Subject: Processing of Expired Internet-Drafts

From: The IETF Secretariat <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 10:52:48 -0500

The IETF Secretariat has updated its procedures for processing expired 
Internet-Drafts. The updated procedures, which are presented below, 
can also be found in the document entitled "Guidelines to Authors of 
Internet-Drafts" (http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-guidelines.txt).
 
An Internet-Draft will expire exactly 185 days from the date that it is posted 
on the IETF Web site (http://www.ietf.org/ID.html) unless it is replaced 
by an updated version (in which case the clock will start all over again for 
the new version, and the old version will be removed from the Internet-Draft 
repositories), or unless it is under official review by the IESG 
(i.e., a request to publish it has been submitted). Specifically, when 
an Internet-Draft enters the "Publication Requested" state in the I-D Tracker, 
it will not be expired until its status is resolved (e.g., it is published as 
an RFC).  I-D Tracker states not associated with a formal request to publish 
a document (e.g., "AD is Watching") will not prevent an Internet-Draft from 
expiring after 185 days.

Internet-Drafts will not expire during the period surrounding an IETF Meeting 
when submission of updates to Internet-Drafts is suspended (i.e., between 
the cutoff date for submission of updated drafts, which is two weeks prior to 
an IETF Meeting, and the date that Internet-Draft submissions are once again 
being accepted).  All Internet-Drafts scheduled to expire during this period 
will expire on the day that the Secretariat reopens Internet-Draft submissions.

When an Internet-Draft expires, a "tombstone" file will be created that includes
the filename and version number of the Internet-Draft that has expired.  
The filename of the tombstone file will be the same as that of the expired 
Internet-Draft with the version number increased by one.  If a revised version 
of an expired Internet-Draft is submitted for posting, then the revised version
will replace the tombstone file and will receive the same version number as that
previously assigned to the tombstone file.  Tombstone files will never expire
and will always be available for reference unless they are replaced by updated 
versions of the subject Internet-Drafts.

The IETF Secretariat