the last round of debate the chairs' view of what was 
WG consensus. This happens in any standards body; at least in the IETF, 
it also gets fixed.

[Tim's take: I really do think that Rob and Mark mis-read the WG.  
Having said that, and having done a careful read on the draft, I don't 
think the difference is of any real significance.  If I'd built 
software to process -05, adapting it for -06 would be like ten minutes' 
work; and I can't imagine any features that could be built for one 
rather than for the other.  On the other hand, if a substantial number 
of WG members say "No, put it back" (as Graham already has) and almost 
nobody says "Yes, ship it", then we'll put it back.]

So, after you have read the text in the current draft, we want to hear 
from the WG as to whether or not the draft has rough consensus support 
and, if not, how to fix it. One week should be sufficient to determine 
this.

Simultaneously with this, we want to hear any editorial changes for in 
the draft. That should also come within a week.  When suggesting 
editorial changes, it's helpful to say so, maybe even in the Subject 
line.

Please note that we are not asking for any design changes at this 
point. If there is something that is technically broken, bring it up; 
if there is something that works but you would prefer something 
different, don't bring it up. If you're not sure which side your 
thought falls on, send a note to Paul and I and we'll help.

The plan is that, in about a week, Robert and Mark will rev the 
document with any changes from the above and turn in -07. At that 
point, we'll ask Scott Hollenbeck to consider this for IETF-wide last 
call. He will then read the -07 draft. If it seems OK to him, he'll do 
the paperwork with the IETF; if not, he'll come back to us with his 
comments.

Forward motion happens!