L2/04-106 Title: Contribution from DKUUG on Standardizing Linux in ISO. Date: 2004-01-31 Source: DKUUG standardization group DKUUG - the Danish Unix-systems Users Group - is a user group of Unix users, including Linux users, and builds its work on open systems and open standards. It is one of the largest Unix users groups in the world. DKUUG would like to see Linux-specifications like the FSG Linux Standards Base be standardised in ISO. We see that a number of other operating system products strive for Linux compatibility and an ISO reference would help here. Also for acceptance in the public sector, which make an emphasis on open standards, ISO standardisation would be beneficial. We would like the standardization, and especially the maintenance of the standards, to be done in a cooperative way, with both the originating organization (such as FSG) and ISO working together on one specification. This should be done in a way such that the procedures of each of the participating organizations be fully respected. An example of how this can be done is the Austin group. DKUUG would like to suggest that the Linux standards be updated wrt. internationalization, including documenting current Linux praxis on locales, that are implemented in a way very much like ISO TR 14652. That would include the locale categories LC_IDENTIFICATION, LC_CTYPE, LC_COLLATE, LC_TIME, LC_NUMERIC, LC_MONETARY, LC_MESSAGES, LC_PAPER, LC_NAME, LC_ADDRESS, LC_TELEPHONE. If possible the Linux standards should be harmonized with TR 14652, and also with the POSIX standard ISO 9945, the sorting standard ISO 14651, the C standard ISO 9899, the C++ standard ISO 14882 and other relevant standards. We would like to suggest that the ISO specifications relevant to Linux be made available free of charge for use on Linux systems, eg in Linux documentation such as man-pages and introductory and reference material. Today Linux implements many ISO specifications, but the description of the facilities cannot use the precise wordings for copyright reasons. This would include the POSIX standard in 9945 and the sorting standard 14651 and the locale TR 14652. DKUUG would like the standardization of Linux and POSIX to be done in the same group in ISO, as the standards are very much related, and it is hoped that unnecessary differences could be minimized with this cooperation. DKUUG appreciates that the Linux rapporteur group is open to non-profit organizations in the field, and we would appreciate if this also be the case for the future work. DKUUG offers to host email and web services for the Linux Rapporteur Group. DKUUG offers to host the next or another future meeting of the ISO Linux rapporteur group, or its successor.