[fitsbits] Start of the 'INHERIT' Public Comment Period

Nobody has suggested that the inherit convention shouldn't be documented
in the registry. The main issue that Bob raised earlier is whether the
IAUFWG (or anyone else for that matter) should be able to ofter any
advice, or recommendations, to potential new users of the convention,
beyond simply documenting what keywords are used by the convention.
This is a general issue that will affect a number of conventions, not
just the inherit convention. If the IAUFWG decides this would be
useful, then a mechanism for adding usage comments or recommendations
could be added to the Registry.

Bill Pence

Thanks Billl -- that is my main concern. There seem to be enough
operational difficulties with this convention that I think potential
adopters must be warned, and the caveat language we have right now is very
non-specific. A FITS reader that does not understand the column limits
convention, for example, would probably not cause any problems. A reader
that does not understand a FOREIGN extension would simply ignore it. But a
reader that encounters INHERIT, and manipulates headers with even simple
copy operations, could make a bit of a mess.

It is good to document what is out there, but we do not necessarily want to
encourage its further adoption.

Bob