Slashdot Mirror
LSB Submitted To ISO/IEEE
mcneil@freestandards says: "The LSB has been submitted to ISO/IEEE for an ISO
imprimatur.
While this is not really new news, it is important
that every Linux user get involved to make sure their
country votes
YES for Linux ISO standardization!
With Linux achieving international standards
recognition it will be that much easier for
governments and other risk adverse organizations to
include Linux in their procurement policies. This of
course will further the normalization of free and open
source software, lessen the world's reliance on sucky
legacy platforms, etc. etc."
The LSB advocates RPM as the standard package management mechanism for Linux. To my mind that's a really bad idea...RPM has a lot of problems. So I for one can't really advocate this.
From linuxbase.org:
Is the LSB only for Linux systems and applications?
No. The spec has been written so it can be readily implemented on top of any UNIX-like operating system, natively or as a compatibility layer. There is also no fundamental reason why it cannot be implemented on other operating systems, although it is likely to be much more work. Note that this philosophy may be one of the reasons why a seemingly "obvious" Linux feature is not part of the specification if it raises needless barriers to implementing the LSB on non-Linux systems.
Thats a fair summary on the whole although slightly inaccurate.
Several distros are LSB compliant by default (notably the enterprise ones). C++ is defined in the LSB but not in the ISO standard. The reason for this was that the C++ the LSB defines is interim but was needed. Many of us felt it shouldnt be in, and definitely not in the ISO spec since we knew it was transitional. The compromise was LSB defines a transitionary C++ (which will remain supported) and ISO doesnt
You don't need to use the LSB build environment - that is simply a tool for ensuring compliance.
LSB as you rightly say is about server software right now. A push on the desktop front has begun and hopefully things like gtk will get looked at. In addition there is an exploratory working group on java/jvm packaging and standards (java itself is obviously standardised elsewhere)
To get to the stage where you can go into a shop and buy packaged applications the LSB extending to desktop will be important. Many vendors don't stock Linux products because its too confusing in their eyes. At the enterprise level it doesn't matter for small business and home it does.