General FAQ

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1. What is LSB?
   
2. Do you rewrite or change the LSB and related standards?
   
3. Why formalizing a standard?
   
4. Why creating additional tests for LSB while there are some tests already available?
   
5. How do the activities of the Center relate to those of international organizations controlling Linux standards?
   
6. Has the UniTESK technology been used elsewhere except for Linux testing?
   
7. Which Linux distributions does the Center test?
   
8. Do you certify Linux distributions?
   
9. Are you doing conformance testing only for LSB standard?
   

1. What is LSB?
   LSB (Linux Standard Base) is the main modern standard defining requirements on compatibility of Linux systems. LSB is a binary compatibility standard. The main part of this standard (LSB Core) is the requirements on the system interfaces to be supported by all compliant Linux distributions. In this part, LSB mostly refers to POSIX. LSB is developed and supported by Free Standards Group. Detailed information on LSB can be found at the website www.linuxbase.org.
2. Do you rewrite or change the LSB and related standards?
   No, we just supplement the textual descriptions of the existing standards with formal descriptions in the form of specifications in SeC (Specification Extension of C). During formalization, unclear statements are revealed and implicit requirements are visualized. Also, formalization helps to discover defects in the standard's text, which we report to the appropriate standard bodies (Free Standards Group for LSB, Austin Group for POSIX).
3. Why formalizing a standard?
   The problem is that even good textual standards are just recommendations if there are no convenient and reliable methods to check conformance to them. The problem is that human language texts are sometimes misleading. Supplementing standards with formal descriptions allows revealing unclear statements, eliminating contradictions and visualizing implicit requirements. Automatic generation of tests from these formal specifications just makes them even more valuable.
4. Why creating additional tests for LSB while there are some tests already available?
   We do not compete with the tests created by the Free Standards Group and in other projects, but supplement them to achieve more reliable testing and exhaustive test coverage. Unfortunately, the analysis of the existing tests shows their low coverage - many functions are not tested at all, many others are tested against only basic requirements of the standard leaving many aspects unverified. The testing approach through systematic formalization of requirements used at the Linux Verification Center enables considering all verifiable requirements carefully. Besides, automatic test generation enables impartial iteration of different situations during testing and also simplifies the modification of the tests as standards evolve or when considering specific user requirements. These factors give us hope that the test suite created by the Center will become a valuable addition to the existing Linux tests.
5. How do the activities of the Center relate to those of international organizations controlling Linux standards?
   Being an independent organization, Linux Verification Center is in close cooperation with the Free Standards Group and Austin Group pursuing the common goal of improving the LSB and POSIX standards. The Center staff participates in the activities of the corresponding working groups of these organizations and report the suggestions elaborated by the Center to these groups on a regular basis.
6. Has the UniTESK technology been used elsewhere except for Linux testing?
   Yes, this technology has been successfully used by ISP RAS in the joint projects on testing complex industrial software in cooperation with such companies as Microsoft (testing of the IPv6 protocol implementation) and Intel (testing of optimizing blocks of compilers). The technology was also used for testing the components of operating systems TinyOS and OS 2000 (NIISI RAS ), for formalization and refinement of the IPMP protocol standard, for testing of industrial software in the joint projects with the companies Luxoft and Vympelcom Communications.
7. Which Linux distributions does the Center test?
   The Center is not targeted at testing particular Linux distributions. Of course, we use a certain set of distributions for debugging purposes, but detection and publication of specific defects in these distributions is not our direct goal. The main task at the current stage is to create an open source test suite that will allow anyone to discover concrete discrepancies between particular Linux configuration (joint work of hardware, kernel, drivers and system libraries) and the requirements of LSB Core. It is user who decides what to do with the discrepancies found.
8. Do you certify Linux distributions?
   No, Linux Verification Center is not doing any official certification now. Please contact Free Standards Group regarding LSB conformance certification.
9. Are you doing testing only for LSB standard?
   No, the development of tests for LSB Core 3.1 is just the first major project of the Center (till the end of 2006). Later on, using of the UniTESK technology and the produced basis of tests and formal specifications will enable relatively easy creation of modified test suites for various systems and requirements. For example, customized test suites can be created for extended testing of specific Linux distributions, or for testing pared-down embedded Linux implementations (e.g. for military or special industrial use).