Italy - UNI

 

Abstention due to lack of consensus at national level.

 

 

 

Proposal for a task force to define and develop a reference software and conformance testing for DIS 29500

If a standard is to serve the purpose of enabling independent implementations to successfully interoperate then Italy believes that DIS 29500 is too complex a standard to achieve the goal at the speed required by today’s market place. The current standard expressed in natural language must be complemented by

  1. A reference implementation with the following features

    1. Demonstrably equivalent to the text standard (in functional terms) and with the same normative status as the standard expressed in natural language
    2. Any misalignment between the two expressions of the standard should be handled by the normal corrigendum process
    3. The reference implementation should be available to initiate the approval process in a short period of time (e.g. 6 months)

    4. The reference implementation should contain, as a minimum:

      1. A “creator/writer” of DIS 29500 conforming files
      2. A “reader/viewer” of DIS 29500 conforming files
    5. The set of functionalities supported by the said creator/writer and reader/viewer should be designed to test the critical features of the standard, not to emulate a product
    6. The reference implementation should be an integral part of DIS 29500 (i.e. an Amendment) or could be an independent standard (e.g. ISO/IEC 29501)

    7. The reference implementation should be available free of charge from the ITTF web site and should have a licence enabling implementers to

      1. Utilise the code for commercial implementations of ISO/IEC 29500
      2. Modify the code with the constraint of retaining conformance to ISO/IEC 29500.

  2. Procedures and test suites with the following features

    1. The procedures and test suites should enable implementers to test that

      1. Files created by a product with file creation capabilities conform to the appropriate sections of ISO/IEC 29500
      2. Products with file viewing capabilities conform to the appropriate sections of ISO/IEC 29500
    2. The procedures and test suites should be an integral part of DIS 29500 (i.e. an Amendment) or could be an independent standard (e.g. ISO/IEC 29502).

A number of Italian companies have declared their intention to contribute to the development of the reference software implementation and the procedures and test suites.

We note that ISO/IEC JTC1 SC29 WG11, as a rule, requires the availability of reference implementations of its standards with a normative status.

We suggest that the work on the reference implementation, if the proposal is formally submitted to JTC1 and approved, is assigned to SC34.