There is a new Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) specification out, though it is little different from its predecessor, which has been available for nearly a year.

The newly formed Linux Foundation today announced CGL version 4.0, which includes more refinement and compliance specs from the CGL 3.2 spec.

Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) provides a set of stringent carrier requirements that registered products are measured against for use in carrier applications and environments.

The CGL effort has been underway since 2003, when version 2.0 of the spec was unveiled. CGL version 3.0 was launched in 2005, while the CGL version 3.2 appeared last March as the first iteration that Linux vendors could register against.

John Cherry, roadmap coordinator for the Carrier Grade Linux initiative at the Linux Foundation, explained to internetnews.com that CGL 4.0 is a refinement and clarification on a lot of the requirements that existed in 3.2.

For example, CGL 4.0 boasts a more stringent compliance requirement.

Before CGL 4.0, vendors needed only to take the list of requirements and say this is how that requirement is met, or say they didn't meet the requirement but they still could register those results and claim some level of CGL compliance.

"With the latest version of the specification it has been up-leveled a bit such that you can't claim compliance unless you have met all of the mandatory requirements," Cherry said.

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Registration for CGL is still a self-registration process and there is no direct auditing for compliance by the Linux Foundation. That's not to say that vendor claims are not reviewed. Cherry argued that since the registration reports are publicly posted they can be peer reviewed by other distributions.

Among those that were active in the CGL 4.0 development discussion was HP. HP backs a Carrier Grade Linux version of Debian .

"HP has been very active in the definition of the CGL 4.0 specification and believes Linux will play an increasingly important role in telecommunications solutions," said Randy Hergett, director of research and development for HP's Open Source and Linux Organization.

The CGL 4.0 specification is also the first specification to come from the newly formed Linux Foundation. The new group was announced in January as a merger of the OSDL, which had previously managed the CGL process and the Free Standards Group that manages the Linux Standards Base (LSB) effort.

Under the new Linux Foundation, the CGL has actually been re-chartered as a Linux Standard Base workgroup.

"The nice thing about these two groups combining is that the CGL is focused upstream trying to get new capabilities in the mainline while the LSB is focused more on the downstream side and agreement among distros on common capabilities," Cherry explained.

"So rather than making things easier it's more a broadening of the scope with more upstream and downstream coverage."