> 
> 
> > The goal of LSB is to assure cross-distribution and backward
> > compatibility of Linux applications without impeding innovation in
> > Linux.  Shared libraries are at the root of many application
> > compatibility issues, especially when libraries are not subjected to
> > strict version control or when application writers don't know which
> > version of a library to use.
> 
> I'd suggest that the problem isn't the library so much as the API inside
> it. If FreeBSD achieves an LSB-compliant environment (totally possible) it
> could do so maintaining the same API but not using glibc at all. So I'd
> suggest that, in the big picture, LSB is specifying an API, not libraries.
> A specific version of glibc will no doubt be the reference implementation
> of that API, but it (glibc) is not the standard per-se.
> 
> Or is it?

For portions of the system where de faulto standards exist, why don't you just
specify the existing library as the stadard, rather than going backward to
the API level?  GNU has been working on the free unix system for 15 years, and
whatever parts of the GNU system have becoming the de-facto standards on Linux,
these LSB should just copy the GNU standards as is.  Why create more trouble 
for everyone if some jerks want to create a new C library and claim they provide
the same API as the LSB specifies, and then developers have to worry about all
the differences in implementation behavior?  

GNU C library is the de-facto standard, and should be the official one as well.
Same as other GNU utilities used widely on Linux.  The FSF is a preferred 
standard maintance body than any vender-dominated ones like the Open Group.

And FreeBSD, where does it enter the picture?  If they want to make a 100% LSB
compatible environment, let them worry about it.  LSB does not cover FreeBSD,
and if it does you may as well talk to the Open Group about a Unix standard.


> 
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-- 
Li-Cheng Tai (Andy Tai)                       e-mail: atai@atai.org

Free software:  the software by the people, of the people and for the people,
worldwide.  Develop! Share! Enhance! And enjoy!