An LWN.net Distribution List update

It's been over a year since we've looked at the ever changing LWN.net Linux Distribution List. Our last list update appeared in the March 30, 2006 weekly edition. At that time we had 455 active distributions plus 49 in the historical section. Now we are up to 485 "active" distributions, with an additional 58 listings in the Historical section.

Determining whether or not a distribution is active is not always easy. Some are just very slow paced and may go several years between releases. Sometimes, just when you think a distribution is gone for good it shows up at a new URL, with a new or newly refreshed developer. This is the case with Trinux: Linux Security Toolkit, a distribution that hasn't seen an update in over three years, but now has a new lease on life with ubuntutrinux.

Naturally it takes some time to check the links of over 500 distributions, so we can never guarantee that all of them are still in use. So while the list gets updated at least a couple of times per week; new distributions are added, existing entries are updated with new release information, etc.; older entries may stagnate for some time before being noticed and removed.

Now it's time to say goodbye to those distributions that disappeared or were otherwise removed during the past year. NSA Security Enhanced Linux was removed from the list. The SE Linux project is still very much alive, but the reference distribution that was once used to test the code is no longer needed. HA Linux was a distribution used by Motorola, not to be confused with other high availability projects. Also Circle MUDLinux, freevix, Mandrakelinux Clustering, MSC.Linux, Mustang Linux, SCMLinux, SmartPeer, System-Down::Rescue, Troppix, Vedova Linux, and XenoLinux.

As always, let us know about any additions or corrections to our list of Linux Distributions.

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