Application Configuration Access Protocol (acap) Charter

NOTE: This charter is accurate as of the 37th IETF Meeting in San Jose. It may now be out-of-date. (Consider this a "snapshot" of the working group from that meeting.) Up-to-date charters for all active working groups can be found elsewhere in this Web server.

Chair(s)

Chris Newman <chris.newman@innosoft.com>

Applications Area Director(s):

Keith Moore <moore+iesg@cs.utk.edu>
Harald Alvestrand <Harald.T.Alvestrand@uninett.no>

Mailing List Information

General Discussion:ietf-acap+@andrew.cmu.edu
To Subscribe: ietf-acap-request+@andrew.cmu.edu
Archive: anonymous IMAP: cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu:archive.ietf-acap

Description of Working Group

The goal of this working group is to define, specify, and develop the Application Configuration Access Protocol as a general access mechanism for per-user and per-server structured lists of information. In addition, the Working Group will specify how to use the protocol to store specific structured lists, initially application configuration options and addressbooks.

The Application Configuration Access Protocol is a proposed solution to the problems of client configuration for users of the internet.

Given the increasing prevalence of network access points and rapidly increasing numbers of users with diverse needs and settings, there is a phenomenon of internet application users who typically connect from more than one physical location and/or operating system to use the same set of internet services and applications. These users must recreate sets of personal configuration information for each system, session, and location that they use. This may include information such as application options and preferences; personal or shared user data such as addressbooks, bookmarks, or subscription lists; or shared data for internal client use, such as authorization group lists.

The products of this working group will be:

* a formal specification for the protocol * formal specifications of datasets used by the protocol and related extensions to the protocol * an RFC intended to move to a Standard in a timely manner * a specification for extensibility of the protocol in the form of a framework document * additional informational and/or experimental RFCs as necessary to amplify and/or extend ACAP.

Note on goals and milestones: because the work of the ACAP WG is based on the previous work done on IMSP, there is justification for a somewhat more aggressive schedule than is customary.

Goals and Milestones

Jul 96: Submission of "ACAP vs. Other Protocols" Informational Document for discussion
Sep 96: Submission of revised proposed WG charter to area directors
Sep 96: Submission of "ACAP vs. Other Protocols" as Internet Draft
Oct 96: Second internet-draft of ACAP protocol specification
Dec 96: working group meeting at San Jose IETF
Jan 97: Working implementations of client and server library
Feb 97: Final internet-draft of ACAP protocol submitted to IESG for consideration as Proposed Standard
Mar 97: Additional dataset specifications defined as directed by WG.