Subject: IPP> Summary for the IETF IPP WG Meeting

From: Carl-Uno Manros <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 18:26:59 PDT

The meeting was attended by a little over 30 participants, about half of
which were active WG members. The agreed charter was presented and
presentation and discussions were held about the five I-Ds relating to the
IPP work.

1) Requirements for Internet Printing
It was made clear that this document describes some scenarios and
requirements that go beyond the scope of the first version of the IPP
protocol, e.g. the location of printers based on search criteria.

2) IPP Model & Semantics
It was explaned that this document is the key document for IPP and will
contain all the semantics related to objects, attributes, operations, and
transfer neutral syntax. It was made clear that this will require further
work before it is complete and consistent. A number of issues are still
outstanding.

3) IPP Directory schema
It was explanained that this is mainly a subset of attributes from the
modeling document suitable for inclusion in a directory, and is intended to
be neutral to the chosen directory implementation.

4) IPP Protocol
Most of the discussion was around this proposal, which outlines two
different mappings of the model to a transport, one which is browser
oriented and one which is a more direct mapping onto transport. Two levels
were described, one at which model data gets packaged into some form of
MIME (either form-data or a new application/ipp format) and one where these
MIME types get transferred using either HTTP 1.1 or a "to be defined"
subset thereof. Suggestions from the audience included selecting only one
mapping, or to make the browser mapping an extra layer on top of the other
mapping.  Work will be intensified on this subject, supported by active
prototyping.

5) IPP Security
The security document at this stage describes scenarios and requirements
for generic security services.  Some suggestions were given about Internet
security protocols that potentially could meet the requirements.

Carl-Uno

Carl-Uno Manros
Principal Engineer - Advanced Printing Standards - Xerox Corporation
701 S. Aviation Blvd., El Segundo, CA, M/S: ESAE-231
Phone +1-310-333 8273, Fax +1-310-333 5514
Email: [email-masked]