Internet-Drafts

During the development of a specification, draft versions of the document are made available for informal review and comment by placing them in the IETF's Internet-Drafts directory. This makes an evolving working document readily available to a wide audience, facilitating the process of review and revision.

Internet-Drafts have no formal status, and are subject to change or removal at any time; therefore they should not be cited or quoted in any formal document.

Anyone can submit Internet-Drafts. Opinions expressed in the drafts are the authors'. The drafts do not necessarily have any standing in the IETF unless, for instance, adopted by a working group or approved as an RFC.

Submit an Internet-Draft

Internet-Draft documents follow a well-established format. The following links provide information on authoring and submitting an Internet-Draft to the IETF.

• Note Well
• Guidelines
• xml2rfc
• Submission Tool
• ID-Nits Tool

Search For a Current Internet-Draft

The most effective way to search for, and browse, Internet-Drafts, is by using the IETF Datatracker. Internet-Drafts can be retrieved using http or rsync.

Verify an Internet-Draft's Signature

The IETF digitally signs all submitted Internet-Drafts to mark these specific drafts as being authentic, and being received by the IETF through the normal Internet-Draft Submission Process. More information is available about how to locate and verify I-D digital signatures. The IETF digitally signs Internet-Drafts submitted to the IETF repository, and those signatures can be used to verify an Internet-Draft's authenticity. For information on working with Internet-Draft signatures, click here.

Need Additional Assistance?

Questions on Internet-Drafts not answered here should be sent to the Internet-Drafts Administrator.