Spec Status Format

This document specifies a format used to denote the 'status' of a spec document.

Overview

Each specification document should be headed by a simple table outlining aspects of its status in relation to:

Authorship: who has contributed to it?
Ownership: who is responsible for it?
Implementation(s): where is it used?
Completeness: is it done yet?

This format should be used at the start of any documentation that may be considered a technical specification, with a related implementation. For anything conceptual, information regarding implementations and completeness may be omitted.

Format

In Markdown, the format is as follows, with {substitutions} in curly braces.

Spec Status	Impl Status	Last Revision
{status}	{status}	{version}, {date}

Spec Ownership: [{owner name}]

Authors: [{author name}], [{owner name}]

Impl Owner: [{impl owner name}]

Current Status:

{Short description of status}

[{owner name}]: {github url} [{author name}]: {github url} [{impl owner name}]: {github url}

| Spec Status | Impl Status | Last Revision |
|-------------|-------------|---------------|
| {status}    |  {status}   | {version}, {date} |

--------------------

**Spec Ownership:** [{owner name}]

**Authors**: [{author name}], [{owner name}]

**Impl Owner:** [{impl owner name}]
 
**Current Status**:
 
{Short description of status}

[{owner name}]: {github url}
[{author name}]: {github url}
[{impl owner name}]: {github url}

--------------------

Spec/Impl Status

The Spec and Impl status should be one of the following:

WIP: Work In Progress, currently incomplete, pending current or future work by the current owner or a future owner.
Draft: Complete but pending further evaluation or changes to be accounted for in the future.
Final: Complete, and finalised to some degree of certainty.

Last Revision

version - An (optional) version/revision number for the spec document.
date - date the document was last updated. (ISO 8601 format)

Authors

The authors/contributors of the spec document.

Spec Ownership

The person currently, or most recently tasked with writing/maintaining the spec document.

Impl Owner

The person currently or most recently tasked with the implementation of the feature/s described in the document.

For individual features, this will be the person currently/previously assigned to related GitHub Issues.
For broader sections, this will be a person leading the implementation efforts for the particular system.

Example

Spec Status	Impl Status	Last Revision
WIP	Draft	1.0, 2021-10-20

Spec Ownership: @owner

Authors: @author1, @author2

Impl Owner: @developer