Debian 6.0 includes more than 10,000 new packages like the browser Chromium, the monitoring solution Icinga, the package management front end Software Center, the network manager wicd, the Linux container tools lxc and the cluster framework Corosync, according to Debian.
Many other significant server OS packages have been updated, including PostgreSQL 8.4.6, MySQL 5.1.49, Apache 2.2.16, Tomcat 6.0.18, Asterisk 1.6.2.9 and Xen Hypervisor 4.0.1 (dom0 as well as domU support).
If you’ve ever looked at installing Linux open source servers on anything
out of the ordinary — an old PowerPC based Mac or a PS3, for example — you’ll
know that not all Linux distros are up to the job. Debian 6.0 remains as versatile
as the best of them, running on nine different architectures, spanning everything
from handhelds to high-end servers. The architectures supported are: 32-bit
PC/Intel IA-32 (i386), 64-bit PC/ Intel EM64T/x86-64 (amd64), Motorola/IBM
PowerPC (powerpc), Sun/Oracle SPARC (sparc), MIPS (mips (big-endian) and mipsel
(little-endian), Intel Itanium (ia64), IBM S/390 (s390) and ARM EABI (armel).
If you’ve got an Alpha or PA-RISC machine you’re out luck, as these are no
longer supported.
The evidence for this is the renaming of “Custom Debian Distributions,” those specially packages distros tailored for specific markets: DebiChem for chemistry, Debian GIS for geographical information systems, Debian Med for biomedical research and so on.
So if they are no longer called “Custom Debian Distributions,” what’s the new name for them?
The answer: “Debian Pure Blends.” For a distribution with a nice homely name like Debian, founded by boyfriend and girlfriend team Debra (Lynn) and Ian (Murdock) and steeped in Linuxey wholesomeness, Debian Pure Blends stinks of sharp suits and marketing consultants. Excuse me while I go outside and snigger.
Paul Rubens is a journalist based in Marlow on Thames, England. He has been programming, tinkering and generally sitting in front of computer screens since his first encounter with a DEC PDP-11 in 1979.
Paul Rubens is a technology journalist based in England and is an eSecurity Planet and Datamation contributor.
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