On 7/10/19 12:55 PM, Michael Richardson wrote:
I expect engineers who want to contribute to how the Internet works to know how to make a HTML page that can validate using the most basic of editor. The web is now older than many university students. Our XML format is no more arcane than HTML4, and there are easier ways (markdown, word template, etc.), and people could also contribute to existing documents and get help from existing authors. It's not like someone should be doing base jumping on their first day here.
Clearly people who are capable of making useful technical contributions to Internet protocols are also capable of figuring out how to use xml2rfc, given enough extra time to sort through the varying and sometimes conflicting layers of documentation, tools, and error messages (or lack thereof). My question is, is it really necessary that we require people to spend time on those things when they could instead be doing anything else? Like more technical work, relaxing, or flossing their cats?
Or perhaps something like xml2rfc is a necessary evil, and it's within epsilon of an optimal format for our purposes. I'd actually rather have a stable language and toolset for this than keep changing it.
Keith
