See also: last week's Distributions page.

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

Distributions

News and Editorials

Distribution list progress report. The LWN distribution list, v0.5 is available here. This is not the final version. Two or three dozen distributions have yet be to added. The categories are still in a state of flux. There are over 200 distributions on our list. Not all are active. Some may just be websites for projects that never really ever got off the ground. Over all, there's a lot of information there, which we hope will be useful.

Distribution News

Caldera releases OpenLinux 3.1.1. Here is the press release on OpenLinux 3.1.1, now available from Caldera. It features a 2.4.13 kernel, substantial internationalization support, and a $249 price tag for the server version.

Debian News. Here's The Debian Weekly News for January 23, with looks at the upcoming Debian mini-conference in Brisbane, whether people uploading non-free packages should get sponsors, progress on the Woody freeze, a VAX distibution, and more.

Debian Woody bug hunting season. Anthony Towns has sent an announcement to the Debian Project on how to get the Woody distribution into shape for release. The problem, it seems, is that bug fixes are simply not getting into the distribution; this leads to a bit of a change in policy. "The reason we've been so poor at this, is that for some reason it's become taboo for anyone except the package's maintainer to make uploads. There is no good reason for this, and there are many reasons against it. As of now this is no longer the case. Non-maintainer uploads of packages are *okay*. If you're not uploading new versions of your package when improvements become available in a timely manner, don't act surprised if someone else does."

Mandrake Linux. The Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter for January 29 is available. The primary topic is the release of the first beta of Mandrake Linux 8.2.

The first beta of Mandrake Linux 8.2 has escaped. Become a beta tester, and help tame the wild beast. Here's an article about getting involved and reporting bugs.

Ximian Desktop is now available for Mandrake 8.1.

SME Server V5. Mitel Networks announced the immediate availability of version 5.1 of the SME Server V5. This version of the SME Server has several new features, including Windows 2000 and XP domain logons, User quotas, USB printer support, and more.

MontaVista Linux 2.1. MontaVista has announced the forthcoming availability of MontaVista Linux 2.1. MontaVista Linux is the new name for what used to be called "Hard Hat Linux." Features in the new distribution (available in March) include a 2.4.17 kernel, support for six architectures, and cross-development tools for several Linux distributions (and even Windows NT).

Red Hat Enhancement Advisories. Red Hat has released an enhancement advisory covering XFree86 4.1.0, Mesa 3.4.2, Xconfigurator, and xinitrc. These packages are available for Red Hat Linux 7.1, and 7.2. Another advisory for vim 6.0 is available for RH 7.2.

Slackware Linux. The primary Slackware FTP site ftp.slackware.com has moved to a new machine (533MHz/512MB). Even though its bigger and faster, there's still a bandwidth crunch on the new server, so they have begun the task of compiling an updated mirrors list. If you're running a Slackware mirror site, please write to mirrors@slackware.com to get on the new list.

There are new glibc and XFree86 packages are available in slackware-current. See the changelog for details. If you are running Slackware-stable, make sure you get the latest security fixes. Here's the changelog for the stable version.

Trustix Secure Linux. Trustix Secure Linux has issued bugfix advisories for samba (to include winbind in TSL 1.5), freeswan (applying the x509 patch in TSL 1.5), and e2fsprogs (including a number of bug fixes for TSL 1.5).

Yellow Dog Linux. Yellow Dog Linux has issued a bugfix announcements for freetype and tmpwatch.

Minor Distribution updates

ROOT Linux. Root Linux released 1.3pre1 stable. This release contains many updates and bugfixes. This release uses CUPS for the printing system and PureFTPD for the default FTP daemon. The installation has been improved, and ext3 support was added. This release contains Linux 2.4.17, glibc 2.2.5, KDE 2.2.2, and XFree86 4.2.0.

ttylinux. ttylinux released 1.18 with minor feature enhancements.

Xitnalta Alindis. Xitnalta Alindis released version 0.0.2 with major feature enhancements.

Distribution Reviews

The Sorcerer GNU Linux Distribution (DistroWatch). DistroWatch reviews Sorcerer Linux. "Just think about this for minute - since the vast majority of Linux software comes with source code, why is it necessary to download binary files that somebody compiled on a particular hardware platform and included all sorts of options to run it on thousands of different hardware configurations? Would it not be more logical to compile everything on your own machine, ensuring that the code is optimised for exactly your hardware?"

CRUX Linux 0.9.2 review (Linuxdot.org). Linuxdot.org reviews CRUX 0.9.2. "On the software side of things, CRUX receives some welcome updates, like the latest stable kernel, 2.4.17, the latest stable WindowMaker, 0.80.0, the latest XMMS, 1.2.6, and libogg and libvorbis, 1.0rc3. Effectively everything has been updated to the lastest stable version, giving CRUX that nice cutting-edge feel."

LindowsOS sneak preview -- it's not vaporware after all (NewsForge). NewsForge reviews the LindowsOS sneak preview. "Since LindowsOS is based on Xandros, which in turn is based on Debian, I was able to use apt-get to install a few useful Linux apps like Netscape and The Gimp. Don't try to download and compile sources from the get-go because gcc and other requisite items don't come installed with LindowsOS."

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.

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