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rfc:rfc2629

Network Working Group M. Rose Request for Comments: 2629 Invisible Worlds, Inc. Category: Informational June 1999

                  Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML

Status of this Memo

 This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
 not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
 memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

 This memo presents a technique for using XML (Extensible Markup
 Language) as a source format for documents in the Internet-Drafts
 (I-Ds) and Request for Comments (RFC) series.

Rose Informational [Page 1] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

Table of Contents

 1.      Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
 2.      Using the DTD to Write I-Ds and RFCs . . . . . . . . . . .  4
 2.1     XML basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
 2.2     Front matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
 2.2.1   The title Element  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
 2.2.2   The author Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
 2.2.3   The date Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
 2.2.4   Meta Data Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
 2.2.5   The abstract Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
 2.2.6   The note Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
 2.2.7   Status, Copyright Notice, Table of Contents  . . . . . . .  9
 2.2.7.1 Conformance with RFC 2026  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
 2.2.8   Everything in the Front  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
 2.3     The Middle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
 2.3.1   The section Element  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
 2.3.1.1 The t Element  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
 2.3.1.2 The list Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
 2.3.1.3 The figure Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
 2.3.1.4 The xref Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
 2.3.1.5 The eref Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
 2.3.1.6 The iref Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
 2.3.1.7 The vspace Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
 2.4     Back matter  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
 2.4.1   The references Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
 2.4.2   Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
 2.4.3   Copyright Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
 3.      Processing the XML Source File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
 3.1     Editing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
 3.1.1   Checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
 3.2     Converting to Text Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
 3.3     Converting to HTML Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
 3.4     Viewing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
 3.5     Searching  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
 4.      Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
         References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
         Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
 A.      The rfc Element  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
 B.      The RFC DTD  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
 C.      Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
 Index  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
 Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Rose Informational [Page 2] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

1. Introduction

 This memo describes how to write a document for the I-D and RFC
 series using the Extensible Markup Language [1] (XML). This memo has
 three goals:
 1.  To describe a simple XML Document Type Definition (DTD) that is
     powerful enough to handle the simple formatting requirements of
     RFC-like documents whilst allowing for meaningful markup of
     descriptive qualities.
 2.  To describe software that processes XML source files, including a
     tool that produces documents conforming to RFC 2223 [2], HTML
     format, and so on.
 3.  To provide the proof-of-concept for the first two goals (this
     memo was written using this DTD and produced using that
     software).
 It is beyond the scope of this memo to discuss the political
 ramifications of using XML as a source format for RFC-like documents.
 Rather, it is simply noted that adding minimal markup to plain text:
 o  allows the traditional production of textual RFC-like documents
    using familiar editors;
 o  requires some, albeit minimal, additions to existing software
    environments; and,
 o  permits information to be organized, searched, and retrieved using
    both unstructured and structured mechanisms.

Rose Informational [Page 3] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

2. Using the DTD to Write I-Ds and RFCs

 We do not provide a formal or comprehensive description of XML.
 Rather, this section discusses just enough XML to use a Document Type
 Declaration (DTD) to write RFC-like documents.
 If you're already familiar with XML, skip to Appendix B to look at
 the DTD.

2.1 XML basics

 There are very few rules when writing in XML, as the syntax is
 simple. There are five terms you'll need to know:
 1.  An "element" usually refers to a start tag, an end tag, and all
     the characters in between, e.g., "<example>text and/or nested
     elements</example>"
 2.  An "empty element" combines the start tag and the end tag, e.g.,
     "<empty/>". You don't find these in HTML.
 3.  An "attribute" is part of an element. If present, they occur in
     the start tag, e.g., "<example name='value'>". Of course, they
     can also appear in empty elements, e.g., "<empty name='value'/>".
 4.  An "entity" is a textual macro that starts with "&". Don't worry
     about these, you'll only use them whenever you want to put a "&"
     or a "<" in your text.
 5.  A "token" is a string of characters. The first character is
     either a letter or an underscore ("_"). Any characters that
     follow are either letters, numbers, an underscore, or a period
     (".").
 First, start your source file with an XML declaration, a reference to
 the DTD, and the "rfc" element:
     <?xml version="1.0"?>
     <!DOCTYPE rfc SYSTEM "rfc2629.dtd">
     <rfc>
         ...
     </rfc>
 Ignore the first two lines -- the declaration and the reference --
 and simply treat them as opaque strings. Nothing else should be
 present after the "</rfc>" tag.
 Second, make sure that all elements are properly matched and nested.

Rose Informational [Page 4] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

 A properly matched element that starts with "<example>" is eventually
 followed with "</example>". (Empty elements are always matched.)
 Elements are properly nested when they don't overlap.
 For example,
     <outer>
         ...
         <inner>
             ...
         </inner>
         ...
     </outer>
 is properly nested.
 However,
     <outer>
         ...
         <inner>
             ...
         </outer>
         ...
     </inner>
 overlaps, so the elements aren't properly nested.
 Third, never use "<" or "&" in your text. Instead, use either "&lt;"
 or "&amp;", respectively.
 Fourth, there are two quoting characters in XML, 'apostrophe' and
 "quotation". Make sure that all attributes values are quoted, e.g.,
 "<example name='value'>", If the value contains one of the quoting
 characters, then use the other to quote the value, e.g., "<example
 name='"'>", If the value contains both quoting characters, then use
 one of them to quote the value, and replace occurrances of that
 character in the attribute value with either '&apos;' (apostrophe) or
 "&quot;" (quotation), e.g., "<example name='"&apos;"'>".
 If you want to put a comment in your source file, here's the syntax:
         <!-- comments can be multiline,
          if you wish -->
 Finally, XML is case sensitive.

Rose Informational [Page 5] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

2.2 Front matter

 Immediately following the "<rfc>" tag is the "front" element:
     <?xml version="1.0"?>
     <!DOCTYPE rfc SYSTEM "rfc2629.dtd">
     <rfc>
         <front>
             <title ...>
             <author ...>
             <author ...>
             <date ...>
             <area ...>
             <workgroup ...>
             <keyword ...>
             <keyword ...>
             <abstract ...>
             <note ...>
         </front>
         ...
     </rfc>
 (Note that in all examples, indentation is used only for expository
 purposes.)
 The "front" element consists of a "title" element, one or more
 "author" elements, a "date" element, one or more optional "area"
 elements, one or more optional "workgroup" elements, one or more
 optional "keyword" elements, an optional "abstract" element. and, one
 or more optional "note" elements.

2.2.1 The title Element

 The "title" element identifies the title of the document. Because the
 title will be used in the headers of the document when formatted
 according to [2], if the title is more than 42 characters, then an
 abbreviation should also be provided, e.g.,
     <title abbrev="Much Ado about Nothing">
     The IETF's Discussion on "Source Format of RFC Documents"
     </title>

Rose Informational [Page 6] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

2.2.2 The author Element

 Each "author" element identifies a document author. Since a document
 may have more than one author, more than one "author" element may be
 present. If the author is a person, then three attributes must be
 present in the "<author>" tag, "initials", "surname", and
 "fullname", e.g.,
     <author initials="M.T." surname="Rose"
             fullname="Marshall T. Rose">
 The "author" element itself consists of an "organization" element,
 and, an optional "address" element.
 The "organization" element is similar to the "title" element, in that
 an abbreviation may be paired with a long organization name using the
 "abbrev" attribute, e.g.,
     <organization abbrev="ISI">
         USC/Information Sciences Institute
     </organization>
 The "address" element consists of an optional "postal" element, an
 optional "phone" element, an optional "facsimile" element, an
 optional "email" element, and, an optional "uri" element.
 The "postal" element contains one or more "street" elements, followed
 by any combination of "city", "region" (state or province), "code"
 (zipcode or postal code), and "country" elements, e.g.,
     <postal>
         <street>660 York Street</street>
         <street>M/S 40</street>
         <city>San Francisco</city> <region>CA</region>
         <code>94110</code>
         <country>US</country>
     </postal>
 This flexibility is provided to allow for different national formats
 for postal addresses. Note however, that although the order of the
 "city", "region", "code", and "country" elements isn't specified, at
 most one of each may be present. Regardless, these elements must not
 be re-ordered during processing by an XML application (e.g., display
 applications must preserve the ordering of the information contained
 in these elements). Finally, the value of the "country" element
 should be a two-letter code from ISO 3166.

Rose Informational [Page 7] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

 The "phone", "facsimile", "email", and "uri" elements are simple,
 e.g.,
     <phone>+1 415 695 3975</phone>
     <email>mrose@not.invisible.net</email>
     <uri>http://invisible.net/</uri>

2.2.3 The date Element

 The "date" element identifies the publication date of the document.
 It consists of a month and a year, e.g.,
     <date month="February" year="1999" />
 The "date" element also has an optional day attribute.

2.2.4 Meta Data Elements

 The "front" element may contain meta data -- the content of these
 elements does not appear in printed versions of the document.
 A document has one or more optional "area", "workgroup" and "keyword"
 elements, e.g.,
     <area>General</area>
     <workgroup>RFC Beautification Working Group</workgroup>
     <keyword>RFC</keyword>
     <keyword>Request for Comments</keyword>
     <keyword>I-D</keyword>
     <keyword>Internet-Draft</keyword>
     <keyword>XML</keyword>
     <keyword>Extensible Markup Language</keyword>
 The "area" elements identify a general category for the document
 (e.g., one of "Applications", "General", "Internet", "Management",
 "Operations", "Routing", "Security", "Transport", or "User"), while
 the "workgroup" elements identify the IETF working groups that
 produced the document, and the "keyword" elements identify useful
 search terms.

Rose Informational [Page 8] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

2.2.5 The abstract Element

 A document may have an "abstract" element, which contains one or more
 "t" elements (Section 2.3.1.1). In general, only a single "t" element
 is present, e.g.,
     <abstract>
         <t>This memo presents a technique for using XML
         (Extensible Markup Language) as a source format
         for documents in the Internet-Drafts (I-Ds) and
         Request for Comments (RFC) series.</t>
     </abstract>

2.2.6 The note Element

 A document may have one or more "note" elements, each of which
 contains one or more "t" elements (Section 2.3.1.1). There is a
 mandatory "title" attribute. In general, the "note" element contains
 text from the IESG, e.g.,
     <note title="IESG Note">
         <t>The IESG has something to say.</t>
     </note>

2.2.7 Status, Copyright Notice, Table of Contents

 Note that text relating to the memo's status, copyright notice, or
 table of contents is not included in the document's markup -- this is
 automatically inserted by an XML application when it produces either
 a text or HTML version of the document.

2.2.7.1 Conformance with RFC 2026

 If an Internet-Draft is being produced, then the "ipr" attribute
 should be present in the "<rfc>" tag at the beginning of the file.
 The value of the attribute should be one of:
 full2026: indicating that the document is in full conformance with
    all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026;
 noDerivativeWorks2026: indicating that the document is in full
    conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026
    except that the right to produce derivative works is not granted;
    or,
 none: indicating that the document is NOT offered in accordance with
    Section 10 of RFC 2026, and the author does not provide the IETF
    with any rights other than to publish as an Internet-Draft.

Rose Informational [Page 9] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

 In the latter case, a copyright notice will not be automatically
 inserted during processing by an XML application.
 Consult [3] for further details.
 Finally, if the Internet-Draft is being submitted to an automated
 process, then the "docName" attribute should be present in the
 "<rfc>" tag at the beginning of the file. The value of this attribute
 contains the document (not file) name associated with this Internet-
 Draft, e.g.,
     <rfc ipr="full" docName="draft-mrose-writing-rfcs-01">
         ...
     </rfc>

2.2.8 Everything in the Front

 So, putting it all together, we have, e.g.,
     <front>
         <title>Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML</title>
         <author initials="M.T." surname="Rose"
                 fullname="Marshall T. Rose">
             <organization>Invisible Worlds, Inc.</organization>
             <address>
                 <postal>
                     <street>660 York Street</street>
                     <street>M/S 40</street>
                     <city>San Francisco</city> <region>CA</region>
                     <code>94110</code>
                     <country>US</country>
                 </postal>
                 <phone>+1 415 695 3975</phone>
                 <email>mrose@not.invisible.net</email>
                 <uri>http://invisible.net/</uri>
             </address>
         </author>
         <date month="February" year="1999" />
         <area>General</area>
         <workgroup>RFC Beautification Working Group</workgroup>
         <keyword>RFC</keyword>
         <keyword>Request for Comments</keyword>
         <keyword>I-D</keyword>

Rose Informational [Page 10] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

         <keyword>Internet-Draft</keyword>
         <keyword>XML</keyword>
         <keyword>Extensible Markup Language</keyword>
         <abstract>
             <t>This memo presents a technique for using XML
             (Extensible Markup Language) as a source format
             for documents in the Internet-Drafts (I-Ds) and
             Request for Comments (RFC) series.</t>
         </abstract>
     </front>

2.3 The Middle

 The "middle" element contains all the sections of the document except
 for the bibliography and appendices:
     ...
     </front>
     <middle>
         <section ...>
         <section ...>
         <section ...>
     </middle>
     <back>
     ...
 The "middle" element consists of one or more "section" elements.

2.3.1 The section Element

 Each "section" element contains a section of the document. There is a
 mandatory attribute, "title", that identifies the title of the
 section. There is also an optional attribute, "anchor", that is used
 for cross-referencing with the "xref" element (Section 2.3.1.4),
 e.g.,
     <section anchor="intro" title="Introduction">
         ...
     </section>

Rose Informational [Page 11] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

 The "section" element is recursive -- each contains any number and
 combination of "t", "figure", and "section" elements, e.g.,
     <section title="The Middle">
         ...
         <section title="The section Element">
             ...
             <section title="The t Element">...</section>
             <section title="The list Element">...</section>
             <section title="The figure Element">...</section>
             <section title="The xref Element">...</section>
             <section title="The eref Element">...</section>
             <section title="The iref Element">...</section>
         </section>
     </section>

2.3.1.1 The t Element

 The "t" element contains any number and combination of paragraphs,
 lists, and figures. If a cross-reference is needed to a section,
 figure, or reference, the "xref" element (Section 2.3.1.4) is used;
 similarly, if an external-reference is needed, the "eref" element
 (Section 2.3.1.5) is used. Indexing of text is provided by the the
 "iref" element (Section 2.3.1.6).

2.3.1.2 The list Element

 The "list" element contains one or more items. Each item is a "t"
 element, allowing for recursion, e.g.,
     <list style="numbers">
         <t>The pfirst item.</t>
         <t>The second item, which contains two bulleted sub-items:
             <list style="symbols">
                 <t>The first sub-item.</t>
                 <t>The second sub-item.</t>
             </list>
         </t>
     </list>
 The "list" element has an optional attribute, "style", having the
 value "numbers" (for numeric lists), "symbols" (for bulleted lists),
 "hanging" (for hanging lists), or, "empty" (for indented text). If a
 "list" element is nested, the default value is taken from its closest
 parent; otherwise, the default value is "empty".

Rose Informational [Page 12] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

 When nested within a "hanging list" element, the "t" element has an
 optional attribute, "hangText" that specifies the text to be
 inserted, e.g.,
     <list style="hanging">
         <t hangText="full2026:">indicating that the document is in
         full conformance with all the provisions of Section 10 of RFC
         2026;</t>
         <t hangText="noDerivativeWorks2026:">indicating that the
         document is in full conformance with all the provisions of
         Section 10 of RFC 2026 except that the right to produce
         derivative works is not granted; or,</t>
         <t hangText="none:">indicating that the document is NOT
         offered in accordance with Section 10 of RFC 2026, and the
         author does not provide the IETF with any rights other than
         to publish as an Internet-Draft.</t>
     </list>

2.3.1.3 The figure Element

 The "figure" element groups an optional "preamble" element, an
 "artwork" element, and an optional "postamble" element together. The
 "figure" element also has an optional "anchor" attribute that is used
 for cross-referencing with the "xref" element (Section 2.3.1.4).
 There is also an optional "title" attribute that identifies the title
 of the figure.
 The "preamble" and "postamble" elements, if present, are simply text.
 If a cross-reference is needed to a section, figure, or reference,
 the "xref" element (Section 2.3.1.4) is used; similarly, if an
 external-reference is needed, the "eref" element (Section 2.3.1.5) is
 used. Indexing of text is provided by the the "iref" element (Section
 2.3.1.6).
 The "artwork" element, which must be present, contains "ASCII
 artwork". Unlike text contained in the "t", "preamble", or
 "postamble" elements, both horizontal and vertical whitespace is
 significant in the "artwork" element.

Rose Informational [Page 13] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

 So, putting it all together, we have, e.g.,
     <figure anchor="figure_example">
         <preamble>So,
         putting it all together, we have, e.g.,</preamble>
         <artwork>
             ascii artwork goes here...
             be sure to use "&lt;" or "&amp;" instead of "<" and "&",
             respectively!
         </artwork>
         <postamble>which is a very simple example.</postamble>
     </figure>
 which is a very simple example.
 If you have artwork with a lot of "<" characters, then there's an XML
 trick you can use:
     <figure>
         <preamble>If you have artwork with a lot of "&lt;"
         characters, then there's an XML trick you can
         use:</preamble>
         <artwork><![CDATA[
             ascii artwork goes here...
             just don't use "]]" in your artwork!
         ]]></artwork>
         <postamble>The "&lt;![CDATA[ ... ]]>" construct is called
         a CDATA block -- everything between the innermost brackets
         is left alone by the XML application.</postamble>
     </figure>
 The "<![CDATA[ ... ]]>" construct is called a CDATA block --
 everything between the innermost brackets is left alone by the XML
 application.
 Because the "figure" element represents a logical grouping of text
 and artwork, an XML application producing a text version of the
 document should attempt to keep these elements on the same page.
 Because RFC 2223 [2] allows no more than 69 characters by 49 lines of
 content on each page, XML applications should be prepared to
 prematurely introduce page breaks to allow for better visual
 grouping.

Rose Informational [Page 14] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

 Finally, the "artwork" element has two optional attributes: "name"
 and "type". The former is used to suggest a filename to use when
 storing the content of the "artwork" element, whilst the latter
 contains a suggestive data-typing for the content.

2.3.1.4 The xref Element

 The "xref" element is used to cross-reference sections, figures, and
 references. The mandatory "target" attribute is used to link back to
 the "anchor" attribute of the "section", "figure", and "reference"
 elements. The value of the "anchor" and "target" attributes should be
 formatted according to the token syntax in Section 2.1.
 If used as an empty element, e.g.,
     according to the token syntax in <xref target="xml_basics" />.
 then the XML application inserts an appropriate phrase during
 processing, such as "Section 2.1" or "<a href="#xml_basics">XML
 Basics</a>".
 If used with content, e.g.,
     conforming to <xref target="refs.RFC2223">RFC 2223</xref>.
 then the XML application inserts an appropriate designation during
 processing, such as "RFC 2223 [2]" or "<a href="#refs.RFC2223">RFC
 2223</a>". Although the XML application decides what "an appropriate
 designation" might be, its choice is consistent throughout the
 processing of the document.

2.3.1.5 The eref Element

 The "eref" element is used to reference external documents. The
 mandatory "target" attribute is a URI [4], e.g.,
     <eref target="http://metalab.unc.edu/xml/">Cafe con Leche</eref>
 Note that while the "target" attribute is always present, the "eref"
 element may be empty, e.g.,
     <eref target="http://invisible.net/" />
 and the XML application inserts an appropriate designation during
 processing such as "[9]" or "<a
 href="http://invisible.net/">http://invisible.net/</a>".

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2.3.1.6 The iref Element

 The "iref" element is used to add information to an index. The
 mandatory "item" attribute is the primary key the information is
 stored under, whilst the optional "subitem" attribute is the
 secondary key, e.g.,
     <iref item="indexing" subitem="how to" />
 Finally, note that the "iref" element is always empty -- it never
 contains any text.

2.3.1.7 The vspace Element

 The "vspace" element, which may occur only inside the "t" element, is
 used by the author to provide formatting guidance to the XML
 application. There is an attribute, "blankLines", that indicates the
 number of blank lines that should be inserted. A physical linebreak
 is specified by using the default value, "0".
 In addition, the "vspace" element can be used to force a new physical
 paragraph within a list item, e.g.,
     <list style="numbers">
         <t>This is list item.
            <vspace blankLines="1" />
            This is part of the same list item,
            although when displayed, it appears
            as a separate physical paragraph.</t>
     </list>
 An XML application producing a text version of the document should
 exercise care when encountering a value for "blankLines" that causes
 a pagebreak -- in particular, if a "vspace" element causes a
 pagebreak, then no further blank lines should be inserted. This
 allows authors to "force" a pagebreak by using an arbitrarily large
 value, e.g., "blankLines='100'".
 Finally, note that the "vspace" element is always empty -- it never
 contains any text.

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2.4 Back matter

 Finally, the "back" element is used for references and appendices:
         ...
         </middle>
         <back>
             <references>
                 <reference ...>
                 <reference ...>
             </references>
             <section ...>
             <section ...>
         </back>
     </rfc>
 The "back" element consists of an optional "references" element, and,
 one or more optional "section" elements. The "back" element itself is
 optional, if your document doesn't have any references or appendices,
 you don't have to include it.

2.4.1 The references Element

 The "references" element contains the document's bibliography. It
 contains one or more "reference" elements.
 Each "reference" element contains a "front" element and one or more
 optional "seriesInfo" elements.
 We've already discussed the "front" element back in Section 2.2.
 The "seriesInfo" element has two attributes, "name" and "value" that
 identify the document series and series entry, respectively.

Rose Informational [Page 17] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

 The "reference" element has an optional "anchor" attribute that is
 used for cross-referencing with the "xref" element (Section 2.3.1.4),
 e.g.,
     <reference anchor="refs.RFC2200">
         <front>
             <title>Internet Official Protocol Standards</title>
             <author initials="J." surname="Postel"
                     fullname="Jon Postel">
                 <organization abbrev="ISI">
                 USC/Information Sciences Institute
                 </organization>
             </author>
             <date month="June" year="1997" />
         </front>
         <seriesInfo name="RFC" value="2200" />
         <seriesInfo name="STD" value="1" />
     </reference>
 The "reference" element also has an optional "target" attribute that
 is used for external references (c.f., Section 2.3.1.5). The XML
 application, if producing an HTML version of the document will use
 the "target" attribute accordingly; however, if the "name" attribute
 of the "seriesInfo" element has the value "RFC", then the XML
 application should automatically provide an appropriate default for
 the "target" attribute (e.g., "http://example.com/rfcs/rfc2200.txt").

2.4.2 Appendices

 To include appendices after the bibliography, simply add more
 "section" elements. (For an example, look at the example at the
 beginning of Section 2.4.)

2.4.3 Copyright Status

 The copyright status for the document is not included in the
 document's markup -- this is automatically inserted by an XML
 application that produces either a text or HTML version of the
 document.

Rose Informational [Page 18] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

3. Processing the XML Source File

 This section concerns itself with applications that operate on an XML
 source file. A lot of XML tools are available, as are many lists of
 XML resources, e.g., Cafe con Leche [5].
 There are two kinds of XML tools: validating and non-validating.
 Both check that the source file conforms to the rules given in
 Section 2.1. However, in addition to making sure that the source file
 is well-formed, a validating tool also reads the DTD referenced by
 the source file to make sure that they match. There are a number of
 both validating and non-validating tools available.

3.1 Editing

 There are several XML editors available. Ideally, you want an editor
 that validates. This has two advantages:
 o  the editor provides guidance in fleshing-out the document
    structure; and,
 o  the editor validates that the source file matches the rules in the
    DTD.
 There are two major modes in Emacs that support XML: tdtd [6] and
 psgml [7]. The latter mode allows you to validate the source file (by
 calling an external program). If you visit the source file in Emacs
 and the major mode isn't "SGML" or "XML", then usually all it takes
 is adding these lines to your ".emacs" file:
     (setq auto-mode-alist
           (cons (cons "\\.xml$" 'sgml-mode) auto-mode-alist))
 and then restarting Emacs. If this doesn't work, try one of the
 sources above.
 The author uses both sgml-mode in Emacs, and a commercial validating
 editor, Clip! version 1.5 [8], when editing source files.

3.1.1 Checking

 If your editor doesn't validate, then you should run a program to
 validate the source file.
 The author uses the AlphaWorks XML parser [9] for this purpose. It
 requires that your system have a Java virtual machine. In addition to
 Java, there are validating parsers written in C, Perl, Python, and
 Tcl.

Rose Informational [Page 19] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

3.2 Converting to Text Format

 The author has written the xml2rfc tool [10], which reads the source
 file and produces both a text and HTML version of the document.
 (This memo was produced using the xml2rfc tool.) Note that xml2rfc
 isn't a validating tool, so it's a good idea to use either a
 validating editor or run a stand-alone validating parser prior to
 using the tool.

3.3 Converting to HTML Format

 The XML Style Language (XSL) is used to describe transformations from
 the source file into some other structured file. So, ideally you
 should use an XSL-capable formatter to convert an XML source file to
 HTML.
 However, as of this writing XSL is still in considerable flux.
 (Hence, no reference was included in this memo, as by the time you
 read this section, the reference would be outdated.) So, in the
 interim, the author uses the xml2rfc tool for this purpose, even
 though this tool doesn't provide much flexibility in its HTML layout.

3.4 Viewing

 Browsers that support either XSL or Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are
 able to view the source file directly.
 At present, the author doesn't use any of these browsers, instead
 converting source files to either text or HTML.

3.5 Searching

 As with text editors, any text-oriented search tool (e.g., grep) can
 be used on the source file. However, there are search tools available
 that understand structured source.
 The author uses sgrep version 1.9 [11] for this purpose, e.g.
     sgrep -g xml 'ELEMENTS("title") not in ELEMENTS("back")' \
         writing-rfcs.xml
 which extracts the title element from the source file.

Rose Informational [Page 20] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

4. Security Considerations

 This memo raises no security issues; however, according to [2], your
 document should contain a section near the end that discusses the
 security considerations of the protocol or procedures that are the
 main topic of your document, e.g.,
     <middle>
         ...
         <section title="Security Considerations">
             <t>This memo raises no security issues;
             however,
             according to <xref target="refs.RFC2223" />,
             your document should contain a section near the end
             that discusses the security considerations of the
             protocol or procedures that are the main topic of your
             document.</t>
         </section>
     </middle>

Rose Informational [Page 21] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

References

 [1]  World Wide Web Consortium, "Extensible Markup Language (XML)
      1.0", W3C XML, February 1998.
 [2]  Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, "Instructions to RFC Authors", RFC
      2223, October 1997.
 [3]  Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", BCP
      9, RFC 2026, October 1996.
 [4]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R. and L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource
      Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 2396, August 1998.
 [5]  http://metalab.unc.edu/xml/
 [6]  http://www.mulberrytech.com/tdtd/
 [7]  http://www.inria.fr/koala/plh/sxml.html
 [8]  http://www.t2000-usa.com/
 [9]  http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/formula/xml/
 [10]  http://memory.palace.org/authoring/
 [11]  http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/~jjaakkol/sgrep.html

Author's Address

 Marshall T. Rose
 Invisible Worlds, Inc.
 660 York Street
 San Francisco, CA  94110
 US
 Phone: +1 415 695 3975
 EMail: mrose@not.invisible.net
 URI:   http://invisible.net/

Rose Informational [Page 22] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

Appendix A. The rfc Element

 The "<rfc>" tag at the beginning of the file, with only an "ipr"
 attribute (Section 2.2.7.1), produces an Internet-Draft. However,
 when other attributes are added to this tag by the RFC editor, an RFC
 is produced, e.g.,
     <rfc number="2200"
          obsoletes="2000, 1920, 1880, 1800, ..."
          category="std"
          seriesNo="1">
 At a minimum, the "number" attribute should be present.
 The other attributes are:
 o  "obsoletes", having a comma-separated list of RFC numbers, that
    the document obsoletes;
 o  "updates", having a comma-separated list of RFC numbers, that the
    document updates;
 o  "category", having one of these values:
    1.  "std", for a Standards-Track document;
    2.  "bcp", "for a Best Current Practices document;
    3.  "exp", for an Experimental Protocol document;
    4.  "historic", for a historic document; or,
    5.  "info", the default, for an Informational document.
 o  "seriesNo", having the corresponding number in the STD (std), BCP
    (bcp), or FYI (info) series.
 Finally, a special entity, "&rfc.number;", is available. Authors
 preparing an RFC should use this entity whenever they want to
 reference the number of the RFC within the document itself. In
 printed versions of the document, the appropriate substitution (or
 "XXXX") will occur.

Rose Informational [Page 23] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

Appendix B. The RFC DTD

 <!--
   DTD for the RFC document series, draft of 99-01-30
   -->
 <!--
   Contents
     DTD data types
     The top-level
     Front matter
     The Body
     Back matter
   -->
 <!--
   DTD data types:
         entity        description
         ======        ===============================================
         NUMBER        [0-9]+
         NUMBERS       a comma-separated list of NUMBER
         DAY           the day of the month, e.g., "1"
         MONTH         the month of the year, e.g., "January"
         YEAR          a four-digit year, e.g., "1999"
         URI           e.g., "http://invisible.net/"
         ATEXT/CTEXT   printable ASCII text (no line-terminators)
         TEXT          character data
   -->
 <!ENTITY % NUMBER     "CDATA">
 <!ENTITY % NUMBERS    "CDATA">
 <!ENTITY % DAY        "CDATA">
 <!ENTITY % MONTH      "CDATA">
 <!ENTITY % YEAR       "CDATA">

Rose Informational [Page 24] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

 <!ENTITY % URI        "CDATA">
 <!ENTITY % ATEXT      "CDATA">
 <!ENTITY % CTEXT      "#PCDATA">
 <!ENTITY % TEXT       "#PCDATA">
 <!ENTITY   rfc.number "2629">
 <!--
   The top-level
   -->
 <!--
   attributes for the "rfc" element are supplied by the RFC
   editor. when preparing drafts, authors should leave them blank.
   the "seriesNo" attribute is used if the category is, e.g., BCP.
   -->
 <!ELEMENT rfc         (front,middle,back?)>
 <!ATTLIST rfc
           number      %NUMBER;           #IMPLIED
           obsoletes   %NUMBERS;          ""
           updates     %NUMBERS;          ""
           category    (std|bcp|info|exp|historic)
                                          "info"
           seriesNo    %NUMBER;           #IMPLIED
           ipr         (full2026|noDerivativeWorks2026|none)
                                          #IMPLIED
           docName     %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED>
 <!--
   Front matter
   -->
 <!ELEMENT front       (title,author+,date,area*,workgroup*,keyword*,
                        abstract?,note*)>
 <!-- the "abbrev" attribute is used for headers, etc. -->
 <!ELEMENT title       (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ATTLIST title
           abbrev      %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED>
 <!ELEMENT author      (organization,address?)>
 <!ATTLIST author

Rose Informational [Page 25] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

           initials    %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED
           surname     %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED
           fullname    %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED>
 <!ELEMENT organization
                       (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ATTLIST organization
           abbrev      %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED>
 <!ELEMENT address     (postal?,phone?,facsimile?,email?,uri?)>
 <!-- at most one of each the city, region, code, and country
      elements may be present -->
 <!ELEMENT postal      (street+,(city|region|code|country)*)>
 <!ELEMENT street      (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ELEMENT city        (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ELEMENT region      (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ELEMENT code        (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ELEMENT country     (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ELEMENT phone       (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ELEMENT facsimile   (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ELEMENT email       (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ELEMENT uri         (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ELEMENT date        EMPTY>
 <!ATTLIST date
           day         %DAY;              #IMPLIED
           month       %MONTH;            #REQUIRED
           year        %YEAR;             #REQUIRED>
 <!-- meta-data... -->
 <!ELEMENT area        (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ELEMENT workgroup   (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ELEMENT keyword     (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ELEMENT abstract    (t)+>
 <!ELEMENT note        (t)+>
 <!ATTLIST note
           title       %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED>
 <!--
   The body
   -->
 <!ELEMENT middle      (section)+>

Rose Informational [Page 26] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

 <!ELEMENT section     (t|figure|section)*>
 <!ATTLIST section
           anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
           title       %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED>
 <!ELEMENT t           (%TEXT;|list|figure|xref|eref|iref|vspace)*>
 <!ATTLIST t
           hangText    %ATEXT;            #IMPLIED>
 <!-- the value of the style attribute is inherited from the closest
      parent -->
 <!ELEMENT list        (t+)>
 <!ATTLIST list
           style       (numbers|symbols|hanging|empty)
                                          "empty">
 <!ELEMENT xref        (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ATTLIST xref
           target      IDREF              #REQUIRED
           pageno      (true|false)       "false">
 <!ELEMENT eref        (%CTEXT;)>
 <!ATTLIST eref
           target      %URI;              #REQUIRED>
 <!ELEMENT iref        EMPTY>
 <!ATTLIST iref
           item        %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED
           subitem     %ATEXT;            "">
 <!ELEMENT vspace      EMPTY>
 <!ATTLIST vspace
           blankLines  %NUMBER;           "0">
 <!ELEMENT figure      (preamble?,artwork,postamble?)>
 <!ATTLIST figure
           anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
           title       %ATEXT;            "">
 <!ELEMENT preamble    (%TEXT;|xref|eref|iref)*>
 <!ELEMENT artwork     (%TEXT;)*>
 <!ATTLIST artwork
           xml:space   (default|preserve) "preserve">
 <!ELEMENT postamble   (%TEXT;|xref|eref|iref)*>
 <!--
   Back matter

Rose Informational [Page 27] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

 <!-- sections, if present, are appendices -->
 <!ELEMENT back        (references?,section*)>
 <!ELEMENT references  (reference+)>
 <!ELEMENT reference   (front,seriesInfo*)>
 <!ATTLIST reference
           anchor      ID                 #IMPLIED
           target      %URI;              #IMPLIED>
 <!ELEMENT seriesInfo  EMPTY>
 <!ATTLIST seriesInfo
           name        %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED
           value       %ATEXT;            #REQUIRED>

Rose Informational [Page 28] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

Appendix C. Acknowledgements

 The author gratefully acknowledges the contributions of: Alan
 Barrett, Brad Burdick, Brian Carpenter, Steve Deering, Patrik
 Faltstrom, Jim Gettys, Carl Malamud, Chris Newman, Kurt Starsinic,
 and, Frank Strauss.

Rose Informational [Page 29] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

Index

I

 indexing
    how to  16

Rose Informational [Page 30] RFC 2629 Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML June 1999

Full Copyright Statement

 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999).  All Rights Reserved.
 This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
 others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
 or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
 and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
 kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
 included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
 document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
 the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
 Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
 developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
 copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
 followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
 English.
 The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
 revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
 This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
 "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
 TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
 BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
 HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
 MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Acknowledgement

 Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
 Internet Society.

Rose Informational [Page 31]

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