CURRENT_MEETING_REPORT_ Reported by Darren Kinley/CRIM Minutes of the NOC-Tool Catalogue Revisions Working Group (NOCtool2) Agenda The NOCtool2 Working Group met at the 22nd IETF in Santa Fe. The meeting served primarily to report on the revision of the RFC 1147/FYI 2, and again served as a forum for discussion of the ``living documents'' problem. The agenda was as follows, o Working Group Co-Chair shuffling o Current status o NOCtools' resolution of the ``living documents'' problem o Planned wrap up of revision process Discussions Co-Chair Shuffling The replacement of Gary Malkin by Darren Kinley during the month of October was announced. Thanks to Gary for his efforts. Current status Enger, Kinley, and Malkin each fumbled putting things behind schedule. After much whining, pleading, and shaming their lives were spared. Schedules have been revised. Revised Schedules Internet-Draft to be prepared for the month of February, its availability (including TOC) widely announced, late submissions to be included as required, and finally document to be submitted to the RFC editor. The delay from announcement as ID to submission to the RFC editor will depend on the number of late entries received, the feedback from the community, and will be left to the discretion of the RFC editors. ``Living Documents'' Technical and philosophical aspects of this problem were discussed extensively. Everyone agreed that ``high-tech'' solutions were still not available nor would they be in the very near future. The group decided to schedule a BOF on this topic at the upcoming IETF in San Diego. Two sets of mechanisms and procedures to aid in the maintenance and distribution of this document were put forward, improved, and adopted by the group. 1 1. Anonymous FTP retrieval with automated email submission. The official/edited document will be made available via anonymous FTP as well as an automated electronic distribution tool (listserv) as a whole or in pieces. Entries can be submitted via electronic mail and made immediately available in an unofficial/unedited portion of the distribution. An editor will occasionally verify these last entries and include them in the official document. Possible homes might include Merit or Washington University. 2. Usenet news. A news hierarchy similar to this was discussed. alt.noctools.announce (moderated) A small number of entries will be posted daily so that during a month the entire document will be posted once. alt.noctools.wanted (unmoderated) Questions of the nature ``I'm looking for...'' will be posted to this group. alt.noctools.new (unmoderated) New tools can be announced here. A Gateway between this group and the automated email submission address should be put in place. alt.noctools.bugs (unmoderated) Any patchs to tools can be posted here. Hopefully, they will also be sent to the tool creator. alt.noctools.d (unmoderated) General discussion. Resources needed to support some of these functions could be located very near to the FTP retrieval and automated submissions service. Other Items o The majority of cases are handled in current the plan, but what about the small number of sites without even UUCP access? o BOF on ``living documents'' problem. 2 Action Items Robert Enger, Darren Kinley: Contact remaining people with entries, continue to solicit and accept new entries, prepare draft document. Joyce Reynolds: Consider funding for maintenance of ``living documents'' problem vis-a-vis the Internet Society. Darren Kinley, Joyce Reynolds: Compile list where NOCtools catalog availability announcement will get the widest possible distribution. Robert Enger, Darren Kinley, Chris Myers, Mike Patton: Properly define Usenet newsgroups to be created and write charters for these groups as required. Chris Myers: Make a home for anonymous FTP and automated electronic submissions and distribution tool. 3