This document describes the Linux Standard Base (LSB) policies and procedures for the workgroup's development of standards, tests, etc.

• POLICY-01 Workgroup Spokespeople
• POLICY-02 Specification Authority
• POLICY-03 Test Suite Maintenance Authority
• POLICY-04 Specification Intellectual Property
• POLICY-05 Subject Matter Intellectual Property
• POLICY-06 Certification Support
• POLICY-07 Release Frequency
• POLICY-08 ISO Submission of Specifications

Workgroup Structure

The official spokespeople for the LSB workgroup are: the chair and the team leaders. Others may not represent that they are speaking on behalf of the LSB without specific prior authorization unless quoting directly from public materials.

The SA will be responsible for officially responding to problem reports raised against the specification and for final resolution of other problem reports where a proposed resolution will be provided either by the TSMA or CA. The SA can be contacted at lsb-specauth@freestandards.org

• A two-thirds conference call attending vote is needed in the SA to make decisions.
• A five business day email notice for voting is required for ballot items.
• The SA will operate within the procedural and timeline guidelines outlined by the LSB Workgroup & Certification Policies.
  • A preliminary review will be performed by the SA and an initial response provided via the CA to the applicant within 14 calendar days.
  • A detailed review will be undertaken for issues that are more complicated or when the preliminary review does not resolve the issue. Final resolution will be provided within an additional 21 calendar days.

The TSMA role is to recommend proposed resolutions to problem reports raised against the test suite(s). When a problem report arises against a test suite, the TSMA analyzes it and proposes a resolution that is then passed to the SA for final resolution.

• A two-thirds conference call attending vote is needed in the TSMA to make decisions.
• A five business day email notice for voting is required for ballot items.
• The TSMA will operate within the procedural and timeline guidelines outlined by the LSB Workgroup & Certification Policies.

The author of donated documentation or source code may copyright their original work; however, if the FSG/LSB needs to they can fork and maintain documentation and code.

Unencumbered runtime and development for a component and its dependencies. Consumers and developers must not need to sign a license or pay royalties. Doing otherwise would hinder the acceptance of the standard.

The LSB workgroup will provide support for certification for the current major release and the previous major release.

LSB Major version releases should occur no more frequently than 18 months since the previous major version release. Over time, community feedback has indicated that more frequent releases are a burden on consumers of the specification and less frequent releases would risk taking too long to adapt to new industry best practice.

The Steering Committee must approve plans to submit an LSB specification to ISO as a candidate standard or an amendment to and existing ISO standard. Considerable effort is required to carry a specification through the ISO process, and this needs to be explicitly planned for in the LSB work calendar. The SC must also determine if a candidate is sufficiently mature for submission.