tantuico@andromeda.rutgers.edu.rutgers.edu (Samuel B Tantuico) (02/15/89)
What is POSIX? I've heard it before in a conversation, but I don't know what it is? Thanks, in advance! sAm ------------------------------------------------------------ Rutgers-Newark COSII || tantuico@andromeda.rutgers.edu ------------------------------------------------------------
boykin@calliope.Encore.COM (Joe Boykin) (02/17/89)
In article <2393@galaxy> tantuico@andromeda (Samuel B Tantuico) writes: >What is POSIX? I've heard it before in a conversation, but I don't know >what it is? POSIX is a set of application portability standards. The group is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Societies Technical Committee on Operating Systems, and has been for the past 5 years or so. While based on UNIX(tm), there is nothing which says a POSIX compliant system needs to be based on UNIX. In fact, a number of vendors are looking to provide POSIX compliance on non-UNIX systems. The goal of the standards committees is to develop a set of standards which will provide application portability at the source code level. If you are given a POSIX compliant system, and only write code which conforms to the POSIX standard (rather than extensions which a vendor might also include), you should be able to take your program to another POSIX compliant system, compile and run it with the same results. POSIX is also a "philosophy". The effort is certainly not complete, nor will it be complete for many years. It typically takes a minimum of three years for a document to be produced and balloted. The goal of those working on POSIX is to continue defining standards until a "complete" environment is present. We have one piece now (see below), others are being balloted now or are about to be, and more will be balloted in the months and years to come. POSIX is divided into a number of different areas. 1003.1 comprises the "system interface" definition; i.e. the system call interface. This is the only document which has been balloted and approved as an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard. It is currently being worked on for ISO (International Standards Organization) approval. While this is an approved standard, it is not static. Additions and clarifications are already being worked on for balloting at a future date. P1003.2 is the "user interface" i.e. Shell command level. The first ballot for this went out about two months ago. It generally takes anywhere from a few months to a year from this point for an approved standard to emerge. P1003.3 is test methods, i.e. how do you validate that you have a standard conforming system. P1003.4 is "real-time" extensions (although the group has taken on quite a bit of other work as well). P1003.5 is language bindings. P1003.1 is C language specific. We are currently working on both Ada and Fortran bindings. P1003.6: Security. P1003.7: System Administration P1003.8: Networking We also have study groups looking at Supercomputing and Transaction processing issues. These may develop into a "dot" group. If you would like to get involved you should contact: Jim Isaak DEC, MSZK03-3/Y25 110 Spit Brook Road Nashua, NH 03062 603-881-0480 Hope this helps. ---- Joe Boykin Encore Computer Corp Past-Chairman, IEEE Computer Societies' Technical Committee on Operating Systems UUCP: encore!boykin ARPA: boykin@encore.com