Errare humanum est: what do RFC errata say about Internet standards?

Stephen McQuistin; Mladen Karan; Prashant Khare; Colin Perkins; Matthew Purver; Patrick Healey; Ignacio Castro; Gareth Tyson

doi:10.23919/TMA58422.2023.10198980

Errare humanum est: what do RFC errata say about Internet standards?

Stephen McQuistin, Mladen Karan, Prashant Khare, Colin Perkins, Matthew Purver, Patrick Healey, Ignacio Castro, Gareth Tyson

School of Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

Protocol standards, such as RFCs developed by the IETF, are crucial for the correct operation of the Internet, but many are published containing errors. The RFC Editor allows people to report errata, allowing anybody to flag such errors for subsequent correction. This represents an important part of the RFC publication process, and may reveal ways in which standards can be improved. This paper performs the first study of RFC errata reports. We characterize and perform a statistical analysis of the scale and nature of these errata and explore who submits them. Finally, we evaluate the impact, in terms of the number of errata filings, of three different strategies that are designed to improve the standards process. We find that specialist review teams and formal language checkers can reduce the volume of errata filed against standards documents.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2023 7th Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis conference (TMA 2023)
Publisher	IEEE Computer Society
Pages	169-177
Number of pages	9
ISBN (Electronic)	9783903176584
ISBN (Print)	9798350325676
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.23919/TMA58422.2023.10198980
Publication status	Published - 7 Aug 2023
Event	Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis Conference - University of Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy Duration: 26 Jun 2023 → 30 Jun 2023 Conference number: 7 https://tma.ifip.org/2023/

Conference

Conference	Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis Conference
Abbreviated title	TMA
Country/Territory	Italy
City	Naples
Period	26/06/23 → 30/06/23
Internet address	https://tma.ifip.org/2023/

Keywords

Protocols
Statistical analysis
Formal languages
Focusing
Telecommunication traffic
Internet
Standards

Access to Document

10.23919/TMA58422.2023.10198980

McQuistin_2023_Errare-humanum-est_AAM
Copyright © 2023 IFIP. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.23919/TMA58422.2023.10198980.
Accepted author manuscript, 1.32 MB

Cite this

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title = "Errare humanum est: what do RFC errata say about Internet standards?",

abstract = "Protocol standards, such as RFCs developed by the IETF, are crucial for the correct operation of the Internet, but many are published containing errors. The RFC Editor allows people to report errata, allowing anybody to flag such errors for subsequent correction. This represents an important part of the RFC publication process, and may reveal ways in which standards can be improved. This paper performs the first study of RFC errata reports. We characterize and perform a statistical analysis of the scale and nature of these errata and explore who submits them. Finally, we evaluate the impact, in terms of the number of errata filings, of three different strategies that are designed to improve the standards process. We find that specialist review teams and formal language checkers can reduce the volume of errata filed against standards documents.",

keywords = "Protocols, Statistical analysis, Formal languages, Focusing, Telecommunication traffic, Internet, Standards",

author = "Stephen McQuistin and Mladen Karan and Prashant Khare and Colin Perkins and Matthew Purver and Patrick Healey and Ignacio Castro and Gareth Tyson",

note = "Funding: This work is supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, under grants EP/S033564/1 and EP/S036075/1. Purver was also supported by the Slovenian Research Agency via research core funding for the programme Knowledge Technologies (P2-0103).; Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis Conference, TMA ; Conference date: 26-06-2023 Through 30-06-2023",

year = "2023",

month = aug,

day = "7",

doi = "10.23919/TMA58422.2023.10198980",

language = "English",

isbn = "9798350325676",

pages = "169--177",

booktitle = "2023 7th Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis conference (TMA 2023)",

publisher = "IEEE Computer Society",

address = "United States",

url = "https://tma.ifip.org/2023/",

}

McQuistin, S, Karan, M, Khare, P, Perkins, C, Purver, M, Healey, P, Castro, I & Tyson, G 2023, Errare humanum est: what do RFC errata say about Internet standards? in 2023 7th Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis conference (TMA 2023)., 10198980, IEEE Computer Society, pp. 169-177, Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis Conference, Naples, Italy, 26/06/23. https://doi.org/10.23919/TMA58422.2023.10198980

TY - GEN

T1 - Errare humanum est

T2 - Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis Conference

AU - McQuistin, Stephen

AU - Karan, Mladen

AU - Khare, Prashant

AU - Perkins, Colin

AU - Purver, Matthew

AU - Healey, Patrick

AU - Castro, Ignacio

AU - Tyson, Gareth

N1 - Conference code: 7

PY - 2023/8/7

Y1 - 2023/8/7

N2 - Protocol standards, such as RFCs developed by the IETF, are crucial for the correct operation of the Internet, but many are published containing errors. The RFC Editor allows people to report errata, allowing anybody to flag such errors for subsequent correction. This represents an important part of the RFC publication process, and may reveal ways in which standards can be improved. This paper performs the first study of RFC errata reports. We characterize and perform a statistical analysis of the scale and nature of these errata and explore who submits them. Finally, we evaluate the impact, in terms of the number of errata filings, of three different strategies that are designed to improve the standards process. We find that specialist review teams and formal language checkers can reduce the volume of errata filed against standards documents.

AB - Protocol standards, such as RFCs developed by the IETF, are crucial for the correct operation of the Internet, but many are published containing errors. The RFC Editor allows people to report errata, allowing anybody to flag such errors for subsequent correction. This represents an important part of the RFC publication process, and may reveal ways in which standards can be improved. This paper performs the first study of RFC errata reports. We characterize and perform a statistical analysis of the scale and nature of these errata and explore who submits them. Finally, we evaluate the impact, in terms of the number of errata filings, of three different strategies that are designed to improve the standards process. We find that specialist review teams and formal language checkers can reduce the volume of errata filed against standards documents.

KW - Protocols

KW - Statistical analysis

KW - Formal languages

KW - Focusing

KW - Telecommunication traffic

KW - Internet

KW - Standards

UR - https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/298487/

UR - https://doi.org/10.23919/TMA58422.2023

U2 - 10.23919/TMA58422.2023.10198980

DO - 10.23919/TMA58422.2023.10198980

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 9798350325676

SP - 169

EP - 177

BT - 2023 7th Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis conference (TMA 2023)

PB - IEEE Computer Society

Y2 - 26 June 2023 through 30 June 2023

ER -

Errare humanum est: what do RFC errata say about Internet standards?

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Conference

Keywords

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