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.

Format

The format is as follows, with {substitutions} in curly braces.

Specification	Implementation	Last revision
{status}	{status}	{version} {date}

Specification ownership: {Spec owner}

Authors:

{Spec owner}
{Author}

Implementation ownership: {Impl owner}

Current status:

{Short description of status regarding both specification and implementation}.

| Specification | Implementation | Last Revision |
|:-------------:|:--------------:|:-------------:|
| {status}      | {status}       | {version}, {date} |

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

**Specification ownership:** [{owner name}]

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


**Implementation ownership:** [{impl owner name}]
 
**Current status**:
 
{Short description of status}

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

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

Specification/Implementation status

The 'Specification' and 'Implementation' 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 in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD).

Authors

The authors and contributors of the spec document.

Specification ownership

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

Implementation ownership

The person currently or most recently tasked with the implementation of the features described in the document.

For individual features, this will be the person most recently assigned to related GitHub issues.
For broader sections, this will be a person leading the implementation efforts for the particular system.

Example

Specification	Implementation	Last Revision
WIP	Draft	0.1 2022-01-31

Specification ownership: Jack Hodgkinson