Distributions

Source Based Distributions, Part 2

[This article was contributed by Ladislav Bodnar]

Last week we looked at general advantages and disadvantages of source-based Linux distributions and how they compare to the more widely used binary ones. This week we will take a brief tour of these projects and outline their differences and target audiences.

Gentoo Linux is by far the most popular source-based Linux distribution. It was started in 1999 by Daniel Robbins, formerly a Stampede Linux and FreeBSD developer who wrote most of "portage", Gentoo's package management system and core component. It is no coincidence that a similar component called "ports" had already existed in various BSD flavors.

Gentoo Linux 1.0 was released in April 2002. Portage was an instant hit, because it enabled software installation with a single command, which downloaded the source code of a given package, then configured, compiled and installed it on the user's machine. While the initial system installation was long and tedious, Gentoo's excellent documentation eased the pain considerably. Many Gentoo users found the experience of easy installation of the latest available software gratifying - in sharp contrast to the frustration with some of the software package management tools used by binary distributions.

Sorcerer is an independent compile-all-from-source effort started in 2001 by Kyle Sallee. The many unique ideas quickly attracted other developers; unfortunately the developer community split in March 2002, creating not one, but three different branches based on Sorcerer (the other two are now called Lunar Linux and Source Mage GNU/Linux). While the development of the three branches is increasingly independent, they share a common background in "sorcery".

Sorcery is a functional equivalent of Gentoo's portage, except that it is written in pure bash, rather than Python. In fact, the two package managers provide very similar functionality, only differing in implementation and terminology. As an example, installing a new software package is referred to as "cast spell" in Sorcerer's terminology and "emerge ebuild" in Gentoo's speak, but both accomplish exactly the same task. That's not to say that there aren't any fundamental differences. Some users who have tried both distributions report that sorcery is technically better implemented than portage and that creating "spells" is easier than creating "ebuilds". On the other hand, Gentoo excels in providing clear documentation and wealth of related resources and has a large and helpful user community.

ROCK Linux is another independent distribution started by Clifford Wolf and a group of European developers in 1998. The first stable version, ROCK Linux 1.2.0, was released in August 1999.

ROCK Linux takes a different, but no less interesting approach to building a complete distribution from source. While both Gentoo and Sorcerer provide bootable ISO images to install the base system, with ROCK Linux the initial download is a small, about 1 MB set of task-oriented bash scripts. The user then executes the appropriate scripts - one launches a menu driven system configuration panel, another downloads the required software and yet another compiles the source code. Once the build process completes (the time needed depends on the type of system being built, which can be fine tuned), another script creates a bootable CD image for installation and deployment.

One obvious advantage of ROCK Linux is that the long build process is done in the background, so your system is available for normal daily tasks and not tied up as with Gentoo or Sorcerer (unless you build your Gentoo or Sorcerer system in a chroot-ed environment, but this is not well documented and best left to experts). On the other hand, ROCK Linux tends to be less "cutting edge" and generally provides a smaller package selection than either Gentoo or Sorcerer. Also, building ROCK Linux requires a pre-existing Linux installation as a base.

Linux From Scratch, or LFS for short, is the last on this list of established source-based distributions. The project was started by Gerard Beekmans in late 1999.

LFS differs from the other projects mentioned here in that it is not a "distribution" in the true sense of the word, but rather a book describing how to build one from scratch. An existing Linux installation is an essential requirement. While the project can indeed serve as basis for a full-blown and functional distribution, LFS's main purpose is educational. Building up a basic Linux system is a great way to learn all there is about Linux internals, the essential GNU software, as well as other critical considerations, such as security or file system layout. The distribution's web site provides active mailing lists and the book has been translated to many languages.

Opinions about the merits of source-based distributions vary a great deal, but there is no denying that they can be great fun while providing an unparalleled learning experience. Give them a try and see for yourself.

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Debian GNU/Linux

The Debian Weekly News for April 8, 2003 is out. It looks at the April Fool's pranks in last week's issue (and which news was real); Bdale Garbee reports on the most recent board meeting of Software in the Public Interest; plus Debian Usability Research; and much more.

Bytemark Hosting has recently started to offer Debian systems as part of their Virtual Machine hosting packages, and are offering a 10% discount to authors of DFSG-compliant free software.

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Gentoo Weekly Newsletter -- Volume 2, Issue 14

The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for April 7, 2003 is out. This week, a note on last week's April Foolery; working toward a more secure Gentoo; and much more.

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Qli Technologies now offering Lycoris Desktop/LX on all Linux Systems

Qli Technologies has partnered with Lycoris to make Lycoris Desktop/LX available on all Qli Linux Computer systems, including Notebooks and the recently announced "Pre-Modded" Linux Systems.

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Announcing Red Hat Linux 9

Here is the official press release for Red Hat Linux 9. Boxed sets are now widely available for purchase at retail locations.

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Trustix Secure Linux

Trustix has released some bug fix advisories:

• Mkinitrd has been updated to better support certain new SCSI controllers.
• A 'notifempty' was added to the logrotate-statement in apache to prevent mail about empty log files.
• Fusion MPT device support has been added to the kernel.

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Mulimidix

Mulimidix is a mini Linux distribution for building a PC-based set-top box and multimedia player system with digital TV, MP3, DivX, etc. support, using VDR, Freevo and other tools. It is currently optimized for i686. Initial version 0.1 was released April 4, 2003.

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PLD RescueCD

PLD RescueCD is a bootable disk that contains a live Linux distribution based on PLD Linux with a 2.4.20 modular kernel. This version uses transparent compression to fit about 130 MB of software onto a single mini CD 50 MB in usable form. These images are small enough to fit on most business card-sized CD-ROMs (approx. 50MB), but can be burned onto any standard CD-R or CD-RW, as well. PLD RescueCD can be used to rescue ailing machines, perform intrusion post-mortems, act as a temporary secure linux-based workstation (using ssh, vpn connecting to remote host - other networking clients are also supported), install PLD Linux, and perform many other as yet unimagined tasks. Initial version 1.00 was released April 6, 2003.

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RIMiGate

RIMiGate is a floppy-based Linux distribution for running WA4DSY's aprsd. Its goal is to make it easy to deploy igates for the APRS project. Version 0.2 was released April 4, 2003.

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Slackware Live CD

Slackware Live CD is a bootable CD containing a Linux operating system. It runs Linux directly from CDROM without installing. The live CD described here is based on Slackware Linux distribution and is downloadable as an ISO. There are also all the scripts and source code needed to build your own live CD. Version 2.9.0.10 was released April 6, 2003.

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MadPenguin announces TykeLinux project

MadPenguin.org announced its TykeLinux (current working title) project, a Linux distribution geared toward child development and learning. The distribution will be based and built upon Ark Linux 1.0a7.1 and the KDE 3.1.x desktop environment. It will include several educational tools, as well as cross-platform compatible office applications. So far this project remains in the planning stage and additional developer's are requested.

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2-Disk Xwindow embedded Linux

2-Disk Xwindow embedded Linux has released source version 1.0.6 with code cleanup. "Changes: The source should now be easier to compile. Some sizable chunks of X libs were removed. Optimizations to BNF were made. The Kaffe Java system was removed from the distribution. 1.4 Mb disk images were made the default build option."

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Astaro Security Linux

Astaro Security Linux has released v3.217 with minor feature enhancements. "Changes: This Up2Date adds a new config option for unsuccessful WebAdmin logins, a new config option for old log file handling and renews the GPG key for Up2Date."

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Morphix

Morphix has released v0.3-4 with major feature enhancements. "Changes: The packages were updated to the latest versions in Debian sid. integrated nvidiadrivers, translucency and forceusb in base. A new background image was added. Support for video resolutions of 1280x1024 and 1600x1200 was added. The gameiso has been released again, including q3a and ut2003 demos."

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NSA Security Enhanced Linux

NSA Security Enhanced Linux has released v2003040708 with major feature enhancements. "Changes: The example policy has been updated with enhancements and cleanups. A number of bugs have been fixed in the SELinux module. The updated module is available for the ia32 2.4.20 Linux kernel. The updated module is also available for both the mainline 2.5.66 Linux kernel and an LSM patched 2.5.66 Linux kernel. The new mainline module also includes work in preparation for a new SELinux API. Finally, a port of SELinux to the arm 2.4.19 kernel is also now available."

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RxLinux

RxLinux has released v1.3.3 with minor feature enhancements. "Changes: A couple of bugs in rxmaster.cgi which were introduced in 1.3.2 were fixed. The rxmaster package now includes both Apache for Linux and Win32. The maximum number of loop devices is now 256. Extra libs were added to the RX-lib-1.0-USR packages. The RX-rxmaster-1.0-ETC package was added to start Apache for RX-rxmaster-1.3.3-USR."

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TopologiLinux

TopologiLinux has released v3.0.0 with major feature enhancements. "Changes: Based on Slackware 9.0 with some extra packages, and now also with ALSA sound drivers included."

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TrustedDebian

TrustedDebian has released v0.9.2 with major feature enhancements. "Changes: This version features transparent proxy support, RSBAC v1.2.2-pre4 patched in but not yet activated, version 200303162116 of PaX, an updated FreeS/WAN, kernel fixes, additional packages, dependency fixes, and some updated packages."

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ttylinux

ttylinux has released v3.1 with minor bugfixes. "Changes: This release updates e3, LILO, and modutils to their latest versions."

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Review of ALT Linux Junior v2.2 (Virtual Sky)

The Virtual Sky Media Group reviews the recently released ALT Linux Junior 2.2. "One thing I like to do after setup is head over to www.grc.com to test my system's vulnerability to Net-attack. Right "out of the box", Junior provided better security to this kind of test than Mandrake or Libranet did. Both Mandrake and Libranet either left certain ports ''open'' or allowed my NetBIOS to divulge certain OS information. Junior prevented all of this. Some good peace of mind for those concerned about their on-line security."

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Self-Hosting Movies with MoviX (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal steps through the process of building a live Linux CD for watching movies. "...a few months ago I looked on the Net for a Linux CD mini-distribution that is able to boot and play automatically all audio/video files on the CD. I was very surprised to find none. Therefore, my only chance to get one was to develop it myself, and so I started working on MoviX. Now, I am not a Linux guru and I know close to zero about multimedia playback, but the beauty of open source is you can put together tools developed by people who know much more than you and still create something new and useful. I put together my knowledge of Slackware management (I've been fond of Slackware since 1994) and the MPlayer ("the" multimedia player) and IsoLinux (an easy-to-use Linux CD bootloader) package I had recently found out on the Net and began building my distribution."

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Total Computer Newbies Meet Debian: Part 1, The Install (OSNews)

This OSNews article tells the story of a couple of computer newbies who are introduced to Debian for their first operating system. "Diane will be using this computer the most. So I explained to her what Windows is and what GNU/Linux is. She already knew that many businesses run on Microsoft programs. She asked me about the state of office and accounting software on Linux. I explained to her, as best I could, what file formats are. I told her that for word processing, OpenOffice could both read and write the Microsoft formats, and what that meant. As far as accounting, I told her about GNUCash, explaining that I knew it could import QuickBooks formats, but did not know if it could save in QuickBooks formats. She did some software reconnaissance on her own, checking prices on Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and QuickBooks. Amazingly enough, in the midst of her information gathering, she met a lady at one of the office supply houses, who also was a Linux fan, and raved to her about it's stability. Diane decided to go with GNU/Linux, having absolutely not so much as one shred of computer experience to her name."

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