std-unix@ut-sally.UUCP (Moderator, John Quarterman) (08/18/86)
This the latest in a series of similar mod.std.unix articles.
Comments are solicited.
Access information is given for the following:
user groups: USENIX, /usr/group, EUUG
newsletters: ;login:, commUNIXations, EUUG
standards: IEEE 1003.1 (POSIX), 1003.2 (shell/tools), 1003.3 (verification)
X3J11 (C language), /usr/group Standard,
System V Interface Definition, X/OPEN PORTABILITY GUIDE
magazines: UNIX REVIEW, UNIX/WORLD
This article will be adapted for ";login: The USENIX Association Newsletter".
That newsletter is sent free of charge to all members of the USENIX Association,
whose address is
USENIX Association
P.O. Box 7
El Cerrito, CA 94530
415-528-8649
{ucbvax,decvax}!usenix!office
USENIX sponsors two USENIX Conferences a year, featuring technical papers.
The next one is in Washington, D.C., 20-23 January 1987.
I (John Quarterman) am the Institutional Delegate from USENIX to the
IEEE 1003 committee (see below) and one of my functions as such is to
get comments from the USENIX membership and the general public to the
committee. One of the ways I try to do that is by moderating this
newsgroup (currently known as mod.std.unix, eventually as comp.std.unix).
I'm also currently on the USENIX Board of Directors.
Another large group related to the UNIX System is /usr/group,
/usr/group
4655 Old Ironsides Drive, Suite 200
Santa Clara, California 95054
408-986-8840
They publish a newsletter called CommUNIXations. The May/June 1986
issue contains a report by Heinz Lycklama (the /usr/group Institutional
Delegate to IEEE 1003) on the /usr/group Technical Committee working
groups which met in February 1986 on the areas of Networking,
Internationalization, Graphics, Realtime, Database, Performance,
and the proposed new group on Security. I will post contact
information for these working groups as taken from that article
in a later mod.std.unix article.
The annual Uniforum Conferences are sponsored by /usr/group
and feature a large trade show. The next one is in D.C.
at the same time as the next USENIX Conference. USENIX
and /usr/group have held several concurrent conferences
in the past and will probably do so in the future.
Both USENIX and /usr/group also have tutorials at their
conferences and both sponsor other meeting activities
in addition to their regular conferences.
In Europe there is the European UNIX systems Users Group.
EUUG secretariat
Owles Hall
Buntingford
Herts SG9 9PL
England
seismo!mcvax!euug
They have a newsletter and hold two conferences a year. The next one is
EUUG Autumn'1986 Workshop
on
Distributed UNIX Systems
Manchester, England
22nd-25th September, 1986
There are similar groups in other parts of the world, such as Australia,
Japan, and Korea. If such a group wishes to be included in later versions
of this access list, they should please send me information.
The IEEE 1003 Portable Operating System for Computer Environments Committee
is sometimes known colloquially as the UNIX Standards Committee.
They have recently produced the 1003.1 "POSIX" Trial Use Standard.
According to its Foreword:
The purpose of this document is to define a standard
operating system interface and environment based on the
UNIX Operating System documentation to support application
portability at the source level. This is intended for
systems implementors and applications software developers.
Published copies are available at $19.95,
with bulk purchasing discounts available. Contact:
IEEE Service Center
445 Hoes Ln.
Piscataway, NJ 08854
714-821-8380
Ask for "IEEE 1003.1 Trial Use Standard" - stock number SH10546 (Book #967).
The Trial Use Standard will be available for comments for a period
such as a year. The current target for a Full Use Standard is Fall 1987.
IEEE has initiated the process to have the 1003.1 effort brought into
the International Standards Organization (ISO) arena.
There is a paper mailing list by which interested parties may get
copies of drafts of the standard. To get on it, or to submit comments
directly to the committee, mail to:
James Isaak
Chairperson, IEEE/CS P1003
Charles River Data Systems
983 Concord St.
Framingham, MA 01701
decvax!frog!jim
Sufficiently interested parties may join the working group.
The next scheduled meetings of the working group of the committee are
17-19 September 1986 Palo Alto, CA hosts: Amdahl, HP and Sun
9-11 December 1986 Atlantic City NJ with X3J11
2-6 March 1987 Toronto, ON
June 1987 Phoenix, AZ the week of USENIX
September 1987 New Orleans, LA
There is also a balloting group (which intersects with the working group).
This is more difficult. Contact the committee chair for details.
I will repost them in this newsgroup if there is sufficient interest.
Related working groups are
group subject co-chairs
1003.2 shell and tools Hal Jesperson (Amdahl), Don Cragun (Sun)
1003.3 verification Roger Martin (NBS), Carol Raye (AT&T)
Both will meet concurrently with 1003.1 in Palo Alto in September,
and inquiries should go to the same address as for 1003.1.
The Abstract of the 1003.1 Trial Use Standard adds:
This interface is a complement to the C Programming Language
in the C Information Bulletin prepared by Technical Committee X3J11
of the Accredited Standards Committee X3, Information Processing
Systems, further specifying an environment for portable application
software.
The liaison from X3J11 (sometimes known as the C Standards Committee)
to P1003 is
Don Kretsch
AT&T
190 River Road
Summit, NJ 07901
A contact for information regarding publications and working groups is
Thomas Plum
Vice Chair, X3J11 Committee
Plum Hall Inc.
1 Spruce Avenue
Cardiff, New Jersey 08232
There is frequent discussion of X3J11 in the USENET newsgroup mod.std.c,
which see. (That newsgroup will eventually be known as comp.std.c.)
The /usr/group Standard is the principle ancestor of P1003.1:
/usr/group Standards Committee
4655 Old Ironsides Drive, Suite 200
Santa Clara, California 95050
It was $15.00 as of January, 1985.
The System V Interface Definition (The Purple Book).
This is the AT&T standard and is one of the most frequently-used
references of the IEEE 1003 committee.
System V Interface Definition, Issue 2
Select Codes 320-011 (Volume 1) and 320-012 (Volume 2)
or Select Code 307-127 (both volumes).
AT&T Customer Information Center
2833 North Franklin Road
Indianapolis, IN 46219
1-800-432-6600, operator 77.
The price is about 37 U.S. dollars for each volume or $52 for the pair.
Major credit cards are accepted for telephone orders: mail orders
should include a check or money order. Previous SVID owners should
have received a discount coupon to upgrade to Release 2 for only $37.
Volume 1 is essentially equivalent to the whole previous SVID;
Volume 2 is mostly commands and a few add-ons (e.g. curses).
A third volume is expected in the last quarter of 1986 to cover new
items in System V Release 3, such as streams and networking. There may
be an upgrade discount similar to the previous one. A draft copy is
reputed to be available now to source licensees.
The X/OPEN PORTABILITY GUIDE (The Green Book)
is another reference frequently used by IEEE 1003.
X/OPEN is "A Group of European Computer Manufacturers" who have produced
a document intended to promote the writing of portable facilities.
(They now have member computer manufacturers from outside Europe.)
Their flyer remarks (in five languages), "Now we all speak the same
language in Europe."
The book is published by
Elsevier Science Publishers
Book Order Department
PO Box 211
1000 AE Amsterdam
The Netherlands
or, for those in the U.S.A. or Canada:
Elsevier Science Publishers Co Inc.
PO Box 1663
Grand Central Station
New York, NY 10163
The price is Dfl 275,00 or USD 75.00. According to the order form,
"This price includes the costs of one update which will be mailed
automatically upon publication." They take a large number of credit
cards and other forms of payment.
The two main general circulation magazines about the UNIX system are
UNIX REVIEW UNIX/WORLD
Miller Freeman Publications Co. Tech Valley Publishing
500 Howard Street 444 Castro St.
San Francisco, CA 94105 Mountain View, CA 94041
415-397-1881 415-940-1500
Corrections and additions to this article are solicited.
Oh, yes: "UNIX is a Registered Trademark of AT&T."
Volume-Number: Volume 6, Number 40