Internet Protocol - Request for Comments Documents

The Request For Comments (RFC) documents have been used on the Internet for more than 20 years. Researchers from universities and corporations publish these documents to solicit feedback on new technologies for the Internet. The RFC approach made good sense at the time, because most people on the Internet were developing or were at least interested in "foundation technologies" like Internet Protocol (IP).

The first RFC for Internet Protocol, RFC 760, was published in January 1980. RFC 791, published in September 1981, superceded the original document. It is fairly common to find multiple RFCs that represent revised versions of the same technology specification.

The very first RFC, RFC 1, was published in April 1969. Although the "host software" technology discussed has long since become obsolete, documents like this one offer a very interesting glimpse into the early days of computer networking.

As the basic technologies of the Internet have matured, and the Internet has grown to include many non-technical people, the need for RFCs has diminished. Yet a few RFCs are still being produced today.