xml2rfc (experimental)


A handy little tool, xml2rfc, will allow you to take your XML source (using the format defined in RFC 2629 and its unofficial successor) and see how the results look like in the original ASCII look-and-feel or the new modern HTML rendition of that look-and-feel.

Bleeding-edge Development Version

 The current released version, Version 1.36, can be found on the main page, along with its README file.

This experimental page will always have the most recent development version that's been released for public trial.

Experimental Conversion
  1. Try your results in this handy converter form (which also supports more options than the xml2rfc tool):
Note: This page is now using the newly rewritten xml2rfc program, version 2.2.3. It may be downloaded here. (The commit log since the previous posted version can be found here.)

Note 2: This version is much stricter in following the language spec.

Note 3: This version is still buggy.

If you prefer to use the currently released version, please return to the main xml2rfc page.

Convert Your XML Source
 Input file
Output format
Text: plaintext ... unpaginated PDF
Web page: HTML PDF
Other: nroff expanded XML
Options
 Output result Use frames to show Warnings & Errors Window File

Please note that the current version of xml2rfc now produces boilerplate text which is fully compliant with the latest IETF Trust Legal Provisions Document.

To generate the latest boilerplate, please use these settings in your .xml source file:
in the <rfc /> element: use one of these attributes:
  • ipr='trust200902'
    • This is appropriate for most drafts, where the entire content of the draft is written by the draft's authors, or all authors of other material have given explicit permission to use their work.
  • ipr='noModificationTrust200902'
    • This is appropriate for drafts where the authors wish to place the additional condition that if the draft is published as an RFC, it must have no changes other than formatting.  An example might be a document published by another organization that permits copying but not modification.
  • ipr='noDerivativesTrust200902'
    • This is appropriate for drafts not intended to be published as RFCs.
  • ipr='pre5378Trust200902'
    • This is appropriate for drafts that include material submitted to the IETF prior to RFC 5378 (10 Nov 2008), where the authors of that material have not given explicit permission to use their work in this draft.  An example might be a draft using material from an RFC whose author has died or cannot be located, or who thinks your draft is
      stupid.
and use a year= and month= in the <date /> element (which controls the date in the document header) with a date of 2010-04-01 or later.

Citation Libraries
citation
library
retrieve entire directory
as a file
retrieve entire directory using
wget -r -l 1 -A .xml -nd -nc ...
rss
feed

rsync
RFC zip or tgz http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/ rss 1.0 yes
Internet-Draft zip or tgz http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml3/ rss 1.0 yes
W3C zip or tgz http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml4/ rss 1.0 yes
JSF zip or tgz http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/refs/ rss 0.92 no
3GPP zip or tgz http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml5/ rss 1.0 yes
Miscellaneous zip or tgz http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml2/ no yes

rsync access is available at two independent servers (rsync1.xml.resource.org::xml2rfc.bibxml, and rsync3.xml.resource.org::xml2rfc.bibxml) — after you pick one, you shouldn't switch. 

Helpful Hints

 See the xml2rfc FAQ for answers to common questions.

Normative References

If you need to have multiple references sections, try something like this: 

    <back>
    <references title='Normative References'>
    ...
    </references>
    <references title='Informative References'>
    ...
    </references>
    </back>

That's right: the <references/> element may occur more than once in the back section, and has an optional 'title' attribute.

Including files

Use the XML external entity mechanism, e.g., 

    <?xml version='1.0'?>
        <!DOCTYPE rfc SYSTEM 'rfc2629.dtd' [

      <!ENTITY rfc2629 PUBLIC '' 'http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.2629.xml'>

    ]>

    ...

    <t>This document was constructed using the <xref target="RFC2629" /> DTD.</t>

    ...

    <references>
    ...
    &rfc2629;
    ...
    </references>

Note that this syntax is rather pedantic, i.e., you declare the entity toward the top of your file and then you invoke it exactly once (using an "&") in the <references/> element to include it.

Take a look at this file, provided by Dan Kohn. In addition to showing a complete example, it also works with the XSL transformation written by Julian Reschke and the DTD. (Depending on the capabilities of your browser, instead of clicking on these links directly, you may want to download these three files using "Save Target As...")

To try out this sample, you'll need to put all three files in the same directory. Also, note that some XSLT processors disable the use of external entities, you may need to check "Preferences" to see if there's an option to enable their use.

Notes for Authors

Templates

The IETF Tools Team maintains a library of templates you can use for different kinds of drafts.

Using your source file

When submitting an Internet-Draft using the IETF Internet-Draft Submission Tool, you can upload the XML source file in addition to the text file. If your draft is approved for publication as an RFC, the RFC Editor will retrieve the XML file from the I-D repository, or you can submit it directly to the RFC Editor.

When published

To improve the quality of the citation library, send a copy of the updated XML file here. Thanks!

Convert Your XML Source (all combinations, for test only)
(This form will be removed before deployment.)
 Input file
 Output mode Text HTML (via xslt) nroff unpaginated XML
 Output format ASCII PDF ePub RTF PostScript
 Checking Strict Fast
 Output result Use frames to show Warnings & Errors Window File

Questions? Try the mailing list.