On Aug 07, Joey Hess wrote: > So what I tried to do (and it should work well as I'm just waking up) > is read this announcement as if I was one of the slashdot hordes, or > anyone else not too technically inclined, skimming Yet Another > Unimportant Release Anouncement. My aims were to see if it was too long, > and if it got the important points out there first, where the casual > skimmer will see them. [...] > > * New packages: > > + postfix - A new secure mail transport agent developed at > > IBM. > > + openssh - A free implementation of the secure shell, > > enhanced > > by the OpenBSD project. > > + openldap - LDAP client and server packages, including > > bindings to C, Perl, and Python. > .... > > Once I got to this list, and especially the one below it, I was feeling > overwhelmed by complxity. There's too much data here. I think the average > skimmer would stop reading about here. What will they have read? > > - New debian 2.2 > - Tested forever > - Some alien thing > - New libc and kernel > > I'm not sure these are our core messages for this announcement. I think > our core messages are: > > - New debian 2.2, dedicated to Joel. > - What it's all about, and a human interest angle. > - What is Debian > -- Because not everyone knows. > - Simplified install, with DHCP and stuff > -- This get the clueless hordes at least thinking about giving it a > try. > - 2 new achitectures: powerpc and arm (run Debian on your netwinder or > <some common supported ppc system>) > -- This gets people using those arch's interested. > - Same easy upgrades as always > -- This gives existing users a push to upgrade. > - Where to get Debian > -- So anyone we've interested now moves on to giving it a look. > > We have a secondary message that is explaining all the nifty new stuff > that is in potato, but I think it's clearly a secondary message. It's > only going to interest people who are existing users who are considering > upgrading Debian, and either arn't sure, or want something to read while > they're waiting for apt to download potato, plus perhaps people who > don't use Debian yet but are interested to see what we're doing that's > so special. As such, this part should be kept fairly short. > > In general, then, this announcement needs to be trimmed down. It needs > to have the most important points moved to the top. It needs each > paragraph to start with an important point, on the assumption that that > is all some people will be reading. > > I'm going to try to write a draft incorporating these ideas today. Before you start, attached is a third draft that reorganizes these points, adds some explanation at the start about Debian, etc. It will probably save some time reorganizing, if nothing else. (I'm attaching the HTML and lynx -dump output.) Chris
Debian 2.2 Released
The Debian Project is pleased to announce the latest release of the
Debian GNU/Linux Operating System, version 2.2 (codename "potato").
This release has been in development for approximately 18 months, and
has been extensively continuously tested by several thousand
developers and end-users; accordingly, we believe Debian 2.2 is an
extremely well-tested Linux distribution. Debian 2.2 can be downloaded
from [1]our release page, and is available on CD-ROM from several
[2]vendors as well.
Debian 2.2 is [3]dedicated to the memory of Joel "Espy" Klecker, 21, a
Debian developer who died unexpectedly on 11 July 2000, just a few
weeks before Debian 2.2 was released. Joel was a valued member of our
project, both for his contributions to our distribution and his
friendship. He will be missed.
The Debian Project consists of several hundred developers scattered
across six continents, most of whom develop and package software for
the distribution in their spare time. Debian is known for its highly
stable releases, a commitment to free software, its strict packaging
standards, and its publically-accessible bug tracking system.
Perhaps the most significant change in Debian 2.2 is our transition to
version 2.1.3 of the GNU C Library (also known as libc 6.1).
This release also includes the latest stable Linux kernel (2.2.16),
updated with important security and stability fixes expected to go
into the 2.2.17 kernel. The 2.2 kernel series includes significant
improvements in usability and stability; it also includes more
hardware support, for both older and newer products; laptop users will
particularly notice improvements in the PCMCIA subsystem.
Debian 2.2 also includes support for two new architectures, PowerPC
and ARM; with this addition, Debian has now released a distribution on
six architectures, more than any other Linux distribution. Of course,
Debian continues to support the Alpha, Intel 80x86, Motorola 680x0,
and SPARC platforms. We expect even more architectures to be released
with "woody," our current development tree.
Our installation system has been simplified and improved since Debian
2.1: we now have better network installation capabilities (including
BOOTP/DHCP configuration), a simplified configurator for the X Window
System, an improved "task" selector (for deciding what purposes your
system will be used for), and serial console support on more
architectures. Our after-reboot configuration is now handled by a new
package, called base-config, and has a more appealing interface using
our debconf configuration system. For existing Debian users, the apt
tools continue to provide a painless upgrade path from any previous
release.
International users are also better served by Debian 2.2. Japanese
support has been integrated into the core Debian archive, and other
non-Latin character encodings are also better supported through wider
internationalization (I18N) support. European languages are also
better supported, with more and better translations to more languages.
Debian 2.2 includes approximately 2800 distinct source packages. Some
of the most significant package changes are:
* Among our 1200 new packages in Debian 2.2:
+ postfix - A new secure mail transport agent developed at IBM.
+ openssh - A free implementation of the secure shell, enhanced
by the OpenBSD project.
+ openldap - LDAP client and server packages, including
bindings to C, Perl, and Python.
+ w3m - New text-mode browser, with support for tables. (An
SSL-enabled version is also available.)
+ ruby - An interpreted, object-oriented scripting language;
syntactically similar to Perl.
+ lm-sensors - Kernel modules for monitoring hardware sensors,
like the temperature sensors included in modern PCs.
+ gdm - The GNOME display manager.
+ cvsup - An efficient mirroring system designed to work well
with the Concurrent Versioning System (CVS)
+ everybuddy - An all-in-one messaging client, compatible with
AOL's Instant Messanger, ICQ, and Yahoo! Chat.
+ tidy - An HTML sanitizer, developed by the World Wide Web
Consortium.
+ xplanet - Displays images of the Earth (or other planets) on
your desktop.
+ debbugs, jitterbug - Problem report tracking systems.
+ reportbug - A tool to report problems in Debian.
+ zope - A web application server suited to developing dynamic
web sites, such as portals and weblogs.
+ xmms - The X Multimedia System; an audio player, similar to
the popular WinAmp program available for another platform.
+ logrotate - A log rotation tool, developed by Red Hat
Software.
+ kaffe - A free, JIT-capable, virtual machine for Java
bytecode.
+ gnome-napster, gnapster, gnap - Three interfaces to the
popular MP3 sharing service.
+ Last, but not least: 56 new games.
* Our nearly 800 updated packages include:
+ XFree86 3.3.6 - The X Window System, X11R6.3.
+ GCC 2.95.2 (formerly EGCS) - The GNU C/C++ compiler.
+ Perl 5.005.03 - The ubiquitous scripting language.
+ Python 1.5.2 - An object-oriented, interpeted language known
for its relatively clean syntax.
+ PAM 0.72 - Pluggable Authentication Modules.
+ GTK+/GLib 1.2.7 - The free widget set.
+ GNOME 1.0.56 (You can get GNOME 1.2 packages for Debian 2.2
from [4]Helix Code) - A free desktop environment.
+ ncurses 5, S-Lang 1.3.9 - Terminal drawing libraries.
+ teTeX 1.0.6 - Complete TeX/LaTeX implementation.
+ GNU Emacs 20.7, XEmacs 21.1.8 - The world's largest and most
comprehensive text editors.
+ GGI 1.99.2 - The Generalized Graphics Interface
+ GnuPG 1.0.1 - The GNU Privacy Guard, a free public key
encryption system that is compatible with the OpenPGP
standard.
Upgraders from Debian 2.1 and earlier releases will find our upgrade
process fairly painless; as with Debian 2.1, the best upgrade method
is to use the "apt-get" tool. As with previous releases, we expect
upgrades from any Debian release to work without problems. As in
previous releases, Debian 2.2 uses our proven dpkg package manager to
provide the most thorough dependency protection available in Linux
distributions. We continue to provide the alien package for
installation of packages in other formats, but it should rarely be
needed; we have installers available for many third-party packages
that we don't distribute ourselves due to licensing or other issues.
Both full-time administrators and hobbyists will be well-served by our
new networking configuration system, which improves support for
computers with multiple network interfaces.
Administrators will also appreciate the widespread adoption of the
Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) system in Debian; with PAM,
Debian systems can be configured with standard Unix crypt(3)
passwords, or more secure options such as shadow and MD5 passwords,
"smart cards", remote database authentication (through LDAP, Windows
Networking, or custom SQL databases) and one-time-password
implementations. Debian 2.2 also includes mature support for Name
Service Switch (NSS), a facility for sharing users, groups, and
network configuration data among hosts using LDAP, NIS, and other
protocols. We have also moved closer to compliance with the Linux
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), including a better separation
between system-specific, architecture-specific, and
architecture-independent data for use in heterogeneous environments.
Perhaps the most interesting change in the environment surrounding the
project since Debian 2.1 was released has been the adoption of the
Debian system as a basis for commercial Linux distributions. Corel
Corporation, Libra Computer Systems, and Stormix Technologies are
among the companies that currently distribute distributions based on
Debian; others are on the horizon. In addition, Debian CDs (both
official images and custom designs) have been bundled with several
Debian books. What remains the same, however, is the project's
volunteer base, its dedication to the [5]Debian Social Contract, and
its commitment to provide the best operating system possible. We think
Debian 2.2 is another important step in that direction.
References
1. http://www.debian.org/releases/potato/
2. http://www.debian.org/distrib/vendors
3. ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/doc/dedication-2.2.txt
4. http://www.helixcode.com/
5. http://www.debian.org/social_contract
Title: Debian 2.2 Release Announcement
The Debian Project is pleased to announce the latest release of the Debian GNU/Linux Operating System, version 2.2 (codename "potato"). This release has been in development for approximately 18 months, and has been extensively continuously tested by several thousand developers and end-users; accordingly, we believe Debian 2.2 is an extremely well-tested Linux distribution. Debian 2.2 can be downloaded from our release page, and is available on CD-ROM from several vendors as well.
Debian 2.2 is dedicated to the memory of Joel "Espy" Klecker, 21, a Debian developer who died unexpectedly on 11 July 2000, just a few weeks before Debian 2.2 was released. Joel was a valued member of our project, both for his contributions to our distribution and his friendship. He will be missed.
The Debian Project consists of several hundred developers scattered across six continents, most of whom develop and package software for the distribution in their spare time. Debian is known for its highly stable releases, a commitment to free software, its strict packaging standards, and its publically-accessible bug tracking system.
Perhaps the most significant change in Debian 2.2 is our transition to version 2.1.3 of the GNU C Library (also known as libc 6.1).
This release also includes the latest stable Linux kernel (2.2.16), updated with important security and stability fixes expected to go into the 2.2.17 kernel. The 2.2 kernel series includes significant improvements in usability and stability; it also includes more hardware support, for both older and newer products; laptop users will particularly notice improvements in the PCMCIA subsystem.
Debian 2.2 also includes support for two new architectures, PowerPC and ARM; with this addition, Debian has now released a distribution on six architectures, more than any other Linux distribution. Of course, Debian continues to support the Alpha, Intel 80x86, Motorola 680x0, and SPARC platforms. We expect even more architectures to be released with "woody," our current development tree.
Our installation system has been simplified and improved since Debian 2.1: we now have better network installation capabilities (including BOOTP/DHCP configuration), a simplified configurator for the X Window System, an improved "task" selector (for deciding what purposes your system will be used for), and serial console support on more architectures. Our after-reboot configuration is now handled by a new package, called base-config, and has a more appealing interface using our debconf configuration system. For existing Debian users, the apt tools continue to provide a painless upgrade path from any previous release.
International users are also better served by Debian 2.2. Japanese support has been integrated into the core Debian archive, and other non-Latin character encodings are also better supported through wider internationalization (I18N) support. European languages are also better supported, with more and better translations to more languages.
Debian 2.2 includes approximately 2800 distinct source packages. Some of the most significant package changes are:
Upgraders from Debian 2.1 and earlier releases will find our upgrade process fairly painless; as with Debian 2.1, the best upgrade method is to use the "apt-get" tool. As with previous releases, we expect upgrades from any Debian release to work without problems. As in previous releases, Debian 2.2 uses our proven dpkg package manager to provide the most thorough dependency protection available in Linux distributions. We continue to provide the alien package for installation of packages in other formats, but it should rarely be needed; we have installers available for many third-party packages that we don't distribute ourselves due to licensing or other issues.
Both full-time administrators and hobbyists will be well-served by our new networking configuration system, which improves support for computers with multiple network interfaces.
Administrators will also appreciate the widespread adoption of the Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) system in Debian; with PAM, Debian systems can be configured with standard Unix crypt(3) passwords, or more secure options such as shadow and MD5 passwords, "smart cards", remote database authentication (through LDAP, Windows Networking, or custom SQL databases) and one-time-password implementations. Debian 2.2 also includes mature support for Name Service Switch (NSS), a facility for sharing users, groups, and network configuration data among hosts using LDAP, NIS, and other protocols. We have also moved closer to compliance with the Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), including a better separation between system-specific, architecture-specific, and architecture-independent data for use in heterogeneous environments.
Perhaps the most interesting change in the environment surrounding the project since Debian 2.1 was released has been the adoption of the Debian system as a basis for commercial Linux distributions. Corel Corporation, Libra Computer Systems, and Stormix Technologies are among the companies that currently distribute distributions based on Debian; others are on the horizon. In addition, Debian CDs (both official images and custom designs) have been bundled with several Debian books. What remains the same, however, is the project's volunteer base, its dedication to the Debian Social Contract, and its commitment to provide the best operating system possible. We think Debian 2.2 is another important step in that direction.