NICE-ESG-Libs Digest        Fri, 16 Feb 96       Volume 2 : Issue   4 

Today's Topics:
                  The formality of the  ELKS process


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Date: Fri, 16 Feb 96 10:03:47 PST
From: bertrand@eiffel.com (Bertrand Meyer)
Subject: The formality of the  ELKS process
To: NICE-ESG-Libs@atlanta.twr.com

 
Roger Browne wrote:
 
> I am one of those who would prefer a formal approach to
> maintenance of the standard.
 
I object to that. The maintenance of the standard has represented
a considerable amount of work and is about as formal as it can get.
That one last-minute typo correction in the latest version was not
carried over to the Postscript version is a mistake for which I have
apologized and apologize again, and I know that other errors remain,
but this is not a reason to decry the entire process.

Criticism is easy. Who else has done comparable work for NICE?

Below is the complete recursive directory listing of the ELKS
directory. It shows that the following elements are maintained:

	- The current version of the standard as a FrameMaker format
	  called BOOK, with chapters FRONT, FLATSHORTS, APPENDICES etc.

	- The same material in platform-independent MIF format (Maker
	  Interchange Format).

	- The same material in Postscript format.

	- The same material in ASCII form for the benefit of a committee
	  member who does not have a Postscript printer. (The ASCII form
	  is pretty terrible because of the limitations of the FrameMaker
	  ASCII generation, but I have now found a better tool for that
	  purpose.)

	- The list of differences between each version and the previous
	  one: 6 to 7, 7 to 8 (and future versions). 

	- Also since version 7, composite documents showing the differences
	  with the previous version in change bar format.

	- The said lists of differences and composites in MIF and Postscript
	  formats.

	- Table of contents and index (FrameMaker, MIF, Postscript).

	- Some older versions.

	- The entire ``Gustave'' proposal.

	- Compressed versions of most of the above documents.

	- A set of scripts (`bin' and `lib') to manipulate this information,
	  mail it to people having or not having various capabilities,
	  and regenerate it when a new version of the standard comes out.

	- An archive of the whole thing as a single tar file.

	- The said archive, compressed.

	- The said compressed archive, uuencoded (i.e. ready to be mailed).

	- An HTML version of the standard (in the Web pages, not the
	  FTP delivery).

These things don't produce themselves. Someone has to generate them,
and re-generate and check them with each new version.

The result can and will be improved, but to claim it is not formal
is a little simplistic.

Best regards,

-- BM
	


[Vienna] bm 1276 - ls -R
APPENDICES              FRONT                   TITLE
COMPOSITE-6-7           FRONT-DIFF-7-8          VERSION
COMPOSITE-6-7.ps        FRONT-DIFF-7-8.ps       ascii/
DIFFERENCES-6-7         OLD/                    bin/
DIFFERENCES-6-7.ps      README                  compressed/
DUPLICATE               README.7                gustave
FLATSHORTS              README.8                lib/
FLATSHORTS-DIFF-6-7     STANDARD                mif/
FLATSHORTS-DIFF-6-7.ps  STANDARD.lck            print_settings
FLATSHORTS-DIFF-7-8     STANDARD.ps             version7/
FLATSHORTS-DIFF-7-8.ps  STANDARD.ps.BK          whole_tar
FLATSHORTS.lck          STANDARDIX.doc          whole_tar.Z
FLATSHORTS.mif          STANDARDTOC.doc         whole_uuencoded

OLD:
FLATSHORTS.6  errata.4      errata.5      errata.6

ascii:
0.README                  2.STANDARDTOC.doc.backup  5.APPENDICES
1.TITLE                   3.FRONT                   5.APPENDICES.backup
1.TITLE.backup            3.FRONT.backup            6.STANDARDIX.doc
2.STANDARDTOC.doc         4.FLATSHORTS

bin:
MAKEALL*              makeascii             makepostscript        wait.for.postscript*
README                makeindex             maketar
kitsend               makemif               move.to.ftp*

compressed:
APPENDICES.Z              FLATSHORTS.Z              STANDARDIX.doc.Z
COMPOSITE-6-7.Z           FLATSHORTS.mif.Z          STANDARDTOC.doc.Z
COMPOSITE-6-7.ps.Z        FRONT-DIFF-7-8.Z          TITLE.Z
DIFFERENCES-6-7.Z         FRONT-DIFF-7-8.ps.Z       VERSION
DIFFERENCES-6-7.ps.Z      FRONT.Z                   gustave.Z
DUPLICATE.Z               README.7.Z                print_settings.Z
FLATSHORTS-DIFF-6-7.Z     README.8.Z                whole_tar
FLATSHORTS-DIFF-6-7.ps.Z  README.Z                  whole_uuencoded.Z
FLATSHORTS-DIFF-7-8.Z     STANDARD.Z
FLATSHORTS-DIFF-7-8.ps.Z  STANDARD.ps.Z

lib:
..ascii.awk  .ascii.sed  .awk.index  .sed.index  COMPRESSED  FILELIST

mif:
APPENDICES.mif       FRONT.mif            STANDARDIX.doc.mif   TITLE.mif
FLATSHORTS.mif       STANDARD.mif         STANDARDTOC.doc.mif

version7:
FLATSHORTS  FRONT
	  book file: STANDARD,