Software Update: Sabayon Linux 13.08

Sabayon Linux, named after the Italian zabaglionedessert, is a very comprehensive Linux distribution, which is descended from Gentoo Linux. The installation uses compiled packages, but it is also possible to Entropy Package Manager crank to install packages. Sabayon Linux includes recent versions of KDE, Gnome, and LibreOffice, among others, as well as non-open source programs, such as ATI Radeon and Nvidia Geforce drivers, and the game Urban Terror. Because of the huge collection of applications that come with it, it has been decided to release Sabayon Linux in different flavors, choosing between a KDE, Gnome, Xfce or MATE release. For more information, please refer to this page. The developers released version 13.08 a while ago and provided the following announcement:

Sabayon 13.08

Sabayon 13.08 is a modern and easy to use Linux distribution based on Gentoo, following an extreme, yet reliable, rolling release model. This is a monthly release generated, tested and published to mirrors by our build servers containing the latest and greatest collection of software available in the Entropy repositories. The ChangeLog files related to this release are available on our mirrors. Linux Kernel 3.10.4 with BFQ iosched, updated external ZFS filesystem support, GNOME 3.8.4, KDE 4.10.5, MATE 1.6.2, Xfce 4.10, LibreOffice 4.1, UEFI SecureBoot for 64 bit images (with bundled UEFI shell), systemd as default init system, Plymouth as default splash system and new high-dpi artwork are just some of the things you will find inside the box. Please read on to know where to find the images and their torrent files on our mirrors.

systemd as default init system
We are happy to announce that the systemd migration is now complete and systemd became our default init system. However, openrc is still actively supported and working but we suggest you to try it out by using the latest Sabayon images available. In particular, GNOME 3.8 is the last release that we’re planning to support with openrc. If you don’t know anything about systemd vs openrc, keep calm and visit our forum. A way to switch from openrc to systemd or vice versa is using the eselect init command line tool.

GNOME 3.8, at last
Many people know that GNOME 3.8 was held back due to its hard dependency against systemd and Sabayon was still running with openrc as default init system. However, this has changed. Now that systemd became our default init system, and the current GNOME 3.8 works with openrc (thanks to the systemd-love Portage overlay), we were able to deliver the latest and greatest stuff to you.

Ready for KDE 4.11
KDE 4.11 is just a couple of weeks away but we’ve already done the preparatory work to host this new stable release. If you can’t wait, just keep your eyes at the official release schedule.

Faster kernel rollout
The reworked Sabayon Linux kernel release process made possible to follow the weekly stable release schedule madness and newer kernels enter the sabayon-limbo (unstable) repository with no more than 36 hours delay average. This is a great thing for users that can benefit from usptream bug fixes (and regressions…) without too much delay. Long Term Stable kernels like 3.4 (and in future 3.10) will continue to be updated as well.

UEFI fixes
UEFI support in 32bit flavors of Sabayon has been dropped as per Matthew Garrett advice and an important Installer bug related to the UEFI Boot Partition filesystem type has been fixed (commit 292781b37763b28dbd583eec93bd3349b61b43fd).

There’s more!
There is a lot more, but we’re lazy and this is a monthly rolling release announcement, which means that we’re in hurry again! But please, just download the ISO image you like and see the improvements yourself.