How many Linux do I need?

When a person wants to use Linux as a desktop or server, the most common questions will be

• Which Linux should I use?
• Why isnt there a policy for a single Linux distro?
  

These age old questions are asked when there are consistent differences and dependencies in applications, drivers and protocols used between Linux. Have you felt that you needed to learn Linux all over again when encountering another Linux distro. Well, you wont be alone in this. Even application vendors will worry if they need to write different Linux versions for each of their application.

An article from Linux.com mentioned about the comings of Linux Standard Base (LSB) Desktop Project. What does this mean? Anyone can choose their own Linux desktop and still work with others in the same environment.

In 2008, we have LSB 3.2 that allows portable applications among the Linux distributions.
As a guide to which Linux distribution, refer to only those found at https://www.linux-foundation.org/lsb-cert/productdir.php?by_lsb

Following is a list of those already LSB certified. Try to look out for the LSB Certified trademark.

• LSB 3.1
• RHEL 5
• SUSE Linux Enterprise 5
• Ubuntu 6.06

One last example of what this standard means:
Desktop

1. Bitmap images - uses PNG
2. Compressed photo - uses JPEG
3. Fonts - uses Freetype2 (2.1.10)
   
4. Cryptographic - OpenSSL
   
5. X graphics renderer - uses X version 11 release 6.4
6. Desktop menu directory - uses Desktop Menu specification 1.0
   

Core

1. Executable and Linking Format and part of ISO/IEC 23360
   
2. Required user and group names include root, bin and daemon
3. Software installation is in RPM or LSB conforming installer