CalSch meeting at 42nd IETF - Chicago

We began with the usual agenda bashing:

- IESG status on drafts
- Locating Draft status
- IRIP status
- CAP requirements
- Next Steps

IESG status on drafts

ICalendar, iTIP, and iMIP have gone through IETF last call and have been offered by 
our Area Directors (AD) to the IESG for approval as Proposed Standards.  The ADs 
noted a few comments about the drafts, but they have been passed, and will be in the 
hands of the RFC Editor soon.  It may be possible the Editor will request minor 
changes before they are assigned RFC numbers.  However, these three are nearly 
ready to be published!

Locating Draft

Working Group Last Call completed with no major objections.  It was noted the draft 
contained incorrect references to documents.  The editor said he'll remove these.  After 
that, the draft will be ready for review by the ADs.  To expedite the review, they will 
post the document for IETF Last Call while they review it, instead of completing their 
review first.

Patrik Falstrom reviewed the steps from Working Group draft to Proposed Standard, 
and listed the times the document may need to be edited during this process.

iRIP status

The iRIP team reviewed their work and their plans.  They've released a couple of 
drafts which have garnered numerous comments.  They divided the work to be 
accomplished in two parts, clarifications, and open issues.  Clarifications are 
changes which are not controversial and will be accomplished in the next draft.  
Open issues are problems for which the WG has not found consensus.

Clarifications to be incorporated are:

- Changes to the state diagram
- Adding a command table
- Discussion of server behavior if timeout occurs during ICALDATA command
- Better error definitions and examples
- Adding referral syntax and examples
- Specify UTF8 as default charset.  Other charsets are allowed as given by MIME

We then began a discussion of the open iRIP issues.

There is a choice to be made regarding the server's behavior on a referral.  The server 
can simply return the referral address, or it could both return the address, and attempt 
to perform the operation on the client's behalf.  We were unable to resolve this 
during the meeting, further discussion on the list will be necessary.  However, there 
was noticeable sentiment in the room to choose the first alternative as being simpler.  
Attempting to perform the operation may induce the server to attempt an iMIP 
connection which would likely not give acceptable real-time performance.

Supporting iRIP will require sysadmins to deploy new server daemons across their 
nets, and will require firewall modification to allow the protocol to pass between nets.  
Some expressed the fear these changes would inhibit deployment of the protocol 
because it would potentially weaken a net's integrity.  It was proposed the iRIP 
command set be submitted as an extension to SMTP.  This avoids punching a new 
hole in a firewall for the new protocol.  In support of this proposal, it was noted that 
the fax WG is considering extensions to SMTP to support fax transmission across the 
net.  The response to this was the fax WG's requests to extend SMTP are far from 
accepted.  Those familiar with email protocols thought it unlikely that such extensive 
changes to smtp to support iRIP capability would not be accepted by the email 
community.  AD Patrik Falstrom suggested that this idea may find a warmer reception 
in the metad group.

It is unclear when an ICALDATA is complete what should become of the recipient 
list in the object.  Should it be saved, or does the list reset?  No resolution was 
apparent in the meeting.  This will require further discussion on the list.

Finally (as far as open iRIP issues are concerned), whether iRIP must return all error 
codes defined in iTIP is unclear.  The editors will seek the WG's advice on the list.

Schedule for iRIP Work

The editors anticipate releasing the next draft within 2 weeks.  Over the next 6 to 8 
weeks the editors expect to make further revisions with the guidance of the WG.  
They anticipate we'll be ready for WG Last Call in approximately 8 weeks.  By the 
43rd IETF, an iRIP protocol should be ready for AD review prior to an IESG ballot.

CAP Requirements Draft

Having disposed of iRIP, the WG next focused its gaze on CAP requirements.  The 
editors outlined their hopes and goals for the document.  They want to capture as 
many requirements as possible so the WG can review and agree on the requirements 
before proceeding to design the protocol.  They anticipate, as do many others within 
the WG, that a usable protocol will be subtle, complicated, and big.  Agreeing on the 
requirements should erect a sufficiently tall barrier to casual changes to the design in 
the future.  The WG spent some time debating the future of the document once it is 
written.  This was returned to several times during the course of discussion of the 
requirements so far gathered.

The authors anticipate requirements will break down into five categories:  Basic, 
Administrative, Component Management, Access Control and Notifications.  It was 
noted that Access Control refers to calendar object access, not access to calendar 
daemons themselves.  The authors polled the WG if the explanations were 
sufficiently detailed.  The WG seemed generally satisfied, although it was noted that 
the requirements while clear are not necessarily consistent.  Requirements are not yet 
sufficiently abstracted.  As a result, some are stated as scenarios or examples rather 
than a explicit condition that must be met by the protocol.  Some worried the authors 
intended the scenarios to be normative.  Eventually it was understood they are to be 
explanatory, but that the scenarios currently are the vehicle to express requirements 
not yet fully conceived.

The authors then began to outline what constitutes the different catagories of 
requirements.  Basic requirements include calendar object manipulation such as 
add/modify/delete actions.  Requirements for the connection between the CUA 
and CS are considered basic.

The WG noted requirements for Searching Calendars will be necessary.  
Operations such as discovery, lookup and search should be included.

Notifications should support 2-way communication between client and servers.

Protocol Security requirements must cover 3 areas.  The protocol must provide for 
authentication between clients and servers.  It must be possible for clients and 
servers to identify each other.  Finally, the protocol must provide a means to 
determine if particular actions are authorized.

The CAP requirements authors offered to keep our ADs apprised of the WG's 
discussion of the requirements.  AD Patrik Falstrom noted that our WG's approach 
to setting requirements before embarking on design has not been widely used 
within the IETF to date.  Others will watch our progress with interest.

To sum up the requirements discussion, the authors expect to have a new 
requirements draft prepared in time for the 43rd IETF meeting.  They expect to 
be able to enumerate major sections of the requirements by Oct 9th.  They will 
continue considering comments until Nov 25th.  Comments after that date will 
need to be included in the revision to follow the next meeting.  While it is not 
necessarily true the requirements document must become an RFC of the IETF, it 
certainly should have a strong role in shaping CAP's design.  Deviating from the 
requirements must not be entered into lightly.  A number expressed the hope this 
would become an informational RFC for the benefit of future implementors.

Finally, the model document author agreed to resurrect the model document draft, as 
it has expired.  However, he made no promises on when this feat would be 
accomplished.

Chairman's Summary

iCalendar, iTIP and iMIP are in the hands of the RFC Editor.  Their issuance as 
RFCs is imminent.  Locate will be presented to the ADs for their review.  Within the 
WG, iRIP requires further revision.  The WG must provide additional review, 
commentary, and revision for CAP Requirements.  It was proposed that SCAP be 
removed from our Charter.

With our agenda completed, the chairman adjourned the meeting.