Upcoming Release of Debian GNU/Linux 4.0

July 24th, 2006

The Debian project confirms December 2006 as the date for the next release of its distribution which will be named Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 alias 'etch'. This will be the first official release to include the AMD64 architecture. The distribution will be released synchronously for 11 architectures in total.

At this stage, the upcoming release will ship with Linux 2.6.17 as its default kernel. This kernel will be used across all architectures and on the installer. A later version may be selected during a review in October.

New features of this release include the GNU Compiler Collection 4.1 as default compiler. X.Org will replace XFree86 as implementation of the X Window System X11. Secure APT will add extra security by easily supporting strong cryptography and digital signatures to validate downloaded packages.

Bug Squashing Parties

A number of real-life bug squashing parties will happen before the new distribution is released in order to squash as many of the open release-critical bugs as possible. They will be held in different cities so that many people can participate in real-life.

Interested people who cannot join the developers in the respective cities are invited to join the #debian-bugs channel on irc.debian.org and participate online.

August 11th — 13th

Skolelinux Testcenter, Gütersloh, Germany

September 8th — 10th

Don Bosco Studentenheim, Vienna, Austria

October 6th — 8th

Espace Autogéré des Tanneries, Dijon, France

Details

About Debian

Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system, developed by more than a thousand volunteers from all over the world who collaborate via the Internet. Debian's dedication to Free Software, its non-profit nature, and its open development model make it unique among GNU/Linux distributions.

The Debian project's key strengths are its volunteer base, its dedication to the Debian Social Contract, and its commitment to provide the best operating system possible.

Contact Information

For further information, please visit the Debian web pages at https://www.debian.org/ or send mail to <press@debian.org>.