The Redwood Shores, California-based company used LinuxWorld event to announce its involvement in five projects including a new file system and the porting of Novell’s YaST configuration management tool to Oracle and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
The company also announced that video game developer Activision has become an Unbreakable Linux support customer, cutting its Linux support costs by 65%, and detailed six new validated configurations for Linux customers.
Activision, which is behind popular video titles including Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk, has switched its Linux support from Red Hat to Oracle with the move taking less than ten minutes, according to Oracle.
The games developer is a big user of Oracle software, with the Database, E-Business Suite and Enterprise Manager software in its stack alongside business intelligence software from recent Oracle acquisition.
In terms of Linux contributions, the company noted that Chris Mason, a developer on its Linux kernel team, is behind the Btrfs file system. Currently in alpha release, Btrfs is designed to address the storage subsystem requirements of large data centers.
YaST (Yet Another Setup Tool) was historically one of the core differentiators for SUSE Linux but was released under the GNU GPL in 2004 by Novell. Oracle has ported the configuration management tool to Oracle Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
The company also announced that the Oracle Linux Test Kit, which is designed to verify the Linux kernel for Oracle’s Database, is now available under the GPL and Artistic Licenses, while it is working on a project to replace the Linux kernel’s existing I/O interface with a more generic subsystem to reduce complexity.
Oracle is also working with storage networking vendor Emulex on a data integrity interface to reduce systems downtime. The results should be available under the GPL in the next year.
Our View
Oracle ruffled a few penguin feathers in October 2006 when it announced plans to build a Linux support business around its own patches and fixes for Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux.
Having denied suggestions that it was forking the most popular Linux distribution, the company has subsequently improved its Linux credentials via patent protection, the announcement of 26 customers and a number of hardware and software endorsements.
While the company has made significant contributions to Linux and open source in the past, it has not made as much of its role as an open source developer as, say IBM or Sun. Detailing code contributions is a sign that the company is aware that it needs to be seen to be a good citizen.
