 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)
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 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.
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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 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 |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Ultima Linux
Ultima Linux was a Slackware-compatible Linux distribution available for Intel and AMD-based personal computers. Although first intended as a lightweight, techie-oriented desktop system when development began in November 2004, Ultima has since evolved into a highly stable distribution supporting both desktop and server capabilities. Ultima Linux was built around the K Desktop Environment (KDE), and includes many popular applications such as Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, the OpenOffice.org office suite, the GIMP image editor, MPlayer and Xine media players, and many others. It borrows Slackware's TGZ package format, and can be extended with additional software from a public repository, or various third-party sites.
Status: Discontinued
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