Fingerprint Evaluation Suspension

[Fiumara, Gregory P. (Fed)]

Last week, we let you know that processing times for fingerprint evaluations would be delayed as a result of being asked to refrain from entering the NIST campus. We were able to keep up with validations with only a minor delay this week. As of this evening, NIST management has escalated campus restrictions to only permit access for mission critical functions, of which fingerprint evaluations do not qualify. As a result, we cannot run fingerprint evaluations until this restriction is lifted.

As I mentioned in my last e-mail, now is a very good time to ensure your code is free from defects. Some of our favorites free tools for finding defects are asan, clang-analyzer, clang-tidy, and valgrind. You can also write tests using a plethora of testing framework like Catch2 or Google Test. Try these tools---it's mutually beneficial.

If you weren't already using a more modern compiler than gcc 4, it's also an excellent time to explore gcc and clang version 8 that ship as a supported part of CentOS 8. These versions support the C17 and C++17 standards, which may help you improve your code. Our PFT III evaluation already requires CentOS 8 and the rest of our evaluations will follow as soon as possible. CentOS also provides even more modern versions of compilers (devtoolset) that *should* create ABI-compatible objects.

We can still be reached by e-mail during normal business hours to answer questions. Thanks again for your patience, and safe coding.

-Greg (@nist.gov)