See also: last week's Distributions page.

Note: The list of Linux distributions has moved to its own page.

Distributions

News and Editorials

A New Distribution List. Work has begun on updating the LWN Distribution List. Many people will remember how the long lists of Linux distributions once lined the sides of this page. Then they moved to a page of their own, out of sight and out of mind for many. For some time this list has been falling into a state of disrepair. New distributions were added, but only rarely were defunct distributions removed. Many of the links have gone unchecked since they were first added.

That's in the process of changing. It doesn't show on the current page, but a new list is growing in the background. Entries will look something like this:

Xitnalta Alindis
Link: http://alindis.sunsite.dk/
http://freshmeat.net/projects/alindis/
A comprehensive guide to building a GNU/Linux distribution.

Many people have written to LWN with pointers to new distributions, suggestions for new or rearranged categories, and with the occasional dead link. While it may have seemed that these suggestions dropped into a black hole, they have all actually dropped into a mail folder for further consideration. Less than a third of the list has been checked and updated so far and numerous dead links, changed links, and out-of-place items have been identified. Hopefully a new list will be forthcoming by the end of the month. In the meantime all suggestions for improvement will be considered.

New Distributions

Debian-Med. LinuxMedNews has an announcement for Debian-Med, a medicine oriented Debian distribution project. The project includes: "Support for general practice and laboratory research. The general idea is adopted from the Debian Junior project. So we provide a set of packages which have dependencies from Debian packages which help solve certain tasks."

IPCop Firewall. The IPCop Firewall is a Linux firewall distribution. It is geared toward home and SOHO users with a user-friendly, task-based design. The current version is 0.1.0 and more information can be found at its SorceForge project page. (Thanks to Charles Williams)

Trinity Rescue Kit. The Trinity Rescue Kit version 0.3 has been announced. The TRK is a bootable CD-Rom based on the Red Hat 7.1 distribution.

Xitnalta Alindis. The Xitnalta Alindis project provides a comprehensive guide to building a GNU/Linux distribution. A new draft of the Alindis Documentation has been released.

Distribution News

Debian Weekly News. The Debian Weekly News for January 1 is out. Covered topics include a new net installation CD for Woody, installing evolution on Woody via the apt "pinning" capability, a proposed new package upload policy, and more.

The new Debian maintainer program is working out well, but new sponsors are needed. All Debian developers are encouraged to become sponsors to new maintainers so the process will continue to work.

Here's an update on the state of the potato, the upcoming 2.2r5 release.

Mandrake News. The Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter #24 for January 1 contains articles on MandrakeClub, the new Mandrake Shareholder Newsletter, Cooker ISO images and much more.

The Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter #25 for January 8 covers MandrakeSoft's third anniversary, the newly-available 8.1 ProSuite Gold Edition, and more.

The PHP packages provided for Linux-Mandrake 7.2 in MDKSA-2001:077 did not have support for the mail() function. This update provides that support.

Red Hat News. There will soon be, once again, a version of Red Hat Linux for the Alpha architecture. Red Hat has announced that an Alpha port of Red Hat Linux 7.2 will be available in "Q1 2002."

Red Hat 7.2 for Itanium is available now.

Here's an enhancement advisory for teTeX on Red Hat Linux 7.2 - i386.

Slackware. An upgraded gcc-3.0.3 package, with fixed install script symlink bugs, is now available according to the ChangeLog.

Trustix Secure Linux. Trustix Secure Linux has been hard at work fixing bugs. Here is a note from TSL with some added information. And here are the packages that have been updated.

• stunnel
• proftpd
• vixie-cron
• Apache
• rp-pppeo
• OpenSSH
• Inetd
• Postfix
• LPRng
• FreeSWAN
• Console-tools
• initscripts
• Portmap
• nfs-utils
• mysql
• Samba

Yellow Dog Linux. The "Complete Yellow Dog Linux" package is now available.

Minor Distribution updates

2-Disk Xwindow System. The 2-Disk Xwindow System is a small Linux distribution which includes libc2.1, busybox, tinylogin, e3, pppd, several daemons, X, alloywm, chimera, and xpaint. The kernel (2.4.14) supports umsdos, ext2, initrd, floppy, iso9660, PPP, and networking. Version 1.2rc05 was released January 8.

ClumpOS. ClumpOS is a CD-based Linux/MOSIX mini-distribution designed to allow users to quickly, or temporarily, add nodes to a MOSIX cluster. Version R4.3 was released on January 2.

Enterprise Linux 3.0. ImageStream has announced an upgrade to Enterprise Linux 3.0.

floppyfw. floppyfw released development version 1.9.17 of its Linux firewall on a single floppy.

Sorcerer GNU Linux. Sorcerer GNU Linux is a source based GNU Linux distribution. Version 20020103 is now available.

Distribution Reviews

Beehive Linux: A review (linux.nf). Here is a reveiw of Beehive Linux. "I'm impressed with the stability and maturity of this newcomer Linux distribution. It's happily running on my test machine, and, if I can clear up a few more details (and get Galeon running!), I may put it on my production machine."

Redmond Linux: a review (linux.nf). Redmond Linux is reviewed at the Linux.nf site. "I have been following the development of Redmond Linux for a while now, never actually using it. I decided to change around my LAN, and figured now was as good a time as any to give it a try. All I can say is wow. Flawless install in under 20 minutes on a duron600@1050 abit kt7 256megs, generic nic, SBPC 128, tnt2 m64. If you're frustrated by linux, or are thinking about trying it out read on. This is simply the best option for those looking for a windows alternative, or a linux playground/schoolyard."

Section Editor: Rebecca Sobol

Please note that not every distribution will show up every week. Only distributions with recent news to report will be listed.

Next: Development