Links to external specification files

[RexJaeschke]

File license-matching-guidelines-and-templates.md (and possibly others; I don't know) appears to contain links to external resources that contain required/normative content.

Clearly, it is useful for some things (such as XML schemas and program source files) to be provided in electronic form only. However, these resources must be provided to ISO for posting to its own site with the corresponding link(s) embedded in the specification. Now the ISO-site URLs for such files might not be known until the final stage, Publication, which will require last-minute edits to plug them in. What then do you use as URLs during the review/balloting stage? Probably some location on the submitter’s site (as appears to be the case).

RATIONALE: An ISO spec cannot link to a submitter’s website for such resources, ‘cos ISO doesn’t want such resource content to be able to change during the life of the spec. In future, when you revise the spec you provide a new snapshot of this resource content.

[RexJaeschke]

@kestewart, @zvr, @goneall, @bact, @bobmartin3

[bact]

@bobmartin3000

[bact]

Thank you. These are external resources from that page:

1. https://spdx.org/licenses/
2. https://spdx.org/licenses/equivalentwords.txt
3. https://github.com/spdx/license-list-XML/blob/v3.25.0/DOCS/license-fields.md
4. https://github.com/spdx/license-list-XML/blob/v3.25.0/schema/ListedLicense.xsd
5. https://github.com/spdx/license-list-XML
6. https://github.com/spdx/license-list-data
7. https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/

For (1), (2), (3), (4) and (7), it is possible to submit them (as files) to ISO.
For (5) and (6), I'm not sure.

Also note that (3) and (4) are versioned resources and not meant to be changed.
The latest released version is v3.27.0.

[bobmartin3000]

Weren't all of these in existence and use when the first ISO version of SPDX was submitted and adjudicated? Whatever we did then is what I would think we should do now...