Point-by-point responses (was: Re: Protocol-00)

[John C Klensin]

--On Friday, 23 May, 2008 23:10 +0800 James Seng <james at seng.sg>
wrote:

> Could we produce a diff between this version and the last one
> to assert what changes have being made and therefore make it
> easier for the contributors like Mark who can then go thru to
> see which of his concerns has being address and which has not?

James,

There are two ways to look at "a diff".  

One is that there is a list of changes that I consider
significant and substantive.  They appear, somewhat summarized,
in the "Change Log" that appears in each of these documents.

The other is an in-depth list of what has really changed at a
textual level.  For that, it is really important that as many
people as possible examine the documents themselves or diffs
that are generated from the text (as Paul, Patrik, and others
have pointed out, there are tools readily available to generate
those in several formats) because, for example:

	* differences of opinion about what is substantive may
	occur.
	
	* editorial changes may introduce new issues, or just be
	gotten wrong.
	
	* even when a change in made in response to a particular
	comment, the change may not reflect the intent or
	desires of the person making that comment, or the editor
	may have combined responses to comments from different
	people that are unsatisfactory to one or both.
	
And those sort of reasons are why Patrik and I are resistant to
spending the time to produce "response to particular comments"
lists.  They take a lot of time and may not accomplish nearly as
much as some people assume.

    john