Generation of URL in an RFC reference when target attribute of <reference> not set

[mahoney@nostrum.com]

When a reference for an RFC is created from the contents of a <reference> element, for instance (note the lack of target attribute in the <reference> element, but this XML is valid):

<reference anchor="TLS13">
   <front>
      <title>The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol Version 1.3</title>
      <author fullname="E. Rescorla" initials="E." surname="Rescorla">
         <organization/>
      </author>
      <date month="August" year="2018"/>
      <abstract>
         <t>(...abstract stuff...)</t>
      </abstract>
   </front>
   <seriesInfo name="RFC" value="8446"/>
   <seriesInfo name="DOI" value="10.17487/RFC8446"/>
</reference>

A URL of the following format is created in the output:

​https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8446

[TLS13]    Rescorla, E., "The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol
           Version 1.3", RFC 8446, DOI 10.17487/RFC8446, August 2018,
           <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8446>.

The URL works, but lands on the RFC itself, not its information page.

This URL is different from the one generated from an <xi:include>, which has the following format (the URL is constructed with "info" rather than "rfc") and which lands the reader on the information page of the RFC:

​https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8446

Workaround: Include the correct URL in the target attribute of the <reference> element.

[arusso@amsl.com]

FYI, in general, rather than the above example (which is the output of markdown->xml) or the manual correction, the preferred way to automatically create this reference is:

<displayreference target="RFC8446" to="TLS13"/>

[lars@eggert.org]

IMO the "RFC itself" is a much better landing page than the info page. The RFC has all the same information as the info page, plus contains the actual RFC.