[comp.std.unix] C-ISAM as formal standard? If so, by whom?

std-unix@longway.TIC.COM (Moderator, John S. Quarterman) (06/01/89)

From: Dominic Dunlop <uunet!sphinx.co.uk!domo>

[domo asks that you:  Please observe Followup-to above. -mod ]

Does anybody out there know if the venerable C-ISAM interface has been
adopted, or is about to be adopted, by any public standards body (ANSI,
ISO, IEEE, UL... you name it), or is specified as a requirement by any
purchasing agency (NIST, CCTA, NASA...).  (Yes, I know that purchasing
agency is a loose term: I mean the kind of outfit which draws up specs
which some large purchaser then makes binding on their suppliers.)  As far
as I'm aware, the current state of play is that C-ISAM has beached in the
X/Open Portability Guide, but no public body has tried to pick it up from
there.  Oh yes.  Might C-ISAM pop up in SVID 4?  I seem to recall Informix
(or RDS, as they were then) claiming to have sold technology to AT&T for a
juicy sum a few years back, but have seen no obvious fruits.  Clues or
pointers, anyone?

If your reply is as speculative as this enquiry, you might drop me mail.
If, on the other hand, it's good solid dope, by all means post it straight
away.  I'll summarise to the net in any event.
-- 
Dominic Dunlop
The Standard Answer Ltd., using Sphinx' facilities (for which much thanks)
domo@sphinx.co.uk

Volume-Number: Volume 16, Number 53

std-unix@longway.TIC.COM (Moderator, John S. Quarterman) (06/13/89)

From: uunet!mitel!sce!cognos!glee (Godfrey Lee)

In article <357@longway.TIC.COM> Dominic Dunlop <uunet!sphinx.co.uk!domo> writes:
>Does anybody out there know if the venerable C-ISAM interface has been
>adopted, or is about to be adopted, by any public standards body (ANSI,
>ISO, IEEE, UL... you name it)
> [....]  As far
>as I'm aware, the current state of play is that C-ISAM has beached in the
>X/Open Portability Guide, but no public body has tried to pick it up from
>there.

X/Open has not beached C-ISAM, but has instead firmed up the specs. Quoted from
the X/Open Portability Guide Issue 3 which I received about a month ago:

    The X/Open ISAM definition is a major subset of the specification of C-ISAM
    product, version 2.10, published by Informix Software Inc. of Menlo Park,
    California.

In Issues 1 & 2, certain implementation specific features were dropped, for
example, audit trail and decimal datatypes.

In Issue 3, more detailed descriptions of locking and error handling were
provided, as well as minor changes to accomodate ANSI COBOL standards.

As far as I know, Informix has said that they will conform with X/Open, and
other vendors are coming out with compatible versions of X/Open ISAM.
-- 
Godfrey Lee                                            P.O. Box 9707
Cognos Incorporated                                    3755 Riverside Dr.
VOICE:  (613) 738-1338 x3802   FAX: (613) 738-0002     Ottawa, Ontario
UUCP: uunet!mitel!sce!cognos!glee                      CANADA  K1G 3Z4

Volume-Number: Volume 16, Number 54

std-unix@longway.TIC.COM (Moderator, John S. Quarterman) (06/21/89)

From: uunet!erbe.se!prc (Robert Claeson)

In article <358@longway.TIC.COM> uunet!mitel!sce!cognos!glee (Godfrey Lee) writes:

>As far as I know, Informix has said that they will conform with X/Open, and
>other vendors are coming out with compatible versions of X/Open ISAM.

I just received some marketing material from Sun, and in one of the
brochures ("The SPARCware Application Environment"), the mention that
they now have an ISAM. No further details given. Is there anyone who knows
anything more about this particular ISAM? Who makes it (INFORMIX, Sun, ...)?
Does it conform to the X/Open spec.'s (I assume it does, although they
doesn't say so)?
-- 
          Robert Claeson      E-mail: rclaeson@erbe.se
	  ERBE DATA AB

Volume-Number: Volume 16, Number 55