News from the Summit: Linux Foundation to Make the openSUSE Build Service Available Through Linux Developer Network

The Linux Foundation to Make the openSUSE Build Service Available Through Linux Developer Network

Latest build service release includes support for ARM-based embedded devices

SAN FRANCISCO (Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit) – April 8, 2009 – The openSUSE Project and the Linux Foundation today jointly announced that the openSUSE Build Service will be added to the Linux Developer Network (LDN). The openSUSE® Build Service is the only development platform that enables developers to package software for all major Linux* distributions, and is used to provide transparent infrastructure for the creation of the entire openSUSE distribution. Additionally, the openSUSE Project, a Novell sponsored and community-supported open source project, announced a new release of the openSUSE Build Service with support for compiling for the ARM platform.

“This is part of our ongoing mission to provide not only information, but real tools for Linux developers to empower them and make deploying applications on multiple Linux distributions as painless as possible,” said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs for the Linux Foundation. “The openSUSE Build Service is a huge step forward for developers and ISVs that want to package their offerings for all major distros quickly and easily.”

The Linux Foundation will be providing an interface to the openSUSE Build Service via the Linux Developer Network site, so that developers can create packages for all major Linux distributions via LDN. The build service enables developers to create packages for CentOS*, Debian*, Fedora*, Mandriva*, Red Hat* Enterprise Linux and Ubuntu*, in addition to openSUSE and SUSE® Linux Enterprise. The addition of the openSUSE Build Service to the LDN compliments LDN’s popular AppChecker application, which enables developers to create portable applications for Linux. The build service is a perfect tool for LDN’s overall goal of assisting developers to deliver these portable applications.

The openSUSE project is also releasing the 1.6 version of the build service that includes support for compiling packages for the ARM platform, which is primarily used for embedded devices. The support for cross-architecture build support means that developers can create RPM or Debian packages for openSUSE, Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora. This work has been contributed by 5e DataSoft GmbH, working as part of the openSUSE community to add support for embedded devices based on ARM. 5e provides solutions based on openSUSE.

“Of all the Linux distros, we’ve found openSUSE to be the best platform for our solutions,” said Martin Mohring, chief technology officer at 5e DataSoft. “Because the openSUSE Build Service is GPL’ed, we’ve been able to add features and work with the openSUSE project to integrate them into the official build service.”

Jürgen Geck, chief technology officer at Open-Xchange, said, “openSUSE Build Service enables us to concurrently build Open-Xchange for all of the leading Linux platforms — making the process extremely efficient and guaranteeing a final product that is broadly compatible. The service is free, its underlying software infrastructure is released under GPL, so there is no lock in.”

The latest release of the build service also includes support for building openSUSE appliances, live CDs, installable USB images, Xen* images, and VMware* images. Developers can now create their own custom openSUSE distribution using the build service.

Joe ‘Zonker’ Brockmeier, openSUSE community manager, said, “This is the culmination of years of work by the openSUSE Project. The openSUSE Build Service has always been intended as a tool that would accelerate the general adoption of Linux. It’s gratifying to see the build service becoming part of the Linux Developer Network and being embraced by the larger community.”

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information, please visit www.linux-foundation.org.

About openSUSE
openSUSE is a community distribution sponsored by Novell to promote the use of Linux everywhere. openSUSE delivers everything Linux developers and enthusiasts need to get started with Linux. Hosted at www.opensuse.org, the project features easy access to builds and releases. It also offers extensive community development programs for open access to the development process used to create SUSE Linux Enterprise.

About Novell
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers the best engineered, most interoperable Linux platform and a portfolio of integrated IT management software that helps customers around the world reduce cost, complexity and risk. With our infrastructure software and ecosystem of partnerships, Novell harmoniously integrates mixed IT environments, allowing people and technology to work as one. For more information, visit www.novell.com.

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