[comp.lang.c] ANSI C is now in a formal comment period

gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) (11/25/86)

In article <5399@brl-smoke.ARPA>, gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) writes:
> Just in case anyone hasn't yet heard, the draft proposed American
> National Standard X3.159-198x (Programming Language C) is out for
> public review and comment.  Copies may be obtained from GLOBAL
> ENGINEERING DOCUMENTS, INC. by calling (800)854-7179.  $65/copy.
> 
> If you don't submit comments by 07-Mar-1987, and then complain
> about the final standard, you're not going to get much sympathy!

I am surprised that I didn't see any announcement of this in mod.std.c,
though perhaps I and my friends missed it.

Here is more on how the formal review process works.  This is excerpted
from ANSI document "X3/SD-2" of May 1978.  To understand it, you need
to know that there are many committees involved:

	X3J11	the technical people who actually wrote the standard
	TC	Technical Committee, same as X3J11
	X3	a committee that oversees all computer language
		standards -- not writing them, but reviewing them.
		[I would like to know who is on this committee and how
		 you get on to it.]
	BSR	ANSI Board of Standards Review -- a watchdog to make
		sure that due process has been followed
	ANSI	American National Standards Institute, the people
		who actually publish these standards

Once X3J11 decides they like their draft standard, they ask to publish
it for formal public review.  If there are any negative comments, X3
must approve the public review by a majority vote.  The public reviews
it, sends in their flames and flowers.  X3J11 tries to work out the
flames, and either gets the commenter to withdraw the flame, or
provides a "response" to it.  All the correspondence gets sent to X3,
which tries to read it all and figure out whether X3J11 did a good
enough job.  [The Pascal draft standard got almost 500 pages of
comments, which were distributed on microfiche.]  Overlapping with the
last 6 weeks of the public comment period, X3 members vote by mail.  If
there are ANY negative votes by X3 members, or un-withdrawn flames from
the public, X3J11 must try to fix the standard.  If they change it a
lot, it goes back for another public review.  If not, they submit their
changes and new responses to X3 again, and the X3 members have 30 days
to change their vote.  If at the end of the 30 days, 2/3 of X3 members
now vote yes, the standard is approved.  It gets passed to the ANSI
BSR, which tries to figure out whether due process was used in X3's
approving the standard, or whether the public has been railroaded.  If
the BSR likes the process, ANSI publishes it as a real live standard.
Any member of X3 can appeal to the BSR to overturn X3's approval
(presumably indicating that there is not consensus).

So, if the committee has been blithely ignoring your comments on the net,
now's the time to get the current draft and send in *formal* comments
via Pony Express.  I would appreciate it if someone on the Committee can
post exactly how and where to send formal comments; I have a few things
I want to say...

	John Gilmore
-- 
John Gilmore  {sun,ptsfa,lll-crg,ihnp4}!hoptoad!gnu   jgilmore@lll-crg.arpa
    "I can't think of a better way for the War Dept to spend money than to
  subsidize the education of teenage system hackers by creating the Arpanet."