The Linux operating system is amassing an increasingly impressive list of backers.

After shying away from the Linux platform for several months, Informix Corp. will do an about face at its international users conference in Seattle this week.

Archrival Oracle Corp. is expected to put its stamp on approval on Linux this week as well, by announcing plans to do a Linux port of its Oracle database, according to sources.

The lowdown on Linux

Informix is planning to announce a port to the open source operating system, although Informix officials have not decided which products and tools will be recoded. One company executive said its Linux support will be phased in gradually, starting with a "main database product and a few tools," in this week's forthcoming announcement.

"We're going to roll out our Linux support gradually and gauge our customers' interest as we go along," says Mike Saranga, Informix vice president of research and development.

As recently as two months ago, Informix officials had stated publicly that they were leaning against a Linux port.

Just a 'run time' fee
According to Saranga, the company will most likely offer up the Linux development platform for free and charge developers a small fee for "run time," the process of getting the new applications up and running.

Oracle plans to announce tomorrow that it will port Oracle8 and Oracle8.1, which are scheduled to ship by year's end, to Linux on Intel in the first quarter of 1999, sources said.

An Oracle official said that Oracle's company's decision was made in response to a groundswell of customer interest in seeing Oracle software available on Linux.

CA joining the lineup
At the same time, Computer Associates International Inc. is readying a Linux port of its relational database. Company officials would not say when the Linux version of Ingres II would be available.

"It'll be really interesting to see what happens when a big-price, big-name database comes out on Linux," said Rob Walker, system administrator for both Linux systems developer VA Research Inc. and the Silicon Valley Linux User Group. "I think there's a great deal of demand for it already."