Developer website set up for Linux

Developers are being urged to join the new Linux Standard Base (LSB) Developer Network, a developers’ website designed to rival the Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN).

The site has been set up by the Free Standards Group (FSG), a non-profit organisation dedicated to developing and promoting open source software standards.

The LSB Developer Network (LDN) is now in beta form at developer.freestandards.org.

For the first time, developers writing portable, LSB-compliant Linux applications will not have to cobble together information from various sources, said the LSB.

Instead, they can make use of and contribute to software tools, standards, forums and content provided by the LSB.

The LDN is supported by HP, IBM, MySQL, Novell, Real Networks, Red Hat and others.

“In order for Linux to be a truly competitive platform, there must be a central information source for developers building portable Linux applications,” said Ian Murdock, chief technical officer of the Free Standards Group.

“Microsoft has done a great job with the Microsoft Developer Network, and we aim to do the same for the Linux Standard Base using the "bottom up" community-based development model exemplified by open source and Linux,” said Murdock.