From nick@usenix.org Mon Jan 4 19:24:30 1999 Received: from usenix.ORG (usenix-gw.usenix.ORG [131.106.1.254]) by dkuug.dk (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id TAA03127 for ; Mon, 4 Jan 1999 19:24:29 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from nick@usenix.org) Received: from khan (khan.usenix.org [131.106.3.106]) by usenix.ORG (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id KAA20948; Mon, 4 Jan 1999 10:26:52 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <008001be380f$f53af820$6a036a83@khan.usenix.org> From: "Nick Stoughton" To: Cc: Subject: UK Action Item Report Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1999 10:27:58 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_007D_01BE37CC.E64043E0" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.2106.4 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.2106.4 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_007D_01BE37CC.E64043E0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Please find attached the UK Action Item report for the upcoming WG15 meeting. -- Nick Stoughton ------=_NextPart_000_007D_01BE37CC.E64043E0 Content-Type: text/html; name="p381.htm" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="p381.htm" P381: UK Report to WG15

ISO WG15 N____
UK IST/5/-/15 P381
 

UK Action Item Report

to WG15, January, 1999

 
 

9804-06 All Member Bodies - Seek volunteers for the = post of WG15 Convener, to run for three years from September 1998 at the = latest. Applicants should have sponsorship from their employers and from = their National Bodies. (Rolled over from 9705-55 and 9710-15) OPEN [See = 9804-36]
Closed:  The UK POSIX Panel applauds the = appointment of Mr James Oblinger to the office of WG15 Convener by = ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 at its September meeting, offers him its support in = his endeavours, and wishes him every success in his new post.
 
9804-16 Member Bodies to respond to the subsetting = proposal in PDISP ballot to 15287-2 (aka 1003.13) and indicate whether = such subsetting should be supported in the base standard.
Closed: The UK notes that 1003.13 was given special = permission to do additional subsetting which was not defined in the base = document, P1003.1.
The UK sees some merit in the introduction of feature groups = into the base standard, with the proviso that the base document should = not itself become unreadable, or broken, or that individual elements of = the API are not themselves sub-setted.
However the UK would not support the introduction of such = feature groups if it were possible for a future implementation to claim = conformance to the base standard where in fact it conforms only to some = defined subset or profile, and therefore has less functionality than a = 'full' implementation.
 
9804-22 All Member Bodies to identify specific issues = that need to be addressed w.r.t. work in progress and co-operative = development TOG/PASC/WG15 and report these to Roger Martin by May = 31.
Closed: The UK is aware of discussions in the IEEE = PASC Development body, The Open Group, and more recently in the joint = IEEE/WG15/TOG =91Austin Group=92 meeting which propose that work in = progress stays with the current development groups. The UK is also aware = of discussions in the joint Procedures Committee (ProComm) and supports = the joint voting model.
The UK approves what it understands to be the current = intentions with respect to future co-operative development of the POSIX = standard, and requests that WG15 member bodies be kept informed of = progress.
 
9804-24 All Member Bodies to review and Comment on = N768 (LIS Techniques) by August 1.
The UK apologises for failing to recognise that email = '(SC22WG15.1269) LIS paper' corresponded to 'WG15 N768: LIS = Techniques'.

N768 presents a number of alternative syntactical methods for = Language Indepenedent Specifications, including LID, LIPC, and IDL = amongst others. It does not include the current "POSIX-style" Language = Independent techniques, as employed by documents such as POSIX.21 (or = the original draft of POSIX.1 LIS, which is the document that sparked = this paper). It would be useful to see the current POSIX style included = in this discussion together with a discussion of its strengths and = weaknesses.

The only recommendation made by N768 is to use section numbers to = identify each API version, although it is unclear what this = recommendation actually means. Although several techniques are = presented, there is no discussion on which may be better or worse for = any particular audience.

Without any such recommendations, the UK has no specific comments on = this paper. The UK thanks Denmark for bringing forward these points, but = would welcome a follow-up paper indicating which technique is planned to = be used for the POSIX.1 LIS document, together with a rationale for that = selection. If the choice is other than that used in other POSIX = standards or drafts, the rationale should carefully explain the = differences and the reason(s) for departing from this practice.

The UK further requests that WG15 offer accurate references = to its future documents to avoid further misunderstandings. =
9804-35 Member bodies to continue to actively seek = candidates for WG15 convener, and to report these no later than the = August SC22 meeting in Copenhagen.
Closed: See AI 9804-06 above.
9804-36 Member bodies to propose alternative methods = for continuing and maintaining the work of WG15 if there is no convener, = and to report these at the August SC22 meeting in Copenhagen. [See = 9804-06]
Closed: See AI 9804-06 and 9804-35 = above.

Nick Stoughton
BSI IST/5/-/15 Convener
January 1999

Revn 4:  4-Jan-1999

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