U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency Requires Linux Standard Base Compliance

The Free Standards Group announced that the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has introduced Linux Standard Base (LSB) as a requirement in its platform compliance for Linux-based products.

This is a significant milestone for the Free Standards Group, which first released the LSB specification in 2001. Since January 2003, every major Linux distribution vendor has applied for and achieved LSB Certification. As industry and community support behind the LSB has gained momentum, leading IT organizations such as DISA have begun to adopt the LSB. The LSB enables binary compatibility across different Linux systems, making it easier for IT organizations to manage and maintain their information systems.

By purchasing LSB Certified software applications and operating systems, IT organizations can benefit from ease of administration, improved security, and reduced maintenance costs over the long term. The Free Standards Group is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the use and acceptance of free and open source software by developing and promoting standards. Key Free Standards Group projects include the Linux Standard Base (LSB), OpenI18N, LANANA and OpenPrinting. Supported by leaders in the IT industry as well as the open source development community, the Free Standards Group fulfills a critical need to have common behavioral specifications, tools and ABIs across Linux platforms.