Standards Update, USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee

[Jeffrey S. Haemer,]

Submitted-by: jsh at usenix.org (Jeffrey S. Haemer,)


		  An Update on UNIX1-Related Standards Activities

				  October 11, 1990

			USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee

		 Jeffrey S. Haemer, jsh at ico.isc.com, Report Editor

       USENIX Standards	Watchdog Committee

       Jeffrey S. Haemer <jsh at ico.isc.com> 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 at usenix.org) or John
       (jsq at 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