Open Grid Forum: Data Format Description Language Working Group

OGF DFDL Working Group Call, 10 November 2010

Attendees
Stephanie Fetzer (IBM)
Steve Hanson (IBM)
Tim Kimber(IBM)
Bob McGrath (National Center for Supercomputing Applications)

Apologies
Alan Powell (IBM)
Suman Kalia (IBM)
Mike Beckerle (Oco)

1. Discuss with Gary Sikora the use of DFDL by OMG MARS IEF ITS
Gary did not attend - postponed until a later date.

2. Current Actions
Updated below.

3. AOB
a) Press release to publicise DFDL
Steve is pulling together a press release at IBM. Want to include as many contributors and interested parties as possible.NCSA are keen to be included. Also likely that US National Archive will want to be included. Mike has indicated OCO are too. Action raised

b) Limitations of DFDL 1.0
Steve was asked if DFDL could handle the zip format. The answer is that DFDL can not model zip in its full generality, as it includes location by offset where the offsets are at the end of the file. This random access style of format is something that DFDL 2.0 should look at addressing, via addition of location by offset and layering.

Meeting closed, 16:00

Next call Wednesday 20 October 2010 15:00 UK (10:00 ET)

Next action: 130

Actions raised at this meeting

No
Action

129
a) Press release to publicise DFDL
Steve is pulling together a press release at IBM. Want to include as many contributors and interested parties as possible.NCSA are keen to be included. Also likely that US National Archive will want to be included. Mike has indicated OCO are too.

Current Actions:

No
Action

066
Investigate format for defining test cases
25/11:IBM to see if it is possible to publish its test case format.
04/12: no update
...
17/02: IBM is willing in principle to publish the test case format and some of the test cases. May need some time to build a 'compliance suite'
24/03: No progress
03/03: Discussions have been taking place on the subset of tests that will be provided.
10/03: work is progressing
17/03: work is progressing
31/03: work is progressing
14/04: And XML test case format has been defined and is being tested.
21/04. Schema for TDML defined. Need to define how this and the test cases will be made public
05/05: Work still progressing
12/05: Work still progressing
02/06: Work still progressing on technical and legal considerations
...
25/08: Will chase to allow Daffodil access to test cases. The WG should define how implementation confirm that they 'conform to DFDL v1'
01/09: IBM still progressing the legal aspect. Intends to publish 100 or so tests as soon as it can, ahead of a full compliance suite.
08/09: IBM still progressing
15/09: IBM still progressing, expect tests to be available within a few weeks
22/09: IBM still progressing, expect tests to be available within a few weeks
29/09:Test cases are being prepared.
06/10: Some test cases should be available next week. Steve would like to be able to show the test case information at OGF 30.
13/10: Still progressing
10/11: Legal issues cleared, IBM in process of collecting 100 example test cases, ideally ones that fit the 'extended conformance' of NCSA Daffodil

111
Daffodil DFDL parser
11/08: Bob and Alejandro described the new implementation that they have developed. It is a new code base and is not based on the Deffudle prototype. It is written in scala and implements approximately 80% of the features in the public comments draft of DFDL V1. Alejandro will send a list of the features not implemented.
We discussed the scenarios that motivated the development which was to extract data from various sources and transform into canonical formats.
Bob offered to make Daffodil available for the WG to assess the functionality. IBM WG members will get approval the company to allow them to receive Daffodil.
Bob raised the question that if Daffodil becomes the public implementation of DFDL then we will need to work out how that would be funded and managed.
It would be helpful if IBM test cases were available to Daffodil. IBM will investigate
25/08: Alejandro had sent a list of the functions that he has implemented and Steve ahd responding indicating the extra functions he thought were essential.
Since then Alejandro has implemented some of the missing functions, such as escape schemes, pre-defined variables, binary decimal numbers, etc, and will update his list.
Bob is planning to make the parser available on the internet to allow testing.
His organisation is being reorganised and he doesn't know what the priority of Daffodill will be so it is essential that we move quickly. It would help if IBM could indicate its support for Daffodil in some semi-formal way.
01/09: Alejandro updating Daffodil to include escape schemes, unordered sequences and ignoreCase.
Daffodil being placed under formal source control in anticipation of external release.
Bob has a start October deadline to create a report on what has been done for his sponsors.
It would be great if we could get Daffodil on the web and have run some IBM tests so it could be highlighted at OGF 30 at end October.
08/09: Alejandro is marking up Spec draft 42 to indicate which features Daffodil implement. Bob expects Daffodil to be available on the web soon.
15/09: Alejandro had indicated in the specification which functions were implemented in Daffodill. Steve had reviewed and identified which function need to be implemented and which could be considered optional (see action 099). Alejandro is implementing the missing core functions. There was some discussion about the limitations on unordered groups. (stop value and expression not supported). It was agreed that it should be a schema definition error if dfdl:occursCountKind is 'stopValue' on any element within an unordered sequence and a floating element.
22/09: not discussed
29/09: not discussed
06/10: Alejandro has left NCSA. Bob is making the case for continuing and having a replacement. Bob to agree with Steve what can be said at OGF30.
13/10: Bob still progressing project funding and making Daffodil publically available.
10/11: NCSA internal & sponsor (US National Archive in Washington DC - Electronic Records Administration) reviews passed. NCSA have new resource allocated - Joe Futrelle. Bob has started open source paperwork. ETA end December.

112
DFDL certification process
25/08: Discussed how to certify DFDL implementations. Alan to investigate if OGF have a defined process.
01/09: In progress, spec needs to state what conformance means, as part of this work
08/09: Discussed what needs to be said in the spec and agreed that details of a conformance test suite should be in another document.
Alan to draft conformance section.
15/09: Alan had look at the conformance sections in XML and Schema specifications both of which indicate sections which must be implemented. None just say 'execute the test suite'. They talk in terms of conformance of document, schema and processors..
22/09: no progress
22/09: Alan has added short Conformance and Optional Features sections to spec which was briefly discussed. Discussed naming for processors that don't implement optional features and those that implement all features.
06/10: Need to decide what/how test cases and certification process should occur
13/10: no progress
10/11: no progress

123
DFDL tutorial
13/10: Draft of first 3 chapters has been written and will be distributed to WG
10/11: Posted to grid forge here (http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/go/doc16106?nav=1), work continuing at IBM to define a standard example-based chapter framework and to author additional chapters. Contributors welcome!

124
DFDL web content on OGF standards pages
13/10: no progress
10/11: no progress

129
Press release to publicise DFDL
Steve is pulling together a press release at IBM. Want to include as many contributors and interested parties as possible.NCSA are keen to be included. Also likely that US National Archive will want to be included. Mike has indicated OCO are too.

Closed actions

No
Action

125
-p111 13.16 nilValue literalCharacter. If not fixed length how many should be output? Steve to check what MRM does.
30/10: Fixed in final spec version. Closed

126
-p85 13.2.1 generateEscape really only applies to escape blocks so could be renamed.
30/10: Renamed in final spec version Closed

127
3. dfdl:roundingIncrement
Problems with rounding and ICU
13/10: not discussed
30/10: New properties introduced. Fixed in final spec version. Closed

128
5. AOB - Is support for locales sufficient?
13/10: not discussed
30/10: Seems OK. Closed

085
ALL: publicise Public comments phase to ensure a good review..
14/04: see minutes
21/04: Press release, OMG and other standards bodies.
05/05: Alan and Steve H have contacted other standards bodies. Will ask them to add comments on spec
15/05: still no public comments
02/06: No public comments
16/06: Public comments period has ended with no external comments. Alan had posted changes made in draft 041. Steve suggested send a note to the WG highlighting these changes. Steve also suggested requesting an extension as other IBM groups may review. We discussed whether this was necessary as changes will need to be made during the implementation phase anyway. Alan to ask OGF what the process is for changes post public comment.
23/06: Still no comments. Alan will contact OGF to understand the rest of the process.
30/06: Alan has emailed Joel asking what the process is now public comment period is over and can we update the published version with WG updates. No response yet.
07/07: No response. Alan will chase up
14/07: No response from Joel. Sent email to Greg Newby by no response.
21/07: Still no response.
04/08: Joel has responded that it is up to the WG to decide if the changes are significant enough to need additional review. Alan to contact David Martin and Erwin Laure for guidance if we split the specification.
11/08: Received a response from Joel that the WG can decide if a re- public review is necessary before becoming a 'proposed recommendation'. Alan responded that the WG agreed that a re-review was not necessary. The next stage is for OGF review committee to approve publication.
11/08: Specification is now 'awaiting author changes' before being submitted to the OGF technical committee for approval as a 'proposed specification'.
Alan would like to have the updated specification complete by Sept 10th. The WG needs to complete all actions by then or decide that they do not need to be included in this phase of the process.
01/09: Alan and Steve have discussed and propose Sept 30th for completion of draft 43 and closure of all actions.
08/09: Target for completion September 30.
15/09: as above
22/09: as above
29/09: Draft 43 will be published this week for WG review prior to submitting to OGF
06/10: Draft 43 was distributed on 30 September and includes all outstanding work items. This will be the last draft before submission to OGF for the final committee review. All comments should be sent to Alan by Tuesday 12th Oct and final version will be submitted on Friday 15th.
13/10: Thorough review by Steve and comments from Suman and Stephanie. Most updates done. Final review draft will be issued 14th Oct and final version to OGF soon after.
10/11: Closed. Spec submitted on 22nd Oct as 'Proposed Recommendation', and was highlighted in the OGF Plenary session at OGF 30 in Brussels. Available on grid forge here (http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/go/doc16074?nav=1)

Work items:

No
Item target version status

005
Improvements on property descriptions not started

012
Reordering the properties discussion: move representation earlier, improve flow of topics not started

036
Update dfdl schema with change properties ongoing

042
Mapping of the DFDL infoset to XDM none not required for V1 specification

070
Write DFDL primer

071
Write test cases.

Regards

Alan Powell

Development - MQSeries, Message Broker, ESB
IBM Software Group, Application and Integration Middleware Software
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IBM
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Phone: +44-1962-815073
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Registered office: PO Box 41, North Harbour, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3AU

No	Action
129	a) Press release to publicise DFDL Steve is pulling together a press release at IBM. Want to include as many contributors and interested parties as possible.NCSA are keen to be included. Also likely that US National Archive will want to be included. Mike has indicated OCO are too.

No	Action
066	Investigate format for defining test cases 25/11:IBM to see if it is possible to publish its test case format. 04/12: no update ... 17/02: IBM is willing in principle to publish the test case format and some of the test cases. May need some time to build a 'compliance suite' 24/03: No progress 03/03: Discussions have been taking place on the subset of tests that will be provided. 10/03: work is progressing 17/03: work is progressing 31/03: work is progressing 14/04: And XML test case format has been defined and is being tested. 21/04. Schema for TDML defined. Need to define how this and the test cases will be made public 05/05: Work still progressing 12/05: Work still progressing 02/06: Work still progressing on technical and legal considerations ... 25/08: Will chase to allow Daffodil access to test cases. The WG should define how implementation confirm that they 'conform to DFDL v1' 01/09: IBM still progressing the legal aspect. Intends to publish 100 or so tests as soon as it can, ahead of a full compliance suite. 08/09: IBM still progressing 15/09: IBM still progressing, expect tests to be available within a few weeks 22/09: IBM still progressing, expect tests to be available within a few weeks 29/09:Test cases are being prepared. 06/10: Some test cases should be available next week. Steve would like to be able to show the test case information at OGF 30. 13/10: Still progressing 10/11: Legal issues cleared, IBM in process of collecting 100 example test cases, ideally ones that fit the 'extended conformance' of NCSA Daffodil
111	Daffodil DFDL parser 11/08: Bob and Alejandro described the new implementation that they have developed. It is a new code base and is not based on the Deffudle prototype. It is written in scala and implements approximately 80% of the features in the public comments draft of DFDL V1. Alejandro will send a list of the features not implemented. We discussed the scenarios that motivated the development which was to extract data from various sources and transform into canonical formats. Bob offered to make Daffodil available for the WG to assess the functionality. IBM WG members will get approval the company to allow them to receive Daffodil. Bob raised the question that if Daffodil becomes the public implementation of DFDL then we will need to work out how that would be funded and managed. It would be helpful if IBM test cases were available to Daffodil. IBM will investigate 25/08: Alejandro had sent a list of the functions that he has implemented and Steve ahd responding indicating the extra functions he thought were essential. Since then Alejandro has implemented some of the missing functions, such as escape schemes, pre-defined variables, binary decimal numbers, etc, and will update his list. Bob is planning to make the parser available on the internet to allow testing. His organisation is being reorganised and he doesn't know what the priority of Daffodill will be so it is essential that we move quickly. It would help if IBM could indicate its support for Daffodil in some semi-formal way. 01/09: Alejandro updating Daffodil to include escape schemes, unordered sequences and ignoreCase. Daffodil being placed under formal source control in anticipation of external release. Bob has a start October deadline to create a report on what has been done for his sponsors. It would be great if we could get Daffodil on the web and have run some IBM tests so it could be highlighted at OGF 30 at end October. 08/09: Alejandro is marking up Spec draft 42 to indicate which features Daffodil implement. Bob expects Daffodil to be available on the web soon. 15/09: Alejandro had indicated in the specification which functions were implemented in Daffodill. Steve had reviewed and identified which function need to be implemented and which could be considered optional (see action 099). Alejandro is implementing the missing core functions. There was some discussion about the limitations on unordered groups. (stop value and expression not supported). It was agreed that it should be a schema definition error if dfdl:occursCountKind is 'stopValue' on any element within an unordered sequence and a floating element. 22/09: not discussed 29/09: not discussed 06/10: Alejandro has left NCSA. Bob is making the case for continuing and having a replacement. Bob to agree with Steve what can be said at OGF30. 13/10: Bob still progressing project funding and making Daffodil publically available. 10/11: NCSA internal & sponsor (US National Archive in Washington DC - Electronic Records Administration) reviews passed. NCSA have new resource allocated - Joe Futrelle. Bob has started open source paperwork. ETA end December.
112	DFDL certification process 25/08: Discussed how to certify DFDL implementations. Alan to investigate if OGF have a defined process. 01/09: In progress, spec needs to state what conformance means, as part of this work 08/09: Discussed what needs to be said in the spec and agreed that details of a conformance test suite should be in another document. Alan to draft conformance section. 15/09: Alan had look at the conformance sections in XML and Schema specifications both of which indicate sections which must be implemented. None just say 'execute the test suite'. They talk in terms of conformance of document, schema and processors.. 22/09: no progress 22/09: Alan has added short Conformance and Optional Features sections to spec which was briefly discussed. Discussed naming for processors that don't implement optional features and those that implement all features. 06/10: Need to decide what/how test cases and certification process should occur 13/10: no progress 10/11: no progress
123	DFDL tutorial 13/10: Draft of first 3 chapters has been written and will be distributed to WG 10/11: Posted to grid forge here (http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/go/doc16106?nav=1), work continuing at IBM to define a standard example-based chapter framework and to author additional chapters. Contributors welcome!
124	DFDL web content on OGF standards pages 13/10: no progress 10/11: no progress
129	Press release to publicise DFDL Steve is pulling together a press release at IBM. Want to include as many contributors and interested parties as possible.NCSA are keen to be included. Also likely that US National Archive will want to be included. Mike has indicated OCO are too.

No	Action
125	-p111 13.16 nilValue literalCharacter. If not fixed length how many should be output? Steve to check what MRM does. 30/10: Fixed in final spec version. Closed
126	-p85 13.2.1 generateEscape really only applies to escape blocks so could be renamed. 30/10: Renamed in final spec version Closed
127	3. dfdl:roundingIncrement Problems with rounding and ICU 13/10: not discussed 30/10: New properties introduced. Fixed in final spec version. Closed
128	5. AOB - Is support for locales sufficient? 13/10: not discussed 30/10: Seems OK. Closed
085	ALL: publicise Public comments phase to ensure a good review.. 14/04: see minutes 21/04: Press release, OMG and other standards bodies. 05/05: Alan and Steve H have contacted other standards bodies. Will ask them to add comments on spec 15/05: still no public comments 02/06: No public comments 16/06: Public comments period has ended with no external comments. Alan had posted changes made in draft 041. Steve suggested send a note to the WG highlighting these changes. Steve also suggested requesting an extension as other IBM groups may review. We discussed whether this was necessary as changes will need to be made during the implementation phase anyway. Alan to ask OGF what the process is for changes post public comment. 23/06: Still no comments. Alan will contact OGF to understand the rest of the process. 30/06: Alan has emailed Joel asking what the process is now public comment period is over and can we update the published version with WG updates. No response yet. 07/07: No response. Alan will chase up 14/07: No response from Joel. Sent email to Greg Newby by no response. 21/07: Still no response. 04/08: Joel has responded that it is up to the WG to decide if the changes are significant enough to need additional review. Alan to contact David Martin and Erwin Laure for guidance if we split the specification. 11/08: Received a response from Joel that the WG can decide if a re- public review is necessary before becoming a 'proposed recommendation'. Alan responded that the WG agreed that a re-review was not necessary. The next stage is for OGF review committee to approve publication. 11/08: Specification is now 'awaiting author changes' before being submitted to the OGF technical committee for approval as a 'proposed specification'. Alan would like to have the updated specification complete by Sept 10th. The WG needs to complete all actions by then or decide that they do not need to be included in this phase of the process. 01/09: Alan and Steve have discussed and propose Sept 30th for completion of draft 43 and closure of all actions. 08/09: Target for completion September 30. 15/09: as above 22/09: as above 29/09: Draft 43 will be published this week for WG review prior to submitting to OGF 06/10: Draft 43 was distributed on 30 September and includes all outstanding work items. This will be the last draft before submission to OGF for the final committee review. All comments should be sent to Alan by Tuesday 12th Oct and final version will be submitted on Friday 15th. 13/10: Thorough review by Steve and comments from Suman and Stephanie. Most updates done. Final review draft will be issued 14th Oct and final version to OGF soon after. 10/11: Closed. Spec submitted on 22nd Oct as 'Proposed Recommendation', and was highlighted in the OGF Plenary session at OGF 30 in Brussels. Available on grid forge here (http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/go/doc16074?nav=1)

No	Item	target version	status
005	Improvements on property descriptions		not started
012	Reordering the properties discussion: move representation earlier, improve flow of topics		not started
036	Update dfdl schema with change properties	ongoing
042	Mapping of the DFDL infoset to XDM	none	not required for V1 specification
070	Write DFDL primer
071	Write test cases.