>>>>> "John" == John C Klensin <john-ietf@xxxxxxx> writes:
John> Sam,
John> This may go back to our earlier (apparent) disagreement on the
John> subject. IANAL or nearly a good enough approximation to one
John> to be competent to assess the details, but my presumption
John> continues to be that the basic rules about RFCs, plus this
John> language, allows the type of application you are concerned
John> about as long as the version of the template in the
John> application is an exact copy.
You're absolutely right. However, the requirement that the application
be an exact copy is in and of itself enough to make such software fail
to comply with the Open Source Definition, the Debian Free Software
Guidelines, and the Free Software Foundation's definition of free
software.
So, on its face you cannot do that in a free software or open-source
application.
My strong belief is that in this instance the IETF's interests are
better served by cooperating with the open-source/free-software
community than by preventing modification of the templates.
--Sam