Structured Requirements for DomainKey Identified Mail (DKIM) Standard Verification
Brian Mooney, Sarah Rudder, Jeremy S. Daily · 2025
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) publishes Request for Comment (RFC) artifacts to standardize internet protocols, technologies, and architectures. Often the RFC requirements may not align to well-defined requirement standards promoted in systems engineering. This paper demonstrates how existing RFC documentation for DomainKey Identified Mail (DKIM) is improved by implementing structured requirements. Using ISO 29418 as a reference for writing good requirements, this paper demonstrates how existing RFC requirements could be transposed to well-defined requirements. A structured approach removes ambiguity making the RFC more precise. The results of this approach show the syntaxial structure of a requirement. Structured requirements provide an immediate benefit to an RFC by adding clarity and generating artifacts for use in systems engineering (SE) methodologies and requirement management (RM) systems.