 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 240, 18 February 2008 |
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Welcome to this year's 7th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! Do you trust your distribution? Does it have what it takes to provide you with important and timely updates? The issue of operating system and applications security in the era of millions of interconnected multi-user computing systems is more important than ever. In this week's issue we investigate how different Linux distributions handled the much-publicised vmsplice() privilege escalation exploit announced last week. In the news section, the Fedora developer community offers more desktop options to their users, VectorLinux announces a fast, light edition designed for old hardware, and ex-Linspire's Kevin Carmony goes doom and gloom on the CNR.com software installation service. Looking ahead, this week is likely to deliver further opportunities for heavy distro testing with the upcoming arrival of the fifth alpha of Ubuntu 8.04 and the first release candidate for Mandriva Linux 2008.1. Happy reading!
Content:
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| Featured Story |
Distributions and security updates
One of the main Linux stories of the past week was the security vulnerability affecting a considerable range of Linux kernels. The vmsplice() system call, introduced into the kernel in version 2.6.17 (and further expanded in versions 2.6.23 and 2.6.24, which resulted in two additional vulnerabilities) was responsible for the problem. As a result of this code, an unprivileged user logged in to any of the systems running the vulnerable kernel could easily obtain root privileges by executing certain code (this is known as "privilege escalation exploit"). Millions of machines were affected.
The vulnerability was first made public on February 8th. According to the Linux kernel changelog, it was fixed the same day and a new kernel, version 2.6.24.2, was made available on February 11th. The issue was widely publicised on February 11th, when many Linux news sites ran stories describing the problem and some even linked to the code that was capable of exploiting the vmsplice() vulnerability. Although rated as "less critical" (or 2 out of 5 on the severity barometer) by Secunia and "important" (rather than "critical") by Red Hat, any multi-user system running an unpatched kernel was vulnerable, while chances of a successful system compromise also increased dramatically. Even single-user desktop machines could be compromised through an unrelated code execution exploit.
Linux distributions started releasing patches on February 11th, the same day the news became widely known. But how fast were they? Naturally, most distributions will always need some time to evaluate the best possible approach and to test the resulting updates. Much depends also on the number of kernels and products that need to be patched and tested, the availability of the distribution's security experts, work coordination across time zones, and the level of bureaucracy in each organisation. Still, from the end-user's point of view, the sooner the update is released the better.
So is your distribution affected by this vulnerability? And if it is, how would you find out? In the UNIX world, all major software vendors issue security advisories, which they distribute through a variety of channels. A dedicated security mailing list was (and still is) the most popular method of informing users, but other options, such as RSS feeds, press releases or update daemons that periodically check for updates are now also used by some distributions. Still, a security advisory is the most important document - it not only informs about a security issue in a product, it also tells the user what to do to patch the vulnerability.
A number of security advisories were published last week, shortly after the vmsplice() exploit became widely known. Debian GNU/Linux was the first to issue a fix, but within a day or two most major distros followed suit with their own announcements. Of the Linux distributions that have an established policy of releasing security advisories only Gentoo Linux has failed to publish one; although the vmsplice() issue has already been reported in Gentoo's Bugzilla, no security fix has been made available at the time of writing. (Update: Apparently Gentoo does not issue security advisories for the Linux kernel; however the vmsplice() vulnerability was fixed and announcement published on February 13th.)
Nowadays, many popular distributions don't publish security advisories. This is especially true for community projects and desktop distributions, many of which just don't have the manpower to publish formal announcements. There are even distributions that don't provide updates at all. In an ideal world, all Linux users would run a distro that does have a well-established security infrastructure and would be subscribed to their project's security mailing list, but the real world is different. Still, operating system security is something that no serious project or user should compromise on.
Many DistroWatch readers run a Linux distribution that does not appear in the above table. If you are one of them, is your operating system vulnerable to the vmsplice() exploit? It depends. As an example, PCLinuxOS does not publish formal security advisories, but looking at its current directory, all their kernel packages have a time stamp of 11 or 12 February - presumably to correct the vmsplice() issue. If you updated your PCLinuxOS installation during the last few days, you should be safe. Similarly, Linux Mint does not provide security advisories, but the distribution comes with an automatic update utility called mintUpdate, which should have picked up the kernel update from upstream (Ubuntu). Nevertheless, even if PCLinuxOS and Linux Mint do provide security updates, they are still guilty of not making update information available to their users in a clear manner.
Other users might be even less lucky. Some developers of Arch Linux have previously argued that security announcements are redundant for their distribution as it uses the "rolling package update" mechanism with continuous package updates. But a quick look at their core tree reveals that six days after the vmsplice() vulnerability was published, it still only lists the vulnerable 2.6.24.1 kernel (correction: Arch Linux released a fix on February 10th). Users of Sabayon Linux have been left completely to their own devices - the project provides no security advisories or package updates. And although Zenwalk Linux does have a security section in the forum, there is no mention of the vmsplice() vulnerability at all. Many other distributions provide very few clues on whether or not they have provided a patch for the vulnerability or even whether they are aware of it; this includes SimplyMEPIS, VectorLinux, Puppy Linux and others.
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| Miscellaneous News |
Fedora and alternative desktops, VectorLinux Light, Kevin Carmony on the future of CNR.com
 Fedora is often seen as a predominantly GNOME-centric distribution, but ever since the project started encouraging community participation in the development work, there are signs that this old status quo is changing. At least that's how one feels after reading this interview with Sebastian Vahl, Rex Dieter and Kevin Kofler, members of the KDE Special Interest Group (SIG) at Fedora: "There has always been lots of animosity against Fedora on dot.kde.org, the KDE news site, mostly due to old gripes against Red Hat Linux 8.0 (and some of that will probably never go away, it's like the old "Qt is not free" troll which is completely obsolete, yet still comes up from time to time), but lately there have been more and more positive echoes. Doing such PR is not an easy task though, as even correcting obvious inaccuracies can be perceived as flamebait (and thus backfire). On the other front, within Fedora, we're all working on getting KDE recognized as much as possible, ensuring it gets the first class citizen treatment it deserves. All in all, I'm happy with where we're headed."
Still on the subject of Fedora and its desktops, Rahul Sundaram has announced a special Fedora 8 Xfce spin, the project's unofficial, light-weight edition: "I am pleased to announce the immediate release of a brand new and sparkling, Fedora 8 Xfce Spin. Fedora Xfce Spin is a bootable Fedora live CD image available for x86 and x86_64 architecture. It can be optionally installed to hard disk or converted into boot USB images and is ideal for Xfce fans and for users running Fedora on relatively low resource systems. This release includes the latest Xfce release, 4.4.2 that integrates many new features and bug fixes. Along with the basic Xfce desktop environment, Thunar file manager and a comprehensive set of plugins and additional Xfce utilities like Xarchiver archive manager and Orage calendar application is included. All available languages in Fedora has also been integrated with this release." The live CD images are available for download from here: Fedora-8-Live-XFCE-i686.iso (620MB, SHA1, torrent). Fedora-8-Live-XFCE-x86_64.iso (687MB, SHA1, torrent).
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 VectorLinux originally started as a light-weight distribution designed for older hardware, a market long abandoned by most major distro makers. Although the project later also expanded to cover general office computing needs with its SOHO edition, VectorLinux Basic still remains an operating system with a reasonably light footprint. However, to satisfy users who wish to run the Slackware-based distribution on very old hardware, the project announced last week the release of VectorLinux Light: "VectorLinux announces the newest member of the VL5.9 family: VL-Light. VL-Light turns an ageing PC into a usable computer again. Living up to the VL motto of 'When Choice Matters,' we give you lots of choices in a small package. We have included JWM and Fluxbox Window Managers, Xfe and PC Man file manager, Opera, Dillo and Lynx Web Browsers, xine, MPlayer, and XMMS for multimedia, and AbiWord and Gnumeric for office tasks." The first beta of the installation CD is available for download from here: VL5.9-Light-B1.iso (334MB, MD5).
VectorLinux 5.9 "Light" edition running the default JWM desktop
(full image size: 603kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
* * * * *
 Kevin Carmony, a controversial former CEO of Linspire who recently switched his allegiance to Ubuntu, has written an interesting blog entry on the current state of CNR.com, Linspire's flagship software distribution service. Since Linspire has not made enough effort to maintain a good working relationship with Ubuntu, he argues that CNR.com (and, by extension, possibly even Linspire and Freespire), is likely to fail: "Unfortunately, since leaving Linspire, it appears the Ubuntu relationship is on the rocks. I know since I switched to Ubuntu, I haven't even bothered trying CNR.com. The built-in software management system Ubuntu has is a better experience, and all they need to do is add a commercial piece (easy enough for them to do), and they'd have little use for CNR.com. It would appear Linspire has figured this out as well and sees the writing on the wall, and that without Ubuntu, CNR.com will fail."
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| Released Last Week |
LinuxTLE 9.0
LinuxTLE is a Thai community distribution based on Ubuntu, with emphasis on complete support for Thai throughout the user interface. A major new update, version 9.0 "Hua-Hin" and based on Ubuntu 7.10, was announced today. Some of the new features in this release include: support for 3D desktop features with Compiz Fusion; Iceweasel with pango-ligature and LibThai patches for Thai support; Thai-enabled OpenOffice.org 2.3.0; new fonts (Arundina, Angasana, Cordia); updated Thai scalable fonts by TLWG; introduction of the Brasero CD/DVD burning application and DisplayConfigGTK display configuration utility; new artwork and desktop theme. Please read the full release announcement (in Thai) for further details.
LinuxTLE 9.0 - an Ubuntu-based community distribution for Thai speakers
(full image size: 799kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Parted Magic 2.0
Patrick Verner has announced the release of Parted Magic, a specialist live CD designed for hard disk partitioning tasks: "Parted Magic 2.0 is finally released! GParted has been forked to VisParted to add features GParted doesn't have. VisParted can read and write volume labels for most supported file systems. Point and click disk wiping was added. When you mount a partition with VisParted, a Thunar window will open at the selected location. Desktop icons are automatically created for mounted CDs, DVDs and USB flash drives. The boot menu is all new and all the boot options can be displayed by hitting F1. Networking and Firefox were added to surf the web, to get help and to view the online documents. A simple 7zip package management system was created so users can add their own stuff with little effort." Visit the project's news page to read the release announcement.
Parted Magic 2.0, running the recently forked VisParted graphical hard disk partitioning tool
(full image size: 486kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
SLAX 6.0.0
Tomáš Matějíček has announced the final release of SLAX 6.0.0: "SLAX 6 is released. What's new? First, SLAX is officially released in two forms - ISO and TAR. The ISO format (labelled as 'SLAX for CD') is to be burnt to a CD, while the TAR format (labelled as 'SLAX for USB') is for all who need to run SLAX directly from USB media or from a disk. Simply unzip the tar archive directly to your device (to its root directory, it will create 'boot' and 'slax' subdirectories). That's almost all; you only need to make it bootable. For that purpose, navigate to the 'boot' directory and find bootinst.sh (if you are in Linux) or bootinst.bat (if you are in Windows). Run it. Linux users will need to use root account for that. The script will set up the device to be bootable. If you are using 'SLAX for USB', you will notice that all the changes you made are permanent." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information.
SLAX 6.0 - the default desktop
(full image size: 621kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Debian GNU/Linux 4.0r3
Joey Schulze has announced the availability of the third update to Debian GNU/Linux 4.0: "The Debian project is pleased to announce the third update of its stable distribution Debian GNU/Linux 4.0. This update mainly adds corrections for security problems to the stable release, along with a few adjustment to serious problems. The installer has been updated to use and support the updated kernels included in this release. This update also includes stability improvements and added support for SGI O2 machines with 300 MHz RM5200SC (Nevada) CPUs. Flashplugin-nonfree has been removed, as this is closed source and we don't get security support for it. For security reasons, we recommend to immediately remove any version of flashplugin-nonfree and any remaining files of the Adobe Flash Player. Tested updates will be made available via backports.org." Read the rest of the release announcement for a detailed list of all changes.
Greenie Linux 1.2.8 "Battle For Wesnoth"
Stanislav Hoferek has announced the release of Greenie Linux 1.2.8, "Battle For Wesnoth" edition, a live CD featuring the latest version of the popular game. The freely downloadable CD image contains a light-weight operating system based on Xubuntu 7.10 with Linux kernel 2.6.22, Xfce, Wesnoth 1.2.8 with additional campaigns, Poedit (for Wesnoth translators), Gedit with ability to view WML syntax, GIMP 2.4, AbiWord, Xfmedia player, Firefox, Pidgin and gFTP (to send files over Internet). On the CD there are also binaries for Windows (Wesnoth stable 1.2.8, development 1.3.16) and Wesnoth 1.2.8 source code. Also Poedit is here for Windows, Mac OS X and Ubuntu. This is an installable live CD for players, WML programmers and translators. More information is available on the distribution's web site (in Slovak; the live CD itself is in English).
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- Damn Small Solaris. Damn Small Solaris is a minimalist build of OpenSolaris that fits on a 64MB live CD. The project's web site is in Russian.
- NuFW.Live. NuFW.Live is a KNOPPIX-based live CD featuring NuFW, a firewall that adds user-based filtering to Netfilter.
- Tartuga. Tartuga is an remastered build of Damn Small Linux with extra software and functionality.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 25 February 2008.
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1169 (2026-04-20): Lakka 6.1, free software and source-based distributions, FreeBSD Foundation publishes compatible laptop list, Debian holds Project Leader election, Haiku progresses ARM64 port, Mint to extend development cycle, Linux 7.0 released |
| • Issue 1168 (2026-04-13): pearOS 2026.03, EndeavourOS 2026.03.06, which distros are adopting age verification, Arch adjusts its firewall packages, Linux dropping i486 support, Red Hat extends its release cycle, Debian's APT introduces rollbacks, Redox improves its scheduler |
| • Issue 1167 (2026-04-06): Origami Linux 2026.03, answering questions for Linux newcomers, Ubuntu MATE seeking new contributors, Ubuntu software centre is expanding Deb support, FreeBSD fixes forum exploit, openSUSE 15 Leap nears its end of life |
| • Issue 1166 (2026-03-30): NetBSD jails, publishing software for Linux, Ubuntu joins Rust Foundation, Canonical plans to trim GRUB features, Peppermint works on new utilities, PINE64 shows off open hardware capabilities |
| • Issue 1165 (2026-03-23): Argent Linux 1.5.3, disk space required by Linux, Manjaro team goes on strike, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA driver support and builds RISC-V packages, systemd introduces age tracking |
| • Issue 1164 (2026-03-16): d77void, age verification laws and Linux, SUSE may be for sale, TrueNAS takes its build system private, Debian publishes updated Trixie media, MidnightBSD and System76 respond to age verification laws |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Full list of all issues |
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BeaFanatIX
BeaFanatIX was an Ubuntu-based mini live CD with utilities borrowed from KNOPPIX. It was developed by a small group of developers who have forked the successful, but discontinued BeatrIX distribution and added new features and scripts. The main purpose of BeaFanatIX was to provide a small, installable live CD, with good documentation and easy-to-use applications for a variety of desktop tasks.
Status: Discontinued
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