Setting up to use the LSB

Once the decision is made to port to the LSB what needs to be done next? There is some setup involved to port to the LSB. The steps involved in setting up are:

Download the LSB Specifications
Download the SDK
Install the SDK
Download the AtK
Install the AtK

To see what is in the downloaded files for the complete LSB go to the following

http://www.linux-foundation.org/download/

This is a list of the packages contained in the download with a description of each. There is a table of packages which can be used to download individual packages.

Download the LSB Specifications

The Linux Standard Base (LSB) specifications are a set of documentation pages that define the content of compliant systems. It is divided into two parts. There is a common part which is for all architectures and an architecture dependent part. The generic part has five pieces

Core – which is core functionality
C++ - Which is C++ functionality
Desktop – Which is Graphics and Desktop
Interpretive languages
Printing

The architecture dependent part has three pieces

Core
C++
Desktop

The mandatory specifications listed above are what must be contained in a certified distribution. Any application written must use these and only these functions to be certified. The application cannot rely on any outside functionality.

Here is where the specifications can be found;

http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Specifications

Download the generic part and the part relevant to the target architecture. They are in either HTML or PDF format.

Down load the LSB SDK

The LSB SDK contains the development environment for building LSB certifiable applications. It is in the form of a tarball and contains an install script. The download for the architecture needed can be found here.

http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Downloads

Download and save the file.

Install the LSB SDK

After downloading the LSB Software Development Kit package (tar.gz) for the desired architecture.

The following steps must be done.

Unpack the package:
tar xzf lsb-sdk-<version>.<architectue>.tar.gz

for example tar xzf lsb-sdk-3.2.0-4.ia64.tar.gz
Go to the subdirectory lsb-sdk created when unpacking the tarball.
Run the install script ./install.sh Note: root privileges may be required

After the installation is done it is a good practice to add the following to the PATH environment variable. Add /opt/lsb/bin to the PATH. This will allow the developer to only have to enter lsbcc to compile and link the application. Another variable that can be changed is MANPATH. There are manpages associated with the LSB. By updaating MANPATH they can be accessed. Add the following to the MANPATH /opt/lsb/man.

The following is actual output from installing the ia64 LSB SDK.

cal@bilbo:~/lsb-sdk> ./install.sh

This system appears to be a RPM-based distribution, such as those from

Red Hat, SuSE/Novell, Mandriva, Asianux, etc.

Is this correct? yes

In order to install these packages, you need administrator

privileges. You are currently running this script as an unprivileged

user.

You have sudo available. Should I use it? yes

Using the command "sudo /bin/sh -c" to gain root access. Please type the

appropriate password if prompted.

Installing packages...

root's password:

There may have been problems with the package installation. Check

error-log.txt for more information.

cal@bilbo:~/lsb-sdk>more error-log.txt

warning: lsb-build-base-3.2.1-1.ia64.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY,

key ID a0530ad1

cal@bilbo:~/lsb-sdk>

The error flagged was just a warning and can safely be ignored.

Download the LSB AtK

The Application Test Kit contains tools for analyzing dependencies applications have for libraries and external interfaces. It helps developers in testing the applications for compliance to the LSB. It eases the task for eventual LSB Certification. Like the LSB SDK the LSB AtK is in the form of a tarball containing an install script and the programs. These are setup by architecture. It is only necessary to download the architecture of interest. The download can be found here:

http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Downloads

There is also a document that will instruct on how to use the tool. It can be found here

http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/LSB_Application_Testkit_Getting_Started

Install the LSB AtK

These instructions are documented in the above LSB Application Testkit Getting Started but are repeated here for ease of use.

Unpack the package:
tar xzf lsb-atk-manager-<version>.<architecture>.tar.gz
Go to the subdirectory ./lsb-atk-manager created when unpacking,
run the installation script: ./install.sh and follow the instructions. Note root privileges may be needed

The following is an example of an installation of the LSB ATK.

cal@bilbo:~/lsb-app-testkit> ./install.sh

This system appears to be a RPM-based distribution, such as those from

Red Hat, SuSE/Novell, Mandriva, Asianux, etc.

Is this correct? yes

In order to install these packages, you need administrator

privileges. You are currently running this script as an unprivileged

user.

You have sudo available. Should I use it? yes

Using the command "sudo /bin/sh -c" to gain root access. Please type the

appropriate password if prompted.

Installing packages...

root's password:

Installed successfully.

__________________________________________________________________________

ATTENTION!

This tool runs as the root user!

Therefore it can do pretty much harm if it gets out of control.

We have tried to make the script reasonably safe but there is no warranty.

Use it at YOUR OWN RISK only, and only if you know what you are doing.

PLEASE DO NOT RUN IT ON A MACHINE THAT HOLDS IMPORTANT DATA, OR PROVIDES

IMPORTANT SERVICES!

__________________________________________________________________________

LSB Application Testkit Manager has been installed to

/opt/lsb/app-testkit/manager

Use /opt/lsb/app-testkit/manager/bin/lsb-atk-start.pl to run LSB ATK Manager.

Setting up to use the LSB

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