| Number | Files | Title | Authors | Date | More Info | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RFC 3967,BCP 97 | Clarifying when Standards Track Documents may Refer Normatively to Documents at a Lower Level | R. Bush, T. Narten | December 2004 | Updated byRFC 4897,RFC 8067,Errata | Best Current Practice | |
| RFC 4897,BCP 97 | Handling Normative References to Standards-Track Documents | J. Klensin, S. Hartman | June 2007 | UpdatesRFC 3967,Errata | Best Current Practice | |
| RFC 8067,BCP 97 | Updating When Standards Track Documents May Refer Normatively to Documents at a Lower Level | B. Leiba | January 2017 | UpdatesRFC 3967 | Best Current Practice |
IETF procedures generally require that a standards track RFC may not have a normative reference to another standards track document at a lower maturity level or to a non standards track specification (other than specifications from other standards bodies). For example, a standards track document may not have a normative reference to an informational RFC. Exceptions to this rule are sometimes needed as the IETF uses informational RFCs to describe non-IETF standards or IETF-specific modes of use of such standards. This document clarifies and updates the procedure used in these circumstances. This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Request for Comments(RFC) Editor have a long-standing rule that a document at a givenmaturity level cannot be published until all of the documents that itreferences as normative are at that maturity level or higher. Thisrule has sometimes resulted in very long publication delays fordocuments and some claims that it was a major obstruction toadvancing documents in maturity level. The IETF agreed on a way tobypass this rule with RFC 3967. This document describes a simplerprocedure for downward references to Standards-Track and Best CurrentPractice (BCP) documents, namely "note and move on". The procedurein RFC 3967 still applies for downward references to other classes ofdocuments. In both cases, annotations should be added to suchReferences. This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for theInternet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions forimprovements.
RFC 3967 specifies a process for allowing normative references todocuments at lower maturity levels ("downrefs"), which involvescalling out the downref explicitly in the Last Call notice. Thatrequirement has proven to be unnecessarily strict, and this documentupdates RFC 3967, allowing the IESG more flexibility in acceptingdownrefs in Standards Track documents.
For the definition ofStatus,seeRFC 2026.
For the definition ofStream, seeRFC 8729.