PASC Status (including POSIX)

PASC SEC SD11
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG15 US TAG SD11
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG15 SD11

Thu 04 Dec 2003, 09:32:15 CST

Abstract: Status of projects sponsored by PASC - the Portable Applications Standards Committee of the IEEE Computer Society - including the POSIX projects.
2001 Portable Applications Standards Committee, IEEE Computer Society

This report is updated frequently and the latest version can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.pasc.org/standing/sd11.html.

Contents

This document contains several sections as follows:

1.0: Administrative Items

This report provides information related to balloting of POSIX projects and is provided as part of the responsibility of the PASC Balloting Chair.

1.1: IEEE Balloting Contacts

There are several IEEE staff members involved with PASC. This information and more can be found on the web at http://standards.ieee.org/people/staff.html. Some of the ones you may be interested in include the following:

Carol Buonfiglio

Standards Process Support, Balloting Activities; +1-732-562-3834, c.buonfiglio@ieee.org (fax:+1-732-562-1571)

Theresa deCourcelle

Manager, Standards Process Support; +1-732-562-3807, t.decourcelle@ieee.org

Susan Tatiner

Manager, Electronic Publishing; +1-732-562-3830, s.tatiner@ieee.org

Yvette Ho Sang

Project Editor; +1-732-562-??, y.hosang@ieee.org

1.2: Current Balloting Group Status

The status of PASC balloting can be seen in the sections entitled POSIX Projects and Status and in Summary of Balloting Activity.

1.3: Ballot Group Formation

When I last checked (mid-July 1996), the IEEE does not charge a fee for joining any ballot group. PASC, however, requests 25 dollars to defray the cost of international standards participation (fees levied by JTC1). This 25 dollar fee is deducted from the mailing accounts of those who are active PASC subscribers, and the mailing organization (MACS) attempts to collect the fee from others.

If you need to form a balloting group, please contact Carol Buonfiglio. The contact info for Carol is shown in IEEE Balloting Contacts.

Please note: If there are balloting dependencies on other document(s), the instructions on how to obtain them must be provided by the ballot coordinator to the IEEE office.

In addition, the PASC SEC (at the July 1996 meeting in Nashua) instructs those that form Ballot Groups to cause the IEEE Standards Department to create an additional category of balloter, namely that of observer. Observers are to have essentially the same privileges and characteristics of those who join the ballot group yet are not eligible to vote due to lack of IEEE or Computer Society membership.

1.4: Coordination Requirements for Working Group Chairs

As a result of the PASC SEC decision to conduct ballots using the IEEE first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue, as opposed to pre-arranged ballot slots, the chairs of PASC working groups now must coordinate activities within their own groups (and between other working groups as needed) to sequence balloting so that the PASC balloters are generally not over-worked by excessive ballots. While this represents additional work for the chairs, the alternative (long waits to get a ballot slot - currently around 9 months) is even less attractive.

If working group chairs fail to properly coordinate their ballots and a significant portion of the balloters feel over-worked, the process will be forced back to a centrally controlled model.

In addition to this coordination, the PASC SEC resolution of 19 Oct 1995 (authorizing the use of the FIFO queue) instructs working group chairs to notify the PASC SEC Balloting Chair when the group sends a draft to the IEEE to initiate a ballot. Chairs have also wondered about arranging CD Registration and CD Ballot. These activities will occur automatically when the Balloting Chair is notified by e-mail of, respectively, of the start of first ballot and of the expectation of passage on a ballot being initiated.

1.5: Passing Ballot

The following are the conditions required to pass ballot:

1. At least 75% of the eligible balloters return ballots.
   Eligible voters are those who are members of the IEEE or of the Computer Society.
2. Less than 30% of the eligible balloters returning ballots abstain.
3. Of the eligible balloters who return ballots and vote either YES or NO, at least 75% vote YES.
   Note that abstentions do not count as part of the approval percentage.

1.6: Other

As of January 1999, all projects wishing to ballot must request a ballot closing date from the PASC Functional Chair of Balloting, with the close date set to prevent ballots closing any more frequently than every two weeks.

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2.0: Miscellaneous Information

2.1: How to Obtain POSIX Drafts and Standards [26 Jul 1995]

Many have expressed a desire to obtain electronic copies of standards or drafts. Currently, IEEE policy prohibits making such copies freely available. Electronic copies are available to those working in IEEE-sponsored or ISO-sponsored working groups for the purpose of developing or approving standards.

Both POSIX drafts and completed POSIX standards can be obtained from the either the IEEE Standards Department or from the IEEE Computer Society. The prices for these can vary depending upon the item being ordered, from which of the two organizations you order, and your membership status in that organization.

IEEE Publications
Tel: +1-732-981-1393 (1-800-678-IEEE)
Fax: +1-732-981-9667

IEEE Computer Society Publications
10662 Los Vaqueros Circle
PO Box 3014
Los Alamitos, CA 90720-1264
USA
Tel: +1-714-821-8380
Fax: +1-714-821-4010

2.2: PASC Information Sources on the Internet [16 Sep 1997]

The following World-Wide Web sites can provide useful information regarding PASC. The IEEE Standards Department web pages include such information as PAR request forms, Operations Manual, and By-Laws.

• PASC web server
  [http://www.pasc.org/]
• PASC Balloting Status (this document)
  [http://www.pasc.org/standing/sd11.html]
• PASC directory
  [http://www.pasc.org/standing/sd6.html]
• IEEE Standards Department
  [http://standards.ieee.org/]
• IEEE Standards Dept phone list
  [http://standards.ieee.org/people/staff.html]
• IEEE Standards Balloting Status
  [http://standards.ieee.org/db/]
• ISO POSIX group
  [http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC22/WG15]
• Document Synchronization Plan
  [http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC22/WG15/docs/sync.html]
• informal ISO POSIX server
  [http://www.ex.ac.uk/~DCannon/WG15/WG15_sd-1.html]
• IEEE Standards Companion
  [http://standards.ieee.org/guides/companion/]
• IEEE Standards Board Bylaws
  [http://standards.ieee.org/guides/bylaws/]
• IEEE Standards Operations Manual
  [http://standards.ieee.org/guides/opman/]
• IEEE Style Manual
  [http://standards.ieee.org/guides/style/]
• IEEE Guides to Cooperative Standards Development: ISO/IEC JTC1
  [http://standards.ieee.org/guides/intcom/intcom.html]

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3.0: POSIX Projects and Status [04 Dec 2003]

Legend

*

According to the PASC Synchronization Plan, the Mock Ballot of a draft will indicate the draft is ready to be sent to ISO SC22/WG15 for Review and Comment, and the first ballot will indicate the draft is ready to be sent to ISO SC22 for Review and Comment.

=

WG15 R&C S&F indicates review and comment by WG15 of the scope and functionality.

AM

Amendment

CD

Committee Draft

DAM

Draft Amendment

DIS

Draft IS

DISP

Draft ISP

FCD

Final CD

FDISP

Final DISP

Inf

For Information

IS

International Standard

ISP

International Standard Profile

PAR

Project Authorization Request

PDAM

Proposed Draft Amendment

R&C

For Review and Comment

S&F

For Scope and Functionality

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4.0: Summary of Balloting Activity

4.1: Summary of Balloting Activity - By Project [31 Jan 2003]

See also IEEE Standards Balloting Status.

Legend

IEEE Balloting: Num     total number in ballot group
                Elg     number of eligible voter
                R%      percentage of ballots returned [reqd: at least  75%]
                A%      percentage of abstentions      [reqd: less than 30%]
                Y%      percentage of positive votes   [reqd: at least  75%]

Ballot Type:    1B      first ballot
                Ra      reaffirmation
                Rb      reballot
                Rc      recirculation

Rqst Made:	Date on which a request was made for a ballot close date
Date Ask:	Closure date asked for (from FC Balloting)
Date Rcv:	Closure date obtained (from FC Balloting)

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5.0: Projected Order of POSIX Document Amendment

5.1: Projected order of Amendments to 1003.1 [18 Apr 1997]

1. 1003.1b - Realtime [done]
2. 1003.1i - Realtime: Technical Corrections [done]
3. 1003.1c - Threads [done]
4. 1003.1a - System Interface Extensions
   1003.1g - Protocol Independent Interfaces
5. 1003.1n - Fixes to .1b/.1i/.1c
6. 1003.1d - Real time extensions
7. 1003.1j - Advanced real time extensions
8. 1003.1h - Fault Tolerance
9. 1003.1p - Resource Limits
10. 1003.1m - Checkpoint/Restart
11. 1003.1e - Security [PAR withdrawn]
12. 1003.1q - Trace

5.2: Projected Order of Amendments to 1003.2 [23 Apr 1996]

1. 1003.2d - Batch [done]
2. 1003.2b - Additional Utilities
3. 1003.2c - Security [PAR withdrawn]

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6.0: POSIX Coordination Verification [20 Jun 2002]

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Appendix A: Historical Cross-Reference: Old POSIX Project Numbers to New [18 Apr 1997]

This section provides a cross-reference from some of the old project numbers for POSIX numbers prior to project renumbering in 1994. While many of the project numbers remain the same, many changed. The intent of this table is to help remove the confusion that might arise. Consequently, there is no intent to keep all the latest projects on the list. The status of those can be found elsewhere in the report. This section merely provides some historical continuity.

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Appendix B: ISO Document Cross-Reference [24 Oct 1995]

IEEE 1003.0

ISO/IEC 14252 (Technical Report)

IEEE 1003.1

ISO/IEC 9945-1

IEEE 1003.1x

ISO/IEC 9945-1 Amendments or Technical Corrigenda

IEEE 1003.2

ISO/IEC 9945-2

IEEE 1003.2x

ISO/IEC 9945-2 Amendments or Technical Corrigenda

IEEE 1387-x

ISO/IEC 15068-x

IEEE 2003

ISO/IEC 13210

IEEE 2003.x

ISO/IEC 14515-x

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Appendix C: PASC - SC22/WG15 Document Synchronization Phases [April 1996]

You can find an authoritative version of the synchronization plan on the web at http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC22/WG15/docs/sync.html.

In practice, the WG15 US TAG automatically sends to WG15 for Review and Comment those drafts which enter a first ballot. The TAG normally also forwards to SC22 for CD/PDAM Registration and Ballot those drafts which have gotten the necessary 75% approval (or whose Chairs believe will get the necessary approval). These actions may be modified by requests from the working groups due to various special circumstances.

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Appendix D: The Mechanics of Balloting [04 Dec 1995]

The authoritative details for balloting are contained in the IEEE Standards Operations Manual.

A truly excellent document that can greatly help those conducting ballots is the IEEE Standards Companion. This contains both descriptions of the process as well as very valuable insights gathered from past experience. Those wishing to conduct ballots would be very well advised to read this document thoroughly.

I cannot stress enough that working groups need to obtain either paper or electronic copies of both these documents and become very familiar with them. Many of the questions you have about how the IEEE processes work are explained there in very plain language.

I have included below a very brief summary of some relevant items. Readers are strongly urged to consult the IEEE publications referenced above.

D.1: Mock Ballot

There is no formal process for conducting a Mock Ballot. Such non-binding referenda are not conducted by the IEEE Standards Department. By definition, mock ballots are outside the scope of the IEEE balloting process. Those projects which wish to conduct a Mock Ballot might want to consider discussing the benefits and difficulties with others who have conducted mock ballots or with the Balloting Chair. The PASC-WG15 Synchronization Plan suggests that Mock Ballot drafts might well be distributed to WG15 for an initial look.

D.2: Ballot

D.2.1: Forming and Reforming Ballot Groups

Ballot groups are formed by contacting Carol Buonfiglio at the IEEE. See the IEEE Standards Operations Manual, section 5.4.1.

You should expect that forming a ballot group will take at least two months. The ballot group must be formed before ballot can begin.

D.2.2: First Ballot

Details on the process required for ballots can be found in the IEEE Standards Operations Manual, section 5.4.3.

Carol Buonfiglio at the IEEE needs several items, as listed below:

• A letter to Carol, including your project name & number, the type of ballot (new, revision, recirculation), proposed length of ballot (e.g., if a recirc, then whether a 10 day or 30 day recirc.), and the details of what you have included in this transmittal (so Carol knows if she got it all).
• Two copies of the draft, either single sided or double sided, on 8 1/2inch x 11inch paper (be sure each page is numbered and in the SEQUENTIAL ORDER.
• IEEE copyright statement, and on each page a copyright statement included in your footer.
• A brief cover letter to the balloters explaining the purpose of the ballot.
• Other pertinent items.

D.2.3: Recirculations

Details on the process required for ballots and recirculations can be found in the IEEE Standards Operations Manual, section 5.4.3.

In addition to all the things required for a first ballot, the IEEE process requires that recirculations also provide balloters with all copies of all unresolved negative comments and the names of those who made those comments.

Recirculations are conducted due to proposed changes in the text of the draft previously circulated. The changes come from attempts to resolved objections from the ballot group. Ballot can be conducted by just circulating the proposed changes to previous draft. However, at its January 1997 meeting, the PASC SEC asked that the full text of the revised draft be forwarded to the IEEE in any case so that the IEEE will have a reference copy if needed. This allows the correct document text to be circulated to the ISO community when needed. This request does not require that projects which amend other documents generate merged text. Rather, the intent is that the full text associated with a draft for this project be generated.

D.2.4: Reballots

A reballot is handled in the same fashion as a first ballot, with the entire document open for comment by the balloters.

D.3: Approval by the IEEE Standards Board

After a project passes ballot, working group officials will be sent material by IEEE describing requirements for submitting the work to the IEEE Standards Board for approval. Please note that this step should be done after the document has also resolved all the comments from CD Ballot at ISO (yielding a DIS).

D.4: Synchronization between ISO and IEEE

See Appendix C: PASC - ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG15 Document Synchronization Phases.