Linux Software Map (LSM) is a standard text

file format A file format is a Computer standard, standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary format, pr ...

for describing

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

. It also refers to the

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

constructed from these files. LSM is one of the standard methods for announcing a new software release for Linux.

File format

If a Linux program is to be distributed widely, an LSM file may be created to describe the program, normally in a file called ''software_package_name''.lsm. This file begins with and ends with . It has one field on each line. The field name is separated from the value by a colon (:). Mandatory fields are Title, Version, Entered-date, Description, Author and Primary-site.

Example

Here is a what a blank LSM template looks like, at time of writing:

Begin4
Title:
Version:
Entered-date:
Description:
Keywords:
Author:
Maintained-by:
Primary-site:
Alternate-site:
Original-site:
Platforms:
Copying-policy:
End

Database

The collective

of LSM entries can be searched in order to locate

of a particular type. This database has passed through various owners. It was created by Jeff Kopmanis, Lars Wirzenius maintained it for a while, and now the current maintainer is Aaron Schrab (with help from volunteers). The database can be

download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar systems. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...

ed in its entirety, or one can perform limited queries using a web interface. As of August 2022, the LSM index is still automatically updated by a e-mail robot. However, the maintainer of man-db eventually decided to stop maintaining its LSM data due to the perceived obsolescence of LSM.

References

External links

LSM template version 4
on ibiblio.org
Entire LSM Database
on ibiblio.org

on ibiblio.org
Instructions for New Entries
Linux Computer file formats {{linux-stub