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While pondering whether IEEE 1003.1-2017 forbids race-condition safe ln -f, it occurred to me:

Even if this is really an unfortunate definition (which GNU coreutils' ln thankfully ignores), I would have no way to say "hey, dear standardizers, next iteration, maybe don't specify this broken thing, and instead demand this safe thing, or at least don't prohibit safe implementation".

How does the evolution of the POSIX / IEEE 1003.1 standard actually happen? How can the interested public participate, if at all?

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    @Stewart while that is true, some committees within IEEE do actually offer an open ear to external parties. In this case, I'm not even sure IEEE is actually the party that standardizes. Compare C++: while C++23 is standardized ISO/IEC 14882:2024, C++'s evolution happens in the C++ WGs, their processes are quite out there in the open. Commented May 4 at 13:42
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    Even if it says "equivalent to unlink()", I don't think that forbids an atomic replacement. I mean, in practice it likely means that whatever happens, it must do the same normal bookkeeping unlink() does. And if you do a normal unlink(), and then "really quickly" (enforced with a lock) create the symlink without letting anything mess in between, well, how could anyone blame you? :) Commented May 5 at 12:18

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The POSIX™ 1003.1 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ Version 1.18) has:

Q2. What is the Austin Group?

The Austin Common Standards Revision Group (CSRG) is a joint technical working group established to develop and maintain the latest version of the 1003.1 standard --- which combined and revised ISO/IEC 9945-1,1996 edition, ISO/IEC 9945-2, 1993 Edition, IEEE Std 1003.1,1996 edition, IEEE Std 1003.2, 1992 edition and the appropriate parts of the Single UNIX Specification.

See http://www.opengroup.org/austin/ for more information.

The linked page for the CSRG has the following, which suggests the general public is able to participate without the need to pay any membership fees:

Defect Reports/Bug Reporting

To submit a bug report against the specifications please use the Mantis online defect tracker at http://austingroupbugs.net. Please note that due to spam, self signup for the defect tracker has been disabled. To apply for an account contact the Austin Group Chair.

Invitation To Participate Anyone wishing to participate in the Austin Group should contact the chair with their requests. There are no fees for participation or membership. You may participate as an observer or as a contributor. You do not have to attend face-to-face meetings to participate, electronic participation is most welcome. Please subscribe to our Mailing list.

Looking at the defect tracker, it seems to be currently active. E.g. 0001920 was updated in May 2025. The reporter of that issue was Stephane Chazelas, who could be the same high reputation Stéphane Chazelas on this stack.

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    Yes, that's me, and I can confirm you don't need to be member of anything (I am not) to contribute there. Commented May 4 at 14:09
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    One can also join the [email protected] mailing list and ask there if unsure whether or how an issue should be raised as a defect. Commented May 4 at 14:12
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    I recall David Korn writing (something like) it would be a big headache to get ksh93 "rebranded" to ~ksh2000 via the committee process (POSIX or ??), even though the "modern" ksh at the time was significant improvement over the ksh93 spec. Commented May 4 at 15:07
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    @shellter, keeping dates in the name of the software would be bound to cause awkwardness later. By now, it should already be ksh2025 or whatever, and you'd need to change it every single time there's an update anyway. Commented May 5 at 12:20
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    @RokeJulianLockhart I haven't attempted to register, but the opengroup.org/austin page has "The group is chaired by Andrew Josey from The Open Group" and there is an email address in that text (haven't copied the email address into this comment). Commented May 26 at 11:48

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