RFC 1543 (rfc1543) - Page 3 of 16

Instructions to RFC Authors

RFC 1543              Instructions to RFC Authors           October 1993


   RFCs, based on the reasonableness of the output files they generate.

2.  Editorial Policy

   Documents proposed to be RFCs are reviewed by the RFC Editor and
   possibly by other reviewers he selects.

   The result of the review may be to suggest to the author some
   improvements to the document before publication.

   Occasionally, it may become apparent that the topic of a proposed RFC
   is also the subject of an IETF Working Group, and that the author
   could coordinate with the working group to the advantage of both.
   The usual result of this is that a revised memo is produced as a
   working group Internet Draft and eventually emerges from the IETF
   process as a recommendation from the IESG to the RFC Editor.

   In some cases it may be determined that the submitted document is not
   appropriate material to be published as an RFC.

   In some cases it may be necessary to include in the document a
   statement based on the reviews about the ideas in the document.  This
   may be done in the case that the document suggests relevant but
   inappropriate or unsafe ideas, and other situations.

   The RFC Editor may make minor changes to the document, especially in
   the areas of style and format, but on some occasions also to the
   text.  Sometimes the RFC Editor will undertake to make more
   significant changes, especially when the format rules (see below) are
   not followed.  However, more often the memo will be returned to the
   author for the additional work.

   Documents intended to become RFCs specifying standards track
   protocols must be approved by the IESG before being sent to the RFC
   Editor.  The established procedure is that when the IESG completes
   work on a document that is to become a standards track RFC the
   communication will be from the Secretary of the IESG to the RFC
   Editor.  Generally, the documents in question are Internet Drafts.
   The communication usually cites the exact Internet Draft in question
   (by file name).  The RFC Editor must assume that only that file is to
   be processed to become the RFC.  If the authors have small
   corrections to the text, they should be sent to the RFC Editor
   separately (or as a "diff"), do not send a new version of the
   document.

   In some cases, authors prepare alternate secondary versions of RFCs
   in fancy format using PostScript.  Since the ASCII text version of
   the RFC is the primary version, the PostScript version must match the



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