Subject: Draft dependency tool

From: Bill Fenner <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 12:12:55 -0700

[...this time with the URL]
http://rtg.ietf.org/~fenner/ietf/deps/index.cgi

I've written an initial start at a tool to query my I-D dependency
database.  I build this up by parsing drafts and looking for things
that look like references to other drafts.

I'm looking for feedback as to what would be useful.  Right now you
have to use SQL wildcard syntax since it was just hacked together,
but for example, entering "%ietf-pim-sm%" into the second input field
results in a list of a fair number of documents that have some kind
of reference to the PIM-SM document.  Entering the same into the first
field results in the list of documents that PIM-SM itself depends on.

Eventual plans include hooking up to other databases that know
the current status of drafts, and perhaps recursive queries (as
in, what else does this document and all of its normative references
depend on -- the "what will it take for this to be published" query).
Other suggestions are welcome.

Please give it a try at 
http://rtg.ietf.org/~fenner/ietf/deps/index.cgi
and let me know what you think.

  Bill

---

From: Pekka Savola <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 20:55:49 +0300 (EEST)

Hi,

Thanks for the tool.  This shows interesting potential.  Also the 
charts you have at http://rtg.ietf.org/~fenner/ietf/deps/viz/ are 
interesting.

> and let me know what you think.

One nit: this shows drafts with RFC3667/3668 boilerplate but no
explicit reference as having dependency of type 'unknown' to those
RFCs.  Is this intentional? (The tool also seems to catch references
(in type 'unknown') to RFCs in the form like [RFCXXXX] where [RFCXXXX]
isn't in the references section.)

I see at least one additional interesting use for this.  Hooking this
up with 1rfc_index.txt (or the like) to figure out the maturity level
of referred RFCs could be used to point out documents, on or to be on
standards track which have normative references to RFCs of a lower
maturity level, or info/experimental.  When reviewing documents, this
seems to be something that folks very often stuble on.

-- 
Pekka Savola                 "You each name yourselves king, yet the
Netcore Oy                    kingdom bleeds."
Systems. Networks. Security. -- George R.R. Martin: A Clash of Kings