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At 03:26 PM 5/6/2002 -0500, Guo Marc-YGUO1 wrote:

Hi, all

We heard that SCTP RFC is now in version 15 and is not compatible with RFC
version 13. Can anybody tell me if it is true?

I think there may be some confusion in terminology here. Perhaps you are referring to "versions" of the Siemens/University of Essen software, rather than "versions" of an "RFC".

There is no such concept as a "version" of an RFC. SCTP is specified in RFC2960. Once the IETF issues an RFC number, that text is fixed for all time as unchangable and unmodifiable.

Now, the text can be "obsoleted" by a NEW RFC with a different number. Eventually, that will happen with SCTP.

For the moment, the "SCTP implementors guide" contains various updates/corrections/clarification/upgrades to the SCTP protocol, expressed as "changes" in the text of RFC2960. That document (the SCTP implementors guide) is currently NOT an RFC, but is actually an Internet Draft. Internet Drafts, DO have version numbers, starting with version 00. The SCTP Implementors Guide is currently at version 04 (see http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-tsvwg-sctpimpguide-04.txt). Eventually these changes are likely to be folded in with the current text of RFC2960 into a new RFC for SCTP, but it may be some time before that happens.

For more information on the process by which RFCs, Internet Drafts, and Internet Standards develop, go to www.ietf.org Especially helpful may be: http://www.ietf.org/overview.html and http://www.ietf.org/tao.html in clearing up some confusion about terminology here.

Which version of SCTP RFC or which drafts of SCTP that Siemens is
implementing?

I don't speak for that group, but I would imagine that each release tries to comply with RFC2960, as modified by the latest version of the implementor's guide, and the latest version of the checksum draft. I would check the announcements that accompany each release for exact details... you can find these announcements in the web archive of this mailing list, at:

http://www.sctp.de/pipermail/discussion/

Here are the announcements for version pre16 and version pre17

version pre16 http://www.sctp.de/pipermail/discussion/2002-February/000637.html
version pre17
http://www.sctp.de/pipermail/discussion/2002-February/000688.html

Are all released versions of Siemens SCTP compatible with each
other?

I don't speak for Siemens or or the Univ. of Essen, but given that the checksum definition has changed at least once, and the latest version probably implements the new checksum, I think it is unlikely... and more to the point, not even desirable or possible... that all released versions are compatible.

Is Seimens planning v18 and beyond? When v18? How different from v17?

That's really for the Siemens and the Univ. of Essen folks to say .. but in response to your next question...

Are future releases backward compatible with previous releases?

Well, at least one version is not... v16 introduced the new checksum calculation,
(see http://www.sctp.de/pipermail/discussion/2002-February/000637.html )
so I would imagine it is impossible for that version to be compatible with the
previous version.

However, if you look at the announcement for version pre17:
http://www.sctp.de/pipermail/discussion/2002-February/000688.html
one could infer that the version is reasonably backwards compatible
with version pre16, except in the areas where bugs were fixed.

I hope this is helpful in addressing your question, but again, please understand that I do not speak for the development team at Siemens or the University of Essen in any way. I just hang out with them sometimes.

Thanks.
Marc Guo
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• [SCTP-Discussion] SCTP RFC v15, Guo Marc-YGUO1, 05/06/2002
  • Re: [SCTP-Discussion] SCTP RFC v15, Phillip Conrad, 05/07/2002
  • <Possible follow-up(s)>
  • RE: [SCTP-Discussion] SCTP RFC v15, Tuexen Michael, 05/07/2002
  • RE: [SCTP-Discussion] SCTP RFC v15, Tuexen Michael, 05/07/2002

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