Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!fletcher From: jsh@usenix.org (Jeffrey S. Haemer,) Newsgroups: comp.std.unix Subject: Standards Update, USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee Message-ID: <13502@cs.utexas.edu> Date: 11 Oct 90 21:27:28 GMT Sender: fletcher@cs.utexas.edu Reply-To: std-unix@uunet.uu.net Organization: USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee Lines: 134 Approved: fletcher@cs.utexas.edu (Guest Moderator, Fletcher Mattox) X-Submissions: std-unix@uunet.uu.net Submitted-by: jsh@usenix.org (Jeffrey S. Haemer,) An Update on UNIX1-Related Standards Activities October 11, 1990 USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee Jeffrey S. Haemer, jsh@ico.isc.com, Report Editor USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee Jeffrey S. Haemer reports on summer-quarter stan- dards activities What_these_reports_are_about Reports are done quarterly, for the USENIX Association, by volunteers from the individual standards committees. The volunteers are fami- liarly known as snitches and the reports as snitch reports. The band of snitches, John Quarterman, and I make up the working committee of the USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee. Our job is to let you know about things going on in the standards arena that might affect your professional life -- either now or down the road a ways. We don't yet have active snitches for all the committees and sometimes have to beat the bushes for new snitches when old ones retire or can't make a meeting, but the number of groups with active snitches contin- ues to grow (as, unfortunately, does the number of groups). If you're active in any standards-related activity that you think you'd like to report on, please drop me a line. We know we currently need snitches in several 1003 groups, and nearly all of the 1200- series groups. We currently have snitches in X3J16 (C++) and X3B11 (WORM file systems), but there are probably X3 groups the USENIX members would like to know about that we don't even know to look for watchdogs in. I also take reports from other standards activities. This quarter, you've seen reports from the WG-15 TAG (the U.S.'s effort in the ISO POSIX arena), from the NIST Shell-and-Tools FIPS meeting, and from the USENIX Standards BOF. If you have comments or suggestions, or are interested in snitching for any group, please contact me (jsh@usenix.org) or John (jsq@usenix.org). If some of the reports make you interested enough or indignant enough to want to go to a POSIX meeting, or you just want to talk to me in person, join me at the next set, October 15-19 at the Westin Hotel in Seattle, Washington. __________ 1. UNIXTM is a Registered Trademark of UNIX System Laboratories in the United States and other countries. October 11, 1990 Standards Update USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee - 2 - The USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee also has both a financial committee -- Ellie Young, Alan G. Nemeth, and Kirk McKusick (chair); and a policy committee -- the financial committee plus John S. Quar- terman (chair). An official statement from John:2 The basic USENIX policy regarding standards is: to attempt to prevent standards from prohibiting innovation. To do that, we o Collect and publish contextual and technical information such as the snitch reports that otherwise would be lost in committee minutes or rationale appendices or would not be written down at all. o Encourage appropriate people to get involved in the stan- dards process. o Hold forums such as Birds of a Feather (BOF) meetings at conferences, and standards workshops. o Write and present proposals to standards bodies in specific areas. o Occasionally sponsor other standards-related activities, including as White Papers in particularly problematical areas, such as IEEE 1003.7, and contests, such as the current Weirdnix contest. o Very occasionally lobby organizations that oversee standards bodies regarding new committee, documents, or balloting pro- cedures. o Sponsor a representative to the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG15 (ISO POSIX) standards committee, jointly with EUUG (the European UNIX systems Users Group). There are some things we do not do: __________ 2. All that follows is currently true, but may change in the near future because of recent USENIX financial problems. See John's October 2, 1990, comp.std.unix posting on USENIX Standards Funding Decisions for details. October 11, 1990 Standards Update USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee - 3 - o Form standards committees. It's the USENIX Standards Watch- dog Committee, not the POSIX Watchdog Committee, not part of POSIX, and not limited to POSIX. o Promote standards. o Endorse standards. Occasionally we may ask snitches to present proposals or argue positions on behalf of USENIX. They are not required to do so and cannot do so unless asked by the USENIX Standards Watchdog Policy Committee. Snitches mostly report. We also encourage them to recommend actions for USENIX to take. John S. Quarterman, USENIX Standards Liaison October 11, 1990 Standards Update USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee Volume-Number: Volume 21, Number 199