 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 481, 5 November 2012 |
Welcome to this year's 45th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
It has been another fun week in the world of open source operating systems. The highly secure and reliable OpenBSD operating system, version 5.2, was released with a number of important improvements, including the ability to allow multithread programs running on OpenBSD to use multiple CPUs. Speaking of releases, Debian, a pillar of the Linux community, is nearing its 7.0 release. Read on below for some of the interesting changes coming to the "universal operating system". Also in our News section the Electronic Frontier Foundation weighs in on Ubuntu's latest release and user privacy. Additionally, on the topic of privacy, the Tails project produces a live image which is designed to protect a user's identity and security. In this week's feature review Jesse Smith takes the Tails distribution for a spin and reports on his experience. Last week we touched briefly on a bug in the ext4 file system which may cause data corruption and Robert Storey brings us more details on the problem and suggests possible workarounds while the kernel developers prepare a fix. As usual we cover the releases of the past week, look ahead to exciting new releases and bring you news, podcasts and reviews from Around the Web. We here at DistroWatch wish you a pleasant week and happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Tails and Claws
Over the past year I have looked at two distributions (Liberté and LPS) which have a strong focus on security. Staying secure and anonymous on-line is a popular topic these days as many people are concerned about freedom of speech and monitored communications. Many of us are concerned about our privacy and, with that in mind, I would like to introduce our readers to a Linux distribution called Tails. The Tails project is based upon Debian's Stable repositories and includes a number of privacy and security tools available out of the box. The distribution can be transferred to a USB drive or a live DVD. The distribution isn't meant to be installed to a local hard disk, but rather run from external media (specifically the documentation suggests read-only DVDs) in an effort to avoid infection of the operating system. I downloaded the project's ISO which weighs in at approximately 770MB.
Before getting into what it was like to run Tails, I first want to acknowledge the documentation provided on the Tails website. The project does a nice job of explaining potential threats, explaining what Tails will do for its users and it also goes over a list of things from which Tails will not protect people. This is good because some people seem to feel security is a binary situation, either they are secure and anonymous on-line or they aren't. The situation isn't so black & white and the Tails documentation does a nice job of telling us how the distribution can protect us and what dangers still lurk out there on the Net.
Tails 0.13 -- Website and documentation.
(full image size: 124kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
When we first boot off the Tails media we're brought to a graphical screen which is essentially a login screen. However, instead of asking us for a name and password we are asked if we would like to login with the defaults or select from more options. Taking the defaults logs us into a GNOME 2 (version 2.30) desktop with a plain blue background. An application menu and system tray sit at the top of the display and a task switcher sits at the bottom of the screen. On the desktop we find icons for browsing the local file system, accessing the Tails documentation and there is an icon for launching a bug reporting wizard.
Going back to the login screen for a moment, if we do decide to browse the available options we are asked if we would like to set a password for the root account and we are given the option of logging into a desktop environment which is themed to look like Windows XP. I tried this alternative theme and the effect really is quite convincing at a glance. The same applications are available to us and the same technology protects us, but the alternative theme allows a person to avoid the attention an open source desktop might attract from casual observers.
Tails 0.13 -- Alternative desktop theme.
(full image size: 361kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
When we first login to the desktop the distribution's web browser, Iceweasel, launches and gives us a status report, indicating whether we are connected to the Tor network. We're shown our IP address as the world sees it, letting us confirm whether the anonymizing software is working. Iceweasel comes with a number of add-ons, including Adblock, FireGPG, HTTPS Everywhere and Noscript. These add-ons will encourage secure connections and allow for a minimal amount of tracking from JavaScript and advertising. Looking at the desktop's system tray we find an onion icon which will give us status information about our connection to Tor and there is another icon for launching a virtual keyboard.
Looking in the application menu we find the Iceweasel web browser, the Claws e-mail client, Pidgin for instant messaging and a Tor connection monitor. There is a second web browser entry marked "unsafe" and this menu item also launches Iceweasel, but without the benefit of Tor. Launching the unsafe browser option brings up a dialog box warning us of the risks and asking if we are sure we wish to launch the browser. Assuming we do open Iceweasel without Tor then we find Iceweasel's border has been tainted red as a reminder that its use is not recommended. Also in the application menu we find the OpenOffice suite, the Audacity audio editor, a CD ripper and the Totem video player. The PiTiVi video editor is included in the distribution and there are apps for setting up (and removing) persistent storage volumes on USB drives. Additionally, the menu holds a copy of the GNU Image Manipulation Program, Inkscape, an archive manager, a calculator and a text editor. The Orca screen reader is available to us as are the full range of GNOME configuration apps. Another handy tool presented to us is a meta data anonymizer. This application will scan files, such as images, and detect meta data stored in the file. The application will then offer to scrub the file, removing the meta data. The scrub is performed on a copy of our file, leaving the original intact. This is useful if we want to upload a file to someone without risk of having identifying marks left in the file.
Tails 0.13 -- Web browser plugins.
(full image size: 174kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Exploring Tails further we find Java is installed for us, as are popular multimedia codecs. Flash isn't included, due to security concerns surrounding the plug-in. In order to assist users in acquiring more software, the Synaptic package manager is included in the application menu. Finally, behind the scenes, the Linux kernel, version 3.2, keeps things running for us.
Besides Iceweasel there are a few programs included with Tails that can be used to communicate with the outside world and I'd like to touch briefly on two of them. The first is Pidgin, the instant messenger client. Launching Pidgin automatically connects us to an IRC server and lists two available chat channels, one for Tor and one for Tails. Here we can hope to find help in trouble-shooting problems. I tried connecting to other types of accounts Pidgin supports, but found my login attempts were blocked. I'm uncertain if this is a bug or a feature as logging in to a server with known credentials would be a security breech.
The other application I'd like to touch on briefly is Claws. Claws is an e-mail client which attempts to be both user friendly and secure. The security aspect comes from having encryption and signing support built into the e-mail client. Typically the use of encryption tools requires a plug-in, but Claws comes with security in mind by default. Aside from the built in encryption, Claws acts much like any other modern e-mail client. It reminds me a bit of Thunderbird, or perhaps Thunderbird before the developers introduced tabs. At any rate, Claws is fairly straight forward to use and supports both POP and IMAP connections. I played around with it a little and had no trouble connecting to remote servers and downloading messages. Of course, signing into a remote server gives away our identity and the headers of messages aren't encrypted, so e-mail should be used with a degree of caution.
Tails 0.13 -- The Claws e-mail client.
(full image size: 113kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
I ran Tails on my laptop (dual-core 2GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, Intel video card and Intel wireless card) and in a VirtualBox virtual machine. In both cases Tails worked well. When running on physical hardware, the distribution properly detected all of my hardware, set my screen to its maximum resolution and sound worked out of the box. Wireless networks were automatically detected and connecting was easy using Network Manager. I noticed that by default tapping my trackpad wouldn't register taps as clicks, but this feature can be enabled through the GNOME configuration menu. One nice feature of Tails is it will detect when it is running in a virtual machine and warn the user the operating system is not running directly on hardware and the session may be monitored. The GNOME 2 desktop is quite responsive and I found that, even with Tor running and accessibility features enabled, the distribution only used approximately 180MB of RAM.
Package management on Tails is handled by the Synaptic application. This graphical utility allows us to refresh our list of available packages from the Debian repositories. We can upgrade software and install new packages. Of course, when running from a DVD the changes we make to the operating system won't last through a reboot, but having a package manager available does give us some additional flexibility while using Tails. Synaptic works quickly and operated through Tor, much like Iceweasel does, hiding our IP address from the repository servers. I didn't do much with Synaptic during my trial, but I did take the time to install a few items to make sure they would install properly and I encountered no problems.
Having played around with Tails for a few days I have found it to be a pleasant, flexible platform from which to browse anonymously. I think what I enjoy most about Tails is that, unlike some specialty distributions, it feels much more like a general purpose desktop. Quite often I find projects which try to be secure or which are designed to rescue data or which have some other focus don't give the user the benefits (and flexibility) which come from running a regular desktop distribution. Tails has its focus aimed at being secure and anonymous out of the box, yet it manages to present a fairly friendly desktop and gives us the ability to get a wide range of work done and even access Debian's vast supply of software. Security may be placed first, but not in an exclusive fashion and I find that appealing. Another aspect of Tails I appreciated was the "XP" theme. The effect is really quite good and consistent, likely to mislead anyone who doesn't examine the desktop closely.
One other thing I like about Tails, and I brought this up briefly in the review of Liberté, is there are a few different approaches to take when a user wants to perform an action which is not recommended. The operating system can allow the action, the operating system can warn the user of the potential danger and then give the user a choice as to whether to proceed, or the system can block the action. Liberté opted to block unsafe actions. Tails, on the other hand, takes what I feel is the more desirable approach of educating the user about the potential dangers of their actions and then letting the user decide whether to take the risk. It is a style which protects the operator, but doesn't presume to know better than the user and I like this approach. Last, but not least, I found the documentation on the Tails website to be clear and fairly easy to navigate. The developers have done a good job of trying to educate their users, both explaining what Tails is and what it is not, and I see that as a good starting point. To date, Tails is probably my favourite security-oriented distribution.
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| Miscellaneous News |
The EFF talks about privacy and Ubuntu, Debian introduces changes to their installer and Valve seeks help testing Steam on Linux.
Canonical's decision to include on-line searches for Amazon products in the Dash of the latest version of Ubuntu stirred up some controversy and any number of bug reports from users. Some complained that the on-line search component made local searches too slow, others felt there was a privacy concern and some simply didn't want advertisements mixed in with their local search results. Others feel that Ubuntu should be able to make money with a little product placement, no harm, no foul. This past week the Electronic Frontier Foundation put forward their two cents saying "Technically, when you search for something in Dash, your computer makes a secure HTTPS connection to productsearch.ubuntu.com, sending along your search query and your IP address. If it returns Amazon products to display, your computer then insecurely loads the product images from Amazon's server over HTTP. This means that a passive eavesdropper, such as someone sharing a wireless network with you, will be able to get a good idea of what you're searching for on your own computer based on Amazon product images. It's a major privacy problem if you can't find things on your own computer without broadcasting what you're looking for to the world." The EFF goes on to acknowledge that on-line searching can be disabled and provides instructions for users who wish to either disable these searches or switch to a different desktop environment, thus side-stepping the Dash completely. The EFF's statement concludes with a list of requests for the Ubuntu developers, including changing the on-line ads feature to opt-in rather than opt-out; explaining to users in detail what is done with their search results and which third-parties get access to that data; and making the privacy settings more fine-grained.
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The release of Debian 7.0 is getting closer and it was recently announced that the installer for 7.0 will include support for IPv6. Support for EFI has also been introduced which means the Debian installer will no longer rely on legacy BIOS code. This change may also pave the way for future support of additional features such as Secure Boot. A few months back it was announced Debian would be shipping Xfce as the default desktop on their installation media, replacing GNOME which was becoming too large to fit on a single CD. Since then work has been done to squeeze GNOME onto the installation CD and it looks as though GNOME is back in as the default Debian desktop.
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The openSUSE developers have been working on an ARM port of the big, green operating system. Last week the developers pushed out openSUSE 12.2 for ARM, release candidate 2, with plans to release the final version November 6th. To date it looks as though the ARM port works on Chromebooks and the N900. Future plans include making openSUSE work with the popular Raspberry Pi economy computer. People looking to experiment with the new openSUSE branch can find testing images on the project's website.
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Valve is one of the more influential gaming companies these days. Their games and their Steam platform have gained a large following, both among dedicated and casual gamers alike. This year Valve has been dipping their toes in the Linux pool, experimenting with porting their software to work with Linux distributions. This could be very good news for Linux users who want access to big name gaming titles as where Valve goes others often follow. Last week Valve put out a call for beta testers to try out the Linux version of their Steam client. If you are an experienced Linux user and have some spare time, consider helping Valve bring mainstream gaming to Linux.
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| Tips and Tricks (by Robert Storey) |
Ext4 Data Corruption Bug and Solution
Just when you thought it was safe...
Ext4 (the fourth extended file system) has been the gold standard for the Linux kernel ever since it was declared "stable" in October 2008. It was the direct descendant of ext3 (released November 2001) which introduced journaling to the previously unjournaled ext2 file system that has been with us since 1993.
Ever since its release into the wild, ext4 has proven to be fast and reliable. I've installed it onto more computers than I can count, and never had any reason to complain about it...until recently. But a serious bug has crept into the ext4 stable release, causing data corruption on some computers running Linux kernels 3.4, 3.5, and 3.6.
I first stumbled across this problem about six weeks ago when I was writing this review of Bodhi Linux. After installing Bodhi, it initially ran well, but by the fourth or fifth reboot problems developed. The first glitch: I couldn't log in while running Xorg, but could log in if I used text mode. A few reboots later and I couldn't log in at all -- in fact, all I saw was a blank, black screen. Needless to say, I was nonplussed and had a few email exchanges with the developer, who insisted that Bodhi was innocent. I, of course, occupied the moral high ground and nearly gave Bodhi a scathing review -- until I tried installing Lubuntu which soon developed similar problems. Properly chastised, I meekly retreated and gave Bodhi the fine review it deserved, and looked elsewhere for the cause of this debacle.
My assumption at this point was that my hard drive was probably failing. However, I had an older version of Ubuntu installed on the same hard drive and it ran smooth as silk. As it turned out, that installation was on a partition formatted with XFS, a file system that used to be my favorite because it was considerably faster than ext3. I never had any complaints about XFS and only abandoned it because most new distros no longer include the formatting command mkfs.xfs plus the necessary XFS utilities for error-checking. However, kernel support for XFS is very much alive, so it is still a viable option.
I broke out an old Slackware CD and reformatted my ext4 partition with XFS, then reinstalled Bodhi. It ran without a hiccup. Although I still wasn't confident that my hard drive was OK, I was glad to see it running well and wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Then just last week I was installing the recently released Ubuntu 12.10 on a friend's new computer when the same thing happened. Ubuntu ran great until the third reboot, when it too began to act flaky. At first it gave me nasty error messages, but on subsequent reboot attempts it just crashed and burned. Remembering my prior experience with Bodhi, I broke out that Slackware CD and reformatted with XFS, reinstalled and all was well.
If I was seeing this, I assumed there were others in the same boat, so I went searching. With just a little bit of googling, I found this October 24 post by Michael Larabel on the Phoronix web site: EXT4 Data Corruption Bug Hits Stable Linux Kernels. You should probably read Michael's post, but in a nutshell what it says is that starting from Linux kernel 3.4 and continuing, some users are seeing file data corruption on partitions formatted with ext4.
I should stress that not everyone is experiencing this issue. Indeed, I make a habit of installing Linux on friends' computers and only two of them formatted with the latest ext4 have so far developed this problem. On the other hand, that is two too many. I am always claiming that Linux is rock-solid reliable, so it's more than a little embarrassing when I install it for someone only to see it blow up shortly thereafter.
The chief maintainer of ext4, Theodore Y. "Ted" Ts'o , is well aware of the problem and hard at work on a solution. Ted is one of the most knowledgeable people in the world when it comes to file systems and I don't doubt for a minute that he will sort out this issue. However, tracking down the bug, issuing a fix and putting it through rigorous testing takes time.
On the one hand I am somewhat reluctant to write this news story, since having a large community of beta-testers (even unwilling ones) is helpful to solving this problem. On the other hand, some of us value our data more than life itself (did I just say that?), so we need a solution right now. Thus, I would like to make a few suggestions to those of you who have been bit by this bug, or are at least very concerned about it.
At the minimum, your various removable backup devices (external USB hard drive and USB memory sticks) should be formatted with either FAT32 (the factory default in almost every case) or ext2. I personally prefer ext2 as it supports such niceties as file ownership and uses space more efficiently. In fact, I've been using ext2 for this purpose long before this ext4 bug ever hit, because there really is no need for journaling on a backup device.
On your hard drive itself, a minimum precaution would be to have a separate /home partition formatted with a file system other than ext4. This would at least protect your precious data even if the root partition crashes and burns. However, most people (present company included) tend to put everything under the "/" root partition, /home included. Furthermore, it's kind of inconvenient to have your root file system crash, though again I stress that only a minority of users are actually experiencing this.
If you decide do as I've done and go with XFS, there are a few tricks to installing it. As I already said, practically every distro comes with a kernel with XFS support baked in, but you need the formatting and maintenance utilities. You can hunt around for a live CD that already has mkfs.xfs installed. I used Slackware 13, but there are many others.
Alternatively, you could boot up even the latest Ubuntu live CD and install package XFSprogs before you run the installer. The Ubuntu installation program allows you choose XFS under the "something else" option for disk partitioning, but if you don't have XFSprogs installed, it won't be able to format the partition with that file system.
You may find that after you've installed your favorite distro on an XFS partition, on first boot-up you'll be greeted with this disheartening error message (as I saw on Ubuntu):
Serious errors were found while checking the disk drive for /. Press I to ignore, S to skip mounting or M for manual.
As scary as that message looks, there was nothing wrong with the disk. The problem was simply that since package XFSprogs was not installed by default, there were no XFS file system checking utilities. Thus, file system integrity could not be checked on boot-up and the attempt to do so failed. The simple solution is to press I to "ignore" and then after boot-up, install XFSprogs. On subsequent restarts, the error message should be absent.
Now that I've hyped XFS, I should probably mention that there are a few other ancient alternatives passed down to us by our ancestors. Why not simply go back to good old ext3? Probably not a good idea, for the reason it was abandoned in the first place - it was slow. Indeed, the old ext2 file system was significantly faster than ext3, but it lacked a journal. Aside from lackluster performance, ext3 had a few other drawbacks which you can read about here.
Another competitor in the file system wars is ReiserFS. Once very popular, it was the default on a number of distros I used (SUSE, for example). However, the murder conviction of chief developer Hans Reiser put a dark cloud over the whole project and no one really likes to talk about it. Nevertheless, the Linux kernel still has support, and if you want to try it look for the package reiserfsprogs.
One more alternative is JFS (the Journaled File System). This is an open-source implementation of a commercial file system that was used on IBM's trusty old AIX operating system. From what I understand, it works well enough though I've never used it personally. I don't know any distros that default to JFS, but it's still supported in the Linux kernel. The package you'll need is jfsutils. Using JFS might at least give you the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing that it was developed by a major brand-name tech company.
On the other hand, my personal favorite, XFS, was also a corporate spin-off. Developed by the now-defunct SGI (Silicon Graphics, Inc), it was the star file system of the IRIX OS and was considered very advanced for its time. Now that SGI is no longer with us, all development work on XFS has ceased. Given the fact that such development has introduced bugs into ext4, that might be a good thing.
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| Released Last Week |
Finnix 106
Ryan Finnie has announced the release of Finnix 106, a small, self-contained, bootable Linux CD distribution for system administrators, based on Debian's testing branch: "Today I am pleased to announce the release of Finnix 106, which contains an important kernel update as well as minor fixes and improvements. Finnix 106 includes Linux kernel 3.5, and notably fixes a major bug observed in Finnix 105 where booting would freeze if the system's disk included an extended partition. With Finnix 105, Project NEALE was announced - an effort to build Finnix releases in a completely automated and normalized way. Finnix 105 was the first release to be produced with NEALE, but the build infrastructure was not available to the public at the time. For Finnix 106, the build infrastructure has been finished and released to the public." See the release announcement and release notes for more details.
Parabola GNU/Linux 2012.10.17
André Fabian Silva Delgado has announced the release of Parabola GNU/Linux 2012.10.17, a new version of the project's Arch-based distribution containing strictly free software only: "There is a new install medium available. We plan to release new installation media monthly. The live system can be used for new installs or as a rescue system. We have updated packages, fixed bugs and we have done the following visible changes: first medium with Linux-libre 3.6 (3.6.2) with Atheros AR8162 (ALX driver) support; the script boot parameter works again; when booting via PXE and NFS or NBD the ISO will be copied to RAM to ensure a more stable usage; the live medium contains usb_modeswitch and wvdial which allows to establish a network connection using an UMTS USB dongle; the newest version of systemd and netcfg are included...." Read the remainder of the release announcement for further details.
Slackel KDE-4.9.2
Dimitris Tzemos has announced the release of Slackel KDE-4.9.2, a live Slackware-based distribution with the very latest KDE desktop environment: "Slackel Live KDE-4.9.2 has been released. A collection of two KDE live DVD images are immediately available that can be burned to a DVD or used with a USB drive. The Slackel live DVD images include Linux kernel 3.2.29. Slackel Live KDE-4.9.2 includes the current tree of Slackware Linux and KDE 4.9.2, accompanied by a rich collection of KDE-centric software. Firefox 16.0.2, KMail, KTorrent, Akregator, Kopete, OpenJRE 7u9, Pidgin, gFTP, GParted, wicd, slapt-get and Gslapt, sourcery. In the multimedia section Bangarang 2.1, Clementine 1.0.1, K3b 2.0.2 are all included." See the release announcement to find out more about the release.
OpenBSD 5.2
Bob Beck has announced the release of OpenBSD 5.2, a free, multi-platform BSD-based UNIX-like operating system: "We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 5.2. This is our 32nd release on CD-ROM. We remain proud of OpenBSD's record of more than ten years with only two remote holes in the default install. As in our previous releases, 5.2 provides significant improvements, including new features, in nearly all areas of the system. The most significant change in this release is the replacement of the user-level uthreads by kernel-level rthreads, allowing multithreaded programs to utilize multiple CPUs/cores. Some highlights: GNOME 3.4.2, KDE 3.5.10, Xfce 4.10, MySQL 5.1.63, PostgreSQL 9.1.4, Postfix 2.9.3, Mozilla Firefox 3.5.19, 3.6.28 and 13.0.1, Mozilla Thunderbird 13.0.1, LibreOffice 3.5.5...." See the OpenBSD 5.2 release page which includes a detailed list of all changes and improvements.
Tiny Core Linux 4.7
Robert Shingledecker has released version 4.7 of Tiny Core Linux, a minimalist but extensible graphical Linux distribution for desktop computers. From the release announcement: "I am pleased to announce the release of Core 4.7. Change log: updated ondemand to support scm extensions and icons from both tcz and scm; updated wbar - to support scm ondemand icons; updated scmapps GUI for new ondemand maintenance and download option; updated scm-load - new option -wo ondemand download; updated tc-functions - added new support functions; updated scm to interface to updated scmaps GUI; new scm-run to support scriptable load and launch scm style extensions; updated filetool - new GUI access to filetool.lst, .xfiletool.lst, and backup options; updated filetool.sh to interface to updated filetool GUI; updated apps GUI - New Check Onboot Unneeded and changes required by ondemand scm support...."
Arch Linux 2012.11.01
Pierre Schmitz has announced the availability of Arch Linux 2012.11.01, the latest of the regular installation CD images that the project providing a popular rolling-release Linux distribution now makes available at the beginning of each month. This is mostly a bug-fix release. From the release announcement: "The latest snapshot of our install and rescue media can be found on our download page. The 2012.11.01 ISO image mainly contains minor bug fixes, cleanups and new packages compared to the previous one: first media with Linux kernel 3.6; copytoram=n can be used to not copy the image to RAM on network boot - this is probably unreliable but an option for systems with very low memory; cowfile_size boot parameter mainly for persistent COW on VFAT, see the README file for details."
DragonFly BSD 3.2.1
Justin Sherrill has announced the release of DragonFly BSD 3.2.1, an updated version of the BSD operating system originally forked from FreeBSD 4: "The 3.2.1 release of DragonFly BSD is available now. Significant work has gone into the scheduler to improve performance, using postgres benchmarking as a measure. See the PDF of graphed results to see the improvements. DragonFly should be now one of the best selections for PostgreSQL and other databases. USB4BSD has been incorporated into this release. More USB devices are compatible with DragonFly, and xhci (USB 3.0) users may be able to take full advantage of their newer hardware. Since this is a new feature, it is available in 3.2 but not built by default." See the release announcement and the release notes for further information.
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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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| Around the Web |
Latest reviews
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Latest podcasts
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Latest newsletters
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| DistroWatch.com News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- Maui. Maui aims to be a user-friendly desktop operating system which aims to reduce the learning curve required from new users. It has an appliance-like approach and one of the project's goals is to have a distribution which can boot in under four seconds.
- sposkpat. A single purpose operating system designed to offer a distraction in the form of the Kpatience card game.
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DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 12 November 2012. To contact the authors please send email to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, suggestions and corrections: news, donations, distribution submissions, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (feedback and suggestions: podcast edition)
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • Issue 1035 (2023-09-04): Debian GNU/Hurd 2023, PCLinuxOS 2023.07, do home users need a firewall, AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux commits to RHEL compatibility, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian runs wallpaper contest |
| • Issue 1034 (2023-08-28): Void 20230628, types of memory usage, FreeBSD receives port of Linux NVIDIA driver, Fedora plans improved theme handling for Qt applications, Canonical's plans for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1033 (2023-08-21): MiniOS 20230606, system user accounts, how Red Hat clones are moving forward, Haiku improves WINE performance, Debian turns 30 |
| • Issue 1032 (2023-08-14): MX Linux 23, positioning new windows on the desktop, Linux Containers adopts LXD fork, Oracle, SUSE, and CIQ form OpenELA |
| • Issue 1031 (2023-08-07): Peppermint OS 2023-07-01, preventing a file from being changed, Asahi Linux partners with Fedora, Linux Mint plans new releases |
| • Issue 1030 (2023-07-31): Solus 4.4, Linux Mint 21.2, Debian introduces RISC-V support, Ubuntu patches custom kernel bugs, FreeBSD imports OpenSSL 3 |
| • Issue 1029 (2023-07-24): Running Murena on the Fairphone 4, Flatpak vs Snap sandboxing technologies, Redox OS plans to borrow Linux drivers to expand hardware support, Debian updates Bookworm media |
| • Issue 1028 (2023-07-17): KDE Connect; Oracle, SUSE, and AlmaLinux repsond to Red Hat's source code policy change, KaOS issues media fix, Slackware turns 30; security and immutable distributions |
| • Issue 1027 (2023-07-10): Crystal Linux 2023-03-16, StartOS (embassyOS 0.3.4.2), changing options on a mounted filesystem, Murena launches Fairphone 4 in North America, Fedora debates telemetry for desktop team |
| • Issue 1026 (2023-07-03): Kumander Linux 1.0, Red Hat changing its approach to sharing source code, TrueNAS offers SMB Multichannel, Zorin OS introduces upgrade utility |
| • Issue 1025 (2023-06-26): KaOS with Plasma 6, information which can leak from desktop environments, Red Hat closes door on sharing RHEL source code, SUSE introduces new security features |
| • Issue 1024 (2023-06-19): Debian 12, a safer way to use dd, Debian releases GNU/Hurd 2023, Ubuntu 22.10 nears its end of life, FreeBSD turns 30 |
| • Issue 1023 (2023-06-12): openSUSE 15.5 Leap, the differences between independent distributions, openSUSE lengthens Leap life, Murena offers new phone for North America |
| • Issue 1022 (2023-06-05): GetFreeOS 2023.05.01, Slint 15.0-3, Liya N4Si, cleaning up crowded directories, Ubuntu plans Snap-based variant, Red Hat dropping LireOffice RPM packages |
| • Issue 1021 (2023-05-29): rlxos GNU/Linux, colours in command line output, an overview of Void's unique features, how to use awk, Microsoft publishes a Linux distro |
| • Issue 1020 (2023-05-22): UBports 20.04, finding another machine's IP address, finding distros with a specific kernel, Debian prepares for Bookworm |
| • Issue 1019 (2023-05-15): Rhino Linux (Beta), checking which applications reply on a package, NethServer reborn, System76 improving application responsiveness |
| • Issue 1018 (2023-05-08): Fedora 38, finding relevant manual pages, merging audio files, Fedora plans new immutable edition, Mint works to fix Secure Boot issues |
| • Issue 1017 (2023-05-01): Xubuntu 23.04, Debian elects Project Leaders and updates media, systemd to speed up restarts, Guix System offering ground-up source builds, where package managers install files |
| • Issue 1016 (2023-04-24): Qubes OS 4.1.2, tracking bandwidth usage, Solus resuming development, FreeBSD publishes status report, KaOS offers preview of Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1015 (2023-04-17): Manjaro Linux 22.0, Trisquel GNU/Linux 11.0, Arch Linux powering PINE64 tablets, Ubuntu offering live patching on HWE kernels, gaining compression on ex4 |
| • Issue 1014 (2023-04-10): Quick looks at carbonOS, LibreELEC, and Kodi, Mint polishes themes, Fedora rolls out more encryption plans, elementary OS improves sideloading experience |
| • Issue 1013 (2023-04-03): Alpine Linux 3.17.2, printing manual pages, Ubuntu Cinnamon becomes official flavour, Endeavour OS plans for new installer, HardenedBSD plans for outage |
| • Issue 1012 (2023-03-27): siduction 22.1.1, protecting privacy from proprietary applications, GNOME team shares new features, Canonical updates Ubuntu 20.04, politics and the Linux kernel |
| • Issue 1011 (2023-03-20): Serpent OS, Security Onion 2.3, Gentoo Live, replacing the scp utility, openSUSE sees surge in downloads, Debian runs elction with one candidate |
| • Issue 1010 (2023-03-13): blendOS 2023.01.26, keeping track of which files a package installs, improved network widget coming to elementary OS, Vanilla OS changes its base distro |
| • Issue 1009 (2023-03-06): Nemo Mobile and the PinePhone, matching the performance of one distro on another, Linux Mint adds performance boosts and security, custom Ubuntu and Debian builds through Cubic |
| • Issue 1008 (2023-02-27): elementary OS 7.0, the benefits of boot environments, Purism offers lapdock for Librem 5, Ubuntu community flavours directed to drop Flatpak support for Snap |
| • Issue 1007 (2023-02-20): helloSystem 0.8.0, underrated distributions, Solus team working to repair their website, SUSE testing Micro edition, Canonical publishes real-time edition of Ubuntu 22.04 |
| • Issue 1006 (2023-02-13): Playing music with UBports on a PinePhone, quick command line and shell scripting questions, Fedora expands third-party software support, Vanilla OS adds Nix package support |
| • Issue 1005 (2023-02-06): NuTyX 22.12.0 running CDE, user identification numbers, Pop!_OS shares COSMIC progress, Mint makes keyboard and mouse options more accessible |
| • Issue 1004 (2023-01-30): OpenMandriva ROME, checking the health of a disk, Debian adopting OpenSnitch, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1003 (2023-01-23): risiOS 37, mixing package types, Fedora seeks installer feedback, Sparky offers easier persistence with USB writer |
| • Issue 1002 (2023-01-16): Vanilla OS 22.10, Nobara Project 37, verifying torrent downloads, Haiku improvements, HAMMER2 being ports to NetBSD |
| • Issue 1001 (2023-01-09): Arch Linux, Ubuntu tests new system installer, porting KDE software to OpenBSD, verifying files copied properly |
| • Issue 1000 (2023-01-02): Our favourite projects of all time, Fedora trying out unified kernel images and trying to speed up shutdowns, Slackware tests new kernel, detecting what is taking up disk space |
| • Issue 999 (2022-12-19): Favourite distributions of 2022, Fedora plans Budgie spin, UBports releasing security patches for 16.04, Haiku working on new ports |
| • Issue 998 (2022-12-12): OpenBSD 7.2, Asahi Linux enages video hardware acceleration on Apple ARM computers, Manjaro drops proprietary codecs from Mesa package |
| • Issue 997 (2022-12-05): CachyOS 221023 and AgarimOS, working with filenames which contain special characters, elementary OS team fixes delta updates, new features coming to Xfce |
| • Issue 996 (2022-11-28): Void 20221001, remotely shutting down a machine, complex aliases, Fedora tests new web-based installer, Refox OS running on real hardware |
| • Issue 995 (2022-11-21): Fedora 37, swap files vs swap partitions, Unity running on Arch, UBports seeks testers, Murena adds support for more devices |
| • Issue 994 (2022-11-14): Redcore Linux 2201, changing the terminal font size, Fedora plans Phosh spin, openSUSE publishes on-line manual pages, disabling Snap auto-updates |
| • Issue 993 (2022-11-07): Static Linux, working with just a kernel, Mint streamlines Flatpak management, updates coming to elementary OS |
| • Full list of all issues |
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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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