More Information On
The Internet RFC/STD/FYI/BCP Archives

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This is an archive of RFC, FYI, STD and BCP documents in both Hypertext and text formats. This archive is evolving like most things in life. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions.

Now a question for you...


What is this Archive and how is it built ?

This is an archive of "Internet Best Current Practices (BCPs)", "Request For Comments (RFCs)", "For Your Information (FYIs)" and "IAB Internet Standards (STDs)". BCP, FYIs and STDs are a subset of the RFC series. The RFC series covers a broad range of interests. Core topics focus on the Internet and the TCP/IP protocol suite. However, many topics related to computer communication are found in RFCs.

Each RFC/FYI/STD/BCP is converted into a single hypertext document. All documents are scanned for various references, and have hypertext links automatically inserted when such references are found.

Turning text into selectable URLs makes the HTML'ed RFCs a lot more useful.


How many RFCs are available in the archive?

There are now over 3000 separate issued RFCs dating back to April 1969, with 2800+ online.


How is the archive organized?

The RFC archive here is really two different archives, the HTML based archive and an FTP mirrored archive of the BCPs, FYIs, STDs, and RFCs.

There are two different ways to access the HTML based documents, via the Index files or via the full text search capabilities.

There are different types of Index files.

RFC Index files are available listing the complete RFC series or just the RFCs that are currently active. An active RFC is one that has not been "Obsoleted", by a document issued later.

The Complete RFC Index and the Active RFC Index both have a Title only listing and a Verbose listing.


What sorts of things are converted to links?

As many references as possible are being converted to hypertext links.

NOTE: These links are created without verification of the existance of the hypertext document. If the the information in the RFCs is accurate, the links will make the document much more useful.

If there are things we are not linking in today that you would like to see, please let us know and we'll see what we can do about adding them.


How can I help ?

Here are a couple things you can do to make this resource more accurate and useful for all.

  1. First, tell your friends about it, and get them to use it.

  2. Send us your great ideas and constructive criticism.

  3. Tell us immediately if there is some sort of conversion problem with an RFC or it's associated index entries. We have worked very hard to assure the documents are converted correctly. If there is a problem we will correct it immediately. Just let us know.
If you have other ideas about helping, please contact us at rfc-admin@faqs.org. We look forward to discussing them with you.


Is it ok to make links to the documents in this archive?

Yes. Enjoy. That is why we undertook this effort.


What problems may I encounter reading the pages?

The hypertext links to URLs are added without verification. This may cause things to be turned into bogus links.

If the information is wrong or out of date in a specific RFC then it will be here as well.


Why can't I read the newsgroups listed in the RFCs?

The HTML pages have the newsgroup names converted into hyperlinks. This allows you to read the newsgroups directly if you have access to a news server that carries the group. Simply because they are listed DOES NOT allow you to read news directly from the Web, nor do they give you access to groups that you would not have otherwise had access to. In order to read articles in the groups listed you must have access to an NNTP based news server and have configured your WWW client to point at that server.

Please ask your local support staff and refer to your WWW browser documentation for more specifics.


Where can I find more information on RFCs ?

Limited Information is available from the initial index page of the Hyperlinked RFC Archive. For RFCs, a good starting place is the RFC Editor's Home Page and the IETF. Additional Standards based information can be found at the various Internet related standards organizations. The following is not a complete list but a start...

Standards Organizations on the Net

If you know of other standards related net.resources, please let us know at rfc-admin@faqs.org and we'll add it here so others can benefit from it.


How can I get a tar file of the entire RFC archive ?

If you wish to get a complete copy of the RFC's in a single tar file, it is available as a tarred gzip file at:

ftp://faqs.org/rfc/all-rfcs-txt.tgz

Please be aware that this tar file is VERY large. It is in excess of 37 megabytes in size. Make sure you have the diskspace before attempting to download it.


Now a question for you...

Is there a specific type of index or method of access that you see as missing and would like to see added ?

If so, please let us know.


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