On 9/19/06, Russ Allbery <rra@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Robert Sayre <sayrer@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > Thankfully, the complete failure known as HTTP 1.1 would never make it > to Proposed Standard under the unwritten process we have now. For > example, it doesn't contain a mandatory, universally interoperable > authentication feature. That's right, it doesn't, and the lack of that feature is a first-rate pain in the ass.
I don't disagree. The IETF might first try to design an authentication feature worth requiring. None of the current options are at all satisfactory.
The IETF requires such things not to scuttle protocols that don't have them but to get people to go back and add them early when it's still possible.
I'm sure the latter is the reason it's done, but the result can go either way. -- Robert Sayre "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time." _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf