RFC2518bis

Howdy,
	The Secretariat will announce this more formally on Monday,
but I wanted to let the working group know that the IESG's evaluation
of draft-ietf-webdav-rfc2518bis-18.txt was positive.  There was considerable
discussion in the weeks leading up to today's telechat about how
to handle the combination of concerns (issues raised, length of process,
number of active contributors).  Lisa and Cullen recused themselves from
the IESG ballot (as author and WG chair), and the single DISCUSS from Russ
was resolved in conversation.
	The end result of the ballot represents consensus among the IESG that
the current document was sufficiently solid to be published as Proposed Standard,
that there were enough improvements in it to replace 2518, and that the work
needed a checkpoint.  This last is, honestly, a management issue as much as a
standards one; by putting a stake in the ground that says:  "further discussions
start from here", you can avoid the energy for progress evaporating in discussions
that recycle around the same few hot spots.  To highlight that aspect, I have
added this to the write-up for publication:

>There does remain some dissent that this document is the best that could
>be achieved, and there were proposals to continue work based on other
>starting points. The number of  contributors committed to that course of
>action was, however, smaller than would be normal for an active working
>group.  Publication of this document provides  a checkpoint of improvements to
>serve as the basis of implementation and potential later work.  It does
>not close off later improvement.

	So, what are the steps from here?   The Secretariat will make an
announcement that the document was approved some time early
next week.  Shortly following that, I will ask them to close the working group
as a formal entity.  The working group mailing list will remain open, and I
expect that the documents currently in pipeline (such as webdav-search) which
have been informally last-called here will go forward as individual submissions.
Until Lisa has returned from maternity leave, those will go through Chris Newman,
who will succeed me at the end of the Prague meeting. 
	I want to highlight that I personally and the IESG generally continues
to believe in the value of the work on WebDAV.  Publishing this document and
closing this incarnation of the working group are not actions intended to cut off
further work.  They are efforts to make sure we capture the work that has been
done and to ensure that future work is not burdened with the baggage of a working
group whose deliverables have stretched out long past any deadline set.
	My thanks to everyone for all the hard work put in on this and for
the willingness to put the end goals ahead of individual preferences for one
form or another.  I look forward to seeing some of you in Prague and in Chicago
as the IETF considers a 2616bis WG.
	Congratulations on the achievement of this milestone and, please,
accept my regards,

					Ted Hardie

Received on Thursday, 8 March 2007 22:55:40 UTC