Request for Comments

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Revision as of 08:15, 2 January 2008 by imported>Michel Lenoir
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In short RFC, a series of notes about the Internet, started in 1969 (when the Internet was still the ARPANET). An Internet Document can be submitted to the IETF by anyone, but the IETF decides if the document becomes an RFC. Eventually, if it gains enough interest, it may evolve into an Internet standard.

Each RFC is designated by an RFC number. Once published, an RFC never changes. Modifications to an original RFC are assigned a new RFC number.

Some examples :

  • SMTP ["Simple Mail Transfer Protocol". Was RFC 821 (STANDARD), Obsoleted by RFC 2821 (PROPOSED STANDARD)]
  • HTTP ["Hypertext Transfer Protocol" -- HTTP/1.1 RFC 2616]
  • BGP-4 ["A Border Gateway Protocol 4" (BGP-4) RFC 4271]

External Links

IETF Home Page