Novell’s SUSE Linux 10.1, code-named the “Agama Lizard,” is now available for download in its final form.
SUSE Linux developer Andreas Jaeger noted in a March posting to the openSUSE mailing list that the release schedule was revised to “strengthen the quality of SUSE Linux 10.1.” At the time, Jaeger mentioned two areas to be strengthened: virtualization and package management features.
The Xen open source hypervisor is part of SUSE Linux 10.1. Xen is no stranger to SUSE Linux distribution; it’s been part of the distribution for over a year since the SUSE Linux Professional 9.3 release.
Package management also got a boost in the new release with the inclusion of “libzypp,” which is a package manager resolver library. Libzypp is actually the result of two integrated Novell products, the YAST (Yet Another Setup Tool) package manager and Ximian’s libredcarpet.
Among the expected benefits of libzypp to users, according to a mailing list posting from Jaeger, is that it will provide “more information about why a package is installed or no solution is found.”
3D graphics enhancements from Novell’s Xgl effort are also included. Xgl and its associated “Compiz” compositing manager enables SUSE Linux 10.1 to take full advantage of 3D graphics acceleration hardware.
Security also gets a boost with the inclusion of Novell’s AppArmor in the distribution. AppArmor is Novell’s answer to Red Hat’s SELinux. It provides a granular level of of application security.
Novell acquired AppArmor as part of its May 2005 acquisition of Immunix, and open sourced the code in January of this year.
The latest version of the 2.6.16 Linux Kernel that sits at the core of the distribution. Updated versions of the typical contingent of open source applications such as OpenOffice.org, FireFox, GNOME and KDE fill out the rest of the offering.
Novell’s flagship distro, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10 was announced back in March at Novell’s Brainshare conference. It’s expected to be available this summer.
The SUSE Linux 10 release in October of 2005 marked the first SUSE Linux release that was developed via the OpenSUSE community effort. OpenSUSE itself began in August of 2005 as a way to involve the broader open source community in the development of the SUSE Linux distribution.
