IPP> I-D Guidelines for XML in IETF Protocols

[McDonald, Ira]

Hi folks,

RECOMMENDED reading For anyone interested in XML-based protocols
- Bob Herriot, Dave Hall, Kirk Ocke, and other PWG editors.

In the IETF repository 'ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/' see:

"Guidelines for the Use of XML within IETF Protocols",
by Scott Hollenbeck (VeriSign), Marshall Rose (Dover Beach),
Larry Masinter (Adobe).
<draft-hollenbeck-ietf-xml-guidelines-02.txt> (29 April 2002)

As noted below, this document is intended to become an IETF BCP
(Best Current Practice) RFC.

Cheers,
- Ira McDonald
  High North Inc

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Abstract

   The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a framework for structuring
   data.  While it evolved from SGML -- a markup language primarily
   focused on structuring documents -- XML has evolved to be a widely-
   used mechanism for representing structured data.
   There are a wide variety of Internet protocols being developed; many
   have need for a representation for structured data relevant to their
   application.  There has been much interest in the use of XML as a
   representation method.  This document describes basic XML concepts,
   analyzes various alternatives in the use of XML, and provides
   guidelines for the use of XML within IETF standards-track protocols.

Intended Publication Status

   It is the goal of the authors that this draft (when completed and
   then approved by the IESG) be published as a Best Current Practice
   (BCP).

Conventions Used In This Document

   This document recommends, as policy, what specifications for Internet
   protocols -- and, in particular, IETF standards track protocol
   documents -- should include as normative language within them.  The
   capitalized keywords "SHOULD", "MUST", "REQUIRED", etc.  are used in
   the sense of how they would be used within other documents with the
   meanings as specified in RFC 2119 [1].

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Table of Contents

   1.    Introduction and Overview  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   1.1   Intended Audience  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   1.2   Scope  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   1.3   XML Evolution  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   1.4   XML Users, Support Groups, and Additional Information  . . .  5
   2.    XML Selection Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   3.    XML Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   4.    XML Use Considerations and Recommendations . . . . . . . . . 10
   4.1   XML Declarations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   4.2   XML Processing Instructions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   4.3   Well-Formedness  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   4.4   Validity and Extensibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   4.5   Namespaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   4.5.1 Namespaces and Attributes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   4.6   Element and Attribute Design Considerations  . . . . . . . . 13
   4.7   Binary Data  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   4.8   Incremental Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   5.    Internationalization Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   5.1   Character Sets and Encodings: UTF-8 and UTF-16 . . . . . . . 16
   5.2   Language Declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   5.3   Other Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   6.    IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   7.    Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   8.    Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
         Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
         Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
         Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   A.    Appendix A: Change History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
         Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28