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Last update: 20 April,2001

								1003.2-92  #3

	Class: The ambiguous situation

No conformance distinction can be made between alternative 
implementations based on this. This is being referred to the
Sponsors of the standard for clarifying wording in the next amendment.

This response will be incorporated in an IEEE interpretations
publication, and will be also made available on-line on the IEEE 
SPAsystem.

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	Interpretation Number:	(to be assigned by the IEEE)
	Topic:			dd
	Relevant Sections:	4.16.2


Interpretation Request: (Defect Report)
-----------------------
 
          In Section 4.16 - Convert and  copy  a  file,  the  standard 
          states that ``if the swab conversion is specified, each pair 
          of input data bytes shall be swapped.  If there are  an  odd 
          number  of  bytes  in  the  input  block,  the  results  are 
          unspecified.''  [Draft 12  of  IEEE  Std  1003.2-1992  (July 
          1992), p. 258, lines 3072-3074] 
 
          Then, on page 260, the standard contradicts  itself,  saying 
          the swab conversion means ``swap every pair of input  bytes. 
          If the current input record is an odd number of  bytes,  the 
          last byte in the input record shall be  ignored.''   [Ibid., 
          p. 260, lines 3151-3153] 
 
          Which of these two passages is valid? 
 

IEEE Interpretation for 1003.2-1992 
-----------------------------------

This is a conflict in the standard, (and neither section matches
historic practice.)  In this case the implementation is allowed to choose
either behavior. Concerns about this have been referred to the Sponsors
of the standard for possible amendment.

Rationale for Interpretation:
-----------------------------
None.

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