Subject: Re: your posting to IETF main list wrt References

From: Alfred Hönes <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:42:33 +0100 (MEZ)

Dave, you wrote:

> What does it mean, for a reference to be Normative or
> Non-Normative, in a non-normative document?
>
> Where is this explained for authors?

For short:

Rule #1, in one sentence:
  If you need to read/understand/implement the ref in order to
  fully understand/implement the new doc, the ref is Normative,
  otherwise it is Informative.

(Corollary:
  The target status is irrelevant for Normative vs. Informative.)

Rule #2: If an AD DISCUSSes otherwise, current IESG wisdom wins.

Since I assume the above sentences can be understood without
references, the following is Informative:     :-)

See RFC 2223 and its updated version on the RFC Editor site,
"Instructions to Request for Comments (RFC) Authors",
    http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc-editor/instructions2authors.txt
(in both documents: Section 2.7).

More RFC authoring info can be found via:
    http://www.RFC-Editor.ORG/styleguide.html

For pecularities, also see the IESG statement of 19 Apr 2006:
    http://www.IETF.ORG/iesg/statement/normative-informative.html

Kind regards,
  Alfred Hönes.

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