From ArdekanturWiki

The Linux Interface Standard Attempt is a set of concepts that will eventually allow us to define a standard. This standard pertains to the expected input and output criteria of common programs, in order for these programs to work with each other in complex workflows.

Contents 1 Motivation 2 Goals 3 Definitions 4 Discussion

Motivation

• The Unix Philosophy: The ability to string simple programs together in order to create complex and varied responses is grounded in the core tenets of the Unix Philosophy - that each program should do one thing, and do it well; and that a program should take in input and provide output for other programs to use. Nearly all command line based utilities in the Linux world adhere to this philosophy - a very small fraction of graphical clients and utilities do. The LISA aims to change this.
• Mac OS X's Automator: Providing workflows in a concise way to the average user is realized in the Automator. There is no need to resort to well-rounded though arcane command line utilities, or programs the user is not familiar with. While many may argue that the workflow environment already exists in Linux in the form of the command line, there is a great amount of potential in standardizing the interface that programs provide to other programs. For example, while mutt allows one to compose a message from the command line, it does not allow a user to search an account for messages with a certain keyword. All programs - old and new, graphical and command line, could benefit from a common foundation.
• Linux for the People: Ubuntu and other friendlier distributions are widening the demographic of people who use Linux in daily life. Linux provides an infinite number of possibilities to people who know its ins and outs. If even a fraction of these possibilities are available to the average, everyday user, the cause of Linux as a friendly, accessible operating system will be furthered.

Goals

1. Create a list of day to day application types.
2. Define a loose set of requirements for programs to adhere to one of these types.
3. Specify what an application type should be able to do in order to conform to LISA.

Definitions

• Element: An element is a kind of data that a program handles. For example, an e-mail client may deal with RSS feeds and e-mails. An individual RSS feed or an e-mail is an element.
• Cage: A cage is a group of elements. It may be arbitratry, created by search, or a previous standard. Continuing with our e-mail example, a cage could be all e-mails in a particular IMAP folder, or all e-mails with the word 'apple' in it.

As definitions of adhering programs evolve, it will be primarily important that they are able to provide views of elements and cages to other programs.

Discussion

Please feel free to discuss preliminaries and other comments on the discuss page of this article, Talk:LISA.