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How the LSB Keeps Linux One Big Happy Family
blackbearnh writes "The Linux Standard Base is the grand attempt to create a binary-level interface that application developers can use to create software which will run on any distribution of Linux. Theodore Tso, who helps maintain the LSB, talked recently with O'Reilly News about what the LSB does behind the scenes, how it benefits ISVs and end users, and what the greatest challenges left on the plate are. 'One of the most vexing problems has been on the desktop where the Open Source community has been developing new desktop libraries faster than we can standardize them. And also ISVs want to use those latest desktop libraries even though they may not be stable yet and in some ways that's sort of us being a victim of our own success. The LSB desktop has been getting better and better and despite all the jokes that for every year since I don't know probably five years ago, every year has been promoted as the year of the Linux desktop. The fact of the matter is the Linux desktop has been making gains very, very quickly but sometimes as a result of that some of the bleeding edge interfaces for the Linux desktop haven't been as stable as say the C library. And so it's been challenging for ISVs because they want to actually ship products that will work across a wide range of Linux distributions and this is one of the places where the Linux upstream sources haven't stabilized themselves.'"
I'm very curious to see where this goes. The biggest issue I see is with adoption. There are so many distros out there, each with their own purpose and personality, and each one is focused on developing functionality first and foremost. I think it will be hard to convince all of them to pause that and shift their entire back end onto a standardized framework. Plus, the biggest strength in Linux is its diversity and flexibility. Adding such a standardized base might kill some of that flexibility. As I said, we'll see where it goes...
It's for rpm based commercial distros. Debian doesn't fit, and the "alien" program doesn't work on everything.
I note that Debian Etch is listed as planning to become LSB compliant on this page: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/LSB_Distribution_Status Ubuntu is already LSB-compliant. Neither of these appear to be "RPM-based commercial distros". Once Debian is LSB compliant, the alien program will work on any LSB-certified application.
Since I use Debian on servers and Debian-derived on desktop, I don't care about the LSB, I care more about the standards of the Debian project.
The idea is that it will no longer matter what distro you use: if an LSB application works in Red Hat, you know it will also work in Debian. Why is that a bad thing?
The LSB standardized on RPM. This was a rather contentious blow to distros that use a different packaging system. I *think* Debian achieved compliance by including the Alien package manager, but they specifically do not claim compliance.
Under the influence of Post-Cyberpunk Gonzo Journalism
>People have been arguing about which text editor is better since before there was a Linux...
Perhaps, but nobody's suggesting that anybody build large commercial apps using vi or Emacs as an application framework. That said, people (including in this thread) are asking the likes of Oracle to support multiple Linux distros. At that point, havint the kind of silly 'vi vs. emacs' argument you mention as harmless is anything but.
Until something like the LSB really takes hold, Linux will be great for
1. open source stuff distros can include in their distro-specific repositories.
2. Non-gui stuff, where the libraries *are already* largely standardized.
3. Low-level gui stuff (coded at the X11 level) like Flash, which doesn't need lots of specific desktop libraries around.
4. Statically linked stuff, like Acrobat and OOo that can be released with no dependecies.
That's a lot of stuff. Enough to run a nice EEEpc. But not enough for the general Quicken-using public to use.
Hell, even Firefox has so many desktop toolkit dependencies that it needs to be integrated and released by the distros, whereas Opera can put out a statically-linked QT-level version that works for most distros. I'd like Firefox to be releasable that way too. I hate it that my otherwise fantastic Mandriva 2008-1 system can't be (easily) upgraded to Firefox 3. With a stable GTK+ implementation, standardized across distros, that would be a snap. But it doesn't look like we'll ever get there... or that we're even trying.
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
Read what Ulrich Drepper thinks of the LSB here: http://udrepper.livejournal.com/8511.html.