The IESG has approved the following document: - 'Shared Use of Experimental TCP Options' (draft-ietf-tcpm-experimental-options-06.txt) as Proposed Standard This document is the product of the TCP Maintenance and Minor Extensions Working Group. The IESG contact persons are Spencer Dawkins and Martin Stiemerling. A URL of this Internet Draft is: http://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-tcpm-experimental-options/ Technical Summary This document describes how TCP option codepoints can support concurrent experiments using a magic number field. It extends the option structure for experimental codepoints (253, 254) with a magic number, which is used to differentiate different experiments. This mechanism avoids the need for a coordinated registry, and is backward-compatible with currently known uses. It is recommended for all new experimental RFCs that require TCP option codepoints. Working Group Summary The document was accepted by the TCPM working group with support from a significant number of participants. It was discussed in several meetings and on the mailing list. Given that the mechanism proposed by the document is technically simple, the TCPM discussion mainly focused on process questions and a clear description of the normative parts of the document. There was only one clarification question during the working group last call. In summary, it is strong consensus in the TCPM working group that the document describes the best solution to deal with shared use of experimental TCP option codepoints. Document Quality Several implementations of experimental protocols have already documented the use of the magic numbers as specified in this document. The document is a short and technically straightforward and does not require extensive technical review. Personnel The document sheperd is Michael Scharf <michael.scharf@alcatel-lucent.com>. The responsible Area Director is Martin Stiemerling <martin.stiemerling@neclab.eu>.
