From: stephe@usenix.org (Stephen R. Walli)
Newsgroups: comp.std.unix
Subject: Standards Update, IEEE Standards Board
Date: 29 Dec 1992 14:27:02 -0800
Organization: USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee
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Submitted-by: stephe@usenix.org (Stephen R. Walli)

Mary Lynne Nielsen <m.nielsen@ieee.org> reports on the September, 1992
meeting in New York, NY:

September's meeting was unusually busy for TCOS, with lots of new
project authorization requests (PARs) due to mirving activities and,
at last, approval of one of the key components of POSIX.  Decisions in
the area of JTC1 funding will also have an impact on TCOS work.

[Ed. - TCOS is the technical committee within the IEEE responsible for
developing the POSIX standards.]

At Long Last....

The IEEE Standards Board Review Committee (RevCom) approved P1003.2
and P1003.2a as IEEE standards at this meeting.  POSIX.2 covers the
shell and utilities for a POSIX system, while 1003.2a covers the user
portability extensions for the shell.  This pile of over 1300 pages of
material is now in the publication process and should be available in
the spring of 1993.  Congratulations to all involved!

Note to any who actively work with this committee: as of the March
1993 meeting, only the new RevCom submittal forms will be accepted.
Make sure you're using the form dated 9/92.

NesCom Actions Everywhere

The IEEE Standards Board New Standards Committee (NesCom) dealt with a
whopping 14 Project Authorization Requests (PARs) from TCOS at this
meeting.  Twelve of these 14 came from the mirving, or splitting up,
of three existing TCOS projects.  Why did that have to happen?  Well,
mostly from a lot of resolutions either from various committees of
ISO/IEC JTC1 (all of which basically translates to ``the international
group working on TCOS projects'') or from TCOS itself. These
resolutions say that it's better to have this work, have it all
completed at the same time, and have it in bite-sized, somewhat
digestible chunks, rather than receiving one huge document that takes
a great deal of time to prepare. (For example, POSIX.2 was in ballot
for three years).

What that means is that the various PARs in TCOS will often have to
split into at least two and usually four parts: a base standard that
is language independent, its test methods, a related language binding
(usually C at first), and its test methods.  While there is some
debate as to the merits of this method, this practice is now being put
into force in TCOS.

The first documents to be produced in this manner will be the 1224
series of standards (which is now the 1224, 1326, 1327, and 1328
standards).  There is a strong indication that these standards will
make the March 1993 RevCom meeting for approval, and the PARs for
their mirving were approved at this meeting.

Also approved was a PAR for the revision of IEEE Std 1003.3-1991, the
base standard on how to describe test methods for POSIX.  Due to the
expansion of testing to all TCOS (not just POSIX) standards and the
need for test methods for new types of documents like profiles, the
committee felt that it was time to start work on a revision of this
standard.

In an attempt to control the bewildering expansion of `dot' projects,
a new numbering system will be employed for the POSIX testing
standards.  They will be numbered 2003.x, in parallel with the base
standard they are testing.  This revision is therefore numbered P2003.

Finally, P1003.19 was finally approved at this meeting, when NesCom at
last received the reassurances they wanted that this work was not an
infringement on the X3 work on the Fortran language itself.  As such,
the PAR for work on a Fortran 90 binding to POSIX.1 has at last gained
clearance to go ahead.

Is It TransCom. . . or Isn't It?

TransCom, the IEEE Standards Board Transnational Committee, has voted
to changed its name to IntCom, the IEEE Standards Board International
Committee, an action that was also approved by the Board.  It seems
that the term ``transnational,'' while used in the IEEE bylaws to
define the scope of the IEEE, is very confusing to the members of this
committee and to the people they speak to about their work.  (My
understanding is that the term means ``without borders''.) They feel
that the word ``international'' far better suits the activities they
undertake, which is to coordinate IEEE standards activities with
non-US standards organizations.

In addition, Trans/IntCom continued to work on a guide for
synchronizing work with ISO/IEC JTC1, a plan that recognizes the
methods used by POSIX to move its standards forward in this arena.
This guide should hopefully be approved in December.


IT Funding

As mentioned in earlier snitch reports, the Standards Board has been
wrestling with an action from ANSI that proposes having the groups
involved in JTC1 activities support the secretariats of JTC1 that ANSI
maintains.  The IEEE Standards Board, representing one of the major
groups involved, created an ad hoc committee to explore resolutions to
this issue.  TCOS supplied information to this committee in the form
of a resolution expressing their position, while the committee
examined the financial and legal aspects of this question. They also
examined if this funding conflicted with the expressed goals of the
IEEE Standards Board Strategic Objectives.

The committee submitted its final report at this Board meeting.  In
it, they felt that these funds could be collected without any negative
impact on the legal aspects, financial aspects, or stated objectives
of the IEEE Standards Board.  The report recommended that IEEE staff
work with the standards committees in designing and implementing
procedures for the collection and administration of participation fees
assessed to IEEE participants for these secretariats.  The report also
stated that each standards committee should decide on its own
procedures for fund collection, but they should be encouraged very
strongly to standardize on one or two methods for collecting fees.

One note on this: TCOS discussed this situation at its October meeting
in Utrecht, and the following methods for collecting funds were
approved by the TCOS Standards Executive Committee (SEC): an increase
in balloting fees; an increase in NAPS mailing costs; a reduction in
meeting services (such as Friday lunches); and a fee imposition for
meetings held independently of the regular TCOS meetings.  It was felt
that this system would distribute the burden of raising these funds
equitably among those who attend meetings and those who do not but who
participate in the process through mailings.

Awards and Recognition

Three TCOS members received awards from the IEEE Standards Board,
called IEEE Standards Medallions, in recognition of their
contributions to standards development.  They are Donn Terry, the
former chair of POSIX.1, Hal Jespersen, the chair of POSIX.2, and
Roger Martin, the chair of the TCOS Steering Committee on Conformance
Testing (SCCT) and the former chair of the POSIX.3 (Test Methods)
working group.  Congratulations to them all.

NesCom Approvals

New PARs

P1003.19 Standard for Information Technology - POSIX Fortran 90
Language Interfaces - Part 1: Binding for System Application Program
Interface (API)

P2003 Standard for Information Technology - Test Methods for Measuring
Conformance to POSIX

Revised PARs

P1224 Standard for Information Technology - Open Systems
Interconnection (OSI) Abstract Data Manipulation - Application Program
Interface (API) [Language Independent]

P1224.1 Standard for Information Technology - X.400 Based Electronic
Messaging Application Program Interfaces (APIs) [Language Independent]

P1224.2 Standard for Information Technology - Directory Services
Application Program Interface (API) - Language Independent
Specification

P1326 Standard for Information Technology - Test Methods for Measuring
Conformance to Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Abstract Data
Manipulation - Application Program Interface (API) [Language
Independent]

P1326.1 Standard for Information Technology - Test Methods for
Measuring Conformance to X.400 Based Electronic Messaging Application
Program Interface (API) [Language Independent]

P1326.2 Standard for Information Technology - Test Methods for
Directory Services Application Program Interface (API) - Language
Independent Specification

P1327 Standard for Information Technology - Open Systems
Interconnection (OSI) Abstract Data Manipulation C Language Interfaces
- Binding for Application Program Interface (API)

P1327.1 Standard for Information Technology - X.400 Based Electronic
Messaging C Language Interfaces-Binding for Application Program
Interface (API)

P1327.2 Standard for Information Technology - Directory Services
Application Program Interface (API) - C Language Specification

P1328 Standard for Information Technology - Test Methods for Measuring
Conformance to Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Abstract Data
Manipulation C Language Interfaces - Binding for Application Program
Interface (API)

P1328.1 Standard for Information Technology - Test Methods for
Measuring Conformance to X.400 Based Electronic Messaging C Language
Interfaces - Binding for Application Program Interface (API)

P1328.2 Standard for Information Technology - Test Methods for
Directory Services Application Program Interface (API) - C Language
Specification

RevCom Approvals

P1003.2 Standard for Information Technology - Portable Operating
System Interface (POSIX) - Part 2: Shell and Utilities

P1003.2a Standard for Information Technology - Portable Operating
System Interface (POSIX) - Part 2: Shell and Utilities, User
Portability Extension

Volume-Number: Volume 30, Number 14