

The Tao of IETF - dedalus
https://www.ietf.org/tao.html

======
andreyf
How do you tell if an RFC is a standard? TLS says "proposed standard"
published 7 years ago:
[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5246](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5246)

~~~
danieloaks
The main way is the "Category: Standards Track" part at the top. There are a
few different categories: Experimental, Informational, Historic, and Standards
Track.

This may not be 100% accurate, but basically: Anyone can submit an Internet
Draft for the Experimental or Information categories, whereas the Standards
Track ones have to come through a more intensive process, an IETF working
group, etc. The Standards Track ones are the ones that are technically
'standards', or which are intended to be standards.

That said, some non-Standards Track RFCs do end up getting widely implemented
(such as IRC:
[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1459](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1459) ),
and an RFC being on the Standards Track doesn't necessarily mean everyone's
going to implement it -- or at least not right away (such as IPv6:
[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2460](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2460) ),
so it's normally best to take a look around and see the real-world usage for
the specific technology/RFC.

For a more in-depth explanation, the IETF is the best place to take a look:
[https://www.ietf.org/about/standards-
process.html](https://www.ietf.org/about/standards-process.html)

