[iaufwg] FITS panel recommendations; ready for review?

[William Pence]

Don Wells wrote:

> I have examined the 'Recommended Changes' document dated 07-18, and 
> find that the recommendations are acceptable.  My compliments to the 
> chefs!
>
> -=-=- On escape hatches -=-=-
>
> As I read the document, one big issue caused me to pause and think.  ....


Hi Don,

You raise some good issues, but I think it will be better to discuss 
them on FITSBITS during the public comment period, rather than here on 
the IAUFWG list.

I will make one change to the Summary of Recommended Changes document to 
clarify one of your points (about change item 21):  The change that the 
panel is recommending doesn't actually prohibit alternate uses for the 
heap, but instead just removes the explicit statement that the heap  may 
be used in alternate ways (there is a slight distinction here).  You may 
feel that this is still not adequate, but we can discuss it more on 
FITSBITS during the public comment period.

Also, I do think the 2 statements that 1)  the interpretation of  
negative  variable length array descriptor values is not defined, and 2) 
the heap offset must always be positive, are not a contradiction, but 
more about that later...

regards,
Bill