> The virtues (or lack thereof) of xml2rfc are a separate discussion. The > question isn't how we generate the normative output, but what the normative > output should be.
Seems to me that this discussion has reached the point at which running code is needed in order to get any further. May I suggest that those interested in changing the normative format come up with an example based on a couple of RFCs, one recent and one ancient. For instance, if you believe that an XML format is the right one, present us with an example RFC in normative XML format along with some XSLT transformations that can be used to produce HTML and ASCII text format versions. PDF shouldn't be an issue since it is easy to change just about anything into a PDF file, but it might be useful to document the workflow and toolchain required to go from normative XML to archival PDF/A since it seems sensible maintain archive copies of all RFCs as well as normative. Note that a PDF/A document could contain an appendix with the source code of the normative XML document, thus archiving that as well. If it can be demonstrated that an XML normative format is workable and can be easily transformed into other needed formats using a variety of common tools, then there is some point in extending the discussion to editing and submission formats. I do believe that one can trivially export a normative XML document into formats suitable for viewing in all the contexts discussed in this and previous threads on the topic. It is therefore trivial for the IETF to offer a download tool for every RFC that allows the user to choose a set of formats and receive a package of files in their choice of .ZIP, .7z, .tar.gz and other formats. Each file would have a copy of the specified RFC in the chosen formats such as HTML, HTML with printable CSS, ASCII text, UNICODE text, specified column width text, paginated or unpaginated text with specified page length, PDF, PDF/A, XML, .doc, .docx, .sdw, .odt, etc... If nobody is willing to produce a sample normative XML format RFC, then let's drop the whole topic. --Michael Dillon _______________________________________________ Ietf mailing list Ietf@ietf.org https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf