14 DAY TRIAL // The developers of the Slackware-based, server-oriented Superb Mini Server (SMS) GNU/Linux distribution announced recently the release of the ninth maintenance update in the stable 2.0 series of the operating system.
It's been more than two years since we last wrote here an article about Superb Mini Server, as the last version we covered was 2.0.7. Superb Mini Server 2.0.8 point release launched more than a year ago, in May 2015, and it now looks like the developer is back to keep his server-oriented distro up to date with the most recent GNU/Linux technologies and open source software projects.
Powered by a recent version of the latest long-term supported (LTS) Linux 4.4 kernel branch (4.4.22), Superb Mini Server 2.0.9 appears to be in sync with the Slackware 14.2 repositories and ships with a large number of updated packages, among which we can mention Postfix 3.0.7 , MySQL 5.5.52, Samba 4.5.0, Dovecot 2.2.25, BIND 9.10.4_P3, Apache 2.2.31, which is used as default web server, and PHP 5.6.26.
"We still keep httpd-2.2.31 as our default server, but we moved to php-5.6.26 since phpMyAdmin needed it and beside that php-5.4.x reach its EOL, so mind the new /etc/httpd/php.ini if you are upgrading," reads the release announcement. "Most likely on our next release we will switch to httpd-2.4 as our default server, so you better look for migration tips. httpd-2.4 is at testing as usual for those who switched already."
Now supporting Let's Encrypt certificates
Another point of attraction in the Superb Mini Server 2.0.9 release is support for Let's Encrypt certificates, which is possible thanks to the addition of the Certbot (formerly Let's Encrypt Client) software in the extra packages. Users will need to install Certbot using the slapt-get package manager, as well as the Virtualenv tool to create isolated Python environments and Augeas configuration editing utility.
Below, we've listed the entire changelog, just in case you're curious to know what new packages were included in Superb Mini Server 2.0.9, which you can download right now via our website as 64- and 32-bit Live CDs. If you're upgrading from a previous version, please note that OpenSSH needs your attention, so don't allow root login by default. Look up the new /etc/ssh/sshd_config file and add "PermitRootLogin yes".