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<h1>Upcoming Release of Debian GNU/Linux 4.0</h1> <p><strong>July 24th, 2006</strong></p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/SecureApt">APT</a> will add extra security by easily supporting strong cryptography and digital signatures to validate downloaded packages.</p> <h2>Bug Squashing Parties</h2> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <strong>August 11th - 13th</strong><p>Skolelinux Testcenter, Gütersloh, Germany</p><strong>September 8th - 10th</strong><p>Don Bosco Studentenheim, Vienna, Austria</p><strong>October 6th - 8th</strong><p>Espace Autogéré des Tanneries, Dijon, France</p> <p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/BSPMarathon">Details</a></p> <h2>About Debian</h2> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <h2>Contact Information</h2> <p>For further information, please visit the Debian web pages at <a href="http://www.debian.org/">http://www.debian.org/</a> or send mail to <press@debian.org>.</p>
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