Re: [xorriso] ISO 9660:1999 rename

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

(Meanwhile i noticed that the mail to which i respond here is in the
archives:
   https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-xorriso/2024-10/threads.html
although i did not receive a copy from the list. So i reply to it and not
to the copy which i forwarded.)


> ISO-9660:1999 became ISO-9660/Amd 1:2013, an official ISO standard
> (albeit not an official level 4), in 2013.

I understand that "level 4" was a creation by Joerg Schilling who did
not want to introduce a new separate option like "-J".


> It may be appropriate to
> change some references in xorriso accordingly.

I googled "ISO-9660/Amd 1:2013" and found that it is not the newest
version of "ISO 9660":

  https://www.iso.org/standard/61625.html
says
  "Status: Withdrawn"
and points to

  https://www.iso.org/standard/81979.html
which says
  "Withdrawn
   ISO 9660:1988
   Withdrawn
   ISO 9660:1988/Amd 1:2013
   Withdrawn
   ISO 9660:1988/Amd 2:2020"
   ->
   Published
   ISO/IEC 9660:2023
   Stage: 60.60

   Technical Committee :
   ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 23
   ICS : 35.220.30
  "

Regreattably i do not find a free complete version of "ISO/IEC 9660:2023".
The cheapest offer seems to be at
  https://www.iso.org/standard/81979.html?browse=ics
for 194 CHF (~ 225 USD).
I learned ISO 9660 from free ECMA-119.

  https://ecma-international.org/technical-committees/tc31/?tab=activities
makes some hope:
  "TC31 has several projects in development which include a technical
   report that will describe the Universal Disk Format (UDF), a profile
   of the ECMA-167 standard, and a 5th edition of ECMA-119, which will
   be harmonized with ISO/IEC 9660: 2023 along with some clarifications
   of editorial and technical nature."

The newest available version seems to be for now:
  
https://www.ecma-international.org/wp-content/uploads/ECMA-119_4th_edition_june_2019.pdf
It contains an annex
  "B.1 Changes from ECMA-119 2nd Edition to this Standard"
(2nd edition of 1987 is what i use as reference since about 2007.)

On a first glimpse, problematic for implementations could be:
  "a) The Volume Descriptor Version is changed to indicate the new
      structure; Version number 2 indicated the new specification.
   b) The File Structure Version is changed to indicate the new structure;
      Version number 2 indicated the new specification.
   e) The File Identifier does not have File Version Numbers;
      File with and without Version Numbers should not exist in the same
      directory."
Other changes might just acknowledge the liberties which implementations
took since the 1990s.
I will have to study ...

Whatever, i doubt that non-commercial operating systems will ever adopt
new ISO 9660 versions.
(Linux for example does not even care to prepare its implementation for
year 2038. See:
  https://lkml.org/lkml/2022/10/24/1608
which did not yet show up in
  https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/fs/isofs/isofs.h
where line 109 still says:
  extern int iso_date(u8 *, int);
)


Currently i don't think that i have enough background info to adapt
libisofs and xorriso to a new name for ISO 9660:1999.
Actually i deem this extension of ISO 9660 not very useful in practice,
because it cannot compete with the file attribute fidelity of Rock Ridge.

Nevertheless thanks for the heads up and good luck with maintaining
schilytools. It is good to be not the only one who cares for CD/DVD/BD
and ISO 9660.


Have a nice day :)

Thomas