XEP-0002: Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

NOTICE: This Procedural document defines a process or activity of the XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF) that has been approved by the XMPP Council and/or the XSF Board of Directors. The XSF is currently following the process or activity defined herein and will do so until this document is deprecated or obsoleted.

Table of Contents

1. Short Definition

A Special Interest Group (SIG) is a working group approved by the XMPP Council to address specific areas of growth or concern within the Jabber/XMPP developer community, usually by means of developing and publishing XMPP Extension Protocols (XEPs).

2. Explanation

The main function of most SIGs is to produce acceptable XMPP extensions (delivered in the form of XMPP Extension Protocols or XEPs [1]) within a reasonably limited period of time. However, at the discretion of the XMPP Council, a handful of standing SIGs may be approved (e.g., to address security or standards compliance).

Anyone (not limited to members of the XMPP Standards Foundation) may propose the formation of a SIG by completing a XMPP Extension Protocol outlining the need for the SIG and its proposed focus. However, SIG leaders must be members of the XMPP Standards Foundation. The number of leaders for a SIG is flexible, and shall be determined by each SIG, in consultation with the XMPP Council if necessary. The concept of "membership" with regard to SIGs is loose, and is essentially co-extensive with membership in the appropriate mailing list (each SIG has its own mailing list, which is archived for public review). SIG members do not need to be members of the XMPP Standards Foundation, and any member of the general public may subscribe to SIG mailing lists.

It is expected that all SIGs (other than certain standing SIGs) will remain active for as long as necessary in order to produce one or more standards-track specifications for review by the XMPP Council in the SIG's area of focus. However, if a SIG does not show signs of activity for an extended period of time (usually six months of inactivity on the SIG's mailing list), the SIG may be disbanded at the discretion of the XMPP Council with appropriate warning to the SIG members (usually in the form of an email sent to the SIG's mailing list).

Appendices

Appendix A: Document Information

Series: XEP
Number: 0002
Publisher: XMPP Standards Foundation
Status: Active
Type: Procedural
Version: 1.1
Last Updated: 2002-01-11
Approving Body: XSF Board of Directors
Dependencies: None
Supersedes: None
Superseded By: None
Short Name: N/A
Source Control: HTML
This document in other formats: XML  PDF

Appendix B: Author Information

Appendix C: Legal Notices

Appendix D: Relation to XMPP

The Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) is defined in the XMPP Core (RFC 6120) and XMPP IM (RFC 6121) specifications contributed by the XMPP Standards Foundation to the Internet Standards Process, which is managed by the Internet Engineering Task Force in accordance with RFC 2026. Any protocol defined in this document has been developed outside the Internet Standards Process and is to be understood as an extension to XMPP rather than as an evolution, development, or modification of XMPP itself.

Appendix E: Discussion Venue

The primary venue for discussion of XMPP Extension Protocols is the <standards@xmpp.org> discussion list.

Discussion by the membership of the XSF might also be appropriate (see <http://mail.jabber.org/mailman/listinfo/members> for details).

Errata can be sent to <editor@xmpp.org>.

Appendix F: Requirements Conformance

The following requirements keywords as used in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119: "MUST", "SHALL", "REQUIRED"; "MUST NOT", "SHALL NOT"; "SHOULD", "RECOMMENDED"; "SHOULD NOT", "NOT RECOMMENDED"; "MAY", "OPTIONAL".

Appendix G: Notes

Appendix H: Revision History

Note: Older versions of this specification might be available at http://xmpp.org/extensions/attic/

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