RE: Final submission of IS 23360 PAS documents

On Mon, 2005-11-14 at 00:25, Gibson wrote:
> Dear Mr. Stoughton,
> 
> We suggest including all eight files on the same CD-ROM and issuing them as
> one International Standard, ISO/IEC 23360, under the title "Linux Standard
> Base (LSB) core specification", with the following titles for the eight
> separate sections:
> 
> "Generic specification"
> "Specification for IA32 architecture"
> "Specification for IA64 architecture"
> "Specification for AMD64 architecture"
> "Specification for PPC32 architecture"
> "Specification for PPC64 architecture"
> "Specification for S390 architecture"
> "Specification for S390X architecture"
The problem with this is that it makes it much harder for either
implementations or applications to conform. They need to conform to the
Generic and one of the Architecture specific documents. An IA32
application will not want to have to say anything about why it isn't
conforming to the S390 architecture!

I'd prefer to have these as separate parts. I am more than happy for
those parts to be bundled (as the four parts of ISO/IEC 9945 are
supposed to be), and sold as a single entity. But from a conformance
point of view, they are separate specifications (unlike 9945, where it
is mandatory to conform to all the parts).

So, my preferred solution here is to include all eight on a single CD,
with the title "ISO/IEC International Standard 23360, Linux Standard
Base Core Specifications, Parts 1-8".

> In addition, could you answer the following questions for us:
> 
> 1. The title of the International Standard has the term "core specification"
> included in it, yet it seems that throughout the document, the terms "core"
> and "generic" are used interchangeably to refer to the first part of the
> document, the "Generic specification". Could you clariy how you would like
> to refer to the first part of the document?
> 
In the foreword you will find the following explanation:
'This specification is part of a family of specifications under the
general title "Linux Standard Base"'. 

The term "Core" here is NOT synonymous with "Generic" ... "Generic" is
part 1 ... the entire set (all eight parts) is the Core. There are other
specs (not yet submitted) that are "Linux Standard Base - Graphics
Specification", "Linux Standard Base - Desktop Specification", etc. It
serves to differentiate THIS chunk of specifications from others under
the same overall title (LSB).

> 2. We suggest including a ReadMe file in addition to the usual ISO/IEC
> Foreword to give an overview of the document and perhaps give a brief
> explanation of its various sections. If you are in agreement with this,
> could you provide us with the information you think should be included in
> such a file?
OK ... I'll try and get you this as soon as possible.

> 
> Thanks and best regards,
> Mike
> 
-- 
Nick Stoughton      USENIX/FSG Standards Liaison
[email protected]     (510) 388 1413