Press Release

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 25-Feb-2004

    The OpenPKG project releases version 2.0 of the
    unique cross-platform software packaging facility.

  http://www.openpkg.org/ -- Munich, DE -- February 25, 2004 -- The
  OpenPKG project is proud to announce version 2.0 of its OpenPKG
  software, another evolutionary step after a series of four
  predecessors. Much valued by IT decision makers and beloved by Unix
  system administrators, OpenPKG is the world leading instrument for
  deployment and maintenance of Open Source software when administration
  crosses Unix platform boundaries. The unique OpenPKG architecture
  leverages proven technologies like Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) and
  OSSP and GNU components to establish a unified software administration
  environment, independent of the underlying operating system.

  NEW IN VERSION 2.0

  OpenPKG platform support has doubled and OpenPKG 2.0 is now available
  for 16 different Unix flavors. Most notably, it is supported on
  FreeBSD 4.9 and 5.2, Debian GNU/Linux 3.0, Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  3, Red Hat Fedora Core 1, SuSE Linux 9.0, and Sun Solaris 8 and 9.
  Additionally, all CORE and the vast majority of BASE class packages
  are already available for the tentative platforms Debian GNU/Linux
  3.1, Gentoo Linux 1.4.3, Sun Solaris 10 and still available for the
  obsoleted (end-of-life) platforms Debian GNU/Linux 2.2, Red Hat Linux
  9, SuSE Linux 8.2, and Sun Solaris 2.6.

  Since the previous release a half year ago, the OpenPKG package
  repository has again grown by 20%. A subset of 473 packages were
  carefully selected for inclusion into the OpenPKG 2.0 release,
  including latest versions of popular Open Source Unix software
  like Apache, Bash, BIND, GCC, INN, MySQL, OpenSSH, Perl, Postfix,
  PostgreSQL, Samba, Squid, and Vim.

  The major technical efforts for this release were spent on the
  RPM-based OpenPKG packaging framework. The most prominent change
  is the upgrade from RPM 4.0.2 to RPM 4.2.1 which contributes over
  three years of development, including support for concurrent package
  database operations and transactional safety. On top of this OpenPKG
  greatly enhanced RPM's portability and added tools for improved RPM
  database maintenance and troubleshooting.

  The complete packaging was revamped to use GNU shtool's new platform
  identification. This allows both product and technology recognition in
  order to enable unambiguous naming and more accurate packaging.

  Finally, OpenPKG extended the RPM capabilities by adding specification
  headers and sections to allow even more complete packaging, including
  package classification and automated vendor source tracking. To allow
  enterprise grade deployment and inventory integration, OpenPKG 2.0
  provides ISO/IEC 11578:1996 compliant Universally Unique Identifiers
  (UUID) for reasonable OpenPKG instance identification.

  VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY

  OpenPKG has been tremendously helpful in our efforts to make
  Open Source software available to the entire campus.
  -- Dennis McRitchie, Princeton University.

  Deployment of the OpenPKG infrastructure on a fleet of Sun
  Solaris machines has allowed our organization to migrate
  away from a convoluted, out-of-date, shared NFS directory
  to a cleanly managed and easily upgraded package system.
  This is light-years ahead of any vendor alternative from Sun.
  -- Matt Hoosier, Kansas State University.

  OpenPKG has proven itself time and time again as an excellent base
  for the Kolab E-mail server. Nowhere else can one deploy such a
  rich set of applications, so consistently, across so many different
  platforms. The ability to move between different Unix platforms and
  GNU/Linux distributions while maintaining a consistent, high quality,
  environment is an invaluable tool for any administrator. OpenPKG is
  a natural choice for any organization or Free Software project that
  need to support various applications on a plethora of Unix systems.
  -- Stephan Buys, Code Fusion.

  I would like to see every Unix operating system make use of this
  approach so that installation and upgrade of software finally lose
  the aura of magic and adventure.
  -- Christian Reiber, Zeppelin.

  We are moving all our internal and customer's systems to OpenPKG
  which has simplified our development and support.
  -- Bill Campbell, Celestial Software.

  HIGHLIGHTS OF OPENPKG

  * Portable across major Unix flavors.
  * Available for the supported platforms:
    FreeBSD 4.9/5.2, Debian Linux 3.0, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3,
    Red Hat Fedora Core 1, SuSE Linux 9.0 and Solaris 8 and 9.
  * Already available for the tentative platforms:
    Debian GNU/Linux 3.1, Gentoo Linux 1.4.3, Sun Solaris 10.
  * Still available for the obsoleted platforms:
    Debian GNU/Linux 2.2, Red Hat Linux 9, SuSE Linux 8.2,
    and Sun Solaris 2.6.
  * Entirely based on Open Source software technology.
  * Minimum operating system intrusion and dependency.
  * Minimum overhead in software packaging.
  * Sources of 473 CORE+BASE+PLUS packages released.
  * Binaries of CORE+BASE class packages provided for supported platforms.
  * Binaries of CORE class packages provided for all platforms.
  * Easy installation, updating and deinstallation of packages.
  * Bundled with useful and secure package preconfigurations.
  * Includes an abstracted and powerful run-command facility.
  * Virtual hosting through multiple instances on a single system.
  * Proxy packages for reusing packages across instances.
  * Build-time package variations for maximum flexibility.
  * Foundation to build encapsulated and self-contained environments.

  HISTORY OF THE OPENPKG PROJECT

  The OpenPKG project was founded in 2000 by Cable & Wireless, who first
  released it as Open Source software in January 2002. Today OpenPKG is
  a mature technology in production use, and is maintained and improved
  by its original developers and volunteer contributors.

  OpenPKG is the brainchild of Ralf S. Engelschall, principal author of
  numerous other popular Open Source Software technologies like OSSP
  components, Apache SSL/TLS Engine (mod_ssl), Apache URL Rewriting
  Engine (mod_rewrite), GNU Portable Threads (Pth), GNU Portable Shell
  Tool (Shtool), Website META Language (WML) and more.

  MORE INFORMATION

  The OpenPKG Project
  openpkg@openpkg.org
  +49-89-92699-251 (CET)
  +49-172-8986801  (CET)