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The Base Working Group


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The Base Working Group maintains the viability and competitiveness of platforms supporting the Single UNIX Specification through:

  • continually extending the existing specifications with new functionality, whether it may emerge as a contribution from individual companies or as the result of formal standardization
  • providing interpretations of the existing specifications and correcting any identified errors

This program protects system vendor investment in platforms and software vendor as well as customer investment in system applications. Since maintenance and further development of specifications are best achieved by experts who developed and implemented the specifications in the first place, the program provides an added benefit of access to a wide pool of industry expertise.

Through continuing standardization of platforms, system vendors gain access to a wide range of valuable applications running on their standardised platform. Software vendors in their turn gain access to a large installed base of standardised platforms on which their applications can run, and also have the benefit of a standardised development environment. Customers benefit from commoditization of platforms and access to a variety of valuable applications running on those platforms.

Alignment with formal standards, in particular the IEEE POSIX and IETF families, prevents waste of industry standardization effort and protects the participating vendors from having to implement against multiple competing standards.

The Base Working Group manages the Base Operating System specifications, consisting of the System Interface and Headers, Command and Utilities, and System Interface Definitions, representing the original core of the X/Open Common Applications Environment. The specifications have continued to evolve from the first X/Open Portability Guide (XPG1), with the last update consisting of the Single UNIX Specification, Version 3. The Single UNIX Specification Version 3 project is a unique development that combines both the industry led efforts and the formal standardization activities into a single initiative, and includes a wide spectrum of participants, including commercial, government, and open source interests represented. All interested parties are invited to participate. See http://www.opengroup.org/austin/ for more information.

 

Current work highlights

»POSIX Realtime test suite development

»Test suite development for the Single UNIX Specification, Version 3

»Test suite development for aspects of the Linux Standard Base

»Development of additional API sets for Linux alignment

»Austin Group Specification Submittal to ISO/IEC

Resources

HTML version of The Single UNIX Specification, Version 3 .
PASC and ISO ballots
Base Specifications Corrigenda
Working Group Resolutions
The Austin Group.

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