PR: Linux Standard Base Achieves ISO Status

“At the Open Source Business Conference, the Free Standards
Group and the Linux Standard Base (LSB) workgroup announced that
the LSB has achieved unanimous official approval as an ISO
standard–an important milestone signifying the maturity and scope
of both the LSB and the Linux operating system.

The LSB was approved as a Publicly Available Specification (PAS)
by ISO/IEC (the International Standardization Organization and the
International Electrotechnical Commission), pre-eminent
international standard-setting organizations whose standards are
frequently referenced by many governments and transnational
organizations such as the WTO. The ISO standard will be published
as International Standard 23360.

“ISO approval is an important achievement for the Linux
industry,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Free
Standards Group. “This achievement reflects the maturity of the
standard and the wide ranging support for Linux distributions,
hardware vendors, ISVs and community members. This official
designation gives a clear sign to everyone in the Linux community
that the future of the Linux standardization lies with the Free
Standards Group and the LSB. The availability of, and support for,
the LSB will continue to grow the Linux ecosystem and improve the
availability of applications on Linux.”

A well-supported, international standard for Linux is a
necessary component of Linux’s continued success. Without a
commonly adopted standard, Linux will fragment, thus proving costly
for ISVs to port their applications to the operating system and
making it difficult for end users and Linux vendors alike. With the
LSB, all parties–distribution vendors, ISVs and end users–benefit
as it becomes easier and less costly for software vendors to target
Linux, resulting in more applications available for the Linux
platform. The vision of a standard Linux balances the needs of the
competitive distribution ecosystem with the requirements of end
users and independent software vendors for interoperability.

ISO approval shows the world that Linux is a serious, mainstream
operating system, a serious companion to POSIX systems. It provides
a benchmark between procurement and vendor, preserving healthy
competition without allowing fragmentation of the market. Standards
have been shown to contribute more to economic growth than patents
and licenses combined, and the LSB will open the door to Linux as a
requirement in large scale (e.g., Government) procurements. The
approval of the LSB also makes it easier for individuals, companies
and governments to concentrate their efforts on one unified
program.

The Linux Standard Base specification contains a base set of
APIs, libraries and interoperability standards. It also includes
test suites, development environments, a sample implementation and
developer documentation. The LSB is an open standard–participation
is open to all interested parties. The official source of the
standard is found at refspecs.freestandards.org.

A final draft of the specification has been submitted to the ISO
Secretariat and will be published shortly. As a Publicly Available
Specification, the LSB will remain freely available from the FSG,
as well as being obtainable through the ISO Catalog (www.iso.ch)
and any national body that wishes to copy it.