| LSB 3.1 unifies Linux desktop standards |
Apr. 22, 2006
The Free Standards Group (FSG) will unveil Linux Standard Base 3.1, the first LSB version to include explicit Linux desktop application support, April 25 at the Desktop Linux Summit in San Diego. The standard has already been endorsed by Linux leaders Red Hat and Novell, along with other major Linux players such as AMD, Asianux, CA, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Mandriva, RealNetworks, Red Flag, and Turbolinux, according to the FSG.
The first LSB 3.1 certified desktop distribution is expected to come from Xandros, on May 1st. Other major Linux distributors such as Red Hat, Novell, Ubuntu, the DCC Alliance members, and others also plan to certify their versions of Linux to LSB 3.1, FSG added.
Benefits of standardization
Because of this standardization, application developers will find it much easier to target the complete Linux platform. This, in turn, will remove a major hindrance to Linux desktop adoption by providing a cohesive Linux desktop environment.
This groundswell of support is significant, in that it promises to prevent Linux from forking and going the way of the proprietary Unixes of the past. In order for the Linux desktop to achieve wide-spread adoption, common application runtime and install-time requirements must be standardized and adopted by key Linux distributions.
Without this level of standardization, ISVs (independent software vendors) are forced to compile their software for use with multiple distributions and library instances. The resulting development and support complexity greatly reduces the attractiveness of the Linux desktop to these software developers.
The LSB addresses this complexity by standardizing core pieces of Linux (including libraries and other non-binary application behaviors), and encouraging ISVs to use its guidelines when developing for Linux.
As Dan Frye, IBM's VP of Linux and open technology, said in a statement, "[This] announcement demonstrates the strong commitment the open source community is making to standardize application runtime and install time so Linux on the desktop will become a more attractive platform for ISVs and customers seeking freedom from relying upon a sole proprietary operating system provider."
Teaming up with the Portland Project
The difference between what the Free Software Group is doing with the LSB and what the OSDL (Open Source Development Labs), Freedesktop.org, and their allies are doing with the Portland Project is that "[the Portland Project is] writing code that will enable greater interoperability, that code will run downstream into this standard." Therefore, "When I go buy, I want a distribution to be LSB-complaint. If I'm a developer and I want to work upstream, I might go to work with the Portland Project," said Jim Zemlin, the FSG's executive director.
So it is that the work that the Portland Project is now doing, such as getting everyone on the same page in Linux printing, will "be integrated into LSB 3.2," said Zemlin.
Because LSB 3.1 is a codification of what the major Linux distributors are already doing, Zemlin also noted, this latest version of the standard includes Trolltech's GPLed Qt C++ libraries. At one time there had been a great deal of resistance to the use of Qt in Linux and KDE. Even now, after the matter was settled in 2000 to everyone's satisfaction, some people still think that Qt's licensing terms make it in some way incompatible with Linux. As Zemlin observed, though, "We standardize what the major distributions are shipping and all the major distributions are shipping Qt."
It's not just the commercial Linuxes that are throwing their weight behind LSB 3.1.
"LSB-compliance is very important for Ubuntu," said Mark Shuttleworth, Ubuntu's main backer, in a statement. "We believe that Linux offers the world freedom of choice, freedom to innovate, and freedom to localize. The Linux Standard Base is a crucial enabler of those freedoms, creating confidence in the standardization of the core platform while still preserving the ability of the platform to evolve and improve."
Certification services
With the availability of LSB 3.1, the FSG is also introducing its own certification services for North America. Certification will also be available for distribution vendors and for ISVs through the new FSG LSB website.
Before this, the Open Group had been performing LSB certification. Other groups, though, will be able to get a franchise from the FSG to do LSB certification. For example, Ian Murdock, the FSG's CTO and LSB work group chairman, said that the Open Group will probably continue to do certification and that the China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI) is already a franchise for Chinese language LSB compliance testing.
Synchronizing development roadmaps
Going forward, the LSB roadmap is being tied to the roadmaps of the major Linux distributions (Red Hat, Novell, Asianux, Debian, etc.). This should make it easier for software developers to correlate different versions of the LSB specification with the distributions that implement them.
As part and parcel of this, the LSB working group will be working closer with Linux distribution vendors and upstream maintainers in the LSB development process, to make sure that their roadmaps are synchronized and to improve binary compatibility across major versions of the standard.
This initiative will be kicked off at the FSG Summit, May 31st and June 1st in Boston, which will include participants from major distributions, upstream maintainers, and ISVs.
The FSG is also working on modularizing the standard at both the compliance/certification level and the project management level. The point here is to enable the LSB's maintainers to more rapidly incorporate emerging de facto standards with minimal disruption to the slower moving core functionality, as well as to facilitate broader and more targeted participation in the LSB development process.
Finally, the FSG is working on delivering improved developer tools and documentation, which will make it easier for both Linux and non-Linux ISVs, such as Windows developers, to target Linux. The first deliverables of this are the aforementioned new FSG LSB website and a new LSB SDK (Software Development Kit).
"The Linux community realizes that open and well supported standards are the best way to reach the broadest set of desktop users," concluded Zemlin. "With the group of distributions already pledging support for the standard, we are covering the vast majority of the Linux market. That coverage combined with this desktop standardization delivers a compelling environment for ISVs wishing to target the Linux desktop."
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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