A presentation explaining the Linux & Free and Open Source software ecosystem and the various challenges it faces from a distribution editor point of view : ISV attraction, Hardware compatibility... This is a unique presentation which has been given to Canonical sales team in 2007.

1. March 15, 2007
Ubuntu Linux Training
© Copyright Thibauld Favre – thibauld@allmyapps.com
www.allmyapps.com

2. Today's Training Overview
This morning : Theory
Introduction to the Free & Open Source Software World
Linux Distributions Explained
The Hardware Support Challenge
This afternoon : Hands on!
Ubuntu Installation
Package Management
Ubuntu Usage
Conclusion
Objective of the day :
Optimize your knowledge of Ubuntu Software – Desktop & Server

3. Introduction to the
Free & Open Source Software World

4. Some History
All began with a printer...
Richard Stallman, American
Launches the GNU Project in 1984
Linux, child of the Internet
Linus Torvalds, Finnish
First Linux kernel released as he was a student in 1991

5. Achievements
IT accessible and affordable for everyone
Fosters innovation
Proprietary software players are bound to innovate
“good­enough” isn't acceptable anymore from a proprietary software vendor
New business models emerge, more customer friendly (service oriented)
Open Source
Software­as­a­Service

6. Threats
Software patents
Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt (FUD)
Already in America, Japan
Tough battle in Europe to fight software
patents
Content control
Digital Right Management (DRM)
Protecting Intellectual Property (IP)
DMCA
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Dissuasion strategy

7. Linux Distributions Explained

8. The Free & Open Source Software Galaxy
Time
2005
F­spot
Amarok
Nautilus
2000
OpenOffice.org
Gnome
KDE
1995 MySQL
X11
Sendmail
GNU Tools
1991 kernel

9. Applications Organization & Dependencies
Sugar CRM
v1.2
Scribus
v1.2.4
PHP
Amarok
v5
v1.4
Apache
v1.3.35
Qt
MySQL
Kde Gnu tools
v3.4
v5.0
v3.5
J2EE
Kernel
App
v2.6.17 Jboss
JAVA v4.0.5
v1.5
X.org
v7.1
Other toolkits
Firefox GTK
v2.0.1 v1.2
OpenOffice.org
v2.1
Gnome
v2.16
F­spot

10. What is a repository ?
Time
v5
v1.5
v1.2
Which applications to include?
v2.6.18
v0.18
Which version of each application to include?
v5.0.1
v4
v3.5
A Linux distribution repository
v2.6.17
v0.17 v5
i.e. Edgy
v1.4
v2.1
v2.16
v1.2
v1.1
v2.6.16
v2.15
A repository is a coherent and stabilized set of selected applications

11. Ubuntu repositories (i.e. Edgy)
main restricted
Key FOSS applications
Free applications but with limitedcopyright
maintained by Canonical employees
maintained by Canonical employees
i.e. Kernel, KDE, Gnome...
i.e. Nvidia & ATI video drivers...
commercial
universe Commercial applications
maintained by Canonical employees
FOSS Applications
maintained by the Ubuntu community i.e. Opera, Realplayer...
i.e. TinyERP, Wine...
multiverse custom
Non­free applications Custom applications
maintained by the Ubuntu community maintained by ??
i.e. Extra multimedia codecs, Microsoft fonts, Acrobat Reader, Java... May be dangerous to use

12. Ubuntu Server & [Ubuntu | Kubuntu] Desktop
Ubuntu Server
Kubuntu Desktop
Ubuntu Desktop

13. A repository lifecycle
Time Time
backport
v1.3
v1.5.1
bugfix
v2.6.18.1
security
v1.2.1
v5
v1.5
v1.2
v2.6.18
v0.18
v5.0.1
v4
v3.5
v2.6.17 Edgy repository
v0.17 v5
v1.4
v2.1
v2.16 v1.2
v1.1

14. Debian Linux release mechanism
Time
Released 6th, june 2005
Sarge
Released 19th, july 2002
Woody
Released 14th, july 2000
Potato
Free & Open Source software Debian Unstable Debian Testing Debian Stable releases

15. Ubuntu Linux release mechanism
26th, october 2006
6.10 ­ Edgy
1st, june 2006
sync
6.06 ­ Dapper
13th, october 2005
sync
5.10 ­ Breezy
6th, june 2005
Sarge
8th, april 2005
sync
5.04 ­ Hoary
20th, october 2004
sync
4.10 ­ Warty
sync
19th, july 2002
Woody
14th, july 2000
Potato
Debian Testing Debian Stable releases Ubuntu Stable releases

16. Linux Distributions release overview
Time
RHEL 5
Core 6
Core 5
Edgy
Dapper
Core 4
RHEL 4
Breezy
Sarge
Core 3
Woody
Debian
stable
Fedora
10.2
Debian Debian Ubuntu
10.1 FOSS
unstable testing stable
SLE 10
10.0
OpenSuse

17. Linux distributions quick comparison
Novell / Suse
Main specificity : YAST
Red Hat
Main specificity : Leader
Ubuntu
Main specificity : Free
Free & OpenSource Software

18. Windows platform development comparison
Time
Microsoft Adobe Intel Macromedia Symantec
ISV
ISV
ISV
ISV
ISV
ISV
ISV
ISV
ISV ISV
Windows XP

19. Challenge : Mixing proprietary & free software
? ? ? ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
?
?
?
?
?
? ?
FOSS

20. The Hardware Support Challenge

21. The Kernel
APPLICATIONS Appli A Appli B Appli C Appli D
KERNEL Module A Module B Module C Module D
MACHINE
HW A HW B HW C HW D

22. A political issue
Linus [..] explained that while the user­visible Linux ABI tries to remain
static, the internal ABI is not at all. When it was pointed out that a
stable internal ABI would help binary­only module authors, he added :
quot;It's not going to happen. I am _totally_ uninterested in a stable ABI for
kernel modules, and in fact I'm actively against even _trying_. I want
people to be very much aware of the fact that kernel internals do
change, and that this will continue.quot; Kerneltrap – 9th, december 2003

23. What it means
MACHINE KERNEL APPLICATIONS
APPLICATIONS KERNEL MACHINE
Appli A Appli B Appli C Appli D Appli A Appli B Appli C Appli D
upgrade
2.6.18 2.6.19
Module A Module B Module C Module A Module B Module C Module D
HW B HW C HW B HW C
HW A HW A
HW D HW D

24. The Hardware Compatibility Challenge
Hardware Compatibility
A B
v2.6.20 Dapper
Driver B
Hardware B
v2.6.19
Breezy
v2.6.18
Driver A
Hardware A
v2.6.17
Hardware Vanilla Kernel Stable Linux
Vendor development Distribution kernel

25. Kernel lifecycle : 3 strategies
Bugfixing (corrective maintenance)
Pros: Safest and easiest way to proceed
Cons: No new drivers are included, so the distribution quickly
becomes “hardware obsolete”
Who: Ubuntu, Mandriva
Upgrading (evolutive maintenance)
Pros: New drivers get included, the distribution is always “hardware
up-to-date”
Cons: Put the system stability at risk, new bugs can find their way in
Who: Gentoo, Fedora
Backporting
Pros: The distribution stays up-to-date whithout sacrificing the system
stability
Cons: Requires heavy exponential work
Who: Red Hat, Novell

26. Who we are?
2 former entrepreneurs
5