About ESOSC

EUIN

Format

The format of an EUIN is as follows:

<EUIN> ::= 
  `ESOSC' <hyph> <year> <hyph> <an> 
          <hyph> <version> [<hyph> <suffix>]
<hyph> ::= `-' 
<an> ::= <number>
<version> ::= <number>
<number> ::= <digit> | <digit> <number> 
<digit> ::= `0'|`1'|`2'|`3'|`4'|`5'|`6'|`7'|`8'|`9' 
<year> ::= <digit> <digit> <digit> <digit> 
<suffix> ::= `D' | `A' | `O'

'year' denotes the year when the first version of the standard was created (but not necessarily approved in the same year). 'an' is a unique number allocated within the year the first version of the standard was created. The 'version' is a monotonically increasing number starting at 1 and denotes the version of the standard. 'an' is refered to as the Assigned Number (AN).

To indicate the state of a document it may be suffixed with a suffix. D indicates that the document is in draft state, A indicates that the document is an approved standard, O indicates that the document is obsolete. Use of suffix is generally not recommended.

'year' together with 'an' uniquely identifies a standard whereas 'year', 'an' and 'version' combined uniquely identify a document (which is a specific version of a standard).

Assigned Number

The Assigned Number is allocated from the Assigned Number Block (ANB) of the member creating the first draft of the standard.

Assigned Number Block

Each member has a number block from which they can allocate Assigned Numbers for drafts. Each member receives a (continious) block of 128 numbers upon becoming a member.

The ESOSC manages a list of Assigned Number Blocks.

Approval of standards

For a standard to be approved at least three members of the ESOSC have to approve it without having been bribed, forced, blackmailed or influenced by drugs, alcohol or similar substances to do so.

Obsoletion

Standards may be marked as obsolete when they are no longer appropriate to use or have been completely replaced by another standard and can The submitter of the standard can obsolete the standard.

Drafts

Any member of the ESOSC is allowed to submit drafts for approval. Any non-member of the ESOSC is allowed to request that the ESOSC should work on a new standard and may submit suggestions or proposals for standards to the ESOSC.

Proposals

Proposals have no assigned EUIN. A proposal does not differ greatly from a draft. A proposal is a draft from a non-member that has not yet received official draft status. With receiving official draft status a proposal also receives an EUIN.

To achieve official draft status one member of the ESOSC must agree and assign it a valid EUIN from their Assigned Number Block (ANB).

Revisions

A new revision of an approved standard is put into the draft state and requires the usual approval process taking place. The ESOSC is allowed to correct grammar, orthographical or similar mistakes without requiring a new revision. A new revision is created by creating a new document with the version number of the latest version incremented by one. The year and AN do not change.

New members

For a non-member to become a member the candidate has to pass a vote. To pass the vote 2/3 (rounded to the nearest integer rounding upwards at .5) of all existing members must vote to accept a candidate as a new member. A non-member must of course agree to become a member.

Half members

Half members can submit drafts and receive an Assigned Number Block, however, half members can not vote and can not approve drafts.

Leaving

Members or half members may leave the ESOSC at any point. It is recommended to pay each remaining member (or half member) a beverage when doing so but this is not mandatory. However, since most members don't actually know each other this is very unlikely to happen.

It's also recommended to nominate a replacement.

Approval

Approval of a standard does not mean the ESOSC recommends using the standard or endorses it. Approval merely serves as a form of 'Quality Control' to ensure that the standard is detailed enough for others to implement. THE ESOSC DOES NOT VERIFY ANYTHING BEYOND THAT.

Settling disputes

Should there be disputes about ESOSC related matters that are not well-defined within this document such disputes must be settled democratically (by voting) requiring a 2/3 (rounded to the nearest integer rounding upwards at .5) majority.

This document

This document governs the rules of ESOSC and can not be overridden by another document. Changes to this standard (new revisions) requires approval from a 2/3 (rounded to the nearest integer rounding upwards at .5) majority of members.

Voting

If voting takes place all members must be notified. If a member can't be reached for more than three weeks the member is presumed to abstain from voting (and thus does not count for the calculation of the amount of votes required to reach majority).

Legal

Any standards approved by the ESOSC are free to use and must be free to use. If a contributor holds a patent to parts of a standard they contributed to they grant everybody an unrevocable right to use the patent free of charge without limitations. However, the ESOSC can not guarantee that standards or part of standards are not patented by third parties.

STANDARDS ARE PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF A STANDARD, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.