Session Date/Time: 08 Jul 2025 18:00

TOOLS

Summary

The TOOLS Working Group meeting focused on current development priorities, including the RPC workflow, RSC website, and Draft Forge tooling, driven by the upcoming RFC 10K boundary. Updates were provided on the Data Tracker password enforcement, ID Nits 3 readiness for beta, and the integration of Cloudflare streaming for video playback. A significant discussion revolved around the lack of historical data in the Data Tracker regarding group lifecycles and role holders, proposing a community-led crowdsourcing effort. Finally, a planned post-IETF 123 migration of core infrastructure from Digital Ocean to Azure was announced.

Key Discussion Points

Current Development Focus: The primary focus remains on the RPC workflow management tooling (referred to as "Purple"), the RSC website ("Red"), and Draft Forge tooling. This is critical due to the impending RFC 10K boundary, as existing tooling would require a prohibitive lift to handle it. Parallel efforts on other projects are also in progress.
Data Tracker Password Requirements: Enforcement of new password requirements began today, with no major issues reported. Communication through the Data Tracker's announce status tool was effective. Some users reported persistent pop-ups, which was attributed to cookie interactions with the off.ietf.org authentication system, especially after a message update. The changes are part of an effort to move to a new authentication system supporting federation, MFA, and passkeys, and to address long-standing issues with password security.
ID Nits 3 Readiness: ID Nits 3 is nearing beta, with preparations for wider community testing, ideally during IETF 123. It is currently available at authortools.ietf.org. Feedback is sought on identified "silly" or missed "important" issues. A suggestion to add a "check ID" button on document pages in the Data Tracker was noted, with a response that this would be considered once the tool moves past beta to avoid exposing users to premature suggestions.
Cloudflare Streaming Integration: Cloudflare streaming is being made available to the IETF under Project Galileo. The tools team is investigating its integration as an alternative playback option for IETF videos, alongside continued YouTube hosting. Technical assessment for integration with the existing media player, including Mico, is underway, with an update expected within a few weeks.
Third-Party Video Distribution: Christian raised the topic of making IETF video recordings available for distribution by third parties, citing a successful Peertube prototype using scraped YouTube data. Discussions are ongoing with the LLC and IETF leadership regarding licensing implications, with an update anticipated shortly after IETF 123. Christian emphasized the need for progress by July to retain volunteer engagement.
Data Tracker Historical Data Deficiencies: The Data Tracker lacks comprehensive historical data regarding group existence (formation, closure) and role assignments (who held a role and for how long). This deficiency impacts profile pages and statistical dashboarding. Historical data, particularly prior to 2011 (when role/history constructs were introduced), is largely absent and cannot easily be backfilled.
- Proposed Solution: Improve Data Tracker data structures and crowdsource the historical information from the community. A method involving GitHub lists, PRs, or issues for contributions (e.g., "Person X chaired WG Y from A to B") with provenance links (e.g., mail archives) was suggested.
- Community Engagement: A call for community members to champion and lead this data collection effort was made, with further discussion planned for IETF 123.
- Concerns: The credibility and provenance of crowdsourced data are paramount for vetting before ingestion into Data Tracker.
- Feasibility: A sense of those present indicated that opening this effort to the community first is worthwhile, with potential interest from librarians or historians. If community efforts are not sufficient, contracting out the work could be considered. Data would likely be imported in "relatively complete data sets" (e.g., all ISG/IAB roles first, then working group roles).
Post-IETF 123 Infrastructure Migration: A significant infrastructure change is planned after IETF 123: migrating the Data Tracker, website, IMAP server, NFS server, and mail archive from Digital Ocean to Azure. This move aims to provide more performant hardware and greater control over deployments (e.g., Kubernetes environments). This will complete the transition of production systems to Azure, with Digital Ocean retained for staging environments to maintain cloud portability.

Decisions and Action Items

The tools team will proceed with the goal of making Cloudflare streaming an option for IETF video playback, alongside YouTube.
The tools team will continue discussions with the LLC and IETF leadership regarding licensing and mechanisms for third-party distribution of IETF video recordings.
An effort will be initiated to crowdsource historical data for the Data Tracker regarding group lifecycles and role holders, with a call for community champions to lead this project.

Next Steps

ID Nits 3: Community members are encouraged to extensively test ID Nits 3 at authortools.ietf.org and provide feedback, particularly during IETF 123.
Third-Party Video Distribution: Christian will provide a link to the Peertube prototype and inquire about potential provisioning technologies (e.g., RSS) that the tools team could support. Further updates on licensing discussions are expected shortly after IETF 123.
Data Tracker Historical Data: The tools team will seek to recruit one or more community members to lead the crowdsourcing effort for historical Data Tracker information, with discussions continuing at IETF 123.
Infrastructure Migration: The planned migration of core IETF infrastructure from Digital Ocean to Azure will occur after IETF 123.