Thanks for completing this work. I’ve just read the latest version of
draft-ietf-quic-ack-frequency as a part of the WGLC, and also checked
the issues and the diff. Overall, this draft seems a consistent and
complete document that I think will be useful to publish as a RFC.
I have one request:
In reviewing the issues I see the editors decided to not add any
recommendation for how often an ACK needs to be sent. I still think this
is a serious omission that the WG ought to address. In section 8.1, para
2, the text says a “sender **CAN** cause a receiver to send ACKs at
least once per RTT”….(see #168). The editors argued (in #211) that this
document can be impartial on whether this is important, but I think we
do need to review that: People reviewing specifications in the IETF are
often reminded that a protocol ought to provide at least one feedback
packet per RTT to close the control loop when intended for Internet
deployment, yet this document seeks to relax the ACK procedure for QUIC
(which I fully agree with), but does not provide this guidance, which I
would have thought was essential to be published as a PS.
My request is to RECOMMEND at least 1 ACK/RTT when sending data, to
provide prompt feedback and refer to RFC 8961.
RFC 8961 is BCP and says, for instance:
Timer “observations SHOULD be taken and incorporated into the RTO at
least once per RTT or as frequently as data is exchanged in cases where
that happens less frequently than once per RTT.”
Can we please provide this guidance and add a reference to this guidance?
Best wishes,
Gorry
