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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!
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.
- For each new release of a package, the maintainer must submit a PGP-signed checksum of the package to a central Debian authority.
- The authority creates a MD5 list from all verified packages, and signs it with the authority's PGP key.
- Upon issuing an 'emerge -u world', Debian grabs the MD5 list, verifies the authority's signature on the list, and then uses the MD5 checksums to verify the integrity of the downloaded packages before installing.
I thought a similar sort of mechanism was at least discussed, if not mostly implemented at some point. This model would at least secure the distribution chain, although it of course still leaves users at the mercy of the developer and anybody who's in the developer's system. I think it's been demonstrated that it's time to make this happen.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
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
Help test apt-secure.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
That's what the Bug-Report resulting in this removal said (according to the Woody ChangeLog). I don't have any other information about this, sorry. Note that GNU aspell is still in unstable, so perhaps it was about a specific version being non-free in the past, which happened to be included in woody.
Michael
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
Yes, in a way, Debian really does need to you know what you're doing, how a Linux system works, and what certain packages do. But if you're technically adept, I can tell you that a Debian system is nicer to maintain than Redhat or Mandrake. It's not just apt, it's the way the whole system is designed from a technical perspective. And of course, apt makes installing and maintaining great, and you know that apt is on every Debian system you may encounter. It's not an optional package.
By the way, if you want to make things easier, you just have to know the right package. discover will automatically probe and insert modules every time you boot up. webmin handles easy configurations for many system programs and settings.
Really, the main problem with debian is you have to _know_ that these packages exist, and then install them. Debian will not install these packages by default, because its basic install is just that
Nothing beats the time I visited a client to fix something that they had wrong with their unix server. I discovered it was a Debian machine, but one that didn't have the telnet command installed. A simple apt-get install telnet, and 20 seconds later (it was a modem internet connection
Unless you like to do fresh installs to clear out the clutter you've created from time to time,
This isn't an issue with Debian. Want to clear out the clutter? Just use your favorite apt-get interface to remove all but a basic set of packages. Use cruft to find and remove anything else, then use apt-get to install the stuff you want again. This way you clear out the clutter, but don't lose your configuration.
In practice, I don't really even do the above unless my drive is getting full. Unlike other operating systems (cough Windows cough), Linux doesn't really 'degrade' over time. It may get cluttered, but it continues to work just fine.
to try new things and such
If you run unstable, you will always be trying new things. Just upgrade frequently (I upgrade daily, in general) and you'll always be running new stuff. Also, every time I update I get a new list of packages in my "New Packages" section, and I find it very interesting to take five minutes and scan through them, looking for anything intruiguing.
need a system you can setup on a new set of hardware in under an hour pretty much consistantly
Try Knoppix. It's Instant Debian unstable. Getting it running on a clean box takes nothing more than the time to boot. Getting it installed takes just a few minutes more.
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