Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 released

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The Debian Project                                http://www.debian.org/
Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 released                           [e-mail:press@debian.org]
June 6th, 2005                  http://www.debian.org/News/2005/20050606
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Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 released

The Debian Project is pleased to announce the official release of Debian
GNU/Linux version 3.1 codenamed ''sarge'' after nearly three years of
constant development.  Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system which
supports a total of eleven processor architectures, includes KDE, GNOME
and GNUstep desktop environments, features cryptographic software, is
compatible with the FHS v2.3, and supports software developed for the LSB.

With the development of the new debian-installer, this release features
a new, modular and sophisticated installation routine with integrated
hardware detection and unattended installation capabilities.  The
installation is available in about thirty languages and includes
configuration of the X server for many graphic cards.

The task selection system has been revamped and made more flexible.  The
debconf tool has been integrated into most packages that need to be
configured and makes this easier and more user friendly.  Debian
GNU/Linux can be installed from various installation media such as DVDs,
CDs, USB sticks, a few floppies, or from the network.  It can be
downloaded now, and will soon be available on DVD and CD-ROM from
numerous vendors http://www.debian.org/CD/vendors/.

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 Motorola 68k (m68k), 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) and IBM S/390 (s390).

This release includes a number of up-to-date large software packages,
such as the K Desktop Environment 3.3 (KDE), the GNOME desktop
environment 2.8, the GNUstep desktop, XFree86 4.3.0, GIMP 2.2.6,
Mozilla 1.7.8, Galeon 1.3.20, Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2, Firefox 1.0.4,
PostgreSQL 7.4.7, MySQL 4.0.24 and 4.1.11a, GNU Compiler Collection 3.3.5
(GCC), Linux kernel versions 2.4.27 and 2.6.8, Apache 1.3.33 and 2.0.54,
Samba 3.0.14, Python 2.3.5 and 2.4.1, Perl 5.8.4 and much more.

This is the first Debian release that includes OpenOffice.org (1.1.3).
It also features cryptographic software integrated in the main
distribution.  OpenSSH and GNU Privacy Guard are included in the default
installation, and strong encryption is present in web browsers, web
servers, databases, and many other applications available in this
release.

Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 includes the efforts of the Debian-Edu/Skolelinux,
Debian-Med and Debian-Accessibility sub-projects which boosted the number
of educational packages and those with a medical affiliation as well as
packages designed especially for people with disabilities.

Upgrades to Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 from the previous release Debian
GNU/Linux 3.0 codenamed ''woody'' are automatically handled by the
aptitude package management tool, and to a certain degree also by the
apt-get package management tool.  As always, Debian GNU/Linux systems can
be upgraded painlessly, in place, without any forced downtime.  For
detailed instructions about installing and upgrading Debian GNU/Linux,
please see the release notes
http://www.debian.org/releases/sarge/releasenotes.

About Debian
------------

Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system, developed by more than
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.  Debian 3.1 is another important step in that
direction.

Contact Information
-------------------

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