The openSUSE Build Service Expands Support to Red Hat and CentOS

The openSUSE® Build Service, an innovative framework that provides an infrastructure for software developers to easily create and compile packages for multiple Linux* distributions, has extended its support to now build packages for CentOS and Red Hat* Enterprise Linux. The openSUSE Build Service already supports several Linux distributions including openSUSE, Ubuntu, SUSE® Linux Enterprise, Debian and others.

"As its name suggests, the openSUSE project is committed to choice and opposed to the exclusion of innovation simply because it may have originated in another project," said Michael Loeffler, openSUSE product manager at Novell. "By adding support to build packages for CentOS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the openSUSE Build Service makes it even easier to build packages across multiple Linux distributions, thus further enabling innovative ideas to spread quickly throughout the free and open source software community. As we seek to streamline and improve collaboration between all Linux developers, the openSUSE Build Service continues to innovate and improve the way packages are built by providing a common framework that works with any Linux distribution."

Developers who want to provide their software to a broader audience of Linux users are often hampered when packages built for one distribution will not work on other distributions. The openSUSE Build Service is the only open source build system that helps developers provide packages with the same high quality for multiple distributions from the same source code. With the system imaging tool KIWI, open source developers can more quickly build a Linux distribution that meets their needs, rigorously test it to ensure product quality, and easily package it for quick installation.

Francis Giannaros, a member of the independent openSUSE board, said, "Web software created by specific Linux distributions has often been hindered by its proprietary nature that restricts its use by others. The openSUSE Build Service remains completely free and open software, and now we are adding full support for building packages for all popular distributions directly at openSUSE.org. The addition of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS as build targets further emphasizes the commitment of the openSUSE Build Service to flexibility, making it the perfect option for a central development platform. It is also user friendly, stable and actively developed."

An essential part of the openSUSE project, the openSUSE Build Service is available at Novell's openSUSE.org community Web site. With more than 50,000 registered members, the openSUSE project is a Novell-sponsored community initiative that promotes the use of Linux everywhere. The openSUSE Build Service is completely open source, giving developers and users free and full access to build their choice of Linux packages, whether based on openSUSE, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat, CentOS or other projects. The open SUSE Build Service was created with openness in mind, not being limited to any single format or group of users, but open for everyone to build every kind of software for any platform. For more on the openSUSE Build Service, visit www.opensuse.org/Build_Service.