Theodore Tso: How the LSB Helps You Behind the Scenes

Our own Ted T'so is interviewed about the Linux Standard Base, our favorite topic!

"James Turner: Okay; why don't we talk a little bit about the Linux Standard Base? Why don't you first of all start by describing exactly what it is?

"Theodore Tso: Well the LSB is what we call an ABI, an application binary interface. Unlike an API, an application programming interface, its goal is to provide instead of source level compatibility binary level compatibility, so that a single executable can be assured of working the same way on any LSB certified distribution. So we actually certify applications as well as certify distributions and the goal is that if the application obeys certain rules and the distribution passes on our test suite that the application should work on that distribution..."