P369 BSI IST/5/-/15 (POSIX) POSIX Panel Activity Report 6 June 1998 1. Introduction IST/5/-/15 has met once since the last IST/5 meeting, on the 3- April. WG15 last met between the 24-25 April 1998; a meeting report is attached. 2. ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG15 The most significant points from the WG15 meeting were: . The debate on the future of POSIX continues. It is expected that a collaborative plan between IEEE PASC, WG15 and The Open Group (TOG) will be developed. The first project o be develop[ed in this fashion is expected to be a revision of ISO 9945-1, with the goal a single document that is an ISO standard, an IEEE standard, and a TOG standard. . This was to be the last meeting for the WG15 Convenor, Jim Isaak, who has acted in that role for all of the last ten years since the groups formation. There are still currently no volunteers for this role. Substantial time was spent discussing the effects of this. The WG cannot continue without a convenor. It is possible that somebody may step forward before or during the next SC22 plenary, but in the event that they do not, WG15 itself will probably be terminated. The current workload and will then have to move to a successor organisation. One possibility would be to form rapporteur groups (of SC22) which would own "chunks" of work -- C Language binndings, shell and Utilities, etc. These could exist even without the WG. A meeting of the WG has been planned for January 1999 on the assumption that a convenor will come forward at the last moment. . Meetings will be two per year, assuming the WG continues to exist, alternating between colacting with one or both of PASC and TOG, and the other colocated with SC22. . WG15 authorised the forwarding of a number of documents corresponding to its set of work items - IST/5 can expect the flow of drafts to continue, regardless of the situation with WG15 (in the worst case, documents could be forwarded via the PAS route from TOG or IEEE). 3. ISO Business, Recommended Votes, etc: SC22 N2678: PDAM-7 to 9945-1 (POSIX) part 1: System API: Advanced Realtime Extensions (C language) PDAM Ballot: Ballots due 24-Jul-1998 This corresponds to POSIX.1j, draft 6. The panel is currently debating this, but is expected to recommend a YES vote, with no comments. SC22 N2648: PDAM-5 to 9945-1 (POSIX) part 1: System API Final PDAM Ballot: Ballots due 02-Jun-1998 The above correspond to IEEE PASC P1003.1a Draft 14 documents, amending P1003.1. The panel recommended a YES vote, with the comment that the synchronization plan must be followed. There are outstanding ballots in the IEEE that must be resolved. SC22 N____: PDAM-1 to 14515-1: (POSIX) part1: Test Methods: Test Methods for Measuring Compliance to POSIX Part 1: System Interfaces; Realtime PDAM Ballot Ballot due 02-Jun-1998 The panel recommended a NO vote with the following comment: We have several general concerns against progressing this to the status of an ISO standard. The slow progress of development and the small number of active participants in its development leads to a question of continued market relevance . The development organization should review the progress of this project , assure continued market relevance , consider changes to improve progress and report back to WG15. Unlike IS 14515 this work is not being validated by implementations of test suites. The lack of validation leads to concerns over the accurracy of the final standard. As such until the accurracy of the standard can be assurred we cannot approve this for ISO status. 2. Future POSIX-Related Meetings: 1998: 13-17 July IEEE Posix groups Nashua, NH 24-28 August ISO JTC1/SC22 Copenhagen, Denmark 25-31 October IEEE Posix groups San Diego, CA 1999: 10-16 January IEEE Posix groups New Orleans, LA 15-16 January ISO JTC-1/SC22/WG15 New Orleans, LA 11-17 April IEEE Posix groups Charlotte, NC 11-16 July IEEE Posix Groups Nashua, Nh 20-24 September ISO JTC1/SC22 Berlin, Germany 24-25 Septmeber ISO JTC1/SC22/WG15 Berlin, Germany October IEEE Posix Groups ?? Nick Stoughton 6-June-1998