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Debian 3.0r2 Released
FrankoBoy writes "As announced on DistroWatch, Debian 3.0r2 has been released this weekend, with some security issues fixed... and Rock 'n Diamonds dropped because of license problems. Here's the official announcement. This release had been slowed by an attack on Debian boxes discussed Friday."
debian rocks. i can't think of any other linux distro that has been around so long and consistently delivered a great base install and the ability to easily update the entire system. i know a lot of people like to complain about how behind the times debian always is, but this is only done to ensure that each release is as stable and bug-free as possible. the debian developers should be commended for all of their hard work that they've put in over the years, especially in the face of adversity such as the recent security breach.
Way to go guys :-)
:-)
This is the first-ever Debian I'm going to download and try out. I figure I ought to be able to get to know it as well as I know RH before the RHN support is switched off next year.
It's not that I've decided to ditch RH - I may just cough up for the new RH packages, but I'd like to know what my options are
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
But the Debian boxes were rooted in a freer, and more community-oriented manner than their Microsoft counterparts.
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
Hallalujuah!!!!
The hack attack from last week (as cited in the write-up) could have grave effects on Linux servers worldwide if you don't check the MD5 sumations against your downloaded packages.
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
Why are they releasing 3.0r2 now? Aren't they going to release 3.1 on December 1st? Has sarge been set back?
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
Long live Schrodinger's cat...
http://www.wiggy.net/debian/
There are security vulnerabilities in mah-jong.
I must say, those folks at Debian really do there jobs. I personally can't stand using Debian, it just doesn't agree with me, but if I ever need a damn stable server, I'm glad there are people out there looking at the security of mah-jong.
From the Debian 3.0r2 Changelog:
"Rocks-N-Diamonds contains sound, graphics and level data which
violate section 2.3 of the Debian policy manual. Some of the
game content originates with commercial sources that have not
provided explicit permission for their reuse."
BTW, aspell was also removed due to license reasons.
aspell - license problems
cyrus-sasl2 - minor security and other problems
micq - license problems
rocks-n-diamonds - license problems
tmda - unusable
SCO will be furious cause they forgot
Linux Kernel - license problems
Actually, the parent makes me wonder.
There have been a string of cracks against open source/free software interests recently: FSF, Linux kernel CVS, now Debian. I wonder if it's the same person/group behind these attacks, or if there's any pattern to the exploits. Has anybody looked into this possibility? If so, what have they found?
We should be able to take that one down as well.
Help fight continental drift.
Forgive my ignorance but I have a curious question about debian.. is there an unstable distro of debian out there (iso) that has all the latest packages like gnome 2.4.1, kde 3.1.x, etc. It would be nice to have a weekly iso with all the up to date packages.
-----
"I cant teach..... Im a Professor!"
One thing that sticks out: watch your passwords! I think I read that the debian hacks were due to compromised passwords and the kernel hack was due to a compormised password. I guess it's both a good thing (software's secure so you have to social engineer) and a bad thing (social engineering will always work).
What are whittering on about? This is Debian and this bittorrent thingy isn't needed. Use jigdo, or a netinst ISO and apt-get. Kids of today!
First of all, Debian has the most out of date software packages of any major mainstream distros. Even in the unstable version, is KDE 2.2 and Gnome 2.0, with Xfree86 4.1 (A version that really sucks).
/lib/modules, as you are going to need it.
.ko? modconf does all that nasty module stuff
$ konqueror --version
Qt: 3.1.1
KDE: 3.1.3
Konqueror: 3.1.3
$ xdpyinfo |grep "XFree86 version"
XFree86 version: 4.2.1.1
Secondly, its a pain in the goatse to set up, first of all, you are forced to use Kernel 2.2, which is horribly hacked with "backports" to get any use on any modern machine (Read, made after 1999). Good luck memorizing all the *.ko files in
WTF's a
$ uname -r
2.4.20
Configuring XFree86 is hell! If you don't have a Thick X11 orilley book, and a list of your horizontal sync values from your monitor's intruction manual (if you even have one), BOOM! There goes your monitor.
You must have a *really* old monitor if it can't cope with an out of range signal. I admit its been A few years, but xf86config or xf86setup or something was fine when I set up my X.
Even then, good luck getting anything over 640x480@16 colours.
screen #0:
dimensions: 1024x768 pixels (260x195 millimeters)
resolution: 100x100 dots per inch
depths (7): 16, 1, 4, 8, 15, 24, 32
Other distros give you comprehensive PRINTED MANUALS, PHONE SUPPPORT and/or freindly forums where repling RTFM gets you banned!
Yes, pay for the manuals and phone support if you want. For online stuff, I used to go to linuxnewbie.org
Debian has ZERO support for any decent hardware, including USB mice, scanners, Sound cards, heck even Serial devices struggle.
Well, my usb mouse (cordless, mouse # 2 so I can control xine from across the room, but not my main mouse) works fine, as does my USB mp3 player and sound card. My modem was fine too when I used one, but I don't have a scanner. Printer worked too, but I sold it when I emmigrated.
Apt-get has many flaws. First of all it uses a non standard package format (the rest of the world uses RPM, deprecate the DEB format!)
It's a superior format
Debian is falling to pieces, if it is to survive any market share
That's just it, Debian isn't a commercial distro, it'll go As long as people develop it. If it's not for you, fine. TBH If I had time I'd probably migrate my desktop away from Debian. My laptop's too slow to run a modern distro though. Use whatever floats your boat.
Debian has never really limited you by its politics, there are plenty of non-free packages available (in the helpfully named "non-free" section).
If you read the article you would know that this was removed due to containing commercial material for which usage permission had not been granted. Ceasing to distribute the package is completely the right (and legally required) thing for them to do; it doesn't mean you aren't going to be able to use other non-free packages on your machine. In fact, with over 4,000 packages available, Debian is extremely well-supplied with software of all kinds.
"'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'"
- JRR Tolkien.
I would suggest following the instructions on the debian/kde wiki for installing 3.1.X on Sid -- you have to install one package manually and then the rest go like clockwork.
501 Not Implemented
Bzzzt. Wrong. Argumentum ad populum. Try again.
Tell your friends about xenu.net
The other nice thing about Knoppix is that it is very easy to try out, and it also makes for a very painless Debian installer. I use it all the time to install Debian Unstable onto x86 desktop machines (see knoppix-installer in /usr/local/bin). I've been a Debian Developer for several years now, and I've pretty much switched over to using Knoppix for all my installation needs.
I hadn't realized how incredibly limiting some distros were until I decided to install Fedora on a friend's box. Comfortable with Debian, and knowing about Fedora's apt wannabe yum, I figured installing packages would be sinch. wrong.
Let me clearify installing a package in Fedora via yum is identical to apt-get, but the range of packages is very different. Quickly I realized everyone using the large commercial Linux's are stuck with a very small repository of software.
I really took for granted how great apt-get(ing) all my software really is. Before a few days ago I never would have imagined that to install something has common as Mozilla-Firebird I'd have to go and find some website that offered an rpm, which made me incredibly nervous (one thing about rpm's I did remember was mixing them can cause a lot of dependency issues).
Say what you must about Debian, but you can't ignore that it has one of the slickist methods of installing software and updating the system, furthermore, as all the software comes from a trusted repository I know it's most likely going to work perfectly with all my other packages.
transmission_err
Aspell is GNU software, available from ftp.gnu.org, and licensed under the LGPL. Is LGPL no longer free enough? Or is this about the use of the GFDL for some of the documentation?
In any case, removing important GNU software seems a bit over the top.
Help test apt-secure.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
I thought the same thing that you did -- Redhat terminating support for RHL meant that I should get to know another Linux distribution, and Debian seemed popular, so I tried Debian Woody on my new desktop box...for about two days.
The problem is, by all objective standards, Woody is significantly behind Redhat, SuSE, Mandrake and Yellow Dog (all distributions that I've used extensively) in terms of usability. As others will attest, it's often a nightmare to get Woody installed and configured on a machine where Redhat or Mandrake will Just Work (tm). In many ways, using Debian felt like I was using Slackware circa 1998. Too much reinvention of the same old wheels. And don't even get me started on the documentation or community support -- I'm a very technically adept guy (I've been using Linux since 1995), and I find the technical support attitude that surrounds Debian to be...well, elitist, to say the least.
That said, this is a new release, so maybe things have changed completely. But if you're like me, and you have to get work done that doesn't involve futzing with config files and kernel modules, be very wary of Debian. (Not incidentally, Fedora is a very nice distribution, and it supports apt too....)
Let's try not to let fact interfere with our speculation here, OK?
From the Debian website:
Debian would rather you didn't download the ISO's, in favor of Jigdo. However, I prefer ISO's. I live having the whole distro laid out in however many CD's it takes, so I don't have to worry about the network running or having everything I need to do the install.
Sometimes distros forget to include stuff you need in a specific package. Getting everything at once helps to preclude that inevitability.
So again I ask, who has the torrent?
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
I switched to Debian several years ago after reading a Slashdot article announcing a new Debian release. I had already moved from Slackware to RedHat before that, and was never really impressed with the latter. I fell in love with Debian right away, and was always impressed with the project's desire to do things right.
;-)
Debian has its own ways of doing things, and as with any other distribution, you will be more productive if you learn and conform to these conventions rather than fighting them.
I wonder how many people will give Debian a try after reading this article. Hopefully those who do will find the experience as rewarding as I have
Actually, it ships with a number of different 2.4 kernels also. If you do nothing but keep hitting the enter key, you will get the most conservative install possible (with a 2.2 kernel). If you read a paragraph or two of documentation or the install help screen, it will tell you how to select a kenel. Also, the different CDs in the set are all bootable, and use different kenels to start the install if you want to do it that way. If all else fails, and you install a 2.2 kernel, type apt-get install kernel-image-# and you should be ready to go.
What about this?
The thing with Debian though is that once you get use to it, you realise that you have no need for the CDs. Well, I retract: if you don't have a good internet connection, but then you probably aren't downloading the ISO anyway. For people wanting to deploy multiple machines without using a lot of bandwidth - it can be cached locally.
I just found my Debian 2.2 vanilla boot floppies and CD disk set this weekend during a cleanup of my office - I don't think I've touched them since I originally installed the machine 2.5 yrs ago.
Why spend your time downloading packages you don't need? Get the base system and then just apt-get what you need after that. Having the whole thing on CDs is just a feel-good thing for people not used to Debian. I find it offensive that I have about 20 Mandrake CDs that I will probably never need to use again as they're out of date and those versions of Mandrake cannot be updated online the way Debian can.
the thing is, that the best way to install it is through the netinstall and for that you only need a quite small iso to kick the installer going. you don't often need isos of it, for old installations update automatically very simply and it is _not_ preferable to update them from cd's. so for them it is preferable to have them created from the packages on the machine of the guy who wants those isos. also i imagine that a full iso package would weight quite a lot nowadays. this is fundamentally different from the "get the isos, that could come in a shrinkwrap package, and pop the cd's in to update to the next version" method of some other distributions.
and their mirrors for the packages are plenty and fast as hell as well(they seem to have quite formidable amount of support from the academic world with bandwith resources to donate). for me updating my debian box it takes more time to unpack than it takes to download, thanks to the mirror that is quite nearby on a fat pipe.
also a lot of people prefer to not run the 'stable' distribution as their desktops and so you would need many different sets of those isos that would be need to be updated periodically to reflect the changes in the distributions.
(however some might prefer to use knoppix or similar and do a hdinstall from there, if you just wanted a quite up to date system on a cd that works easily.)
all this said i'm pretty sure that there are some torrents somewhere for some iso pack, for that is the nature of the community big enough that everything will appear.
btw there's alternative (net)installation boot cd's as well should you wish for example xfs support & some things like that. and be sure to choose an apt-source that is fast since the chances are that you will find one pretty easily, and also spend the time to learn that where you can add additional sources(for additional software not in the official distributions http://www.apt-get.org is a pretty good place to look from).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
the 'unstable' 'stable' and 'testing'
names are symlinks for one of the named
debian distributions.
woody is currently the stable version.
the stable version which will usually have
slightly older software, but because it's been
tested for a much longer time
it's better to use on business servers.
sarge is currently the testing version.
it should probably be for workstation/home use.
the packages are newer, but not as bug-free.
while it could be used in a production environment,
stable will always be a safer bet.
as the stable version, woody gets mainly
security updates. at some point, sarge
will become well testing enough that
woody will be retired (like 'potato' before it),
and sarge will become the current stable branch.
a new fork will be created at that point,
and become the new testing version.
'sid' will always be the unstable branch of
debian. you don't want to use 'unstable'.
it will almost always have the newest
software versions, but they will probably
break your system. if you see something you
like, download it singly, don't install
sarge to get it.
in short...
get sarge/testing to try out debian.
if there's problems, or you want older
more tested software, get woody/stable.
if all you want is problems,
for your own mind to solve,
get sid/unstable.