New-ish linux distro (new version of it at least)

[dugan at passwall.com]

Hello,

I just ordered a copy on CD and expect it to arrive within a few
weeks...

My first Linux distro was a slackware version which I used for 2-3 years
until I migrated to Debian which I have used for many years. I have
played with RedHat, but found it did not have enough of the features I
enjoyed to get me to leave Debian.

Solar Designer (along with a number of other security oriented people)
have been working on Owl for a long while. I believe inclusion of user
priv support in OpenSSH, bug fixes to many version of Bind, and numerous
bug fixes to Linux kernel 2.0, 2.2 and possibly some to 2.4 are a few of
the items that have come about as a result of S.D. involvement or direct
analysis of products' source code. (I seem to recall there was one point
where he found and fixed kernel 4-6 kernel bugs in a 2.0 kernel- some of
which could be used for local user priv escalation, and a whole new
kernel was patched and released to fix the problems with urgent notices
for everyone to upgrade their kernels.) S.D. has been around and working
in the Linux world for a while. I have liked his work, and figure I will
give this distro a test-drive.

Well, an announcement was just made to Bugtraq that version 1.0 of Owl
is out! :-)  I just ordered a copy and will play with it on a system. It
is not a system with "features" as a primary goal. Instead security
seems to be the primary goal. It can be downloaded for free (AFAIK) or
bought on CDROM. ($10 for at-cost, $40 for same product but with
current production donation, or $140 for same product It is *not* a
distro suggested for new users to Linux or
even intermediate users.

I'll pass on my experiences with it back to these lists for those who
want to know more. (I dont know anyone personally who has used this
distro let alone this version of the distro.)

-ME

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