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The Linux Standard Base, or LSB, is a joint project by several Linux distributions under the organizational structure of the Linux Foundation to standardize the internal structure of Linux-based operating systems. A Linux distribution (also called GNU/Linux by distributions such as Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Mandriva and The Linux Foundation ( LF) is a non-profit Consortium chartered to foster the growth of Linux. Linux (commonly pronounced ˈlɪnəks An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination The LSB is based on the POSIX specification, the Single UNIX Specification, and several other open standards, but extends them in certain areas. POSIX (ˈpɒzɪks or "Portable Operating System Interface" is the collective name of a family of related standards specified by the IEEE to define The Single UNIX Specification ( SUS) is the collective name of a family of standards for Computer Operating systems to qualify for the name " Unix

According to the LSB:

The goal of the LSB is to develop and promote a set of standards that will increase compatibility among Linux distributions and enable software applications to run on any compliant system. In addition, the LSB will help coordinate efforts to recruit software vendors to port and write products for Linux.

The LSB compliance may be certified for a product by a certification procedure. The certification is carried out by The Open Group in cooperation with the Linux Foundation (merger of the Free Standards Group and the Open Source Development Labs)

The LSB specifies for example: standard libraries, a number of commands and utilities that extend the POSIX standard, the layout of the file system hierarchy, run levels, the printing system, including spoolers such as CUPS and tools like Foomatic and several extensions to the X Window System. The Open Group is an industry Consortium to set vendor- and technology-neutral open standards for Computing infrastructure The Linux Foundation ( LF) is a non-profit Consortium chartered to foster the growth of Linux. The Free Standards Group was an industry non-profit Consortium chartered to primarily specify and drive the adoption of Open source standards. Open Source Development Labs ( OSDL) was a Non-profit organization supported by a global Consortium tasked to "accelerate the deployment of Linux In Computer science, a library is a collection of Subroutines used to develop Software. POSIX (ˈpɒzɪks or "Portable Operating System Interface" is the collective name of a family of related standards specified by the IEEE to define In Computing, a file system (often also written as filesystem) is a method for storing and organizing Computer files and the data they contain to make The term runlevel refers to a mode of operation in one of the computer Operating systems that implement Unix System V -style Initialization The Common Unix Printing System ( CUPS) is a modular printing system for Unix-like computer Operating systems that allows a computer to act as Foomatic is a configurable printing filter It uses PPD files as configuration to generate appropriate output for a given printer

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Criticism

The LSB has been criticized for not taking input from projects, most notably the Debian project, outside the sphere of its member companies. Debian ( pronounced) is a computer Operating system composed entirely of Free and open source software.

For example, the LSB specifies that software packages should either be delivered as an LSB compliant installer, or (preferably) be delivered in a restricted form of the RPM format. RPM Package Manager ( Red Hat Package Manager, abbreviated RPM) is a Package management system. Debian however uses its own format, the deb package format which predates rpm. deb is the extension of the Debian software package format and the most often used name for such binary packages Like the "Deb" part RPM Package Manager ( Red Hat Package Manager, abbreviated RPM) is a Package management system. Debian developers argue their format is superior to RPM, and that further changing the underlying package format of a distribution to satisfy the LSB is fairly unrealistic. Most packages can be converted between . rpm and . deb with the alien program, but each format has capabilities the other lacks, so this operation doesn't work every time and is impossible to use with some packages, and this will be true of any future version of Alien or any other converter program. Alien is a Computer program that converts between different Linux package formats.

To address this, the standard does not dictate what package format the operating system must use for its own packages, merely that RPM must be supported to allow packages from third-party distributors to be installed on a conforming system. RPM Package Manager ( Red Hat Package Manager, abbreviated RPM) is a Package management system.

Since Debian already includes optional support for the LSB (at version 1. 1 in "woody" and 2. 0 in "sarge"), this issue evaporates under closer scrutiny (i. e. the end-user just needs to use Debian's "alien" program to transform and install the foreign RPM packages in the native package format). Alien is a Computer program that converts between different Linux package formats. This is part of the reason the specified RPM format is a restricted subset- to block usage of untranslatable RPM features. By using alien Debian is LSB-compatible by all practical means, but according to the description of the lsb-package, [the presence of the lsb-package] "does not imply that we believe that Debian fully complies with the Linux Standard Base, and should not be construed as a statement that Debian is LSB-compliant. " This theoretical possibility of Debian's non-compliance to LSB might be considered a valid criticism, however slight.

Additionally, the compliance test suites have been criticized for being buggy and incomplete- most notably, Ulrich Drepper has criticized the LSB for poorly written tests which can cause incompatibility between LSB-certified distributions when some implement incorrect behavior to make buggy tests work, while others apply for and receive waivers from complying with the tests. Ulrich Drepper is a Software developer who works for Red Hat. He also denounced a lack of application testing, pointing out that testing only distributions can never solve the problem of applications relying on implementation-defined behavior.

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The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS defines the main directories and their contents in most Linux -based computer Operating systems It is a formalization and extension The Common Unix Printing System ( CUPS) is a modular printing system for Unix-like computer Operating systems that allows a computer to act as POSIX (ˈpɒzɪks or "Portable Operating System Interface" is the collective name of a family of related standards specified by the IEEE to define
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