Ark Linux

Infobox_OS
name = Ark Linux



caption = Ark Linux installer
developer = Bernhard Rosenkraenzer et al.
family = GNU/Linux
source_model = Free software
working_state = Current
latest_release_version = 2008.1
latest_release_date = 2008-05-14
kernel_type = Monolithic kernel (modular)
license = Various
website = [http://www.arklinux.org/ www.arklinux.org]

Ark Linux is a free Linux distribution maintained by a group of volunteers and aims to be easy to install and use. It's default Desktop Environment is KDE. Ark Linux is available both as an installable CD and as a Live CD.

Philosophy

The primary goals of Ark Linux are:
* Being easy to install and learn. [cite web
url=http://www.arklinux.org/
title=Ark Linux homepage
publisher=Ark Linux
accessdate=2008-03-20]
* Including all tools and applications a typical desktop user will need. [cite web
url=http://www.arklinux.org/content/en/FAQ:+What+is+this%3F
title=Ark Linux FAQ
publisher=Ark Linux
accessdate=2008-03-20]
* Including "only" tools and applications a typical desktop user will need -- avoid becoming "bloated". [cite web
url=http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ark-Linux-Ark-Linux-Live-2007-1-Released-63133.shtml
title=Announcement of Ark Linux 2007.1
publisher=Softpedia
accessdate=2008-03-20]
* Making installation of additional software as easy and fast as possible. [cite web
url=http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ark-Linux-Ark-Linux-Live-2007-1-Released-63133.shtml
title=Announcement of Ark Linux 2007.1
publisher=Softpedia
accessdate=2008-03-20]
* Being a technically sane development environment. [cite web
url=http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ark-Linux-Ark-Linux-Live-2007-1-Released-63133.shtml
title=Announcement of Ark Linux 2007.1
publisher=Softpedia
accessdate=2008-03-20]
* Remaining 100% Free Software. [cite web
url=http://www.arklinux.org/content/en/110
title=Ark Linux FAQ
publisher=Ark Linux
accessdate=2008-03-20]

Content

The Ark Linux core system is made up of one CD that tries to provide what the typical new desktop user will need, such as an office suite, Internet access tools, instant messaging and filesharing clients. [cite web
url=http://www.arklinux.org/content/en/Software+Map
title=Ark Linux software map
publisher=Ark Linux
accessdate=2008-03-20] Nothing else is included, for example server-centric applications and development tools are not part of the core system.

Many applications that are not included in the core system can be installed online using Advanced Packaging Tool, and are available on add-on CDs.

Additionally, a separate online repository of unsupported software (this includes software that's free to use, but not open source, such as NVIDIA's 3D driver or Adobe Flash) is available.

Package Management

Ark Linux uses APT and RPM, with Kynaptic (a KDE port of Synaptic Package Manager) as the graphical frontend, to manage its packages [cite web
url=http://www.arklinux.org/content/en/FAQ:What+packaging+system+does+Ark+Linux+use,+and+why%3F
title=Ark Linux FAQ on packaging
publisher=Ark Linux
accessdate=2008-03-20] .

In addition to its releases, Ark Linux has 4 package trees:
* Dockyard: Tested packages belonging to the core system.
* Dockyard contrib: Tested packages that are not part of the core system, e.g. due to licensing restrictions
* Dockyard-devel: Development tree (core system). Normally usable, but may break at times. After testing, packages are moved from Dockyard-devel to Dockyard.
* Dockyard-devel contrib: Development tree (not part of core system).

A standard installation receives updates and extra packages from the Dockyard and Dockyard contrib trees.

For Ark Linux packagers, a number of small convenience tools are included, commonly known as the v* toolchain (even though not all the tools start with a v). They are designed to help generate patches and spec files for the RPM source packages. [cite web
url=http://wiki.arklinux.org/Packaging
title=Ark Linux Wiki page on packaging
publisher=Ark Linux
accessdate=2008-03-20]

Releases

All releases are tested snapshots of the Dockyard tree (see Package Management above) - a default installation will update from the Dockyard and Dockyard contrib trees.

There is no need to reinstall when a new release is made -- since the Dockyard tree gets updated, a user automatically gets the new release by running an apt-get dist-upgrade.

The first test release (1.0 alpha 1), basically a proof of concept that showed Linux could be installed in 3 mouse clicks, was made in August 2001.

Subsequent public releases include:
* 2005-03-19 - Ark Linux 2005.1
* 2005-03-31 - Ark Linux 2005.1-SR1
* 2005-12-10 - Ark Linux 2005.2
* 2006-08-02 - Ark Linux 2006.1, Ark Linux Live 2006.1
* 2007-08-17 - Ark Linux 2007.1, Ark Linux Live 2007.1
* 2008-05-14 - Ark Linux 2008.1, Ark Linux Live 2008.1 -- Last KDE 3.x based release

However, there is usually a Dockyard ISO available (see Package Management above), which sometimes will be updated further than the last release. For example, the Ark Linux 2007.1 release encountered some hardware support glitches, such as not detecting AHCI SATA controllers. A hot-fix ISO was released, which included this functionality, but the version number was not increased, as other known errors were yet to be fixed. This means that the currently suggested installation ISO (Dockyard) is not the latest official release.

External links

* [http://www.arklinux.org/ Ark Linux official website]
*DistroWatch|ark|NAME=Ark Linux (Note that DistroWatch shows all software included on any of the add-on CDs in addition to the software in the core OS; it doesn't show software included in the contrib repository though)

References

ee also

Comparison of Linux LiveDistros