From The Linux Foundation

Welcome to the Free Standards Group's Fall newsletter. In this issue:

• Here come the ISVs: Real Player and MySQL certify to the LSB
• Gartner Group Lauds the Linux Standard Base
• Solving Linux Testing Issues with a new testing framework project
• Linuxprinting.org and the FSG -- making printing "just work" on Linux
• LSB Developer Network -- providing the tools app developers need to target Linux

Here come the ISVs – Application Developer Support

The FSG is pleased to announce two of the most widely used applications on the Linux platform are now certifying to the LSB. For the first time, a single RealPlayer or a MySQL package will run on the many LSB-certified Linux distributions including Red Hat, Novell, Ubuntu, Red Flag and many others. This is huge news for the Linux ecosystem and Linux end users. You can read the full text of the release here <http://www.freestandards.org/wordpress/?p=230>.

Gartner Group Lauds the Linux Standard Base – End users take notice

ZDNet <http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,39393264,00.htm> recently published an interview with Gartner Group VP Dion Wiggins where he praised the Linux Standard Base and the Linux industry’s efforts at standardization: "Wiggins lauded efforts by the Linux Standards Base (LSB) and Asianux to promote a set of standards in Linux software development, so Linux applications can be deployed across multiple Linux flavors." It’s great to see Gartner, generally considered to be a slow-mover in recommending open source, grab onto the LSB message and how important it is to the industry.

Testing Framework Project with ISP/RAS Moscow – Solving Linux Testing Issues

One of the most challenging aspects of maintaining a standard for the Linux community is tracking all the moving parts. A typical Linux distribution is made up of hundreds of independent "upstream" open source components, each of which evolves at its own pace. At the LSB, it's our job to track the independently evolving Linux distributions too, which adds a third dimension to an already complex task. The challenge? Even though Linux is developed in a highly decentralized manner, it must provide the same long term compatibility guarantees as proprietary platforms to be attractive to the ISV community. It's an understatement to say that a high degree of coordination and comprehensive compatibility testing is a requirement for success.

To ease the task of evolving the LSB over time and to provide a higher quality standard, the Free Standards Group is partnering with the Institute for Systems Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences to build the next generation LSB project and test suite infrastructure. The new system will interlink the various moving parts that make up the Linux platform to an unprecedented degree, providing upstream developers and distribution vendors a powerful set of tools for coordinating their work and improving the quality of the platform, as well as giving ISVs a more efficient way to provide feedback to both parties. The end result? Backward compatibility beginning with LSB 3.0 (an LSB 3.0 application will run on any distribution that's compliant with LSB 3.0 or newer) and comprehensive test coverage by LSB 4.0. Stay tuned.

Linuxprinting.org and the Free Standards Group – Making printers “just work” on Linux

In big news for Linux users worldwide, the FSG announced earlier this summer that Linuxprinting.org, the de facto standard repository for printer drivers on Linux, is becoming an FSG workgroup and will be integrated and supported in the Linux Standard Base (LSB). With this announcement, the Free Standards Group unifies all standardization activities for the Linux meta-platform, including desktop, server, application interoperability, developer support and printing. The result will be enhanced developer and user support. Full text of the announcement can be found here <http://www.freestandards.org/wordpress/?p=224>.

Developer Network – Providing the tools to make it easy to port to Linux

If you've visited the FSG web site lately, you may have noticed a new Developer tab. The FSG quietly launched the beta version of its LSB Developer Network, the central, community-based source of information for software developers writing portable Linux applications. For the first time, developers writing portable, LSB-compliant Linux applications will not have to cobble together information from various sources; rather they can participate in a community and make use of and contribute to software tools and standards, forums, bookmarking tools and content provided by the Free Standards Group. Please join the community and submit your content at <http://www.freestandards.org/en/Developers>.

Upcoming events: The FSG is speaking all over the world

Gartner Group: Jim Zemlin will be giving a keynote at the Gartner Open Source conference in Phoenix in September. Please find out more or register for the event here <http://www.gartner.com/2_events/conferences/os2.jsp>.

Additionally, we will be at EUROSCON in Belgium in September and Linuxworld London in October. Details on our events can be found here <http://www.freestandards.org/en/Events>.

We are also hosting the FSG Printing Summit on October 23 -26. This meeting will bring together the brightest minds in the Linux printing ecosystem. More information can be found here <http://www.freestandards.org/en/OpenPrinting/SummitLexington>.

If you're interested in receiving the FSG newsletter please send a request to info (at) freestandards dot org.