Hi Kent,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

As modules are consumed out of the documents that define them, having the full 
title isn’t an issue if it is not present. The reasoning is that what I expect 
from an implementer/reader is to use the RFC label/section as search entry to 
retrieve that content as needed (check a normative behavior, better digest a 
statement, check a claim, etc.).

There is also an extra “cost” for authors in checking all titles (especially, 
for drafts that changes over time :-(). I expect the same is happening during 
the edit by RFC editor.

At least, I don’t see nothing in the current guidance to say “don’t do that” to 
authors who decide to do so. A recent example I have seen is: 
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-teas-yang-te/. None of the three 
YANG Doctors and two ballots from OPS ADs raised this specific point as a 
concern.

Cheers,
Med (as contributor)

De : Kent Watsen <[email protected]>
Envoyé : mercredi 18 février 2026 16:59
À : BOUCADAIR Mohamed INNOV/NET <[email protected]>
Cc : [email protected]
Objet : Re: [netmod] AUTH48: RFC-to-be 9907 <draft-ietf-netmod-rfc8407bis-28>: 
RFCs without titles


As Shepherd, I'm aware that this item has already been dropped, and so 
responses to your message are no longer needed.  That said, I want to respond 
anyway, in case it's proposed again.

As a contributor, I do not think it is a good idea.  Generally, I want the body 
of the text to state where in the target document each reference occurs, in a 
context-specific manner.  For instance, a YANG "description" may have text 
like: "Do Foo as described in Section A of RFC XXXX or, if Bar, then do Baz as 
described in Section B of RFC XXXX".  The only thing missing is a mapping from 
"RFC XXXX" to its title, for those who haven't memorized every RFC number.  
FWIW, this is the same strategy used in RFCs, where the text in the body of the 
document uses relative references (e.g., <xref section="A" target="RFCXXXX"/>) 
and the Normative/Informative sections contain the mapping from the label 
(e.g., RFCXXXX) to something meaningful.

Kent



On Feb 18, 2026, at 2:38 AM, 
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> wrote:

Hi all,

The document currently under AUTH48 
(https://www.rfc-editor.org/authors/rfc9907.txt) includes the following NEW 
text to address this point discussed with the RFC Editor:

20) <!--[rfced] Would you like to add examples of "reference"
substatements? The RPC and OPS ADs discussed this topic during
IETF 123. The examples would show that the RFC title does not need
to be included. (The exception is in the "revision" statement,
where the title is typically included.) For example:

reference (with section)
  "RFC 8665, Section 5
   RFC 8666, Section 6";

reference (just RFC number)
  "RFC 8665
   RFC 8666";
-->


NEW:
3.9.  References Sections

   …

   Except the "import" and "revision" statements, note that it is
   acceptable to reference RFCs with their labels and without expanding
   their titles.  An example of such use is as follows:

         leaf site-of-origin {
           type rt-types:route-origin;
           description
             "The Site of Origin attribute is encoded as a Route Origin
              Extended Community.  It is meant to uniquely identify the
              set of routes learned from a site via a particular AC and
              is used to prevent routing loops.";
           reference
             "RFC 4364, Section 7";
         }
         leaf ipv6-site-of-origin {
           type rt-types:ipv6-route-origin;
           description
             "The IPv6 Site of Origin attribute is encoded as an IPv6
              Route Origin Extended Community.  It is meant to uniquely
              identify the set of routes learned from a site.";
           reference
             "RFC 5701";
         }


Are there objections from the WG to include that new text?

Cheers,
Med (as editor)

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