5 Nov 2003:

Red Hat recently announced that they would no longer be offering Red Hat Linux. In addition, all support for Red Hat Linux 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 8.0 will end on 31 Dec 2003, while Red Hat Linux 9 support will end on 30 Apr 2004. Red Hat does not plan to release another product in the Red Hat Linux line.

We are evaluating the impact of this choice. Our Repository Server, cssgate, runs Red Hat Linux 9, and we are still in the process of executing our plans to cluster that server to increase its availability.

One implication is that after 30 Apr 2004, we will not receive any security alerts or patches from Red Hat, which could make cssgate or the upcoming cluster less stable. Another implication is that students who wish to use Linux may have more work to do to install the operating system and to maintain it. For example, the Gentoo distribution requires a compilation of all source code, which is a lengthy process but very educational.

We had considered using SUSE Linux, but since Novell just bought the company this week, the status of that distribution is uncertain.

There are other distributions to consider, such as Gentoo, Mandrake, Debian, and Nikola (from the UW EE department).

Another possibility is to use FreeBSD instead of Linux.

We will try to keep you posted on our efforts or decisions.