Proposals

Changes to the aDNA standard are proposed as numbered aDNA Enhancement Proposals. The process is described by AEP-1, which is itself a proposal, filed through the process it describes.

Numbers are permanent. A proposal that is rejected or withdrawn keeps its number and stays on this page, so what the project turned down is as readable as what it adopted.

The archive

All aDNA Enhancement Proposals, by number
#	Title	Status	Author	Sponsor
AEP-1	The aDNA Enhancement Proposal process	final	Stanley Sekar	Stanley Sekar
AEP-2	Canonical URL casing and permanent redirects	review	Stanley Sekar	Stanley Sekar

The states

Every proposal is in exactly one of eight states. Occupancy below is counted from the archive above, not asserted — which is why most rows read zero.

The eight proposal states, their meanings, and how many proposals are in each
State	Meaning	Terminal	Currently
draft	Written down and numbered, not yet under review.	no	0
review	Under public review; a sponsor is shepherding it.	no	1
accepted	Decided yes; implementation may begin.	no	0
final	Implemented and enforced by a check that fails when the rule is violated.	yes	1
rejected	Reviewed and declined, with the reason recorded.	yes	0
withdrawn	Retracted by its author before a decision.	yes	0
superseded	Replaced by a later proposal, which is named on it.	yes	0
dormant	Nobody is shepherding it; revivable by anyone.	no	0

A terminal state is terminal for that number. A revived idea returns as a new proposal that names the one it descends from; the old number keeps its old outcome.

How to file one

Open a change proposal on the aDNA repository. If the change is normative — if it alters what the standard requires of a conforming vault — it becomes an AEP and is numbered here. If it does not, it stays an ordinary issue or pull request, which is faster for everyone.

Agents may author proposals, and every proposal discloses whether one did. Only a human can ratify: no proposal reaches accepted without a named person and a date. The contribution guide covers the non-normative routes, and participation is governed by the code of conduct.