The Linux Standard Base gets some applications

With these words, the Linux Standard Base project was launched in May of 1998. This project set out to create a reference platform which would encourage the porting of commercial application programs to the Linux system. By eliminating the need to create a separate version of a program for every supported distribution, the LSB, it was thought, would bring about a wealth of Linux-based applications without impeding the free development of a variety of Linux distributions.

Over the subsequent years, the LSB has limped along under a succession of leaders. Various LSB standards addressing various parts of the system have been created. Most of the major distributions have made the effort to implement LSB compliance, so there is a vast number of deployed, LSB-certified Linux systems out there. Only one little, nagging problem has remained, however: no application vendors have stepped forward to certify their products for Linux.

That situation changed quietly a couple of weeks ago, however, when the Free Standards Group (the parent organization which is developing the LSB) announced the first two certified LSB applications. These applications - RealPlayer and MySQL - are no strangers to the Linux platform, so their certification is unlikely to change life for many Linux users. RealPlayer already works on the bulk of Linux distributions, and MySQL, being free software, is shipped with most of them. But the fact that these vendors made the effort to certify their products shows that the LSB effort - recently returned to life under the leadership of Ian Murdock - might just go somewhere this time.

The real test, however, will be whether any new applications, previously unsupported under Linux, hit the market with LSB certification. Thus far, the LSB has failed to encourage any vendors - any at all - to support Linux by porting to the LSB platform. The recent announcement has not changed that fact - RealPlayer and MySQL were already available to Linux users in an uncertified form.

Clearly, in 1998, the LSB was ahead of its time. The proprietary application vendors, for the most part, were not even close to being ready to support their products on Linux. There is not much that the LSB effort could have done to change that fact. As Linux grows, however, vendors will begin to believe that there might be a worthwhile market to be found there; the LSB intends to be there when they come around. To that end, the Free Standards Group has set up a new developers network with information for vendors writing applications for the LSB.

Many LWN readers have little interest in the creation of a vibrant market for proprietary Linux applications. The available free software meets their needs, and, where it doesn't, projects are underway to improve the situation. For many, the installation of proprietary applications would only compromise the years-long effort to create a free system. These people care little about the progress of the LSB.

The fact remains, however, that there is a large variety of proprietary software for which no free equivalent exists, not even in an early stage of development. There is also a large body of potential users who will not consider moving over to Linux until the applications they need are available. If the LSB succeeds in encouraging ports of some of those applications, it could encourage some of those users to make the jump to free software. And that, in the end, should be a good thing.