What Is an Oriented Gaussian Second Derivative Filter
Unless mentioned otherwise withing the context the classic interpretation of Second Derivative Gaussian Filter is indeed (a) in your question:
$$ L \left( x, y, \theta \right) = \cos \left( \theta \right) {g}_{xx} \left( x, y \right) + \sin \left( \theta \right) {g}_{yy} \left( x, y \right) $$