Debian Developers to Determine Lenny's Fate
Free Linux distro Debian has been working steadily on its next version 5.0 of the OS, known as Lenny. Now developers have been called in for a vote to determine the course of its general release.
The Lenny Release General Resolution that brings the issue to a vote among Debian developers solicits responses in one of seven choices, as required by the Debian Constitution. Each of the choices is explained in detail and developers are required to rank the seven choices and return the ballot signed with a public key. The vote acknowledges the constitution and what further action to take based on the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG).
The debate centers around whether or not to accept proprietary firmware in Debian, with or without published source code, and if the guidelines could thereby be violated. Part of the debate also addresses possible violations of the GPL. One of the choices is to assume that these proprietary firmware "blobs" comply unless proven otherwise. Blobs are typically microcode that drive hardware components. As described in the First Call for Votes, these blobs are often distributed by firmware vendors without sources or documentation. Through one of its voting choices, the release team allows the option to exclude these source requirements: "By excluding such firmware from Debian we exclude users that require such devices... or make it unnecessarily hard for them."
The issue makes it clear that the conflicts between a pragmatic solution and the tenets of free software have, at least in part, contributed to delaying release of the new Debian version. Choice 1 ("Reaffirm the Social Contract") says in part, "we will delay the release of Lenny until such point that the work to free the operating system is complete (to the best of our knowledge as of 1 November 2008)." Choice 2, allowing Lenny to release with proprietary firmware, acknowledges progress in the kernel firmware, but asserts that "new issues in the kernel sources have cropped up fairly recently" that have not been addressed. The project team assures the community that the freedom of kernel distribution won't be compromised, but doesn't want the debate to push the release date indefinitely into the future. Choice 4 gives the release team empowerment to decide about allowing the DFSG violations.
The rules of the decision-making are included in the Debian Constitution. The voting members have until December 21, 2008, to submit their ranking of choices.
The original release of Debian GNU Linux 5.0 was to have been September 2008, which was changed to November, and now by the project's reckoning more realistically to be June of 2009. Linux Magazine Online had covered this in an October article.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
AlmaLinux 10.0 Beta Released
The AlmaLinux OS Foundation has announced the availability of AlmaLinux 10.0 Beta ("Purple Lion") for all supported devices with significant changes.
-
Gnome 47.2 Now Available
Gnome 47.2 is now available for general use but don't expect much in the way of newness, as this is all about improvements and bug fixes.
-
Latest Cinnamon Desktop Releases with a Bold New Look
Just in time for the holidays, the developer of the Cinnamon desktop has shipped a new release to help spice up your eggnog with new features and a new look.
-
Armbian 24.11 Released with Expanded Hardware Support
If you've been waiting for Armbian to support OrangePi 5 Max and Radxa ROCK 5B+, the wait is over.
-
SUSE Renames Several Products for Better Name Recognition
SUSE has been a very powerful player in the European market, but it knows it must branch out to gain serious traction. Will a name change do the trick?
-
ESET Discovers New Linux Malware
WolfsBane is an all-in-one malware that has hit the Linux operating system and includes a dropper, a launcher, and a backdoor.
-
New Linux Kernel Patch Allows Forcing a CPU Mitigation
Even when CPU mitigations can consume precious CPU cycles, it might not be a bad idea to allow users to enable them, even if your machine isn't vulnerable.
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.5 Released
Notify your friends, loved ones, and colleagues that the latest version of RHEL is available with plenty of enhancements.
-
Linux Sees Massive Performance Increase from a Single Line of Code
With one line of code, Intel was able to increase the performance of the Linux kernel by 4,000 percent.
-
Fedora KDE Approved as an Official Spin
If you prefer the Plasma desktop environment and the Fedora distribution, you're in luck because there's now an official spin that is listed on the same level as the Fedora Workstation edition.