Terminology and definitions

This chapter describes the terms and definitions used throughout the maemo Training Material.

ABI
Application Binary Interface provides object code level compatibility.
ALSA
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture. Linux kernel component intended to replace the original Open Sound System (OSS) for providing device drivers for sound cards.
API
Application Programming Interface provides source code level compatibility.
applet
A small application that integrates to Hildon Desktop.
ARMEL
A name that e.g. Debian uses for the little endian ARM EABI (ABI for the ARM architecture).
Bluetooth
An open specification for seamless wireless short-range communications of data and voice between both mobile and stationary devices.
BT
Bluetooth.
cURL
cURL is a command line tool for transferring files with URL syntax.
devkit
Part of the maemo SDK that contains software development tools. The SDK contains multiple devkits e.g. doctools devkit.
ESD
Enlightened Sound Daemon. This program is designed to mix together several digitized audio streams for playback by a single device.
GPL
GNU General Public License. A software license that provides a high degree of freedom in a collaborative software development effort.
GStreamer
A cross-platform multimedia framework that serves a host of multimedia applications, such as video editors, streaming media broadcasters, and media players.
GTK+ (GUI ToolKit+)
A library of object-oriented graphical interface elements (widgets) for developing X Window applications.
GUI
Graphical User Interface. A graphical presentation of interface which allows user to interact with computers.
Hildon
Application framework used in the maemo platform. Developed by Nokia and based on GNOME/GTK+ technologies, currently in the process of becoming an upstream project in gnome.org.
Hildon Desktop
The main user interface component of the maemo release Chinook, rewrite of maemo desktop.
Internet Tablet
Product category for Internet optimized mobile devices with touchscreen. The term was coined by Nokia but is being used more widely to include other devices.
initfs
Initial file system used as the root file system during Linux kernel boot e.g. for hardware initialization (contains kernel modules and utilities for initializing them). Mounted after boot to /mnt/initfs.
LGPL
GNU Lesser General Public License. A compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License.
Linux
Strictly speaking, Linux is the kernel of a Unix-like operating system, though the word is more commonly used to describe the the whole Linux operating system, consisting of a kernel, application programs and utilities.
maemo
Software platform for mobile devices developed by Nokia, based on GNU/Linux and GNOME/GTK+ technologies. It includes proprietary components to make it work on the Nokia Internet Tablets.
maemo.org
Developer community web site maintained by Nokia, main point of reference for open source and third party developers in general.
maemo desktop
version of main user interface component of the maemo release Bora
maemo-af-desktop
Same as maemo desktop.
maemo SDK
Software Development Kit to create and port applications to the maemo platform using a PC.
Nokia Internet Tablet OS
maemo platform + proprietary applications packaged to an official device image provided by Nokia.
OpenSSL
OpenSSL is an open source implementation of the SSL and TLS protocols.
OSSO
Open Source Software Operations, Nokia organization developing and integrating software for Internet Tablets.
rootfs
Root file system on the device.
rootstrap
Part of the SDK that contains selected software components from rootfs. Rootstrap is the root file system of a target inside Scratchbox.
Sardine
An experimental distribution based on Hildon for maemo, primarily of interest for developers who wish to test "bleeding edge" features that are being developed for future releases of maemo.
SSL
The Secure Sockets Layer. Commonly-used protocol for managing the security of a message transmission on the Internet.
toolchain
Part of the SDK that contains ARM cross compilation tools like compiler and linker.
TLS
Transport Layer Security. Internet Standard similar to SSL.
Widget
Element of a graphical user interface (GUI) that displays information or provides a way for a user to interact with the application. Examples of widgets: buttons, menus, scrollbars, forms, etc.