rfc

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)

RFC
 /R.F.C/, n.

   [Request For Comment] One of a long-established series of numbered
   Internet informational documents and standards widely followed by
   commercial software and freeware in the Internet and Unix communities.
   Perhaps the single most influential one has been RFC-822 (the Internet
   mail-format standard). The RFCs are unusual in that they are floated
   by technical experts acting on their own initiative and reviewed by
   the Internet at large, rather than formally promulgated through an
   institution such as ANSI. For this reason, they remain known as RFCs
   even once adopted as standards.

   The RFC tradition of pragmatic, experience-driven, after-the-fact
   standard writing done by individuals or small working groups has
   important advantages over the more formal, committee-driven process
   typical of ANSI or ISO. Emblematic of some of these advantages is the
   existence of a flourishing tradition of `joke' RFCs; usually at least
   one a year is published, usually on April 1st. Well-known joke RFCs
   have included 527 ("ARPAWOCKY", R. Merryman, UCSD; 22 June 1973), 748
   ("Telnet Randomly-Lose Option", Mark R. Crispin; 1 April 1978), and
   1149 ("A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian
   Carriers", D. Waitzman, BBN STC; 1 April 1990). The first was a Lewis
   Carroll pastiche; the second a parody of the TCP-IP documentation
   style, and the third a deadpan skewering of standards-document
   legalese, describing protocols for transmitting Internet data packets
   by carrier pigeon (since actually implemented; see Appendix A). See
   also {Infinite-Monkey Theorem}.

   The RFCs are most remarkable for how well they work -- they frequently
   manage to have neither the ambiguities that are usually rife in
   informal specifications, nor the committee-perpetrated misfeatures
   that often haunt formal standards, and they define a network that has
   grown to truly worldwide proportions.

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

Request For Comments
RFC

   <standard> (RFC) One of a series, begun in 1969, of numbered
   {Internet} informational documents and {standards} widely
   followed by commercial software and {freeware} in the
   {Internet} and {Unix} communities.  Few RFCs are standards but
   all Internet standards are recorded in RFCs.  Perhaps the
   single most influential RFC has been {RFC 822}, the Internet
   {electronic mail} format standard.

   The RFCs are unusual in that they are floated by technical
   experts acting on their own initiative and reviewed by the
   Internet at large, rather than formally promulgated through an
   institution such as {ANSI}.  For this reason, they remain
   known as RFCs even once adopted as standards.

   The RFC tradition of pragmatic, experience-driven,
   after-the-fact standard writing done by individuals or small
   working groups has important advantages over the more formal,
   committee-driven process typical of {ANSI} or {ISO}.

   Emblematic of some of these advantages is the existence of a
   flourishing tradition of "joke" RFCs; usually at least one a
   year is published, usually on April 1st.  Well-known joke RFCs
   have included 527 ("ARPAWOCKY", R. Merryman, UCSD; 22 June
   1973), 748 ("Telnet Randomly-Lose Option", Mark R. Crispin; 1
   April 1978), and 1149 ("A Standard for the Transmission of IP
   Datagrams on Avian Carriers", D. Waitzman, BBN STC; 1 April
   1990).  The first was a Lewis Carroll pastiche; the second a
   parody of the {TCP/IP} documentation style, and the third a
   deadpan skewering of standards-document legalese, describing
   protocols for transmitting Internet data packets by carrier
   pigeon.

   The RFCs are most remarkable for how well they work - they
   manage to have neither the ambiguities that are usually rife
   in informal specifications, nor the committee-perpetrated
   {misfeatures} that often haunt formal standards, and they
   define a network that has grown to truly worldwide
   proportions.

   rfc.net (http://rfc.net/).
   W3
   (http://w3.org/hypertext/DataSources/Archives/RFC_sites.html).
   JANET UK FTP (ftp://nic.ja.net/pub/newsfiles/JIPS/rfc).
   Imperial College, UK FTP (ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/rfc/).
   Nexor UK (http://nexor.com/public/rfc/index/rfc.html).
   Ohio State U
   (http://cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html).

   See also {For Your Information}, {STD}.

   (1997-11-10)