[fitsbits] start of Public Comment Period on blank header space convention

[Tom McGlynn (NASA/GSFC Code 660.1)]

It seems to me that this really is a convention rather than something 
that belongs in the standard. It's a clever trick that allows users to 
add keywords without rewriting long files.  I think putting this in the 
standard directly is inappropriate since this is really a usage 
convention and the standard really discusses the encoding of FITS file. 
  This doesn't address a staitc encoding issue, but a question of how 
you transform one FITS file into another.  My inclination would be to 
add a shorter version of the text as footnote.  I.e.,  add this footnote:
   Conventionally ysers can reserve space to add keywords to an image, 
by adding completely blank records immedately before the END keyword.

     Tom

Lucio Chiappetti wrote:
> ANNOUNCEMENT:  START OF FORMAL PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
>
> This is to announce the official start of a 3-week formal Public
> Comment Period
> on the incorporation of so called "blank header space" convention
> in the FITS Standard.
>
> This is part of a process to incorporate the most useful, widely used
> registered, and simple conventions (which are valid FITS constructs)
> into the official definition of the standard.
>
> This convention allows to reserve space for appending new keywords to
> a FITS file without the overhead to shift the data area downwards.
>
> The proposed text consists just
>
> - in the ADDITION of a couple new paragraphs at the end of 4.4.2.4
>   after blank keywords (hilighted in fuchsia colour)
>
>    and has been prepared by a technical team including L.Chiappetti,
>    W.Pence, A.Dobrzycki, R.A.Shaw and W.Thompson (main editor W.Pence).
>
> - If the proposal is approved a section H.3 will be added to Appendix H
>   describing the update
>
> The proposed draft text is available at
> http://sax.iasf-milano.inaf.it/~lucio/FITS/Conventions/headerspace-upd2.pdf
>
>
> Supporting material is provided in the FITS Convention Registry at the
> following URL http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/registry/headerspace.html
>
> For general considerations on the Public Comment Period, the IAUFEC
> review and background information on the FITS approval process please
> refer to the announcement of Public Comment Period for CONTINUE issued
> earilier today.
>
> Please review the text carefully and post any comments, criticisms, or
> suggestions on the FITSBITS mailing list, separaely for each convention.
> ==================================================================
>
> The Public Comment Period starts today 19 June 2015 and will last
> formally for 3 weeks until July 9 included.
>