IETF RFC 5385 PDF

Introduction Internet Drafts and RFCs are predominantly written in embedded-text, compile-based formatting systems [1][4][5]. The primary and first such system is NROFF, a text-formatting utility based on manual entry of embedded configuration commands, such as ".p" for new paragraphs. XML is a more recent alternative that uses structure tags instead of explicit formatting commands to allow a single file (.xml) to be 'compiled' into ASCII output, HTML, or a variety of other formats as desired [7].

Although XML adds more modern semantic information to the structure tags, neither system supports modern WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-whatyou- get) editing. Editors such as Microsoft Word and Corel WordPerfect provide not only WYSIWYG editing, but also semantic tags as well as outline-mode capabilities. To that end, a Word template called 2-Word.template.rtf was created that supports authoring RFCs, as described in RFC 3285 [6]. That version succeeded in enabling Word-based RFC editing, but did not support Word's outline mode renumbering capabilities.

This document describes the properties and use of a revised Microsoft Word template (.dot) file that supports Internet Draft and RFC formatting, intended as an update to that of RFC 3285. This version, called 2-Word-v2.0.template.dot, addresses a number of issues with the preliminary version:

o redefines basic styles (Normal, Heading1, etc.) rather than creating new styles,

o updates the boilerplate according to BCP 78,

o uses more conventional methods for autonumbered references and figures, including support for name-based references (e.g., "[Tou2005]"), and

o supports direct output to a printer from the .doc source, as well as RFC-3285-style 'print to text' with post-processing on Windowsbased PCs.

This document assumes familiarity with Microsoft Windows operating systems and the Word application.