LWN Weekly Edition
Front pageSecurity
Kernel development
Distributions
Development
Linux in the news
Announcements
Letters to the editor
->One big page
This page
Previous weekFollowing week
| |||||||||||||
DistributionsNews and Editorials Fedora house keepingThe Fedora Project states that it is "always free for anyone to use, modify and distribute, now and forever". This is a great goal, but sometimes it is harder to achieve in practice. Sometimes a package might slip through without a proper audit, or maybe the license has changed. For whatever reason, there are a few packages in Fedora that do not meet the definition of free software. As a result, the project is currently in the midst of a software licensing audit.Such audits take many iterations and are not without some pain, at least for some. As a result of this work, cdrtools has been moved back to an earlier, GPL-only version, netpbm has had a number of files removed, and ckermit and macutils are gone altogether. Openmotif looks likely to come out - and to take xpdf with it. Most people seem to embrace the concept of a totally free distribution, until some pet package is deemed "not free enough". Then the sparks fly and an adherence to open source is equated with religious zealotry. Sometimes freedom can be inconvenient. But Red Hat's Michael Tiemann objects to allegations that Fedora is trying to become another Debian:
You forget that Fedora participants have an inside track on seeing their
stuff become enterprise-ready. Some people actually care about seeing
their code running in mission-critical environments. And some people
actually appreciate the close interaction with Red Hat's engineers that
comes as a result in working in the same tree we do. So Fedora is the
best of both worlds (free software and proto-enterprise).
What we are seeing here is that Fedora is trying to take the "free software" part of the equation seriously.
New Releases 64 Studio 0.9.2 'Toe Rag Update 2' releasedThe third beta release of the 64 Studio is out. Click below for a short list of known bugs in this release.
BLAG50001 ReleasedBLAG50001 (smack) has been released. "BLAG50001 (smack) is based on Fedora Core 5 and uses packages from Extras, FreshRPMS, Dries, and ATrpms. It includes all Fedora updates as of time of release."
Familiar v0.8.4 releasedFamiliar v0.8.4 is out with initial support for the HP iPAQ h2200, hx4700, and h6300 series of devices. "Please consider support for these devices as a technology preview. h2200 and hx4700 are approaching full support although there may be a few rough edges. h6300 support is still in an earlier stage and may not be ready for daily use."
LFS LiveCD x86-6.2-2The Linux From Scratch LiveCD x86-6.2-2 is available. "The main change is that the CD now includes a 64-bit kernel for x86_64 (type "linux64" at the boot prompt). This makes it possible to use the "chroot" scenario from the CLFS book when building a CLFS x86_64 system (either pure 64-bit, or multilib) from this CD. Userspace on the CD is still 32-bit, and the old 32-bit kernel is still available for those people who have 32-bit PCs."
Slackware 11.0 release candidate 2The Slackware change log for August 19 says, "This is mostly frozen now unless bugs (or irresistible upgrades) come up, so I'll call this update Slackware 11.0 release candidate 2. :-)" See the full change log for details.
Trustix Secure Linux 3.0.5 Beta 1The first beta release of Comodo Trustix Secure Linux 3.0.5 is available. "The focus of this release is to re-introduce Anaconda as being the community preferred choice of installer. Trustix wishes to make use of Anaconda's features and integrate it into installing a secure right server."
Distribution News Debian BSP Marathon / BSP in Vienna 8.-10. SeptemberA Debian Bug Squashing marathon is underway with bug squashing parties coming up in Vienna, Germany, the Netherlands, and France.
Distribution Newsletters Debian Weekly NewsThe Debian Weekly News for August 22, 2006 covers the backports archive and the tilde character, Debian GNU/Linux support on HP servers, event coordination in the German-speaking area, a review of Debian development tools, new desktop features, publicity for Debian events, and several other topics.
Fedora Weekly News Issue 60This week the Fedora Weekly News looks at Max Spevack: Fedora on Slashdot, Jesse Keating: Fedora Legacy Answers, Rahul Sundaram: Red Hat and Intellectual Property Reform, Luke Macken: Teaching an old pup some new tricks, Tom Tromey: Fedora Core 6 Test 2, XenSource CTO Talks Up Xen Virtualization, OLPC laptops to debut with Thai kids, Where's Red Hat? Peek Under Fedora, and more.
Gentoo Weekly NewsletterThe Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for August 14, 2006 covers Linux World Conference and Expo, OSL Rackathon, PyBugz and more.
Ubuntu Weekly News #10The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter for August 19, 2006 covers Ubuntu wins Golden Penguin, Ubuntu at LinuxWorldExpo in San Francisco, Ubuntu 6.06 LTS updates, Edgy new and updated apps, Summer of Code update and several other topics.
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 165The DistroWatch Weekly for August 21, 2006 is out. "A slow week in terms of distribution releases, but an exciting one for those who attended the LinuxWorld show in San Francisco. Missing from the exhibition for the first time in years, Red Hat also failed to release the first beta of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 - apparently due to issues with Xen. But the company was represented by a Fedora booth - a distribution that is rapidly regaining trust among its users and passion among its developers. In other news, we'll take a quick look at Linux in Cuba, point you to a list of new features in Ubuntu "Edgy Eft", and link to a chart depicting Linux distribution timeline. A range of new distributions should make up for the lack of other news this week."
Package updates Fedora updatesUpdates for Fedora Core 5: kdeaccessibility (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdeaddons (update to KDE 3.5.4), arts (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdeadmin (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdebase (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdebindings (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdeedu (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdegames (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdegraphics (update to KDE 3.5.4), kde-i18n (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdelibs (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdemultimedia (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdenetwork (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdepim (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdesdk (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdeutils (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdevelop (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdewebdev (update to KDE 3.5.4), kdeartwork (update to KDE 3.5.4), cups (bug fixes), ksh (build for FC5), ftp (support for IPv6 multihome), scim-chewing (add patch), ypbind (bug fix), nfs-utils (bug fix), iptraf (bug fix), ncompress (CVE-2006-1168), system-config-printer (bug fixes), eject (update to 2.1.5), tzdata (upstream 2006j), transfig (add requires: ghostscript), nfs-utils (bug fix).
Ubuntu updatesUpdates for Ubuntu 6.06 LTS: xorg-server 1:1.0.2-0ubuntu10.3 (bug fixes), xorg-server 1:1.0.2-0ubuntu10.2 (bug fixes), xorg-server 1:1.0.2-0ubuntu10.4 (reverted patch 005_pci_domain.dpatch), yaboot 1.3.13-4.1ubuntu6 (backport bug fixes from Debian/Edgy).
Newsletters and articles of interest Securing the CentOS Perfect Setup with Bastille (HowtoForge)HowtoForge looks at securing CentOS. "This article shows how to secure a CentOS server using psad, Bastille, and some other tweaks. psad is a tool that helps detect port scans and other suspicious traffic, and the Bastille hardening program locks down an operating system, proactively configuring the system for increased security and decreasing its susceptibility to compromise."
Installing Debian GNU/Linux using debootstrap (Linux.com)Linux.com shows how to use debootstrap to install Debian. "If you're not afraid of getting your hands dirty with the command line, you can try an alternative method for installing Debian. Debootstrap creates a basic Debian installation, and can also be used for creating custom, minimal installations on embedded systems or for replacing a pre-installed Linux distribution with Debian on a co-located server."
Fedora Project Leader Max Spevack Responds (Slashdot)Slashdot interviews Fedora project leader Max Spevack. "The Fedora Project, as many of you know, is a partnership between Red Hat and the OSS community. The highest level of decision-making within Fedora is the Fedora Project Board, a group that is empowered to make the decisions about Fedora policy, to set priorities, and to hold the rest of the Fedora sub-projects accountable for what they are doing. The Fedora Board has nine members, five of whom are Red Hat employees, and four of whom are community members. That breakdown is not set in stone -- that's just what we started with. It is my hope that down the road, the majority of the Board will be Fedora's community leaders."
Distribution reviews Ark Linux 2006.1 Review (ExtremeTech)ExtremeTech reviews the recent release of Ark Linux 2006.1. "Ark is very much a KDE-based Linux distribution. After booting into it you'll see a snazzy KDE desktop. The welcome wizard greets you after Ark Linux boots and it allows you to customize your desktop to your preferences. If you've run Windows XP before, the Ark Linux desktop will remind you somewhat of that operating system."
A walk in the park with Puppy Linux (Linux.com)Linux.com reviews Puppy Linux. "Puppy Linux is a small Linux live CD distribution that can boot from a CD, DVD, or USB drive; a hard disk is optional. According to the Puppy Linux Web site, Puppy's goals include being Linux newbie-friendly, booting and running quickly, and including all the applications typical users need. The newest version is its most usable yet."
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol |
|||||||||||||