 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 259, 30 June 2008 |
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Welcome to this year's 26th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! You've seen it too - a recent Linux convert, used to clicking on executable files to install software, is often shocked to discover that Linux distributions use dedicated package managers to install and remove applications. But with a large number of distributions and philosophies, which is the best tool on the market? And how do they differ in terms of usability and convenience? If you are a new Linux user then our article explaining the various package management options is a must-read. In the news section, openSUSE developers defend their inclusion of KDE 4 into the recently released openSUSE 11.0, Mandriva cancels the first alpha release of version 2009 due to problems with X.Org, Debian completes the security infrastructure for the upcoming release of Debian "Lenny", and Ubuntu unveils the first developers' build of the new MID edition for mobile Internet devices. Also in this issue: a link to an interview with Zenwalk's Jean-Philippe Guillemin, a review of the upcoming Acer Aspire One and a round-up of rescue live CDs based on Linux. All this and more in this week's DistroWatch Weekly - happy reading!
Content:
 Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in ogg (14MB) and mp3 (13MB) formats (many thanks to Russ Wenner)
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Feature Story |
Package management (by John Frey)
A few weeks ago on DistroWatch there was some debate about package managers. I think you will agree that we can never know too much about package management. I have done some research and would like to share some of what I have learned.
What is a package?
The first thing we need to know is, what is a package? There are two ways to install software. The first way is to get source code and compile it on your system.
#./configure
#make
#make install
The 2nd way is to get and install a package. A package contains source code pre-compiled and packaged as a binary installation file (executable). It may include icons, libraries, configuration files, binaries, man pages, desktop shortcuts, header files, fonts, etc. In addition, it may contain meta data, such as version information, package maintainer and software authors' names and contact information, licensing, changelogs, READMEs and web location for the project and source code. Each package format has a file structure for storing data and is compressed. When the package is executed, it uncompresses the data and copies all the files from the package into the file system of the operating system, creating symbolic links where needed, putting start-up links in the menu and on the desktop, and sometimes giving configuration options to the user.
Packages are distribution and version-specific as the location for dependencies may vary between distributions and between versions of a distribution. Sometimes it is possible to download and install software the Windows way by just clicking on the package, provided it is compatible with the operating system. For instance, I downloaded and installed the Flash plugin RPM from Adobe on my Mandriva Linux system. More on that later.
There are many package formats, with .tgz, .deb and .rpm being the most common. Others like .pup, .pisi, .tazpkg and .mo are less common. Source code is usually distributed as tar.gz or tar.bz2 files, but some distributions distribute their binary packages this way as well. Most of us probably use .deb or .rpm packages.
An example of a modern graphical package management tool: PiSi by Pardus Linux
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Package managers
OK, so we know what a package is, what is a package manager? In a nutshell, a package manager installs, removes and updates packages. That is the simple definition but a modern package manager can do so much more. It can automatically connect to a repository, automatically download software, check for and resolve dependencies, list packages, list dependencies, search the package list, sort the list, and add and remove repositories. It can specify a repository for a specific package and block upgrades to specific packages, verify checksums and digital signatures to insure the integrity of the packages, allow automatic updates, and remove dependencies when uninstalling.
Not all package managers do all of those things, nor do they all perform equally well on all of those functions. This has given rise to different package managers and, contrary to the perceived notion, they do not all perform the same function except as viewed on a very superficial level. As you read about these package managers this will become clearer.
Repositories and package management system
Repositories are collections of packages typically on a remote server, but they can also reside on the local hard disk, a CD-ROM, DVD or other storage media. The important thing to know about repositories is that they store data about packages in a particular format depending on the package manager. As an example, Mandriva's urpmi cannot read Fedora's yum repository despite both containing .rpm packages, while Debian's APT can't read Mandriva's or Fedora's repositories. The package manager, package format and repository comprise the package management system.
pkgtool
Slackware and its derivatives use this system. The package format is a tar.gz file given the .tgz extension. That is, it is a tape archive (tar) that has been compressed with gzip (gz). This is not a package manager in the sense we normally think of it today. It's really just a package format and some command line tools to create, view, install, remove and upgrade. The packaging system allows embedding of install scripts. Those scripts are the only difference between installing a source tarball and a Slackware package. There is no dependency checking, no automatic connection to a repository, no automatic updating the system or checksum verification. Using pkgtool, one can access a list of installed software for removal, install packages or run install scripts. Packages are manually downloaded from a repository. This is the system that all package managers set out to improve in the days when Slackware Linux was a dominant Linux distribution. Slackware provides a package browser on the Internet and RSS feeds are available too. Both of those tools look to be recent additions. SWareT, slapt-get, slackpkg and NetBSD's pkgsrc are third-party tools that have been developed to aid package management in Slackware and/or its derivatives. These tools all provide dependency resolution and may provide some more advanced functions.
Gslapt is a GTK+ front-end to slapt-get, an APT-like package management system for Slackware Linux.
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Advanced Packaging Tool (APT)
APT is used primarily in Debian and its derivatives. APT is a library of routines in libapt that acts as a front-end for dpkg, which is a low-level package manager with utilities to install, uninstall and update .deb packages. APT provides dpkg with more advanced functions, not the least of which is dependency resolution. The APT of today has evolved a long way from its origins but has retained its relationship to dpkg. All Debian derivatives use APT by default. Development of new capabilities has kept pace with other package managers of more recent vintage. There is little question that it is one of the best, most feature-rich package managers available. APT has been ported to OpenSolaris and Mac OS X, and can be used with RPM-based distributions via apt4rpm or apt-rpm.
Synaptic - a popular graphical package management tool for (not only) Debian-based distributions.
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RPM Package Manager (RPM)
RPM is both a package format and a package manager. It is easily as popular as APT. While RPM has some of the higher level functions built into it from the start, like dependency checking (but not dependency resolving), it seems that adding all the features of a modern package management system to the RPM standard is not easily done. This has given rise to new package management tools like YUM, urpmi, YaST, up2date and apt-rpm that offer dependency resolution and more advanced features while leaving the lower level routines to RPM. These utilities are sometimes called Meta Package Managers because they manage RPM which is already a package manager. RPM has been ported to IBM's AIX architecture and is the default package format for the Linux Standard Base (LSB).
urpmi
Mandriva is the only distribution using urpmi, just as openSUSE is the only distribution using their system. The package format is .rpm. The urpmi utility is one of the first, perhaps the first, package manager for RPM packages. It actually consists of a number of different utilities to perform various functions: urpme uninstalls software, urpmq queries the database for a matching file name, urpmi installs packages, and so on. One of the interesting functions of urpmi is that it will add the meta data for RPMs installed from a local directory. If you remember way back, I mentioned downloading Adobe's Flash plugin. All I had to do was click on the RPM package, that brought up a dialog box asking me if I wanted to install, save or cancel. I chose install and urpmi added the RPM to my list of installed software. This means that I can use urpmi to uninstall or upgrade the plugin provided I remember to keep the original RPM file.
Mandriva's Rpmdrake is a graphical front-end for the distribution's package management utility called urpmi.
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Yellow Dog Updater Modified (YUM)
Derived from Yellow Dog Updater (YUP), YUM is a Package manager for Red Hat/Fedora-based systems using the RPM package. It has become the default package manager as of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and is used by most Red Hat/Fedora-based systems. Modularity is a major feature for YUM. Extra functions are added through plugins and with the yum-utils package. Critics say the tool is not integrated enough and performance and maturity of modules can vary. Nevertheless its wide adoption is evidence that it is a good package management system. Red Hat has long offered a subscription service to provide updates and patches called Red Hat Networks (RHN). The subscription service is important to their business plan and as such they have not spent as much time on development of a non-subscription service package manager. Third parties developed YUM before it was picked up by Red Hat. RPM is the traditional Red Hat package manager superceded by up2date, now replaced by YUM.
Yum Extender (YumEx) is a powerful graphical package management tool for Fedora-based distributions.
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ZYpp
SUSE Linux and openSUSE use a veritable dog's breakfast of utilities for package management. Input is given through either rug (a command-line front-end) or zen-updater (a GUI frontend) to Zenworks Management Daemon (ZMD). ZMD listens for commands and passes them off to the libzypp ZMD helpers, which communicate with the software database, parse metadata, and pass data and commands to libzypp. Libzypp does dependency resolution, installation, removal, and upgrades - using the RPM package management utility. One can also use YaST or zypper (command line) to talk directly to libzypp. This is the extreme other-end from pkgtool used by Slackware. Three front-ends, two package management systems, two repositories. The zen-updater system also adds a daemon and the helper layer (that no other system has) before it reaches the package manager for dependency resolution and installation routines. I used this system when openSUSE first introduced it in version 10.0. It was very slow as many will remember, but recent reports say the speed has been improved markedly.
YaST2 is an openSUSE system administration utility that includes an advanced graphical package manager.
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Source-based distributions and the BSDs
For these systems, a repository contains install scripts instead of pre-compiled binaries and compiling is done on the local machine. Portage in Gentoo uses scripts called ebuilds that link to source code and contain instructions for the compiler and install routines. This system does function like a package manager in many ways, including installing, removing, updating, tracking installed software, dependency resolving, etc. This is generally the way BSD Ports work as well, with installation scripts instead of packages. The appeal of this type of management should be obvious. Install scripts are smaller than packages so the repository is lighter. Original source means possibly cleaner code and less third-party "optimization", though install scripts may contain patches. Local compilation means no extra code to support hardware not on the system and optimizations can be made for the available hardware. Other advantages exist but you can read Gentoo or BSD documentation for that.
DesktopBSD's package manager (dbsd-pkgmgr) is an innovative graphical tool that allows installing both binary and source packages.
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Summary
Those are some of the package managers out there. I hope you can see the differences between them after reading this. The early package managers were collections of simple install, remove and update routines. While APT was eventually developed to be very feature-rich, third-party package managers for Slackware Linux are mostly simple programs that add dependency resolution and one or two other features. RPM was an evolution of the package manager closer to a complete package management system. It added features like dependency checking, tracking, automatic installation and checksum verification. RPM has many more functions than dpkg but fewer functions than APT. For whatever reasons, instead of adding functions to RPM, developers created "meta package managers" like YUM, urpmi, Smart and YaST. Finally, we have script-based package management that uses original source code and compiles it at install time. Script-based repositories are smaller than package repositories, and scripts possibly require fewer resources to maintain through minor variations of software updates. However, they require close monitoring of the software sources to ensure that hyperlinks in the scripts remain valid.
There are many package managers not described here. They range from extremely feature-rich, like Smart, to slim, like (Arch Linux's) Pacman. They are usually developed when no other package manager fits the bill for a distribution's base and philosophy. Smart and YUM, among others, are being developed to read several types of repositories. We keep seeing new package managers and meta package managers. Even Puppy has its own, undoubtedly optimized for size. Then there are the many, many graphical front-ends. They don't add new functions but improve usability. Personally, I prefer a graphical front-end for browsing packages in much the same way I prefer a graphical user interface for file browsing.
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| Miscellaneous News |
openSUSE defends KDE 4, Mandriva cancels alpha release, Debian completes Lenny's security support, Ubuntu unveils MID edition, Zenwalk's Jean-Philippe Guillemin, Acer Aspire One, Linux rescue CDs
 The recent release of openSUSE 11.0 was marred by some aggressive and even insulting posts of some users on the distribution's mailing lists. The reason? Many of them fail to understand how KDE 4, which they consider an unfinished and buggy piece of software, could become the preferred desktop on such a popular distribution. But as Benjamin Weber explains in his blog post, KDE 4 is not the default desktop and anybody installing the distribution from the installation DVD has to make an explicit choice between GNOME, KDE 3 and KDE 4: "Both KDE 3.5 and KDE 4.0 (and GNOME) are offered when installing from the DVD or the 'netinstall' image. There is no default. Users are not forced or even suggested to change from KDE 3 to KDE 4." In a separate blog, Mike McCallister continues to expand on the KDE 4 dilemma faced by the openSUSE developers: "The KDE 4.0 desktop environment was released in January, with an entirely new way of doing things. The Plasma desktop, Phonon multimedia framework, and Solid hardware framework represented some spectacular changes from the familiar KDE 3.x interface in place since 2002. Unfortunately, some key pieces of the complete desktop (including the KOffice suite, Kontact personal information manager and Amarok multimedia player) had not yet migrated successfully to the new platform. So KDE 4.0 was defined, rightly so, as a work in progress, while 4.1 would be the more stable, mature platform."
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 Mandriva's plans to release the first alpha build of its upcoming Mandriva Linux 2009 suffered a setback last week when its development branch was deemed too problematic for public testing. Adam Williamson explains: "Those of you who saw the recent announcement of the Mandriva Linux 2009 release schedule may be wondering about the status of alpha 1, which was scheduled for public release on June 25th. Due to some major problems in this release related to X.Org, the migration from KDE 3 to KDE 4, and generation of One images, we have decided not to make a public release of alpha 1. If we had waited to resolve these problems before releasing Alpha 1 it would have come out only a few days before Alpha 2, not allowing enough time for much real testing. Therefore alpha 1 will exist only as an internal release, and will not be made public. The first public pre-release for Mandriva Linux 2009 will now be Alpha 2, which will be released according to the announced schedule, on July 10th."
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 As Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 "Lenny" moves closer to its final release, many people are wondering whether it's safe to run the distribution on a production system. Here is some good news - from the security point of view, Lenny is ready. Nico Golde explains: "With some pride we can say that testing has never been in such good shape security wise. The tracker reflects very accurately the current known security issues in the testing distribution. Our new announcement emails provide a notification for users whenever a new security fix reaches testing, whether through migration from unstable or DTSA for testing-security. Also fewer packages are getting removed from testing because of security issues." However, it should be noted that once Lenny is out, the testing branch won't receive the same attention from the Debian security team as the current testing tree: "After the release of Lenny, there will probably be no security support for the new testing distribution for some time. It is not clear yet how long this state will last. Users of testing who need security support are advised to change their sources.list entries from 'testing' to 'lenny' now and only switch to lenny+1 after the beginning of its security support is announced."
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 Here is an interesting piece of news for the fans of Linux-based mobile Internet devices. As announced by Canonical last week, the first alpha release of Ubuntu 8.04 MID edition is out and available for testing: "We are delighted to be able to welcome Ubuntu Mobile Internet Device (MID) edition 8.04 to the world as a full developers' release. It is based on the Ubuntu Desktop edition, and it is now available for download. The Ubuntu MID edition 8.04 has been built by the Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded community that is sponsored by Canonical and in co-operation with Intel Moblin.org community to take advantage of the Intel Atom Processor, the chipset that is underpinning the Mobile Internet Device (MID) category. Ubuntu MID edition will always be an open source distribution and is freely available." For further information and screenshots of the Ubuntu MID user interface please visit the Ubuntu MID page.
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  Speaking of portable Internet devices, CNET has published a detailed review of Acer Aspire One, an upcoming ultra-portable laptop running Linpus Linux: "Despite its lateness to the party, the One has pretty much everything it takes to be a market leader. It's attractive and lightweight. It offers solid performance and it's easy to use. Most importantly, however, is its price: in the UK the entry-level One costs a very pocket-friendly £220." And how does Acer Aspire One compare with the popular ASUS Eee PC? "In some respects, the Acer Aspire One is better than an Eee PC 901. It has an excellent keyboard, solid performance and is highly portable. The Eee C 901 still has the edge in terms of battery life and mouse input, so it's a close call between the two machines."
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 The developers of free operating system are often visionaries who spend much of their spare time hacking on open source software. But who exactly are these guys? And why are they doing all this? Last week, an Italian web site called oneOpenSource interviewed Jean-Philippe Guillemin, the founder and lead developer of Zenwalk Linux. Firstly, who is Jean-Philippe Guillemin? "I am 36-years old, married, and working as a security engineer for Telindus Corporation." How did Zenwalk Linux come about? "I started the Zenwalk project (formerly Minislack) as a way to learn the internals of GNU/Linux. Building an operating system is a great way to understand IT deeply because you're on your own to solve the problems when things don't work as expected." Why did he choose Slackware as the base system for Zenwalk Linux? "In my opinion Slackware is the best Linux distribution in the world; it is fast, reliable, secure, up-to-date, and built with respect for the UNIX spirit." And how does Zenwalk differ from its parent? "When you install Zenwalk, you immediately get one application for each task, optimized and ready to use, along with a refined look and feel. The pre-selected packages are carefully chosen by Zenwalk developers to provide the user with only the best and most usable applications."
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 Finally, a great article on an extremely useful, but not particularly glamorous class of open source live CDs - the Linux rescue systems that provide ways to recover lost files and hard disk partitions, to scan for and remove Windows viruses, and to perform a variety of system diagnostic and forensic tasks. Serdar Yegulalp in InformationWeek: "At some point, it hits all of us. One day you're chugging merrily along, and then you're staring at a machine that won't boot - a machine that just happens to contain everything of importance to you. While some degree of disaster is inevitable, it's how you cope with it that counts. While computers and file systems get more robust with each passing year, there's always going to be room for disaster recovery techniques. With open source solutions to help you recover from such messes, you're not tied to a proprietary product's costs or licensing agreements, and if you're so inclined you can rework the source code to meet your own needs." The 5-page article investigates the goals and capabilities of a number of useful Linux rescue CDs, including SystemRescueCd, Parted Magic, BackTrack, STD and Helix, as well as several popular data recovery programs, such as dd, TestDisk and PhotoRec. A good article to bookmark in case disaster strikes.
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| Released Last Week |
eAR OS 1.10
Peter Thomsen has announced the availability of an updated version of eAR OS, an Ubuntu-based, multimedia-oriented distribution: "The new eAR OS version 1.10b has been updated to use the new Firefox 3 browser with the Medialayer Connectivity plugin to watch movies on the Internet. This version is faster because now the graphical rendering of the eAR Media Center is hardware accelerated, it comes with a brand new theme for better look, you can select a username and password of your own choice, and it comes with many other improvements. All packages are the very newest and it comes with the latest Real-Time Linux kernel. The installation is easier too: if you want it to be up and running after installation to the hard disk with a minimum of tweaking, then enter 'earmusic' to be the username and select a password of your own choice." Visit the project's news page to read the full release announcement.
Molinux 4.0
After a brief beta test, Molinux 4.0, an Ubuntu-based distribution developed by the regional government of Castilla la Mancha in Spain, has been released. Molinux 4.0 comes with the following new features and changes: updated artwork; new versions of most included applications; live CD that allows users to evaluate the operating system without installation; AppArmor security framework; Cheese - an application for taking photos and videos with a webcam; updated user manual with a system of "recipes" that allow the user to learn common computing tasks fast; new backup manager that makes it simple to perform unattended backups over the local network. Read the complete release announcement (in Spanish) for further information.
Molinux 4.0 - a distribution for government offices and schools in Spain's Castilla la Mancha region
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CentOS 5.2
Karanbir Singh has announced the release of CentOS 5.2, a desktop a server distribution built by recompiling the source RPM packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2: "We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of CentOS 5.2 for the i386 and x86_64 architectures. CentOS 5.2 is based on the upstream release 5.2 and includes packages from all variants, including Server and Client. All upstream repositories have been combined into one, to make it easier for end users to work with. And the option to further enable external repositories at install time is now available in the installer. Further arch support for PowerPC, IA64 and SPARC are planned and will be released soon." Read the release announcement and release notes for more a detailed description of changes and new features.
Arch Linux 2008.06
Arch Linux 2008.06 has been released. Arch Linux is an independently developed i686/x86_64-optimized community distribution, based on a rolling-release package model and targeted at competent GNU/Linux users. From the announcement: "Arch Linux 2008.06 'Overlord'. The Arch Linux 2008.06 ISO images are out. This release introduces many changes: 'base' category is always installed; use of UUIDs for persistent device naming; availability of USB disk images alongside traditional ISOs; true live Arch installation environment; inclusion of the beginner's guide from the Wiki; documentation updates; includes the current stable kernel, 2.6.25.6." Here is the very brief release announcement.
sidux 2008-02
Stefan Lippers-Hollmann has announced the release of sidux 2008-02, a desktop Linux distribution based on Debian's unstable branch: "A little later than planned due to a number of library transitions in Debian sid, we now have the pleasure to announce the immediate availability of sidux 2008-02 'Erebos', shipping in 'kde-lite' flavours for amd64 and i386, a combined i386+amd64 release with KDE for 'kde-full' and an xdelta to add initial localisations for all currently supported languages. Enhancing the sidux family, an Xfce variant has been added for amd64 and i386 architectures for the first time. 'Erebos' concentrates on integrating the changes caused by kernel 2.6.25.9, the addition of Xfce as a supported distribution variant, as well as several installer improvements and updating the packages affected by the OpenSSL security problems in Debian." Read the detailed release notes for further information.
sidux 2008-02 - now also available in a light-weight Xfce variant
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GoblinX 2.7 "Mini"
Flavio Pereira de Oliveira has announced the final release of GoblinX 2.7 "Mini" edition, a minimalist desktop live CD based on Slackware Linux: "GoblinX Mini 2.7 is released. After more than four months of development we are pleased to announce the availability of the new stable version. The GoblinX Mini edition is the son of GoblinX and contains only Xfce as windows manager and GTK+ applications. Main upgrades since RC2: added bookmarks to Xfce panel; corrected some small errors and bugs; upgraded some packages, interfaces and scripts; added xf86-video-openchrome, libmpd, cdstatus and Xfmpc; added some missing applications to Xfce menu; added extra folders to be used as package repository; added media package repository to Slapt-getrc; added package upgrade check to Xfce panel with Xfce4-smartpm-plugin; added interface to build module with Slapt-get help; added more Thunar and Nautilus actions; added Totem as audio CD player option." Visit the GoblinX news page to read the full release announcement.
Myah OS 3.0 "Dragon"
Jeremiah Cheatham has announced the final release of Myah OS 2.7 "Dragon" edition, a complete desktop distribution featuring the KDE 3.5 desktop: "For all current fans of Myah OS and all those soon to be, we give you Myah OS 3.0 Dragon. Dragon is the code name for Myah OS built around the KDE 3 desktop. We chose KDE 3.5.9 since it's still considered the most stable and best supported version of KDE. As with all other versions of Myah OS, Dragon has full multimedia support and a wide range or software. There is a complete KDE desktop as well as KOffice, KTorrent, Amarok and many more KDE software packages. Dragon brings the best of KDE and the best of Myah OS together in the same system. There have been several updates since the release of Box. The backup LXDE desktop now uses Metacity instead of Openbox as the window manager. Firefox has been updated to 3.0." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information.
Pardus Linux 2008
The Pardus development team has announced the release of Pardus Linux 2008, an independently developed desktop distribution with custom package management and system configuration tools: "New version of the Pardus project, Pardus Linux 2008, improved by the latest technologies and up-to-date applications, has been released. As always, Pardus 2008, is being freely distributed under the terms of GNU General Public License. In compliance with the main goals of the Pardus project, Pardus 2008 has lots of new features for ease of installation and use, both at the infrastructure and interface levels. In addition, Pardus 2008 provides enhanced hardware support, stable and reliable Linux infrastructure and numerous applications on a single CD." Visit the distribution's home page to read the release announcement and check out the release notes for information about new features.
Pardus Linux 2008 - a well-designed KDE 3.5 distribution with convenient administration tools
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Scientific Linux 5.2
Connie Sieh and Troy Dawson have announced the release of Scientific Linux 5.2, a distribution based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2, but enhanced with extra software and features: "Scientific Linux 5.2 has been released in record time. XFS, the file system, is now officially in Scientific Linux 5.2. XFS is not available during the installation as an option for formatting partitions, but you can install it so that pre-formatted partitions will be recognized. KDEEDU has also been added in Scientific Linux 5.2. This was added mainly because KStars is part of this package, but the other educational programs are also helpful to schools. Alpine has officially replaced Pine in Scientific Linux 5.2. Scientific Linux release 5.2 is based on the rebuilding of RPMs out of SRPMs from Enterprise 5 Server and Client, including update 2. It also has all errata and bug fixes up until June 26, 2008." Read the release announcement and release notes for more information.
Parsix GNU/Linux 1.5r0
Alan Baghumian has announced the release of Parsix GNU/Linux 1.5r0, a Debian-based desktop distribution and live CD: "After a 2-week delay, we proudly announce the immediate availability of Parsix GNU/Linux 1.5r0, code name 'Viola'. Parsix Viola brings several new features and it includes a new kernel, updated software packages, updated documentation, improved installer system, and several fixes for reported defects. This version is synchronized with Parsix and Debian testing repositories as of June 25, 2008. Several bugs have been solved. Replaced GQView with gThumb, Camorama with Cheese, and re-added iptraf and nmap. Parsix Viola officially supports Compiz Fusion, VirtualBox-OSE, and GNU Flash Player. Highlights: GNOME 2.22.2, X.Org 7.3, Linux kernel 2.6.24.4, OpenOffice.org 2.4.0 and GNU Iceweasel 3.0 RC2." Read the release announcement and release notes for more information.
Parsix GNU/Linux 1.5r0 - a new update of the desktop distribution based on Debian's testing branch
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Network Security Toolkit 1.8.0
Network Security Toolkit NST is a Fedora-based live CD designed to provide easy access to open source network security applications. A new release, version 1.8.0, was announced yesterday: "We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: v1.8.0. This release is based on Fedora 8 using the Linux kernel 2.6.25.6. Here are some of the highlights of this release: transitioned from Fedora Core 5 to Fedora 8 as the underlying base of the NST; addition of wireless firmware packages to support several new wireless chipsets; most networking and security applications included have been updated to their latest version. The NST Web User Interface (WUI), has been greatly enhanced and cleaned up. Some note worthy enhancements include: Multi-Tap Network Packet Capture and Management; an enhanced Network Packet Capture Management and Status Interface; the use of AJAX and JSON to provide a more dynamic and interactive NST WUI; support for WPA-PSK wireless connections...." Read the release announcement and visit the project's home page for further details.
Network Security Toolkit 1.8.0 provides a comprehensive web-based administration utility for a variety of tasks.
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Finnix 92.0
Ryan Finnie has announced the release of Finnix 92.0, a Debian-based live CD designed for system administrators: "Finnix 92.0 released. Finnix is a small, self-contained, bootable Linux CD distribution for system administrators, based on Debian 'testing'. Today marks the release of version 92.0 for the x86/AMD64, PowerPC, and UML/Xen platforms. Major new features: Finnix 92.0 contains the fix to the Debian OpenSSL predictable RNG vulnerability - a reminder that all versions of Finnix from 89.0 to 91.1 (inclusive) contained this vulnerability, so please keep this in mind when running OpenSSH servers on vulnerable versions; Linux 2.6.25; a new graphical boot menu - this boot menu will still perform 32-bit/64-bit auto-detection, and options such as 'toram' and 'testcd' can still be added to boot profiles by pressing [TAB] over a desired boot profile." Read the release announcement and release notes for a more detailed list of changes and new features.
SystemRescueCd 1.0.4
SystemRescueCd, a small Gentoo-based live CD designed for hard disk partitioning and data rescue tasks, has been updated to version 1.0.4. What's new? "Updated the default kernel to Linux 2.6.25.7 with Reiser4fs; fixed problem with Samba due to bad case in the UTF8 character set; fixed the LVM package - LVM 1.x support was broken; fixed the LVM service - now it starts after mdadm so that LVM on raid works; updated NTFS-3G to 1.2531 (NTFS full read-write support); updated the Btrfs file system support to 0.15 (kernel module and utilities); ability to boot Linux from an LVM disk; added option 'root=auto' to boot the first Linux system found on the hard drive; added 'mhdd' boot floppy disk image (low-level hard-disk diagnostic tool)." Here is the complete changelog.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- F-Secure Rescue CD. F-Secure Rescue CD is a Linux live CD whose sole purpose is to scan files on FAT and NTFS partitions for presence of viruses and malware.
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DistroWatch database summary
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 7 July 2008.
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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UBports
UBports is a community-developed fork of Canonical's Ubuntu Touch operating system for mobile devices. UBports works on getting the mobile operating system working on new devices, provides software updates and ports new versions of Ubuntu to mobile devices.
Status: Active
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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