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The fifth element ... ahem... Alpha release of the upcoming Ubuntu 7.10 (codename Gutsy Gibbon) was released last night. Tribe 5 comes with HOT new features and improvements, like a graphical configuration tool for X, new printing system and some hot Ubuntu Firefox features: "The Ubuntu developers are hurrying to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source Community has to offer. Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 5 is the fifth alpha release of Ubuntu 7.10, and this alpha release brings a host of excellent new features."
What's new in Ubuntu 7.10 Tribe 5?
• GNOME 2.19.90
• Graphical configuration tool for X that allows you to set up dual monitors, change the default resolution for all users or change your monitor's refresh rate without having to turn to the terminal
• New Features for Firefox
a). Apt-Enabled Plugin Finder Wizard
b). Extension Manager integration
• New Printing System which creates a default virtual PDF printer. Also, gnome-cups-manager has been replaced with system-config-printer.
• Improved Restricted Manager GUI
What's new in Kubuntu 7.10 Tribe 5?
• KDM Artwork
• Strigi is now fully integrated into Kubuntu
• KDE Sudo (GUI for sudo)
• OpenSync in KDE PIM
• KDE PIM Enterprise Branch
• KioskTool
• Adept has new hot features
• KMail and GPG
• Virtual Keyboard
What's new in Xubuntu 7.10 Tribe 5?
• Improved printing system
• New Features for Firefox
• Artwork Updates
• The Desktop has been rearranged
The openSUSE team is working hard on the new version of their free Linux operating system, scheduled for release somewhere in October, very close to the Ubuntu 7.10 release. They are proud to announce today the second beta version of openSUSE 10.3. This beta comes with the latest and greatest Linux kernel 2.6.22.3, GLibc 2.6.1 and an improved YaST infrastructure. Let's have a quick look at the changes compared to the first beta:
• Linux kernel 2.6.22.3
• glibc 2.6.1
• libzypp 3.18.2
• Amarok 1.4.7
• Banshee 0.13.1
• Compiz 0.5.4
• Qt 4.3.1
• Thunderbird 2.0.0.5
• Wine 0.9.43
• more documentation and applications on the one CD installation media
YaST infrastructure was improved to allow writing complete YaST modules
• Bootloader-related improvements: openSUSE 10.3 will use "chainloader" if it detects additional installations' bootloader code in other partitions, otherwise "configfile" sections will be used (see Call for Testing below!)
• improved package lists of 1-CD GNOME and KDE
• countless bug fixes in every component
As usual, the openSUSE team urges users to test this beta release and report back through the openSUSE's bugzilla. The areas that require attention are:
• HAL
- compare lshal output with lshal output from <= Beta1
- check if you get an info on the desktop when you insert a USB-disk/stick, DVD/CDs etc. and if the volumes get mounted correctly
- test if you are able to umount/eject the media from the desktop
- try to mount LUKS (encrypted filesystem) media
- check if suspend is working correctly (via KPowersave or g-p-m)
- test if you can change the brightness of your laptop panel on <= Beta1, are you able to do the same with the new HAL version?
• libzypp / Package Management / Update
- before you report a bug, make sure to check for duplicates
• perl-Bootloader/Yast-Bootloader
As we switched to using chainloader or configfile sections for other installations, instead of just using the default entry as image section, please check if all other installed operating systems are still bootable.
The 2.6.22.4 version from the 2.6 stable Linux kernel branch was released last night and it fixes an important vulnerability that allowed an unprivileged local user to send arbitrary signals to a child process despite security restrictions:
"This fixes a vulnerability in the "parent process death signal" implementation discoverd by Wojciech Purczynski of COSEINC PTE Ltd. and iSEC Security Research.", stated Greg Kroah-Hartman.
In a sane environment, non-root users can't send signals to processes running with different UID, but this vulnerability found in the Linux kernel by Wojciech Purczynski, allowed any local user to bypass security restrictions and send arbitrary signals to any child process executed by the user
Changes from version 2.6.22.3 to 2.6.22.4:
• Reset current->pdeath_signal on SUID binary execution (CVE-2007-3848)
The 2.6.22 Linux kernel includes features and drivers such as:
• New Slab allocator: SLUB
• New Wireless stack
• New Firewire stack
• Signal/timer events notifications through file descriptors
• Blackfin architecture
• UBI
• Secure RxRPC sockets
• Process footprint measurement facility
• utimensat()
Graphic drivers:
• pm3fb: Preliminary 2.4 to 2.6 port
• New framebuffer driver (vt8623fb) for VIA VT8623
• Hecuba framebuffer driver
• arkfb: new framebuffer driver for ARK Logic cards
• atmel_lcdfb: AT91/AT32 LCD Controller framebuffer driver
• Add Sun XVR-500 framebuffer driver. (commit) and Sun XVR-2500 framebuffer driver
Network drivers:
• Mellanox ConnectX InfiniBand adapters driver
• Marvell Libertas 8388 802.11b/g USB driver
• zr364xx V4L2 driver for USB webcams based on the zr364xx chipsets
The Linux Kernel is the essential part of all Linux Distributions, responsible for resource allocation, low-level hardware interfaces, security, simple communications, and basic file system management.
Linux is a clone of the Unix operating system, initially written from scratch by Linus Torvalds, assisted by a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims to achieve POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance.
