ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG15 (Posix) Meeting, Heidelberg, Germany
				   May 1993

				Meeting Report



	0. Introduction:

	Twenty-three  delegates  from Germany,	the Netherlands, the US,
	the UK,  Canada,  France,  Japan,  Germany  and  the Netherlands
	attended  the WG15  meeting.   The agenda  included eighty-seven
	action items  and some fifty papers for consideration.

	The Plenary ran  from the 12th to  the 14th of May,  preceded on
	the 10th  and 11th  by	meetings  of  the  Rapporteur  Groups on
	Internationalisation, Conformance Testing, Security and also  on
	Coordination of Profile Activities.



	1. Plenary:

	Following  the concern	raised by  France  at the  previous WG15
	meeting  of the  overlap,  and therefore potential for conflict,
	between  the Ada  Real-Time work  in WG9  and the Ada binding to
	9945-1:1990 there was a discussion of the French comments on the
	Ada and 'c' work.  The US is not happy with the present deadlock
	and reserved  the right  to  introduce	the  Ada  document  on a
	fasttrack program.  France wants closer alignment of the Ada and
	'c' drafts to eliminate as far	as possible semantic differences
	before their  publication;  the French position  is that a thick
	Ada binding is acceptable as a DIS, but must be transformed to a
	thin binding to an LIS-based standard before it becomes an IS.

	The  other  main  discussion  revolved	 around  the  continuing
	commitment of the US's  IEEE PASC  development body to producing
	LIS-based standards.

	The  essence of  the problem,  as presented  to WG15  by  the US
	delegation  and  described  in	two  WG15  papers,   is  one  of
	diminishing resources - less  manpower	and less  money  to fund
	attendees at the  IEEE Posix meetings - and of increasing demand
	on the resources that remain - more work in terms of  drafts  to
	be  produced  together	with higher  fees to fund the standards-
	making activity.

	The IEEE PASC proposal is, briefly:
		. Language  Independent  Specifications   (LIS)   to  be
		  suspended, with  a proposition to WG15 that when  WG11
		  completes its work, IEEE Posix  will consider drafting
		  its  work  in  WG11  terms.	Meanwhile drafts will be
		  submitted to ISO WG15 in 'c', Ada, Fortran or Modula-2
		  form, as appropriate.

	WG15 spent some time on the ensuing debate, noting that the IEEE
	PASC Posix groups had not yet committed to this course of action
	and that the US TAG was investigating other potential sources of
	Posix LIS work,  should IEEE PASC so commit.   It was understood
	that WG15's scope required it to produce LIS-based standards.

	WG15 resolved:
	      . To investigate the most appropriate means  of satisfying
		the requirement  to provide coordination and consistency
		between multiple language bindings to  the same services
		- for  which the  current  LIS methods	were  originally
		formulated - taking account of the work of other groups,
		such as WG11.

	      . That  it  will	accept	Language Dependent Specification
		(LDS)  documents  for  progression  to	DIS,  without an
		accompanying  LIS,  on an individual basis  where Member
		Bodies	support  the  action,  until  such  time  as  it
		determines the	precise  form in  which the requirements
		and objectives, for which LIS was originally formulated,
		are to be met.

	      . To request the US  to preserve	and progress in a timely
		manner the LIS work that  is currently underway,  taking
		fully  into  account  the  requirements  and  objectives
		indicated, and to ensure that US standards developed for
		progression within  SC22/WG15 satisfy those requirements
		and objectives.


	Of the current pieces of Posix standardisation work in progress,
	9945-2,  the 'Shell  and  Utilities'  standard,  closes  its DIS
	ballot on 6-June.   Assuming the SC22 secretariat  requests WG15
	to do so,  a Disposition  of Comments  meeting	was  tentatively
	scheduled  for	July,  in conjunction with  the IEEE PASC  Posix
	meeting.

	The Disposition of Comments meeting on the 'Real-Time' amendment
	to 9945-1, held in January, reached a satisfactory conclusion on
	all the comments and WG15 anticipates  that the SC22 secretariat
	will pass the resulting document for DIS circulation.


	WG15 Plenary  produced	sixty-five  action items, (nine of which
	will  require  the  attention  of  IST/5/-/15),   plus	eighteen
	resolutions.



	2. UK Delegation:

	The UK delegation consisted of:
		David Cannon	UK BSI IST/5/-/15 Convenor, PUKE
						(University of Exeter)
		Martin Kirk			(X/Open Company Ltd)

	Two UK experts attended the RGCT meeting and part of the Plenary:
		Colin O'Driscoll        RGCT Rapporteur
						(NCC)
		Dan Chacon			(BSI QA)

	One UK expert attended the RGCPA meeting on the 10th and 11th:
		Don Folland		RGCPA Rapporteur
						(CCTA)


	David Cannon
	17-May-1993