--On Sunday, July 05, 2009 12:01 -0400 "Joel M. Halpern" <jmh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Having written a moderate number of drafts, using a number of > tools, I find that I strongly prefer using XML2RFC. >... > The current procedures allow for XML2RFC, Word, NROFF, and > manual text (if you really want.) Yes, to use any one of > those you have to figure out some idiosyncrasies of the > particular approach. So I am very confused why you are asking > us to kill a tool that was produced by volunteers, works very > well, and that many people use by choice. > > I have seen some folks arguing that we should make XML2RFC > normative and mandatory. If they can figure out how to > automatically and accurate convert the other mechanisms people > use, then that can be considered. Otherwise, mandating would > be inappropriate, as some folks do indeed find it difficult. >... +1 I also believe that some documents may argue for different tools. In one document I've had to work on recently, I've had to use the xml2rfc-> nroff -> text path (or could have started in nroff), and it doesn't make me very happy. But that is, at most, an argument for improving xml2rfc, not for getting rid of it. I do believe that we need to [regularly] reexamine the content and format requirements for I-Ds to be sure that no set of tools is inadvertently excluded or made more burdensome, but that is a separate issue. --On Monday, July 06, 2009 09:42 -0400 "Livingood, Jason" <Jason_Livingood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > How frequently do any of us work when we're not connected to > the Internet? >... Quite a lot, actually. And it is why, as pointed out in an earlier note, I think xml2rfc would benefit from a "report and move on" strategy for dealing with external entity references that cannot be retrieved and/or from a directive or attribute that would permit use of a text placeholder as the body of a <reference> element in documents under development rather than the formal structure now required. But the tool is quite usable without those enhancements and, even when I'm working offline for an extended period, I haven't found that "edit offline, compile after I get back on line" is a serious impediment to getting work done. john _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf