Of course, the underlying TCP congestion control mechanisms (slow-start, congestion avoidance, ECN, retransmit timers, SACK blocks, initial windows, etc.) are not all contained in a single RFC either. And they are not static, but are in flux. Personally, I would say that this is a sign of a healthy congestion control mechanism, that it changes and is refined as our experience with it grows, and as it is studied in increasing diverse environments (e.g., levels of link bandwidth and of stat mux, application characteristics, types of links, etc.) So my guess is that a TFRC that is completely specified in a single stable RFC is likely to be a sign of a dead congestion control mechanism. Unfortunately for those of us who are trying to wrap up various pieces of old work. - Sally |
