SC22/WG15 N572r

								May 9th, 1995

	X/Open Category C Liaison to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG15

	Statement of Mutual Benefits

	This document addresses the mutual benefits that will arise from
	the creation of a Category C liaison from X/Open to ISO/IEC
	JTC1/SC22/WG15, the ISO POSIX working group. It has been
	produced in order to satisfy the requirement that such a
	statement is required to accompany the formal request for such a
	liaison.

	X/Open is an industry organisation, drawing its membership from
	major system vendors, end-users, and ISVs throughout the world.
	For over 10 years it has been active in defining and publishing
	open systems specifications covering a broad range of technical
	areas. X/Open has a long history of co-operation with formal
	standards bodies, including SC22/WG15, IEEE PASC, and others.
	X/Open has a formal Standards Policy, adopted in 1991, in which
	it states that it is committed to work with, and defer to,
	formal standards organisations. Several X/Open specifications
	have been submitted for formal standardisation, and formal
	standards have, and will continue to be, referenced in X/Open
	specifications.

	X/Open's main specification, the Common Applications Environment
	(CAE), is based on ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (POSIX.1), ISO/IEC
	9945-2:1993 (POSIX.2), and ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (C Language).
	X/Open has recently undertaken a major activity to produce the
	Single UNIX Specification, which contains many additional
	interfaces that are required by portable applications. The
	Single UNIX Specification is a superset of the formal standards
	identified above. In response to direction from the end-user
	community, X/Open is seeking to investigate how the Single UNIX
	Specification might be brought into the formal standards arena,
	and it would seem that SC22/WG15, is the right forum in which to
	pursue these issues.

	In addition, X/Open has an extensive repertoire of other
	specifications, some of which may be suitable for future
	submission to SC22/WG15.

	The following benefits will arise from granting X/Open Category
	C liaison status to SC22/WG15 are as follows:

	  . the introduction into WG15 of important additional work
	    identified as significant in enabling applications
	    portability.
	  . the capability for X/Open to participate in determining the
	    most effective way to introduce its work into the formal
	    standards world.
	  . improved co-ordination between SC22/WG15 and X/Open
	    activities, especially with respect to the management of the
	    complex dependencies among documents.
	  . improved synchronisation of future document revisions.
	  . the potential for achieving cost savings arising from the
	    sharing of editorial and other resources.
	  . by demonstrating effective co-operation, this formal
	    relationship will help to demonstrate the collaboration and
	    co-operation between formal and industry standards.

	The first activity undertaken should be to develop a plan
	identifying the process by which the appropriate elements of the
	Single UNIX Specification could be incorporated into formal
	standards. At this time, the issue of editorial and other
	resources will be addressed.