14 DAY TRIAL // Alpine Linux 2.1.5, a firewall and server Linux distro, has been released. It includes an updated kernel and updates to many of its packages, including several for VoIP and PBX servers.
The latest update also fixes several bugs present in the previous release, including an issue that affected AMD Geode systems and a crash in the updated Kamailio. There is still a bug affecting iputils which conflicts with bbsuid.
"We are pleased to announce the Alpine 2.1.5 release. This release includes an update to use 2.6.35.11-based kernels. Various packages have bugfixes from upstream," the official release announcement read.
Highlights of Alpine Linux 2.1.5
· Linux kernel 2.6.35.11; · Kamailio 3.1.2; · Asterisk 1.8.3; · FreeSWITCH 1.0.7; · Samba 3.5.8; · Dovecot 2.0.11; · Bind 9.7.3; · pmacct 0.12.5; · OpenSSL 1.0.0d.
Alpine Linux is designed for routers, firewalls and VPNs, but can also be used as the base for a generic server. It can also be used as a telephony server, for VoIP and as a PBX.
It serves as a lightweight base for these tasks and uses uClib instead of the standard C library for Linux and BusyBox to provide a minimal but light Linux environment. uClib was originally designed for embedded systems and offers a smaller footprint.
Along with being lightweight, Apline Linux is also very secure thanks to a couple of features not normally found in most Linux systems, for example PaX, a Linux kernel patch that uses the least privilege approach to memory management, and SSP (Stack-smashing protection).
Apline Linux can be installed from a CD and comes in three flavours, a "standard" release containing all of the packages, a bare-bone "mini" release and one for VServer. Alpine Linux 2.1.5 is available for download here on Softpedia.