At 9:54 AM +0300 7/11/05, john.loughney@xxxxxxxxx wrote: >Hi, > >I was wondering if someone could help me out on this one. I was doing a bit >of analysis on the current RFC list, and noticed that some Draft Standard >documents are obsoleted. For example: > > 954 NICNAME/WHOIS. K. Harrenstien, M.K. Stahl, E.J. Feinler. > Oct-01-1985. (Format: TXT=7397 bytes) (Obsoletes RFC0812) (Obsoleted > by RFC3912) (Status: DRAFT STANDARD) > >This really made me scratch my head. One would imagine if a protocol is obsoleted >by another, it would not be listed as a Draft Standard any longer. > >What is the reason for continuing to list something obsolete as a Draft Standard? > >John I've assumed that it was to tell you it was at Draft Standard when the document that replaced it was issued. That way you can tell whether the new doc is a recycle-in-grade, an update to get something to the next step, or a downgrade. The real meat of the data here, though, is that you should look at 3912 if you want the current spec. Any other data about an obsolete spec is for historical interest only. If I'm right, that could be made clearer (by saying "Status when active:" or some such), but that doesn't really change meat of the information. regards, Ted _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf