Chapter 13. Base Libraries

13.1. Introduction

An LSB-conforming implementation shall support the following base libraries which provide interfaces for accessing the operating system, processor and other hardware in the system.

There are three main parts to the definition of each of these libraries.

The "Interfaces" section defines the required library name and version, and the required public symbols (interfaces and global data), as well as symbol versions, if any.

The "Interface Definitions" section provides complete or partial definitions of certain interfaces where either this specification is the source specification, or where there are variations from the source specification. If an interface definition requires one or more header files, one of those headers shall include the function prototype for the interface.

For source definitions of interfaces which include a reference to a header file, the contents of such header files form a part of the specification. The "Data Definitions" section provides the binary-level details for the header files from the source specifications, such as values for macros and enumerated types, as well as structure layouts, sizes and padding, etc. These data definitions, although presented in the form of header files for convenience, should not be taken a representing complete header files, as they are a supplement to the source specifications. Application developers should follow the guidelines of the source specifications when determining which header files need to be included to completely resolve all references.

Note: While the Data Definitions supplement the source specifications, this specification itself does not require conforming implementations to supply any header files.