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Linux Standard Base
http://www.linuxbase.org/
August 28, 1998
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Additional Vendors Participate in Growing LSB Effort
> LCS founders join the LSB project
We are happy to announce that the founders of the Linux Compatibility
Standards (LCS) Project, a collaboration of Debian and Red Hat, will
work on Linux standards as part of the LSB effort. Now that the LSB
Project combines the original focus of the LSB with the goals of the
LCS, the LCS founders see no need for any separate standardization
effort.
> LSB elects new chair and forms 3 technical sub-projects
After Bruce Perens departed on August 10th, it was necessary to find a
new chair for the LSB organization. It was felt by several vendors that
such a chair should be impartial and thus not from any Linux vendor.
The new chair of the LSB Steering Committee is Daniel Quinlan (head of
the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard <http://www.pathname.com/fhs/>).
Originally, the focus of the LSB project was to produce a Linux
reference platform that would define a standard Linux. Any program that
ran successfully on the reference platform could be expected to run on
all compliant Linux systems. An LSB written standard and test suite
were secondary goals.
As discussion of how to develop the reference platform continued, it
became obvious that without active work on a written standard and a test
suite, that the LSB project wouldn't be successful in achieving its
goals. Therefore, the LSB project has now reorganized into three
technical sub-committee projects of equal importance, each with a
prominent technical lead.
* LSB written standard
Technical lead: Stuart Anderson (Metro Link, Inc.)
* LSB test suite
Technical lead: Dale Scheetz (Debian)
* LSB sample implementation
Technical lead: Ralf Flaxa (Caldera)
These three groups will work together to develop a base standard for the
Linux operating system as follows:
- The test suite must match the written standard.
- A conformant distribution (such as the sample implementation) must
pass the test suite and follow the written standard.
- Conformant applications should run on the any distribution that
passes the test suite.
And when the above is not true, then something needs to be fixed. If it
can't be figured out by the technical groups, then the steering
committee will arbitrate.
Finally, the sample implementation will be composed entirely of free
software and the test suite will be as free as the LSB can make it
without rendering the test suite meaningless.
> New LSB web site
There is now a web site for the LSB project:
> About the Linux Standard Base
The Linux Standard Base (LSB) is developing a set of standards that will
increase compatibility among Linux distributions and enable software
applications to run on any compliant Linux system. The LSB will also
help coordinate efforts to recruit software vendors to port and write
products for Linux.
We have also created several open mailing lists (for more information,
please see the LSB web site). The public "at large" are encouraged to
subscribe to these lists, with a request that non-committee members
"lurk" quietly.
The list of individuals and organizations participating in the LSB
effort or endorsing the LSB includes:
- Alan Cox, Building Number Three
- Caldera, Inc.
- Enhanced Software Technologies, Inc.
- Eric S. Raymond, open-source evangelist, and author of
"The Cathedral and the Bazaar"
- Evan Leibovitch, Chair of 86open Project
- Jon A. Hall, Executive Director, Linux International
- Linux Hardware Solutions, Inc.
- Metro Link, Inc.
- Pacific HiTech (TurboLinux)
- Phil Hughes, Director Linux International, Publisher of Linux Journal
- Red Hat Software, Inc.
- S.u.S.E. GmbH
- Software in the Public Interest
- The Debian Project
- VA Research
(For the growing list of participants, please check www.linuxbase.org.)
> Contact Information
For further information, please send email to press@linuxbase.org or
visit the Linux Standard Base home page at <http://www.linuxbase.org/>.
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