[fitsbits] reopening of Public Comment Period on the CONTINUE convention

[Lucio Chiappetti]

ANNOUNCEMENT:  START OF FORMAL PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

This is to announce the official reopening of a formal Public Comment 
Period on the incorporation of the long string keyword convention (aka 
CONTINUE) in the FITS Standard.

A previous PCP was held in June-July (started on 19 Jun 2015).

We are now re-opening the Public Comment Period to collect comments on the 
modified text of the various conventions.

The fourth convention of the list, to be discussed NOW defines the use of 
the CONTINUE keyword to allow string-valued keywords to have values longer 
than 68 char.

An updated draft text (sentences hilighted in brown) is available at 
http://sax.iasf-milano.inaf.it/~lucio/FITS/Conventions/continue-rev.pdf

- minor rewording in/and final sentence of 4.1.1
- change title of section 4.2.1.1 (which describes the "traditional"
   Single record string keyword) and last sentence thereof
- new section 4.2.1.2
- cross-reference sentence in 4.4.2.4

The differences w.r.t. the earlier version, requested during the previous 
PCP, consist in

- the above change of title
- the restriction for excluding just a few keywords from using the
   continuation convention has been removed
- a way to extend the comment field over multiple header records is
   described
- rewording on orphaned CONTINUE keywords

Considering previous discussion already had, I am reopening the PCP for 
TWO WEEKS (in order to speed up the cumulative process dealing with all 
conventions), but this can be extended if requested and motivated.

- as usual appendices C and H.3 (not shown) will be updated accordingly at
    the end of the entire convention incorporation procedure

Please review the text carefully and post any comments, criticisms, or
suggestions on the FITSBITS mailing list.

Supporting material for the PREVIOUS public comment period announcement 
can be retrieved from the FITSBITS archives starting from 
https://listmgr.nrao.edu/pipermail/fitsbits/2015-June/002616.html

==================================================================

The reopened Public Comment Period starts today 26 February 2016 and will 
last until 13 March 2016, unless extensions are requested and motivated.

-- 
Lucio Chiappetti - INAF/IASF - via Bassini 15 - I-20133 Milano (Italy)
for IAU FWG (prorogated)