Network Working Group                                         RFC Editor
Request for Comments: 5540                                       USC/ISI
Category: Informational                                     7 April 2009


                           40 Years of RFCs

Status of This Memo

  This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
  not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
  memo is unlimited.

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  document authors.  All rights reserved.

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Abstract

  This RFC marks the 40th anniversary of the RFC document series.

1.  RFCs and Jon Postel

  Forty years ago today, the first Request for Comments document, RFC
  1, was published at UCLA [RFC1].  This was the first of a series that
  currently contains more than 5400 documents (roughly 160,000 pages)
  on computer networking in general and on the Internet protocols in
  particular.  The RFC series emerged from the US government-funded
  research efforts that created the ARPANET and later the Internet.
  When the IETF was formed in the mid-1980s, RFCs became the primary
  publication vehicle for IETF standards, and thus became centered on
  the vendor and user communities.

  For the first 29 years, Jon Postel [Postel] was *the* RFC Editor,
  until his untimely death in October 1998.  Postel, with substantial
  help from Joyce K. Reynolds, was responsible for the collection,
  editing, online publication, and archiving of the RFC documents.
  From 1978 until 1998, Postel was a research scientist at the USC
  Information Sciences Institute (USC/ISI) in Marina del Rey,
  California.  Postel was also the original IANA as well as Director of
  the Computer Networks Division at ISI.



RFC Editor                   Informational                      [Page 1]

RFC 5540                    40th Anniversary                7 April 2009


  Upon the occasion of the 30th anniversary of RFC 1 and as a tribute
  to the massive contribution of Jon Postel, the RFC Editor published
  RFC 2555 [RFC2555] on April 7, 1999.  This RFC contained
  recollections from three networking pioneers: Steve Crocker who wrote
  RFC 1, Vint Cerf whose long-range vision continues to guide us, and
  Jake Feinler who played a key role in the middle years of the RFC
  series.

  Ten more years have now passed, and we have reached the 40th
  anniversary of the RFC series.  The series has more than doubled in
  size during the last ten years, and it is expected to continue far
  into the future.  All the good things said in RFC 2555 still hold
  true ten years later.

  We should, however, note some changes that have occurred over the
  past ten years.

  o  After Jon passed away, Joyce Reynolds and Bob Braden put together
     a small organization at USC/ISI to continue the RFC Editor
     function.  This was motivated by a desire to honor Postel by
     continuing his remarkable effort and to provide a service to the
     Internet community.

  o  Funding of the RFC Editor, which had been supported by the US
     government until 1998, was taken over by the Internet Society.
     During 1998-2006, ISOC funded the RFC Editor under a series of
     annual contracts and extensions.  ISOC put the function out for
     competitive bid for 2007 (USC/ISI was selected to provide RFC
     Editor services from 2007-2009), and the contract will be put out
     to bid again for post-2009.

     During 2009 there will be a significant transition for the RFC
     Editor function, as some new organization or set of organizations
     takes over this service that has been performed at USC/ISI
     continuously since 1978.

  o  Many improvements have increased the efficiency and transparency
     of the RFC editorial process [RFCed09].

  o  The RFC Editor formed an RFC Editorial Board, a group of people
     with broad and deep knowledge of the Internet and networking.  One
     of its major functions is to assist the RFC Editor by reviewing
     RFCs in the Independent Submission stream.

  o  An email list, [email protected], was created to obtain
     community input on the RFC Editor functions.





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RFC 5540                    40th Anniversary                7 April 2009


2.  Security Considerations

  This document does not raise any security issues.

3.  Acknowledgments

  It has been an honor for USC/ISI to serve the community during the
  past 31 years.

4.  Informative References

  [Postel]  "Remembering Jonathan B. Postel",
            <http://www.postel.org/remembrances/>.

  [RFCed09] Braden, R., Ginoza, S., and A. Hagens, "The RFC Editor
            Function at ISI", <http://www.rfc-editor.org/
            RFCeditor.at.ISI.pdf>, January 2009.

  [RFC1]    Crocker, S., "Host Software", RFC 1, April 1969.

  [RFC2555] RFC Editor, et al., "30 Years of RFCs", RFC 2555, April
            1999.

Author's Address

  RFC Editor

  EMail: [email protected]























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