The Debian Project is pleased to announce the official release
of Debian GNU/Linux version 4.0, codenamed ‘etch,’ after 21 months
of constant development. Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating
system which supports a total of eleven processor architectures and
includes the KDE, GNOME and Xfce desktop environments. It also
features cryptographic software and compatibility with the FHS v2.3
and software developed for version 3.1 of the LSB.
Using a now fully integrated installation process, Debian
GNU/Linux 4.0 comes with out-of-the-box support for encrypted
partitions. This release introduces a newly developed graphical
frontend to the installation system supporting scripts using
composed characters and complex languages; the installation system
for Debian GNU/Linux has now been translated to 58 languages.
Also beginning with Debian GNU/Linux 4.0, the package management
system has been improved regarding security and efficiency. Secure
APT allows the verification of the integrity of packages downloaded
from a mirror. Updated package indices won’t be downloaded in their
entirety, but instead patched with smaller files containing only
differences from earlier versions.
Debian GNU/Linux runs on computers ranging from palmtops and
handheld systems to supercomputers, and on nearly everything in
between. A total of eleven architectures are supported including:
Sun SPARC (sparc), HP Alpha (alpha), Motorola/IBM PowerPC
(powerpc), Intel IA-32 (i386) and IA-64 (ia64), HP PA-RISC (hppa),
MIPS (mips, mipsel), ARM (arm), IBM S/390 (s390) and–newly
introduced with Debian GNU/Linux 4.0–AMD64 and Intel EM64T
(amd64).
Debian GNU/Linux can be installed from various installation
media such as DVDs, CDs, USB sticks and floppies, or from the
network. GNOME is the default desktop environment and is contained
on the first CD. The K Desktop Environment (KDE) and the Xfce
desktop can be installed through two new alternative CD images.
Also newly available with Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 are multi-arch CDs
and DVDs supporting installation of multiple architectures from a
single disc.
Debian GNU/Linux can be downloaded right now via bittorent (the
recommended way), jigdo or HTTP; see [this site] for further information.
It will soon be available on DVD and CD-ROM from numerous vendors, too.
This release includes a number of updated software packages,
such as the K Desktop Environment 3.5 (KDE), an updated version of
the GNOME desktop environment 2.14, the Xfce 4.4 desktop
environment, the GNUstep desktop 5.2, X.Org 7.1, OpenOffice.org
2.0.4a, GIMP 2.2.13, Iceweasel (an unbranded version of Mozilla
Firefox 2.0.0.3), Icedove (an unbranded version of Mozilla
Thunderbird 1.5), Iceape (an unbranded version of Mozilla Seamonkey
1.0.8), PostgreSQL 8.1.8, MySQL 5.0.32, GNU Compiler Collection
4.1.1, Linux kernel version 2.6.18, Apache 2.2.3, Samba 3.0.24,
Python 2.4.4 and 2.5, Perl 5.8.8, PHP 4.4.4 and 5.2.0, Asterisk
1.2.13, and more than 18,000 other ready to use software
packages.
Upgrades to Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 from the previous release,
Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 codenamed “sarge,” are automatically handled
by the aptitude package management tool for most configurations,
and to a certain degree also by the apt-get package management
tool. As always, Debian GNU/Linux systems can be upgraded quite
painlessly, in place, without any forced downtime, but it is
strongly recommended to read the release notes for possible issues.
For detailed instructions about installing and upgrading Debian
GNU/Linux, please see the release
notes. Please note that the release notes will be further
improved and translated to additional languages in the coming
weeks.
Related Link:
Debian.org:
Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 [Sarge] Updated