Mandriva Linux (formerly
Mandrakelinux or
Mandrake Linux) is a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
Linux distributionA Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like software distributions built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions consist of a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players and database applications...
distributed by
MandrivaMandriva S.A. is a publicly traded Linux and open source software company with its headquarters in Paris, France and development center in Curitiba, Brazil. Mandriva, S.A...
(formerly Mandrakesoft). It uses the
RPM Package ManagerRPM Package Manager is a package management system. The name RPM refers to two things: a software package file format, and software packaged in this format. RPM was intended primarily for Linux distributions; the file format RPM is the baseline package format of the Linux Standard Base.Originally...
. The product lifetime of Mandriva Linux releases is 18 months for base updates (Linux,
system softwareSystem software is closely related to, but distinct from Operating System software. It is any computer software that provides the infrastructure over which programs can operate, i.e. it manages and controls computer hardware so that application software can perform...
, etc.) and 12 months for desktop updates (window managers, desktop environments, web browsers, etc.).
ServerA server is an application running on a computer that delivers a service. For example, a web server will deliver web pages when requested by a browser . The way a server and a client dialogs is called a protocol...
products receive full updates for at least 24 months after their release.
History
The first release was based on
Red Hat LinuxRed Hat Linux, assembled by the company Red Hat, was a popular Linux based operating system until its discontinuation in 2004.Red Hat Linux 1.0 was released on November 3, 1994...
(version 5.1) and
KDEKDE is a free software project based around its flagship product, a desktop environment mainly for Unix-like systems. The goal of the project is to provide basic desktop functions and applications for daily needs as well as tools and documentation for developers to write stand-alone applications...
(version 1.0) in July 1998. It has since diverged greatly from Red Hat and has included a number of original tools mostly to ease system configuration. Mandriva Linux was originated by
Gaël DuvalGaël Duval, born 1973, is a graduate of the Caen University in France, where he studied networks and documentary applications. In July 1998, he created Mandrake Linux , a Linux distribution originally based on Red Hat Linux and KDE...
, and intended to focus on ease of use for new users. Duval was also a co-founder of Mandrakesoft, but was laid off from the company in 2006.
Name changes
From its inception to version 8.0, Mandrake named its flagship distribution
Linux-Mandrake. From version 8.1 to 9.2 it was called
Mandrake Linux.
In February 2004 MandrakeSoft lost a court case against
Hearst CorporationHearst Communications, Inc. is a privately-held American-based media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower in New York City, USA. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
, owners of
King Features SyndicateKing Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5000 newspapers around the world...
. Hearst contended that MandrakeSoft infringed upon King Features'
trademarkA trademark or trade mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or services from...
ed character
Mandrake the MagicianMandrake the Magician is a syndicated newspaper comic strip, created by Lee Falk , which began June 11, 1934. Phil Davis soon took over as the strip's illustrator, while Falk continued to script. The strip was distributed by King Features Syndicate. Davis worked on the strip until his death in...
. As a precaution, MandrakeSoft renamed its products by removing the space between the brand name and the product name and changing the first letter of the product name to lower case, thus creating one word. Starting from version 10.0, Mandrake Linux became known as
Mandrakelinux, and its logo changed accordingly. Similarly, MandrakeMove became Mandrakemove.
In April 2005 Mandrakesoft announced the corporate acquisition of
ConectivaConectiva was a company founded on August 28, 1995, in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, by a group of friends, among them Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo, who was a pioneer in the distribution of Linux and open source software in Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish and English for all of Latin America...
, a Brazilian based company that produced a Linux distribution for Portuguese-speaking (Brazil) and Spanish-speaking Latin America. As a result of this acquisition and the legal dispute with Hearst Corporation, Mandrakesoft announced that the new company name would be Mandriva, and that Mandriva Linux would be the new name covering products.
Installation, control and administration
Mandriva Linux contains the
Mandriva Control Centerdrakconf, or the Mandrake Control Center, is a computer program written in Perl for the configuration of Mandriva Linux, a Linux distribution...
, which eases configuration of some settings. It has many programs known as Drakes or Draks, collectively named
drakxtools, to configure many different settings. Examples include
MouseDrake to set up a mouse,
DiskDrake to set up disk partitions and
drakconnect to set up a network connection. They are written using
GTK+GTK+ is a cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the X Window System, along with Qt....
and
PerlPerl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall, a linguist working as a systems administrator for NASA, in 1987, as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone...
, and most of them can run in both graphical and text mode using the
ncursesncurses is a programming library providing an API, allowing the programmer to write text user interfaces in a terminal-independent manner. It's a toolkit for developing "GUI-like" apps which run under a terminal emulator...
interface.
Desktops
Mandriva Linux uses
KDEKDE is a free software project based around its flagship product, a desktop environment mainly for Unix-like systems. The goal of the project is to provide basic desktop functions and applications for daily needs as well as tools and documentation for developers to write stand-alone applications...
or
GNOMEGNOME is a desktop environment—a graphical user interface which runs on top of a computer operating system —composed entirely of free and open source software...
as the standard desktops, but also includes others such as
XfceXfce is a free software desktop environment for Unix and other Unix-like platforms, such as Linux, Solaris and BSD. It aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and easy to use....
and
twmIn computing, twm is the standard window manager for the X Window System, version X11R4 onwards...
.
Themes
A unique
themeIn computing, a theme is a preset package containing graphical appearance details, used to customize the look and feel of an operating system, widget set or window manager....
provides consistency between
applicationsApplication software is a computer program that functions and is operated by means of a computer, with the purpose of supporting or improving the software user's work. In other words, it is the subclass of computer software that employs the capabilities of a computer directly and thoroughly to a...
and
desktop environmentIn graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface that is based on the desktop metaphor which can be seen on most modern personal computers today...
s. Galaxy debuted in version 9.1 and Galaxy II appeared in 10.0. A variant of Galaxy is "Galaxy Squared", which uses
squareIn geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral. This means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles...
window buttons rather than
roundA circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those points in a plane which are equidistant from a given point called the centre. The common distance of the points of a circle from its center is called its radius....
ones. A new default theme named "Ia Ora" was introduced with the release of Mandriva Linux 2007, but "Galaxy" remains available as an option for those who prefer it.
Package manager
Mandriva Linux uses a
package managerA package management system is a collection of tools to automate the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing software packages from a computer...
called
urpmiurpmi is a Mandriva Linux package management tool for installing, removing, updating and querying software packages of local or remote media. It wraps around the package manager rpm with the aim that the user should not have to suffer the often-encountered dependency hell...
, which functions as a
wrapperThe term wrapper generally refers to a type of packaging, such as a flat sheet made out of paper, cellophane, or plastic to enclose an object.In computing, it may also refer to:...
to the
RPMRPM Package Manager is a package management system. The name RPM refers to two things: a software package file format, and software packaged in this format. RPM was intended primarily for Linux distributions; the file format RPM is the baseline package format of the Linux Standard Base.Originally...
package management system. It is similar to apt-get or
Yellow dog Updater, ModifiedThe Yellowdog Updater, Modified is an open-source command-line package-management utility for RPM-compatible Linux operating systems and has been released under the GNU General Public License. It was developed by Seth Vidal and a group of volunteer programmers...
in that it allows seamless installation of a given software package by automatically installing the other packages needed. It is also media-transparent due to its ability to retrieve packages from various media, including network/Internet, CD/DVD and local disk. Urpmi also has an easy-to-use graphical front-end called
rpmdrakerpmdrake is a graphical interface to urpmi, which permits the installation of software packages. It is provided as part of Mandriva Linux for package installation.The application is written in gtk2-perl, and allows:...
, which is integrated into the Mandriva Control Center.
Remote sources for urpmi / rpmdrake can be added during the installation of recent Mandriva Linux versions. After installation, they can be added through an option in the Software Sources Manager, or by using console commands generated either manually or by one of several helper sites such as Easy URPMI. This functionality allows the user to choose some or all of the various software repositories available for their version of Mandriva Linux and can greatly expand the amount of software that the user can install through the urpmi system. Instructions on adding repositories and installing software can be found on the Mandriva Wiki.
Availability
Mandriva provides multiple editions of Linux. Some are freely-distributable, while others are sold online and via a network of authorized resellers.
Versions
Since 2007, Mandriva is released on a 6-month fixed-release cycle, similar to
UbuntuUbuntu , is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution. It is named after the South African ethical ideology Ubuntu and is distributed as free and open source software. Ubuntu provides an up-to-date, stable operating system for the average user, with a strong focus on...
and
FedoraFedora is an RPM-based, general purpose operating system built on top of the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat...
.
Latest version
The latest stable version is Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring (2009.1), released on 2009-04-29.
Development version
The development tree of Mandriva Linux has always been known as
Cooker. This tree is directly released as a new stable version.
The current release is named 2009.1 Spring and was released in April 2009.
The next version, called Mandriva 2010, will be released in November 2009.
Table of versions
| Year |
Number |
Name |
| 1998 |
5.1 |
Venice |
| 1998 |
5.2 |
Leeloo |
| 1999 |
5.3 |
Festen |
| 1999 |
6.0 |
Venus |
| 1999 |
6.1 |
Helios |
| 2000 |
7.0 |
Air |
| 2000 |
7.1 |
Helium |
| 2000 |
7.2 |
Odyssey (called Ulysses during beta) |
| 2001 |
8.0 |
Traktopel |
| 2001 |
8.1 |
Vitamin |
| 2002 |
8.2 |
Bluebird |
| 2002 |
9.0 |
Dolphin |
| 2003 |
9.1 |
Bamboo |
| 2003 |
9.2 |
FiveStar |
| 2004 |
10.0 |
Community and Official |
| 2004 |
10.1 |
Community |
| 2004 |
10.1 |
Official |
| 2005 |
10.2 |
Limited Edition 2005 |
| 2005 |
2006.0 |
Mandriva Linux 2006 |
| 2006 |
2007 |
Mandriva Linux 2007 |
| 2007 |
2007.1 |
Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring |
| 2007 |
2008.0 |
Mandriva Linux 2008 |
| 2008 |
2008.1 |
Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring |
| 2008 |
2009.0 |
Mandriva Linux 2009 |
| 2009 |
2009.1 |
Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring |
Editions
Each release of Mandriva Linux is split into several different editions. Each edition is derived from the same master tree, most of which is available on the public mirrors: all free / open source software, and all non-free software which is under a license that allows unrestricted distribution to the general public, is available from the public mirrors. Only commercial software under a license that does not allow unrestricted distribution to the general public (but for which Mandriva has negotiated an agreement to distribute it with paid copies) is not available from public mirrors.
Mandriva Linux Free
Mandriva Linux Free is a 'traditional' distribution (i.e. one that comes with a dedicated installer, named DrakX, which is first used to install the distribution to the hard disk of the computer before it is run). It is 'free'
in both sensesGratis versus libre is the distinction between "for zero price" and "freedom" . Gratis appears in many English dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary. However, libre does so less commonly, and no English adjective signifies "liberty" exclusively and as distinct from "at no monetary...
: it consists entirely of
freeFree software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with minimal restrictions only to ensure that further recipients can also...
and
open-source softwareOpen source software is computer software for which the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that meets the Open Source Definition or that is in the public domain. This permits users to use, change, and improve the...
, and it is made available for public download at no charge. It is usually available in CD (three or four discs) and DVD editions for x86 32- and 64-bit CPU architectures. It is aimed at users to whom software freedom is important, and also at users who prefer a traditional installer to the installable live CD system used by One. The package selection is tailored towards regular desktop use. It consists of a subset of packages from the 'main' and 'contrib' sections of the master tree.
Mandriva Linux One
Mandriva Linux One is free to download. It is a hybrid, being both a
Live CDA live CD or live DVD is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...
and an installer (with an installation wizard that includes disk partitioning tools).
Several Mandriva Linux One versions were provided for each Mandriva Linux release preceding Mandriva 2008. Users could choose between different human languages, select either the KDE or GNOME desktops and include or exclude non-free (as in speech) software. (It is not possible to fit both KDE and GNOME desktops, or more than a few languages, on a single live CD.) The 'lead' version is the KDE version with non-free software included. The One images consist of a subset of packages from the 'main', 'contrib' and 'non-free' sections of the master tree, with the documentation files stripped from the packages to save space.
Mandriva Linux One 2008 has a smaller range of versions. There are KDE and GNOME versions with the default set of languages. There are also two KDE versions with alternative sets of languages. All versions include non-free software.
Mandriva Linux Powerpack
Mandriva Linux Powerpack is a 'traditional' distribution (i.e. one that comes with a dedicated installer - named DrakX - which is first used to install the distribution to the hard disk of the computer before it is run). It is the main commercial edition of Mandriva Linux, and as such, requires payment for its use. It contains several non-free packages intended to add value for the end user, including non-free drivers like the NVIDIA and ATI graphics card drivers, non-free firmware for wireless chips and modems, some browser plugins such as Java and Flash, and some full applications such as Cedega, Adobe Reader and RealPlayer. It is sold directly from the Mandriva Store website and through authorized resellers. It is also made available via a subscription service, which allows unlimited downloads of Powerpack editions for the last few Mandriva releases for a set yearly fee. It consists of a subset of packages from the 'main', 'contrib', 'non-free' and 'restricted' sections of the master tree.
In Mandriva Linux 2008, the Discovery and Powerpack+ editions have been merged into Powerpack, which will become Mandriva's only commercial offering. Users will be able to choose between a novice-friendly Discovery-like setup or an installation process and desktop aimed at power users.
Mandriva Linux Discovery
Mandriva Linux Discovery was a commercial distribution aimed at first-time and novice Linux users. It was sold via the Mandriva Store website and authorized resellers, or could be downloaded by some subscribers to the Mandriva Club. Mandriva Linux 2008 does not include a Discovery edition, having added optional novice-friendly features to the Powerpack edition.
In releases prior to Mandriva Linux 2007, Discovery was a 'traditional' distribution built on the DrakX installer. In Mandriva Linux 2007 and 2007 Spring, Discovery is a hybrid
"Live DVD"A live CD or live DVD is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...
which can be booted without installation or installed to hard disk in the traditional manner.
Discovery was a DVD rather than a CD, allowing all languages to be provided on one disc. It consisted of a subset of packages from the 'main', 'contrib', 'non-free' and 'non-free-restricted' sections of the master tree. The package selection was tailored towards novice desktop users. A theme chosen to be appealing to novice users was used, and the 'simplified' menu layout in which applications are described rather than named and not all applications are included was the default (for all other editions, the default menu layout was the 'traditional' layout, where all graphical applications installed on the system were included and were listed by name).
Mandriva Linux Powerpack+
Mandriva Linux Powerpack+ was a version of Powerpack with additional packages, mostly commercial software. Like Powerpack, it was sold directly from the Mandriva Store website and through authorized resellers; it was also a free download for Mandriva Club members of the Gold level and above. Powerpack+ was aimed at SOHO (small office / home office) users, with the expectation that it could be used to run a small home or office server machine as well as desktop and development workstations. The package selection was tailored with this in mind, including a wide range of server packages. It consisted of a subset of packages from the 'main', 'contrib', 'non-free' and 'restricted' sections of the master tree.
Mandriva 2008 no longer includes a Powerpack+ edition; instead, the Powerpack edition includes all the available packages.
Derivatives
Derivatives are distributions that are based on Mandriva Linux, some by Mandriva itself, others by independent projects. Some maintain compatibility with Mandriva Linux, so that installing a Mandriva Linux RPM also works on the offspring.
Mandriva Flash
Mandriva Flash is a pre-installed Mandriva Linux distribution on a 8GB USB key. The user can choose how much space is used for system files and how much is reserved for user files. An earlier version of Mandriva Flash was 4GB and before that 2GB in size with fixed ratios. It can be booted directly from the key on systems that support booting from USB devices, or from a 'kickstart' CD (the image for the CD is provided with the Flash) on systems that do not. Flash runs faster than live CDs due to the relative speed of flash memory, and the read/write nature of the medium allows users to save files, configuration options and even to install new packages.
Mandriva Corporate Server
Mandriva Corporate Server is a distribution specifically tailored for enterprise-level general purpose server usage. Development is started from the basis of a previous Mandriva Linux release, with the package selection altered, important packages updated, certain extra configuration tools and applications added, and some extra support for enterprise-level hardware. The maintenance lifetime of each release is five years. The current release of Corporate Server is 4.0.
Mandriva Corporate Desktop
Mandriva Corporate Desktop is the desktop counterpart to Corporate Server. Again it is based on a Mandriva Linux release with enterprise-specific modifications and a five-year maintenance lifetime. The current release of Corporate Desktop is 4.0.
Multi Network Firewall
Linux Mandrake 7.2 had a version tailored specifically for use as a firewall, known as Single Network Firewall (SNF). Its successor, based on Mandrake 8.2, was titled Multi Network Firewall (MNF). The third iteration is named MNF 2 and is based upon Mandrakelinux 10.0.
These firewall distributions are designed to provide security for computer networks, and can be administered remotely via a browser-based interface or
Secure ShellSecure Shell or SSH is a network protocol that allows data to be exchanged using a secure channel between two networked devices. Used primarily on Linux and Unix based systems to access shell accounts, SSH was designed as a replacement for Telnet and other insecure remote shells, which send...
. MNF 2 is now counted as part of the Corporate product line and can only be bought, with support, from Mandriva.
GlobeTrotter
GlobeTrotter is a
LaCieLaCie is a computer hardware company specializing in external hard drives, RAID arrays, optical drives, and computer monitors. The company markets several lines of hard drives with a capacity of up to many terabytes of data, with a versatile choice of interfaces...
mobile USB drive loaded with a specific version of Mandriva Linux. Like Move, it can boot most PCs into Linux without installing first. The 40 GB hard drive makes it a convenient way to carry a Linux workstation around.
GlobeTrotter was launched in August 2003 and can be ordered through Mandriva's online store. It is now superseded by Mandriva Flash and Linutop.
Gaming Edition
Mandrake Linux 8.1 had a Gaming Edition, which was a game oriented Linux distribution. It had a port of
The SimsThe Sims is an American strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It was created by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual persons in a suburban household...
using the
TransgamingTransGaming Inc. is a company specialized in video game portability technology. The company has its head office in Toronto and a research hub in Ottawa. It was founded by Gavriel State, who ran the Linux product division at the Corel Corporation...
WineXCedega is TransGaming Technologies' proprietary fork of Wine , designed specifically for running games created for Microsoft Windows under Linux...
technology.
CLIC
CLIC (aka Cluster LInux pour le Calcul) is a dedicated version of Mandrakelinux created by MandrakeSoft specifically for clustering environments. It was sponsored by the RNTL, other partners were ID-IMAG,
Groupe BullGroupe Bull is a French-owned computer company headquartered in Les Clayes-sous-Bois, outside Paris. The company has also been known at various times as Bull General Electric, Honeywell Bull, CII Honeywell Bull, and Bull HN. Bull was founded in 1931, as H.W...
and Mandrakesoft. This project's aim was to produce a
HPCHigh-performance computing uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Today, computer systems approaching the teraflops-region are counted as HPC-computers.-Overview:...
Linux Distribution for 32- and 64-bit processors.
The objective of project CLIC was to allow the realization of large scientific computers while being based on
free softwareFree software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with minimal restrictions only to ensure that further recipients can also...
. The objective consists of the realization a Linux distribution for clusters of machines, meeting the needs for deployment, administration and programming of clusters within the framework of exploitation for intensive calculation.
It features an automated installation of a full cluster using the Ka tools, urpmi and the clusterscripts.
This project was finished on 1 December 2003 and Mandrakesoft decided to continue that project with a product called Mandrake Linux Clustering. This product included Drakcluster (GUI) for improved usability. It was dedicated to the
HPCHigh-performance computing uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Today, computer systems approaching the teraflops-region are counted as HPC-computers.-Overview:...
market but it could also be used (with some modifications) to all kinds of clusters (such as High Availability, applicative or grid). It features parallel commands (bash, copying tools), deployment (disks), software upgrade/downgrade (urpmi parallel), monitoring (ganglia), etc. Clustering was available on x86 and x86-64 architectures.
Mandrake Move
A LiveMove is the set formed by a
Live CDA live CD or live DVD is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...
and a bootfloppy or
USB flash driveA USB flash drive consists of flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB 1.1 or 2.0 interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, much smaller than a floppy disk, and most weigh less than 1 ounce...
.
Mandrake Move was a
MandrivaMandriva S.A. is a publicly traded Linux and open source software company with its headquarters in Paris, France and development center in Curitiba, Brazil. Mandriva, S.A...
product that benefits from a Mandrake Linux Live CD which doesn't need to be installed to run on a computer, and a USB key that automatically records bootloader, hardware configuration and personal data.
The first version of Mandrake Move was released in December 2003 (but only distributed to customers in January 2004, due to production delays). It brought two main innovations compared to competitors:
- ability to eject the cdrom if the machine has 256 MB of RAM or more (Knoppix
Knoppix, or KNOPPIX , is an operating system based on Debian designed to be run directly from a CD / DVD, one of the first of its kind for any operating system. Knoppix was developed by Linux consultant Klaus Knopper. When starting a program it is loaded from the optical disc and decompressed into...
also can, but needs to copy the whole cdrom into RAM, therefore needs a machine with 1 GB of RAM or more), and continue to operate in a "downgraded" mode allowing only to play multimedia files
- transparent save of any user modification of his/her own files and system configuration files, if operated with a USB key
The second version, now simply called Move, was released in October 2004. Hardware support and stability have seen much improvement. Move is now superseded by Mandriva One and Mandriva Flash.
See also
- MCNLive
MCNLive is a Live CD and Live USB Linux distribution based on Mandriva Linux. It is a desktop system. It contains graphical wizards to put it on a USB key, the copy2ram feature to speed things up....
, a fork
- PCLinuxOS
PCLinuxOS, often shortened to PCLOS, is an open-source desktop operating system based on the Linux Kernel, with KDE as its default user interface. It is an open-source operating system for personal computers aimed at ease of use.- History :...
, another fork