in070771
LX/07-0003
ANNUAL REPORT
FOR INCITS STUDY GROUP ON LINUX
PERIOD: June 2006 through May 2007
Title of Group: INCITS STUDY GROUP
ON LINUX
Document Register: INCITS SGL Document
Register
Submitted by Dave Thewlis,
Convenor, INCITS Study Group on Linux
Description: The INCITS Study
Group on Linux was created by the INCITS Executive Board in September, 2004
to provide an INCITS Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to develop U.S. positions
and represent the United States to Linux-related activities within JTC 1 and
SC 22 in the absence of a formal Technical Committee, which would only be
formed upon the creation of an international Linux Subcommittee or Working
Group. The INCITS SGL is therefore both an administrative and technical
group, although it is not charged with doing any actual technical work other
than reviewing proposals, activities and comments and developing and furthering
U.S. positions. At the time of creation, it was the intent of the INCITS
Executive Board that the INCITS SGL would be replaced by or evolve into an
INCITS Technical Committee should an international Linux Subcommittee or Working
Group be established within JTC 1. As of May 2007 INCITS has not seen
a need for such a TC, and the TAG responsibilities for this area remain with
the INCITS Study Group on Linux. The INCITS Study Group on Linux participates
in CT 22 and is requested by CT 22 to make recommendations on any POSIX-related
standards.
1. Executive Summary
Background: JTC 1/SC 22 was authorized by the October,
2002 JTC 1 Plenary to investigate the field of Linux standardization and determine
what if any role JTC 1 should seek in this area. SC 22 held a Linux
Study Group meeting in late May in London, England, to which INCITS sent
a delegation of four people. Among the recommendations of that Study
Group were that the Free Standards Group, the primary driver of Linux standardization,
should seek PAS Submitter status with JTC 1 and should submit the Linux Standard
Base and relevant extensions such as hardware specific extensions as PAS's;
that FSG should seek Category A Liaison status with SC 22; and that a study
of the differences between Linux and POSIX should be undertaken. In
September, the JTC 1/SC 22 Plenary accepted the recommendations of the Linux
Study Group, established an SC 22 Linux Rapporteur Group and began investigating
possible roles for SC 22 WGs in the Linux Field.
With the establishment of the SC 22 Linux Rapporteur Group and the application
of the Free Standards Group to become a PAS Submitter, the INCITS Executive
Board established the INCITS Study Group on Linux to provide a U.S. TAG to
the SC 22 Linux Rapporteur Group or other Linux-related activities within
SC 22 or JTC 1. At that time it was unclear whether JTC 1's involvement
with Linux would ultimately result in a Linux Working Group in SC 22 (or elsewhere)
or not. The intent of the INCITS Executive Board was that the INCITS
SGL would be replaced by or evolve into an INCITS Technical Committee if
an international working activity began within JTC 1 in the area of Linux.
No need for this TC has appeared so far and the INCITS Study Group on Linux
retains the TAG responsibility for this area.
Membership Status: Participation
in the INCITS SGL is currently at six members, five P members and an Advisory
member. Membership has remained constant for this reporting period.
Unusual Attributes: As the
INCITS Study Group on Linux was created by the INCITS Executive Board as a
sort of "placeholder" to support U.S. interests until and unless a Technical
Committee were to be formed, it has some slightly different characteristics
than a Technical Committee. One is that the Convenor of the INCITS SGL
is required to submit a written report to the INCITS Executive Board quarterly;
that is, for each meeting of the EB. Another is that it is charged with more
of an administrative and coordination role than a purely technical role,
and is not intended to do any standards development activities under its
auspices, nor participate in any such activities in its role as TAG to Linux-related
international activities of any sort within JTC 1.
In addition, with the disbandment of WG 15 POSIX within SC 22 and the associated
disbandment of the US TAG to that WG, the expertise to address POSIX issues
is now within the INCITS Study Group on Linux. As a result, CT 22 has
requested the study group to make recommendations on all POSIX-related matters.
As ISO/IEC 9945 POSIX is currently under revision, there is an anticipated
workload for the study group associated with advising CT 22 on how best to
formulate the US position with regard to ballots on this revision.
2. Significant Accomplishments
The INCITS Study Group on Linux successfully promoted U.S. positions and
interests in the February, 2004 meeting of the JTC 1/SC 22 Linux Rapporteur
Group, specifically in helping to ensure that actual Linux standards development
activities remain coordinated within the Free Standards Group, rather than
become disbursed between FSG and its related activities, and one or more working
groups or other activities within JTC 1/SC 22. The U.S. position was
first, that that the role of JTC 1 and SC 22 in Linux standardization should
be as a facilitator in helping Linux specifications progress into International
Standards via the PAS process, and that SC 22 Working Groups should provide
information and requirements as necessary into FSG activities rather than
attempt to fork the Linux standardization track with the potential for duplicative
and redundant efforts. A second major element of the U.S. position
was that while convergence of Linux and POSIX was ultimately attractive,
it should not be allowed to impede or disrupt the progression of Linux standardization
or the adoption of Linux itself. The third major element of the
U.S. strategy was to avoid any potential for disruption of the emerging relationship
between JTC 1 and the open source community.
In the period covered by this report, two LINUX/POSIX-related items have
happened, although not particularly the accomplishment of the Study Group
on Linux.
- The SC 22 Secretariat circulated a ballot on two POSIX-related
issues via JTC 1 SC 22 N 4160, CD Registration and Approval Ballot for ISO/IEC
CD 9945, POSIX. The INCITS Study Group on Linux recommended a vote of
"YES" on Part 1, CD Registration, and "NO with comments" on Part 2, CD Approval
Ballot, with the comments "The US supports the progression of this document
but notes the other negative ballot comments submitted to the Austin Group
during this open ballot process. The US is committed to working with
the Austin Group to resolve these comments. At that point, the US will withdraw
any objection."
- SC 22 distributed ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N 4192, Change to the SC 22
Program of Work - Reducing ISO/IEC 9945 to a Single Part Standard, which
was balloted by CT 22. The INCITS Study Group on Linux voted YES with
comments; the supporting comments on the ballot were "Comment: Since the
2001 revision, it has not been possible to conform to a single part of ISO/IEC
9945, and SC 22 has repeatedly asked for this standard to be sold as a single
package (see resolutions 05-16 and 06-24). The normative text in parts 1-3
currently state that conformance requires all three parts of 9945 (part 4
is informative rationale only). The 2001 revision was intended to
be a single standard, and was introduced to JTC 1 as such. ITTF chose to
split it into four parts for publishing convenience, without balloting to
change the program of work. This standard is not four parts but a single
part."
3. Significant Challenges
None.
4. Expected Challenges
It is anticipated that Draft 3 of the 9945 POSIX revision will be issued
for FCD ballot by the end of June, 2007. This document is expected to
be around 3700-3750 pages, and will contain substantive changes from the previous
draft in response to ballot comments received. The ballot process used
by the Austin Joint Working Group (the WG responsible for the revision) is
complicated in that it must take into account comments received not only
through the normal JTC 1 process, but also through the IEEE and The Open
Group, where the document is being concurrently balloted. However,
each organization has a different ballot period.
The Free Standards Group has been renamed the Linux Foundation, and its
LSB workgroup continues to be the principal maintainer of ISO/IEC 23360 Linux
Standard Base. The workgroup is currently preparing a technical corrigenda,
and it is anticipated that the INCITS Study Group on Linux will need to review
this in the next six months.
5. Committee Activities:
a. Previous Meetings:
|
Meeting #
|
Date
|
Location
|
|
1
|
December 2, 2003
|
ITI, Washington, D.C.
|
|
2
|
January 16, 2004
|
Teleconference
|
|
3
|
December 3, 2004
|
Teleconference
|
|
4
|
January 17, 2005
|
Teleconference
|
|
5
|
January 28, 2005
|
Teleconference
|
|
6
|
February 7, 2005
|
Teleconference
|
|
7
|
February 24, 2005
|
ITI, Washington, D.C.
|
8
|
June 7, 2005
|
Teleconference
|
9
|
June 24, 2005
|
Teleconference
|
b. Planned Meetings:
No meetings have been scheduled at the time of submission of this document.
However, with the anticipated workload over the next six months, it is expected
that there will be at least one meeting held before the end of 2007.
6. Liaison Activities
None.
7. Membership and Officers:
a Officers
The INCITS Study Group on Linux has only one officer, its Convenor (Chair).
Convenor (Chair) Dave Thewlis, Intel Corporation
(Trained October 13, 2003)
b. Membership
Membership in the INCITS Study Group on Linux stands at six:
- Hewlett Packard
- IBM
- Intel
- Oracle (Advisory)
- Sun Microsystems
- USENIX
Membership list added from the Secretariat
records
8. Future Trends and Related
Technical Activities
The significant issue for JTC 1 and INCITS has to do with what if
any Linux-related standardization activities happen within JTC 1. At
this time, the existing model is that Linux standardization should continue
to be centered in the Linux Foundation, with JTC 1 entities providing input,
requirements, and suggestions via liaison with LF or other mechanisms, but
not embarking on actual development of Linux standards within JTC 1.
At the same time, JTC 1 clearly has an ongoing responsibility for POSIX standardization,
and there is an expressed view towards the ultimate convergence of the Linux
and POSIX standards. (The precise definition of "convergence" may be
debated.)
At this time it appears that these areas can be progressed satisfactorily
by a combination of LF participation via the PAS process and liaison activities,
and the participation of LF and USENIX in SC 22 activities directly where
appropriate. However, if at a future point SC 22 or another JTC 1 entity
decides that it wants to aggressively pursue actual Linux standardization
activities, the models would change and it isn't clear what would happen.
In a broader sense, the Linux-related process that has happened within JTC
1 can provide a useful model for future activities involving other parts of
the open source community, in addition to helping to encourage standardization
within that community and by progressing its specifications to become full
International Standards.
9. Other Administrative Information
The INCITS Study Group on Linux collects no fees and has no assets.
With respect to the future of the INCITS Study Group on Linux, after the
successful adoption of IS 23360, the INCITS Executive Board determined that
it wanted to keep the INCITS Study Group on Linux intact to deal with possible
future Linux-related issues, in particular yearly corrigenda, plus the prospect
in the future of other Linux-related PAS and eventually new versions of the
LSB. Ongoing liaison activities between SC 22 and the LF, plus activities
related to the ultimate disposition of POSIX-Linux convergence, and
the potential for new initiatives within SC 22, suggest that there will be
some degree of ongoing Linux-related activity within JTC 1 for the foreseeable
future although it is not possible to predict the amount or the nature of
it at this time. Although there is no planned SC 22 parallel to the
INCITS SGL, the SGL has successfully worked directly with the LF to ensure
that U.S. concerns are adequately handled, and this model could be preserved
to deal with future Linux issues in the absence of a formal international
committee for which a U.S. Technical Committee should be formed.
SC 22 has established an advisory group to make recommendations with respect
to POSIX, the POSIX Advisory Group or PAG. While there is no direct
equivalent to the PAG within the INCITS structure, the Study Group on Linux
is currently fulfilling that role.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dave Thewlis
Convenor, INCITS Study Group on Linux
12 June 2007