From: n...@usenix.org (Nicholas M. Stoughton)
Subject: Standards Update, A Report From The Chair
Date: 1995/06/16
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Submitted-by: n...@usenix.org (Nicholas M. Stoughton)
USENIX Standards Report Editor
Nicholas M. Stoughton < n...@usenix.org>, Report Editor
A Report From The Chair
PASC, the IEEE Portable Applications Standards Committee,
has been undergoing a lot of changes over the last year or
two. The most notable have been the decline in
participation, the completion of 27 standards (undoubtedly
part of the reason for the declining participation), and the
smaller, more focused projects which are now being started.
There are more changes coming in the future, but I will
defer reporting on them for the present.
The primary topic of this report, and probably the most
visible change, is the new organization structure adopted by
the SEC (the Sponsor Executive Committee of PASC) at its
last meeting April 27 in Irvine, CA. A reorganization of
some sort has been in the works since the October, 1993
meeting in Bethesda, MD. However, I think a little
organizational history is appropriate before we get into the
new structure itself.
When PASC (then TCOS - the Technical Committee on Open
Systems) was younger, there was basically a new working
group created (with a chair on the SEC) for each new project
approved. Once we had over six or seven groups we started
assigning some new projects to existing groups and some to
new groups. If given to an existing group, it was usually
because that was where most of the people who would be
working on the project were located.
As we grew larger, a significant number of projects were
eventually going to either modify or amend existing projects
or standards; the first and most complex case being POSIX.1.
Special committees had to be created to coordinate the
activities of the various working groups. ISO had defined
three projects where much (but certainly not all) of the
PASC standards would reside when they achieved IS status.
They are:
- 9945-1 System Application Program Interfaces
- 9945-2 Shell and Utilities
- 9945-3 System Administration
IEEE then gradually began renumbering the PASC projects to
better align them with their eventual ISO homes: for
example, all projects that would end up in ISO 9945-1 were
renumbered to the form 1003.1x where x was just the next
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available letter in the alphabet. A complete list of all
project numbers (old and new) is appended at the end of this
paper.
We then had a very large SEC, with working groups that were
not organized in the most logical fashion. As the PASC
participation declined and many projects became smaller, the
SEC became disproportionately large in relation to the total
PASC membership. At its largest, the SEC had about 38 voting
members, plus several non-voting liaisons, and other senior
people who attended without an official vote. Generally the
SEC meetings were attended by about 50 active participants
(not counting non-participating observers) out of a total
meeting attendance that had dwindled to about 120. Clearly a
reorganization and restructuring of the SEC was needed.
A reorganization was initially proposed at the October, 1993
PASC meeting in Bethesda, and has been more or less hotly
debated since then. We finally put out an official letter
ballot to the then current voting members of the SEC. The
results were in before our April, 1995 meeting in Irvine,
CA, which broke the issue into three main questions:
1. Should the basic reorganization happen?
2. Should the SEC Functional Chairs (formerly called Vice
Chairs) be granted continued SEC voting status?
3. Should the PMC continue to exist? (The Project
Management Subcommittee reviews projects and makes
recommendations to the whole SEC, but has no absolute
authority of it own).
I have paraphrased these a bit for simplicity, but the
ballot resulted in the approval of all three questions.
However, it was generally accepted that the precise
organization specified in the ballot was not perfect, and
since this issue had been so contentious, I announced in
January that the reorganization would not take effect until
after the April meeting, and that motions could be made to
"fine tune" the organization during the April SEC meeting
itself. There was considerable debate, and strict Roberts
Rules of Order were followed, but in the end, there were
only three real changes made:
- a very small number of projects were rearranged under
the new working groups.
- the office of Coordination Functional Chair was removed.
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- the structure of the PMC was changed to allow up to half
the members to be from outside the new SEC, and to allow
the PMC Chair a vote on the SEC.
The last point is particularly important since it allows
PASC members who do not have a vote on the new SEC to have a
significant voice in the project approval mechanism. I
sincerely urge people to consider participating through this
mechanism.
After all this preamble, here is the new PASC organization.
___________________________________________________________________
PASC 1995 Organization
___________________________________________________________________
System Services
1003.1 (standard) 1003.1a (addendum)
1003.1b (RT - std) 1003.1c (threads)
1003.1d (more RT) 1003.1f (TFA) 1003.1h
(SRASS) 1003.1i (corrigenda) 1003.1j
(advanced RT) 1003.1k (Serial media)
Shell and Utilities
1003.2 (standard) 1003.2a (standard)
1003.2b (more S & U) 1003.2d (batch)
1003.2e (Serial media)
System Administration
1387.1 (SA Interfaces) 1387.2 (standard)
1387.3 (User mgmt) 1387.4 (print)
Language Bindings
1003.5 (standard) 1003.5a (more Ada)
1003.5b (Ada RT) 1003.5c (XTI) 1003.5d
(sockets) 1003.9 (standard) 2003.5 (test
methods)
Security
1003.1e (system APIs) 1003.2c (S&U)
1003.22 (framework)
Profiles
1003.0 (POSIX Guide) 1003.10 (Supercomp)
1003.13 (RT profiles) 1003.14 (multi-
proc) 1003.18 (POSIX profile) 1201.2
(drivability)
Test Methods
1003.3 (standard) 2003r (.3 revision)
2003.1 (standard) 2003.2 (.2 & .2a TMs)
2003.4 (RT TMs) 1326 (standard) 1326.1
(standard) 1326.2 (standard) 1328
(standard) 1328.1 (standard) 1328.2
(standard)
Distributed Services
1003.1g (XTI/Sockets) 1003.21 (RT Dist.
Comm) 1224 (standard) 1224.1 (standard)
1224.2 (standard) 1238.1 (standard)
1238.2 (standard) 1327 (standard) 1327.1
(standard) 1327.2 (standard) 1351
(standard) 1353 (standard)
___________________________________________________________________
This table was purposely terse so that it could fit on a
single page or slide. A complete listing of the PASC
projects is provided as an addendum to this article for
reference purposes. For those of you who are not yet
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comfortable with the numbering changes, I have included both
the old and new numbers of the affected projects, so the
list looks a bit longer than you may have expected.
One of the major ramifications of this new working group
structure is the changes (both direct and indirect) in the
SEC. Obviously the SEC becomes much smaller. However, it
must be emphasized that the SEC meetings are open, so anyone
may attend. It is my intention to allow everyone present the
chance to speak, but I reserve the right to place reasonable
limitations on the time a non-member may hold the floor.
Besides the right to vote, SEC members are also the only
ones who can make a formal motion.
The new SEC has the following structure:
_______________________________________________________________
Voting Members of the SEC
_______________________________________________________________
8 New Working Group Chairs
4 SEC Officers (Chair, V.Chair, Secretary, Treasurer)
3 Functional Chairs (Balloting, Logistics, Interpretations)
1 Project Management Committee Chair
4 Institutional Representatives (rotating membership)
_______________________________________________________________
This yields a total of 20 votes in the reorganized SEC.
However, one person is currently both the Vice Chair and
Secretary, but only votes once, so there is effectively only
19 votes. This is quite a change from the 36 to 38 we had a
year or two ago.
There used to be six Institutional Representatives (IRs)
before the reorganization, but since the number of voting
IRs cannot exceed 25% of the total non-IR voting membership,
it had to be reduced to four. As stated above, we will
continue to allow all IRs (and anyone else) to attend the
SEC meetings, but only four will be allowed to vote. The IRs
did not wish to select which of them would be allowed to
vote, so the SEC held a ballot to determine the voting IRs.
The two highest vote getters would sit for two years and the
next two would have one year terms. Another election will be
held in one year for the two expiring positions. The two
expiring IRs may (and probably will) stand for re-election,
but any other IR who so wishes may also try for the next
term, which will be a full two years. Then every year we
will hold another election for the two expiring two year
terms.
The vote was very close, and in fact there was a tie for
second and third, so a coin toss was used to select which IR
would receive a two year term and which the one year term.
As a result, Europen and X/Open won the 2 year terms, while
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Usenix and OSSWG (a US Navy user group) received the one
year terms. I wish to express thanks for the all the input
and support from all the other IRs and invite them to
continue to attend our meetings and stand for election at
the April, 1996 meeting.
It is our intention that the SEC will become mostly an
administrative body with the bulk of the technical decisions
being made in the new ``large'' working groups. Some people
have dubbed these the ``super groups'', but that is strictly
unofficial.
Another result of the reorganization is that the steering
committees all disappear. Their work of coordinating the
various interacting projects will now be done in the plenary
sessions of the new working groups. A few special cases
(such as testing amendments and security) will be worked out
between the groups.
It is our hope that these changes will result in faster and
more efficient SEC meetings, but the primary benefits should
be to reduce the administrative work that must be done by
each project ``leader'.' Nothing was mandated, but it was
suggested that each working group have a vice-chair for each
project, which may effectively be the chair, or the
technical leader for that project. With the new
organization, only the eight working group chairs should
have to deal with the paperwork involved in the standards
process, thus leaving other people more time to do the
technical work.
Only time will tell how effective this new organization is,
but it is an evolving process after all, and more changes
are probably already looming in the future.
Complete Listing of Old and New PASC Project Numbers
1003.0 Guide to POSIX Open System Environment
1003.1 System API - C-Binding (Standard approved 9/90)
.1a System API Extensions - C-binding (PAR revised 3/94)
.1b New # of old 1003.4 - Real Time (Standard approved 9/93)
.1c New # of old 1003.4a - Real Time Threads (Std approved 6/95)
.1d New # of old 1003.4b - Real Time API Extensions
.1e New # of old 1003.6.1 - Security API Extensions
.1f New # of old 1003.8 - Transparent File Access
.1g New # of old 1003.12 - Protocol Independent Interfaces
.1h Reliable, Avail, Serviceable Systems (PAR approved 9/94)
.1i Technical corrections to 1003.1b-1993 (Std approved 6/95)
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.1j Advanced Realtime Extensions - C (PAR approved 10/94)
.1k Serial Media APIs (PAR approved 6/95)
.1 LIS Language Independent form of 1003.1 (see P1372)
1003.2 Shell and Utilities (IEEE Standard approved 9/92)
.2a User Portability Extensions (published with 1003.2)
.2b Shell and Tools - Corrections and Extensions (PAR revised 3/92)
.2c New # of 1003.6.2 - Security Shell & Utility Extensions (PAR 9/93)
.2d New # of part of 1003.15 - Batch Shell & Util Extensions
.2e Serial Media Shell and Tools (PAR approved 6/95)
1003.3 General POSIX Test Methods (Standard approved 3/91)
.3.1 Test Methods for System API (approved 10/92 - see 2003.1)
.3.2 Test Methods for Shell and Tools (see 2003.2)
1003.4 Real Time Extensions [published as 1003.1b] (Std approved 9/93)
.4a Real Time - Threads Extension [will be published as 1003.1c]
.4b Real Time System API Extensions [becomes 1003.1d]
1003.5 Ada Binding to System API (9945-1) (Standard approved 6/18/92)
.5a Technical corrections to 1003.5-1992
.5b Ada Realtime Bindings (old .20 for .4 & .4a) (PAR approved 7/91)
.5c Ada Binding for Protocol Ind. Interfaces - XTI (PAR apprvd 10/94)
1003.6 Security Extensions (original document split in 2 parts)
.6.1 Prot, Audit, & Control Interface - Amend. to 1003.1 [see 1003.1e]
.6.2 Protection and Control Utilities - Amend. to 1003.2 [see 1003.2c]
1003.7 System Administration Interface [see 1387.1 - changed 10/93]
.7.1 Sys Admin Print Management (PAR approved 1/92) [see 1387.4]
.7.2 Sys Admin Software Administration (PAR app 1/92) [see 1387.2]
.7.3 Sys Admin - User & Group Account Management [see 1387.3]
1003.8 POSIX Transparent File Access Interface (see 1003.1f)
.8a Shell and Tools: TFA Utilities (PAR approved 1/92)
1003.9 Fortran 77 Bindings to POSIX (Standard approved 6/92)
1003.10 Supercomputing Appl. Environment Profile (Std approved 6/95)
1003.11 Transaction Processing - Support withdrawn by SEC 4/93
1003.12 Protocol Independent Interfaces - C [became 1003.1g]
1003.13 Real Time Application Profiles
1003.14 POSIX Multiprocessing Application Environment Profile
1003.15 Batch Queuing Extensions (to be split, see 1003.2d for .2 part)
1003.16 System API - C Binding to the LIS (PAR withdrawn 7/93)
.16a System API Extensions C Binding to LIS (PAR withdrawn 7/93)
1003.17 Directory Services [replaced by 1224.2, 1326.2, 1327.2, 1328.2]
1003.18 POSIX Environment Platform AEP (the ``minimum'' POSIX profile)
1003.19 Fortran 90 Binding to 1003.1 (Support withdrawn 9/93)
1003.20 Real Time Ada Bindings (PAR approved 7/91) [became 1003.5b]
1003.21 Real Time Dist Systems Communications (PAR approved 3/93)
1003.22 Guide to Open Systems Security Framework (PAR approved 3/93)
1201.1 Interfaces for User Portability (support withdrawn 9/94)
.2 Recommended Practice on Driveability
.x Direct balloting of X Library (never officially submitted)
1224 OSI Abstract Data Manipulation - LIS (Standard approved 3/93)
.1 OSI X.400 Messaging API -LIS (Std approved 3/93)
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.2 Directory Services API - LIS (Std approved 3/93)
1237 Support withdrawn by the SEC 10/90
1238 Common OSI API
.1 OSI FTAM API (PAR revised 6/94)
1326 Test Methods for 1224 (Standard approved 3/93)
.1 Test Methods for 1224.1 (Standard approved 3/93)
.2 Test Methods for 1224.2 (Standard approved 3/93)
1327 OSI Abstract Data Mn API - C Binding (Standard approved 3/93)
.1 OSI X.400 Messaging API - C Binding (Standard approved 3/93)
.2 Dir Services API - C Binding (Standard approved 3/93)
1328 Test Methods for 1327 (Standard approved 3/93)
.1 Test Methods for 1327.1 (Standard approved 3/93)
.2 Test Methods for 1327.2 (Standard approved 3/93)
1351 OSI API - ACSE & Presentation Layer (Standard approved 9/94)
1352 LIS Test methods for 1351
1353 OSI API - ACSE & Presentation (C-binding) (Standard approved 9/94)
1354 C Language Test Methods for 1353
1372 System Interfaces (old 1003.1 in LIS form)
1387.1 System Administration Umbrella document
.2 System Admin. Software (old # 1003.7.2) (Std approved 6/95)
.3 System Admin. User / Group (new number of 1003.7.3)
.4 System Admin. Printing (new number of 1003.7.1)
2003 Test Methods for OSE (revision of 1003.3-1991) (PAR approved 7/92)
.1 Test Methods for System API (Standard approved 10/92)
.2 Test Methods for Shell and Tools (in recirculation ballot)
.4 Test Methods for Real Time Extensions (PAR approved 1/94)
.5 Test Methods for System API - Ada Binding (PAR approved 9/94)
Volume-Number: Volume 35, Number 37
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