IEEE´s Posix: making progress

The status of the interface standards within the IEEE Portable Operating System Interface (Posix) environment (the x in Posix denotes the Unix operating system origin of this effort) is discussed. The open system standards within the Posix activity are expected to resolve the portability and interoperability problems and to open the door to a major new industry of standard software components, or modules. From these components, users will be able to build and modify larger systems to suit their evolving needs, eliminating the need to produce several versions of an application program to accommodate operating systems with different file system structures and network interfaces. Details of the Posix Open Systems Environment (OSE) application program interfaces are examined to show how standards can be used in constructing portable software.<>