At 10:15 AM -0500 1/31/08, IESG Secretary wrote:
PKIX Work Plan PKIX will continue to track the evolution of ITU-T X.509 documents, and will maintain compatibility between these documents and IETF PKI standards, since the profiling of X.509 standards for use in the Internet remains an important topic for the working group.
Maybe add: "In other words, the PKIX WG will probably last forever because the ITU-T X.509 work will probably last forever." Yes, this is a bit sarcastic, but is essentially true. If the IETF wants to have permanent WGs, PKIX should be one of them for the reason given in this proposed charter text.
PKIX will pursue new work items in the PKI arena if working group members express sufficient interest, and if approved by the cognizant Security Area director.
Maybe add: "In other words, the PKIX WG will probably last forever because the interest by many active individuals in extending and enhancing the use of PKIX formats and protocols will probably last forever." Yes, this is a bit sarcastic, but is essentially true. If the IETF wants to have permanent WGs, PKIX should be one of them for the reason given in this proposed charter text.
Editorial:The term "standards track RFC" should probably be "standards-track RFC" (although RFC 2026 is not consistent on this). In the milestones, "PROPOSED" should not be all caps.
--Paul Hoffman, Director --VPN Consortium