Interprocess communication with D-Bus and HAL
FAST TRAFFIC
It’s the end of the line for CORBA! Gnome now relies on the D-Bus messaging system, and KDE is in the process of migrating.
Nobody likes applications that spend all day sitting in the corners of the desktop and refusing to talk to anything else. The least you might expect would be for them to exchange data with other desktop residents using simple drag & drop techniques. But many users expect their programs to demonstrate more advanced communication skills at all levels. Of course, users want pluggable USB disks no matter what program they are using. And VOIP softphones should make friends with the new hardware when you change the headset without demanding a reboot. To allow this to happen, a Linux system needs a communication system that lets desktop applications talk to one another and to the underlying levels right down through the kernel to the hardware. And if the Freedesktop developers have any say in the matter, D-Bus [1], which relies on Hardware Abstraction Layer HAL [2], will be the communication system for future generations of Linux.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Introducing matrixOS, an Immutable Gentoo-Based Linux Distro
It was only a matter of time before a developer decided one of the most challenging Linux distributions needed to be immutable.
-
Chaos Comes to KDE in KaOS
KaOS devs are making a major change to the distribution, and it all comes down to one system.
-
New Linux Botnet Discovered
The SSHStalker botnet uses IRC C2 to control systems via legacy Linux kernel exploits.
-
The Next Linux Kernel Turns 7.0
Linus Torvalds has announced that after Linux kernel 6.19, we'll finally reach the 7.0 iteration stage.
-
Linux From Scratch Drops SysVinit Support
LFS will no longer support SysVinit.
-
LibreOffice 26.2 Now Available
With new features, improvements, and bug fixes, LibreOffice 26.2 delivers a modern, polished office suite without compromise.
-
Linux Kernel Project Releases Project Continuity Document
What happens to Linux when there's no Linus? It's a question many of us have asked over the years, and it seems it's also on the minds of the Linux kernel project.
-
Mecha Systems Introduces Linux Handheld
Mecha Systems has revealed its Mecha Comet, a new handheld computer powered by – you guessed it – Linux.
-
MX Linux 25.1 Features Dual Init System ISO
The latest release of MX Linux caters to lovers of two different init systems and even offers instructions on how to transition.
-
Photoshop on Linux?
A developer has patched Wine so that it'll run specific versions of Photoshop that depend on Adobe Creative Cloud.