1. TELNET OPTION SPECIFICATIONS

This RFC specifies a standard for the ARPA Internet community. Hosts on the ARPA Internet are expected to adopt and implement this standard.

The intent of providing for options in the TELNET Protocol is to permit hosts to obtain more elegant solutions to the problems of communication between dissimilar devices than is possible within the framework provided by the Network Virtual Terminal (NVT). It should be possible for hosts to invent, test, or discard options at will. Nevertheless, it is envisioned that options which prove to be generally useful will eventually be supported by many hosts; therefore it is desirable that options should be carefully documented and well publicized. In addition, it is necessary to insure that a single option code is not used for several different options.

This document specifies a method of option code assignment and standards for documentation of options. The individual responsible for assignment of option codes may waive the requirement for complete documentation for some cases of experimentation, but in general documentation will be required prior to code assignment. Options will be publicized by publishing their documentation as RFCs; inventors of options may, of course, publicize them in other ways as well.

Option codes will be assigned by:

      Jonathan B. Postel
      University of Southern California
      Information Sciences Institute (USC-ISI)
      4676 Admiralty Way
      Marina Del Rey, California 90291
      (213) 822-1511

      Mailbox = POSTEL@USC-ISIF

Documentation of options should contain at least the following sections:

   Section 1 - Command Name and Option Code

   Section 2 - Command Meanings

      The meaning of each possible TELNET command relevant to this
      option should be described.  Note that for complex options, where
      "subnegotiation" is required, there may be a larger number of
      possible commands.  The concept of "subnegotiation" is described
      in more detail below.

   Section 3 - Default Specification

      The default assumptions for hosts which do not implement, or use,
      the option must be described.

   Section 4 - Motivation

      A detailed explanation of the motivation for inventing a
      particular option, or for choosing a particular form for the
      option, is extremely helpful to those who are not faced (or don't
      realize that they are faced) by the problem that the option is
      designed to solve.

   Section 5 - Description (or Implementation Rules)

      Merely defining the command meanings and providing a statement of
      motivation are not always sufficient to insure that two
      implementations of an option will be able to communicate.
      Therefore, a more complete description should be furnished in most
      cases.  This description might take the form of text, a sample
      implementation, hints to implementers, etc.