Linuxworld: Vendors back base standard
Three leading Linux vendors have announced that they are backing a set of standards known as the Linux Standard Base (LSB), aimed...
Three leading Linux vendors have announced that they are backing a set of standards known as the Linux Standard Base (LSB), aimed at allowing developers to write applications that will run on any Linux operating system adhering to the LSB.
The three companies to earn certification for LSB 1.2, the newest version of the standard, are Red Hat, SuSE Linux and MandrakeSoft.
The Free Standards Group, which heads LSB development, detailed the announcement during the Linuxworld Conference and Expo at San Francisco.
While LSB has been in the works for more than a year, the Free Standards Group just launched its certification program in July. The certification process was designed to create a way to verify that a Linux distribution or Linux-based application will be compatible with products from various vendors.
"If you have an application that sticks to the LSB APIs (application program interfaces), it should work on any system that is LSB compliant," said Boris Nalbach, chief technology officer of SuSE, in Nuremberg, Germany.
Representatives of the popular open-source Web server Apache and the open-source file server Samba, said that they will build LSB support into future versions of their software releases.
Six other Linux vendors, including Sun Microsystems, TurboLinux and Caldera International have said they plan to support LSB, though they have not passed the tests to become fully certified.
SuSE is hoping to expand the Linux standardisation effort beyond LSB through the creation of UnitedLinux, a distribution of the operating system that joins together four Linux vendors.
"We're fully committed to LSB, but it's not enough," Nalbach said. "LSB is fantastic. The problem is it's API specific."
The final release of UnitedLinux, due out by the end of the year, will be LSB compliant, according to SuSE.
Some controversy has arisen over Red Hat's involvement with LSB. Critics of the company, including Sun, which launched a Linux version of its own this week, have claimed that Red Hat has skirted making its operating system standards compliant.
Red Hat countered those claims noting that it has been an active member in the group that helped develop LSB since its inception. "We've maintained continuous support of LSB," said Red Hat chief technology officer Michael Tiemann.
However, one analyst noted that Red Hat's support for the standard is not in line with its business strategy. "It's not in their interest to be LSB compliant," said Stacey Quandt, an analyst with Giga Information Group. She noted that Red Hat has attempted to set its operating system apart from other vendors with added features. "It's in their interest to make their operating system distinct so that they can lock in their customers."
Read more on Operating systems software
Buffer load stance
Wind River pumps new beans into embedded Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux to contribute $10tn to global business
Ubuntu 19.04 is here
Which? calls for user compensation over Windows 10 upgrade issues
GE unveils the industrial internet operating system
Dorset tenders for shared care record
Blade servers: How to decide on Unix or Linux
Buyer's Guide: The top five business reasons to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7
Case study: Co-operative Group cuts costs with desktop virtualisation ahead of office move
Case study: How a small business can benefit from SaaS
SUSE: A new mantra from edge to core to cloud
Windows 8 - the challenge of moving to a new operating system
The fog of software licensing: dissatisfaction reigns - even in clouds
Let the taxman pay your software development costs
10 steps to get Internet Explorer 9 going
Apple OS X Yosemite – How open beta will improve enterprise outlook
Open source review: Ubuntu OS 12.04 LTS
Windows 8: A first look at new features for business users
Office 365 versus Google Apps
Video: How compatible are your applications?
Video: Bentley opts to manufacture cars in silicon
Video: Microsoft fights revenue decline as cloud shift hardens
Video: Google Goggles and Real-time search in Computer Geekly News Roundup
Linux Standard Base may improve software portability – SearchDataCenter
Update: Red Hat refutes certification lock-in charge – SearchDataCenter
Red Hat Enterprise Linux gets broad LSB certification – SearchDataCenter