About the Authors

Stuart Anderson

Open Source Consultant, netSweng

Stuart Anderson has been involved with Open Source since before the term was created. Stuart is a software engineer and, in the years since 1989, has worked for NCR, AT&T, and Metro Link, Inc., where he has done development work for a wide range of operating systems, from small embedded devices to large multiprocessor servers. Stuart has been involved with the XFree86 project since 1992 and is now a member of the XFree86 core team. Stuart has had previous standards experience with the X Consortium and the System V ABI in the mid '90s, and has been involved with the LSB since its beginning.

Mark Brown

Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM Corporation

Mark Brown has 16 years of UNIX and Linux experience and was release architect for several AIX releases. He specializes in operating system standards specification and implementation, and in binary compatibility issues. He has a B.S. from Texas State University.

Kevin Caunt

Advisory Software Engineer, Linux Technology Center, IBM Systems and Technology Group

Kevin Caunt has more than twenty-five years of computer industry experience and became involved with the Linux Standard Base project in 2000. Since joining, he has been working on various aspects of the LSB, including test suite development and pilot programs. Kevin is also on the LANANA steering committee. Kevin has been at IBM since 1982, holding various software and hardware engineering positions, and currently works in the Linux Technology Center in Austin, Texas.

Marvin Heffler

Advisory Software Engineer, Linux Technology Center, IBM Systems and Technology Group

Marvin Heffler is a core member of the Linux Standard Base workgroup of the Free Standards Group. This workgroup is driving the effort to standardize parts of the Linux operating system critical to the operation of application programs, thus expanding the scope of application portability. While Marvin has been involved in several areas of the LSB, his main activity has been leading the effort to develop the LSB Application Battery used to validate the proper operation of Linux distributions. Marvin has worked in the IT industry for almost twenty years as a software engineer and software development manager. Marvin graduated in 1984 with a B.S. in computer science from Texas A&M University. Upon graduation Marvin started working for Texas Instruments. Over the next nine years Marvin worked on the development of firmware, SCO Xenix/Unix, and System V.3 for various TI computer systems. In 1993 Marvin joined IBM where he has spent most of his career as a developer and manager for the AIX operating system. Marvin started working on Linux in the summer of 2001 when he joined the IBM Linux Technology Center. In addition to his work on the LSB core team, Marvin works with application development teams within IBM to facilitate adoption of the LSB.

Andrew Josey

Director of Certification, The Open Group

Presently, Andrew Josey chairs the Austin Group, the working group responsible for development of the joint revision to POSIX and the Single UNIX Specification. This work has recently reached International Standard status as ISO/IEC 9945:2003. He is a member of the IEEE Computer Society's Golden Core and is the IEEE P1003.1 Chair and the IEEE PASC Functional Chair of Interpretations. Andrew is the advocate for Linux and open source within The Open Group. He is the technical lead for the Linux Standard Base testing program, has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Free Standards Group, and managed the successful development and deployment of the LSB Certification program on behalf of the Free Standards Group. Andrew has worked in the industry since 1987, working previously for AT&T UNIX Europe, UNIX System Laboratories, and Novell prior to joining The Open Group in 1996.

George Kraft IV

Senior Software Engineer, Linux Technology Center, IBM Systems and Technology Group

George Kraft began working on the LSB as the scribe in October 1999 (LSB v0.1), became the project manager in June 2000 (LSB v0.2), and was elected chairman in March 2001 (LSB v0.7). George served as the chairman and project manager for almost three years. During his tenure, the LSB workgroup released LSB v1.0 (6/01), LSB v1.1 (1/02), LSB v1.2 (6/02), LSB v1.3 (12/02), and LSB v1.9 (8/03), which was a preview of LSB v2.0 (9/04). As chairman, George coordinated the development of the LSB Written Specification effort, working closely with other LSB team leaders, architects, and team members. George has approximately seventeen years of experience in the IT industry as a UNIX/Linux software engineer. He has been developing on UNIX since 1982, when he began his undergraduate studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he earned a B.S. in computer science and mathematics in 1987. He has been developing on Linux since 1993. George has primarily worked in the commands and libraries space in the production of SunOS, BSD, and Dynix for Purdue University, System V.3 for Texas Instruments, AIX 3.x-4.x, and NetBSD 1.4 for IBM. In addition, he worked in the thin client space with Linux for IBM's Network Station (currently under the Netvista brand name). At one time, he was the UNIX team leader for the CAD (Computer Aided Design) Framework Initiative, which was an Electronic Design Automation standards body in Austin, Texas. George's role in IBM's Linux Technology Center was to serve as an advisor within IBM, focusing on how best to integrate the LSB's standards and specifications into IBM's software portfolio.

Scott McNeil

Executive Director, Free Standards Group

Scott McNeil was the cofounder and executive director of the Free Standards Group. Through the efforts of Scott, his team, and numerous contributors, the Free Standards Group has emerged as the leading standards organization for Linux and open source software, with strong support from the international development community, major IT vendors, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Since incorporation in 2000, the Free Standards Group has released several versions of its Linux Standard Base (LSB) Written Specification and test suite, and has launched the LSB Certification program, with participation from every major Linux distribution vendor worldwide. In 2003, the Free Standards Group was formally recognized by the Joint Technical Committee of ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electronical Commission) as a submitter of Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) for Linux—a critical prerequisite for ISO Certification for the Linux operating system. Under Scott's direction, the Free Standards Group has also managed the OpenI18N workgroup's efforts to develop and deploy internationalization specifications and test suites. Scott was responsible for growing the number of Free Standards Group workgroups to include DWARF, LANANA, OpenPrinting, Open Cluster, and the new Accessibility workgroup. An active member of the Linux and Open Source community for over eight years, Scott has previously held management positions at companies such as VA Linux and SuSE and is currently working at IBM.

Kristin Thomas

Information Developer, IBM Systems and Technology Group

Kristin Thomas is an information developer supporting the AIX operating system. Before working on AIX, Kristin wrote Linux documentation in IBM's Linux Technology Center. In the Linux Technology Center, she wrote documentation for open source projects, such as the Linux Standard Base, openCryptoki, and the IBM Carrier Grade Open Framework reference implementation. Kristin has been with IBM since 2000, writing documentation for IBM's Software Group and Systems and Technology Group. She is a 2000 graduate of the Masters of Arts in Technical Communication program at Texas Tech University.

Radhakrishnan Sethuraman

Software Engineer, Linux Integration Center, IBM Software Group

Radhakrishnan Sethuraman is a solutions engineer who works as part of the solutions division of Linux Integration Center (LIC). As a solutions engineer he worked on various telco initiatives of the LIC. He currently works in the retail initiative (ROLO). In these roles, he has been working with IBM middleware such as WebSphere, DB2, MQ, and Tivoli, running mainly on Linux. He graduated in 2002 with an M.S. in computer science at Texas Tech University. He has been with IBM since 2002.

Matt Taggart

Free Software Engineer, Linux and Open Source Lab, Hewlett-Packard

Matt Taggart is a founding member of HP's Linux and Open Source Lab where he works on Linux OS development. Matt joined HP in 1996 and has also worked in the HP-UX Workstation Division. He has been using Linux since 1994 and became involved with the Linux Standard Base project in 2001 by coordinating the LSB Futures subcommittee and helping out with project infrastructure. In addition to his work at HP, Matt is a developer with the Debian project and coordinates LSB compliance for the project. He received a B.S. in chemical and environmental engineering from Colorado State University in 1996 and currently lives in Seattle, Washington.

Theodore Ts'o

STSM, Linux Technology Center, IBM Systems and Technology Group

Theodore Ts'o has served on the board of the Free Standards Group (FSG) since its founding, bringing his experience of standards development from the Internet Engineering Task Force to the FSG. Within the IETF, he serves on the Security Area Directorate, and as a chair of the IPSEC working group. Within the FSG, Theodore has contributed to the Linux Standard Base and served as a board member. Theodore also organizes the annual Linux Kernel Developers workshop (and is a kernel developer himself). He has also served on several Usenix conference program committees, including chairing the program committee for the Atlanta Linux Showcase in 2000.

Mats Wichmann

Linux Standards Architect, Software Solutions Group, Intel Corporation

Mats Wichmann has been a developer with the LSB project since 2001, and was elected LSB chairman in January 2004. Within the LSB, he participates in the LSB Steering Committee, the Specification Authority, and works with all the LSB subgroups. He is also the lead developer for the LSB Sample Implementation. Mats has been a UNIX and, later, Linux developer since 1980 and has also worked as a consultant, trainer, and courseware developer. He has past standards and ABI experience with the MIPS ABI Group where he worked as technical director. He is a member of the Austin Group and the IEEE Standards Association.

Christopher Yeoh

Software Engineer, Linux Technology Center, IBM Systems and Technology Group

Christopher Yeoh has been using Linux since 1994 and became involved with the Linux Standard Base project in 2000. Since joining, he has been working on various aspects of the LSB, including test suite development and the LSB Development Environment. Christopher is currently acting as the technical lead for the LSB Development Environment. He is an employee of the IBM Linux Technology Center, working at OzLabs in Canberra, Australia. Previously, he worked on the design and development of multidimensional graphical visualization and GIS products with real-time capabilities.