Certifying open source - The Linux experience

The issues related to obtaining security certification by Linux developers and various aspects of Linux open source are discussed. An open-source program's licence lets users run the program for any purpose, study and modify the program and redistribute copies of either the original program or the modified program, without having to pay royalties to previous developers. Linux has inspired the development of countless free software programs, including MySQL, Python, Open LDAP and open-source implementations of Kerberos. The result is a more useful system that allows customers to place a higher level of trust in the correctness and effectiveness of Linux's security functions.