Standards Update, IEEE 1003.0: POSIX Guide

[Jeffrey S. Haemer]

From: Jeffrey S. Haemer <jsh at usenix.org>




            An Update on UNIX* and C Standards Activities

                            December 1989

                 USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee

                   Jeffrey S. Haemer, Report Editor

IEEE 1003.0: POSIX Guide Update

Kevin Lewis <klewis at gucci.enet.dec.com> reports on the October 16-20,
1989 meeting in Brussels, Belgium:

Dot Zero's mission in Brussels was to step back and review where the
group had been, where we were, and where we needed to go. When we did,
we saw that we hadn't gone quite where we had wanted.  This has
brought us to a place we don't necessarily want to be and will make
the remaining trip to where we plan to go longer than we'd like.  I'll
quickly add that we are now headed in the right basic direction but
still need to make some course corrections.

There are two major contributors to this state of affairs. First, an
honest review of the pre-Brussels document reveals that it still has
significant holes.  Also, its format makes what is there hard to
follow.  I must admit that it felt good to see unanimous (yes,
unanimous) consent on both the need to re-organize the document and on
a new format.  It does a co-chair's heart good to see two such rare
events occur concurrently. The reformatting of the draft guide will be
complete by the January meeting in New Orleans.  The group will then
review components of the document that are sufficiently complete
section-by-section and line-by-line.

Second, Dot Zero faces a problem that is becoming widespread in 1003
and TCOS-SS: a serious dilution of effort.  Little did Dot Zero
realize, when it recommended the formation of a group to address a
windows standard (now 1201), that we would lose people who had been
shepherding key components of the Dot Zero guide. With the voracious
growth of Dot Ate (oops), I see no end to this in sight.  The new
efforts have left us with no one to cover networking, graphics, or
windows, though it's possible that new folks in these areas will join
us in New Orleans.  [Editor's note: Listen to this man.  What are your
ideas about open systems in these areas?  If you have something useful
to contribute, please contact someone on dot zero -- Kevin, for
example.  Don't just wait until it's too late and then complain about
the result.]

__________

  * UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T in the U.S. and other
    countries.

December 1989 Standards Update                IEEE 1003.0: POSIX Guide


                                - 2 -

Regarding internationalization (for which the current buzzword is
"I18N", because there are eighteen letters between the 'I' and the
'N'):

Everyone who attended the I18N study group meeting sponsored by Dot
Zero found it most interesting in the end when the question regarding
the group's future was posed.  All those present tacitly agreed that
it would not be in the best interests of I18N efforts for this study
group to become a full-fledged working group.  This study group would
best serve the industry as a forum for issue flagellation, soap-
boxing, and formation of proposals to the appropriate accredited
bodies.  At the appropriate time, the I18N group will declare that its
time is up.  When that will be is yet to be determined.

When the question of identifying the major contributors to the I18N
efforts arose, I did notice an effort on the part of OSF to remain at
arm's distance from X/Open, in light of OSF's membership in X/Open,
signifying its desire to maintain its own identity.

That's enough negatives.  Is there an up-side to all this?. Yes,
absolutely.  We have a re-organized document that will ease and
streamline the review process.  We now have the eyes of the industry
and the press looking over our shoulders, eager to read our guide.
And we are reaching the point where fear of personal and professional
embarrassment is motivating those who have an interest in this
effort's succeeding (which is almost everyone, I think).  These will
combine to help us meet our goal of readying a draft for review and
comment by ISO by the fall of 1990.  (Why are you laughing...?  GEE!!
I get no respect!!!)

December 1989 Standards Update                IEEE 1003.0: POSIX Guide


Volume-Number: Volume 17, Number 81