The Open Group has released the source code to a set of middleware used widely in distributed computing environments. It says releasing DCE (Distributed Computing Environment) under the LGPL (lesser GPL) will broaden its use as a vendor-neutral interoperability infrastructure.

DCE comprises a set of middleware components meant to be integrated by vendors into operating system environments. The components include an RPC (remote procedure call), CDS and GDS (cell and global directory services), security service, DCE threads, DTS (distributed time service), and DFS (distributed file service). Together, the components allow applications to be distributed across networks of heterogeneous computers. DCE has been integrated into operating system products offered by most enterprise vendors, including IBM, HP, and others.

According to the Open Group, DCE protects and controls data access, provides name services for distributed resources, and organizes widely scattered users, services, and data in a scalable way. It calls DCE “the only middleware system with a comprehensive security model.”

Previously, DCE source code was available only under a commercial license. Making it available under a recognized open sourcelicense (LGPL) both increases the accessibility of DCE as an interoperability technology, and permits a broader community to work on the source to expand its features and keep it current, the Open Group says.

Former Open Software foundation End User Group Chairman William Estrem said, “This is a long anticipated event. I know of several developers who are very interested in working with the code, to provide better implementations of existing DCE applications, and to create new distributed systems.”

Data Power Technology's chief security officer, Rich Salz, said, “It's great to see DCE — the first secure enterprise computing platform — finally available for development by the OSS community. Its size alone makes it both a formidable challenge to, and testament in the belief of, the open source community.”

Samba hacker Jeremy Allison noted, “DCE is one of the core infrastructure technologies used in computing today. This will promote the wider adoption of DCE in the Open Source/Free Software community.”

Additional details about the LGPL release of DCE are available online. More details about DCE are available in an FAQ at FAQs.org.

 
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