Version
|
Code Name
|
Date of Release
|
End of Support
|
Tie-In
|
0.8
|
Preview
|
Summer 1994
|
?????
|
This was a release made by Marc Ewing and others to
showcase Red Hat and RPP technology.
|
0.9
|
Halloween
|
1994/10/31
|
?????
|
This was an almost ready to ship product. It has been a
long tradition (maybe joke I never know) to try and get
the Red Hat release out on October 31st so as to use
another Halloween name or at least do a sequel.
|
1.0
|
Mother's Day
|
Summer 1995
|
?????
|
I have really never seen this release. I remember
reading about it on comps.os.linux at the time.. but
nothing more than that.
|
1.1
|
Mother's Day
|
Late Summer 1995
|
?????
|
I am guessing that this was a bug fix release to clean
up issues with the first release.
|
2.0beta
|
Bluesky?
|
Late Late Summer 1995
|
?????
|
This should have been the first release to use RPM
technology. RPM was based off work from RPP, PMS, PM,
and was written in perl.
|
2.0
|
NoName?
|
Early Fall 1995
|
?????
|
RPM is officially unveiled to the world. One strength of
RPM is the cross architectue usage allowing for ports to
Alpha and M68k. This is the reason for upping the first
number.
|
2.1
|
NoName?
|
Late Fall 1995
|
?????
|
This is the first of the cross architecture
releases. Red Hat was working on getting both the Intel
and Alpha's ready for release. The upgrade from 2.0 to
2.1 was buggy but better than Slackware's at the time. I
helped port a browser (Spyglass RedBaron) to the
platform.
|
3.0.3
|
Picasso
|
March 1996
|
?????
|
Notes about this release:
-
Picasso is a painter
-
Rumour has it that it was 3.0.3 because Slackware
3.0 was released at the same time, and people
thought Red Hat would be accused of upping numbers
in competition.
-
RPM is rewritten in C (reason for major number
upgrade). There are also changes in layout.
|
3.95
|
Rembrandt
|
August 1996
|
?????
|
This is the beginning of the related release
names. Rembrandt is a painter and a toothpaste.
|
4.0
|
Colgate
|
1996/10/03
|
?????
|
-
Colgate is both a toothpaste and a family name that
funded universities.
-
The reason for a major number upgrade is the first
release that tries for 3 architectures (Alpha,
Sparc, Intel) with ideas that others might be added
later depending on sales.
|
4.1
|
Vanderbilt
|
1997/02/03
|
?????
|
Vanderbilt is a name of a family that funded
universities.
|
4.2
|
Biltmore
|
1997/04/24
|
?????
|
-
The Biltmore is a "castle" that the Vanderbilts
built in the mountains of North Carolina.
-
It is also a name of
wines that are grown at the estates.
-
Finally this is the first release that I fully
supported coming to Red Hat in May of 1997.
|
4.95
|
Thunderbird
|
Summer 1997
|
?????
|
-
Thunderbird is another name of wines. It is not held
in high regard by most people.
-
The Thunderbird is also a line of cards from Ford
Automobiles.
-
This was also the first "formalized" beta that was
given out for feedback of changes that would occur
in the main release.
|
4.96
|
Mustang
|
Fall 1997
|
?????
|
Mustang is both a car from Ford Automobiles and an
fighter airplane from World War II.
|
5.0
|
Hurricane
|
1997/11/10
|
?????
|
-
This release marks big changes in Linux that Red
Hat was showcasing. RPM was rewritten from scratch,
better user configuration was a major goal, and Red
Hat was one of the first to use glibc 2.0 for the
library versus the glibc 1.x (libc5.2) that other
releases were using. This was the reasoning for a
major number increase.
-
Hurricane is both a World War II fighter and a mixed
drink.
|
5.1
|
Manhattan
|
1998/05/07
|
?????
|
Manhatten is both a mixed drink, and by some historians
the project that helped begin the Cold War.
|
5.2
|
Apollo
|
1998/10/12
|
?????
|
The Apollo project has been cited as the first sign that
the Cold War would have to end as the Soviet Union was
unable to reach the moon without a major impact on their
economy. [It has also been said that Manhatten and
Apollo are both theatres, but the Cold War analogy was
what I gave when I offered the name.] Apollo is also the
name of a main character in the 1970's ABC television
show Battlestar Galactica
|
5.9
|
Starbuck
|
?????
|
?????
|
Starbuck is both the character from Battlestar
Galactica and a musical character from the broadway
classic the Rain Maker.
|
6.0
|
Hedwig
|
1999/04/19
|
?????
|
-
Hedwig is the main character from the musical
Hedwig and the Angry Itch. It is also the
name of a Doctor Seuss character
-
Changes in 6.0 are moving to glibc 2.1, changing
from gcc to egcs-1.2, and using a 2.0 kernel. All of
which make the release non-forwards compatible.
|
6.0.95
|
Lorax
|
?????
|
?????
|
Another Dr Seuss character and also a Word macro virus
that does bad things to your computer.
|
6.1
|
Cartmann
|
1999/09/26
|
?????
|
Another MS Word macro virus and a cartoon character.
|
6.1.95
|
Piglet
|
Winter 1999
|
?????
|
A classical cartoon character and a character from the
movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
|
6.2
|
Zoot
|
2000/03/08
|
?????
|
Another Monty Python character and also a classy suit
from the earlier part of the 20th century.
|
6.0.98
|
Pinstripe
|
Summer 2000
|
?????
|
Another suit from the earlier parts of the 20th century,
though not as snazzy. Pinstripe is also an ale. {Rumour
was that the name Pinstripe is also in the credits for
the movie Star Wars: A New Hope.}
|
7.0
|
Guinness
|
Late Summer 2000
|
?????
|
-
This release was named after the beer from
Ireland. {The rumour was that the release was named
in honour and memory of Sir Alec Guinness, who
starred in "The Man in the White
Suit", "The Lavender Hill Mob", "Tinker,
Tailor, Soldier, Spy" among others.
-
This release brings into the fold glibc-2.2, a newer
gcc (using a beta called 2.96 in preperation of 3.0),
and libraries and headers ready for a 2.4 kernel.
|
7.0.90
|
Fisher
|
2001/02/01
|
?????
|
-
This BETA is named after Carrie Fisher, actress in 3
Star Wars movies. [So the Star Wars did get worked
into it.]
-
This BETA includes a 2.4 kernel, better network
security, and better integration between all
languages on release date (Japanese and 7bit Euro
engineers worked VERY VERY hard together to get this
done.)
-
The fisher is a rare north american mammal related
to the weasel. Please see the Encyclopedia
Britannica for more information.
|
7.0.91
|
Wolverine
|
2001/02/21
|
?????
|
-
The
Wolverine is another weasel, and is known for
his strength and fearlessness.
-
|
7.1
|
Seawolf
|
2001/04/04
|
?????
|
-
College mascots. There was some ideas that this was
via submarines because of wolverine and seawolf
classes ship names in World War II (and also
submarine toys released in the 1950's)
-
This release has a 2.4 kernel, cleaner names to
differentiate RH gcc from regular branch, and also a
new line of user tools customized for Red Hat
(printer configuration, internet configuration, etc).
|
7.1.92
|
Roswell
|
2001/07/27
|
?????
|
-
This Beta release marked the beginning of a new
naming scheme. Erik Troan had moved onto getting a
doctorate in Economics. I had moved onto being a
house-daddy.. so I dont have all the clues I used
to.
-
Changes in this beta was that that GRUB replaces
LILO, XFree86-4.1 replaces more of the older
XFree86-3.3.6 systems, and ext3 is brought in as a
Journal.
-
Roswell is a pretty town in New Mexico, USA. Actress
Demi Moore is from around there. After World War II,
a 'weather balloon' was lost in the Roswell area and
UFO watchers believe covered up. There is also a
show on Fox called Roswell about way-to-pretty teenagers
who have to cope with being aliens. [The show moved
to another channel later.. but I dont watch TV
anymore so I dont know what.]
|
7.2
|
Enigma
|
2001/10/22
|
?????
|
-
The Enigma release has a very solid installer and
upgrade path. The GNOME desktop uses Nautilus, the
KDE is 2.2, and the kernel is 2.4.7 with lots of
patches. During the release there were updates
to the kernel and glibc which cleaned up some late
found security and performance problems.
-
Enigma means a puzzle. It was used as a code word
during World War II by the British for the Nazi
rotary encryption machines. One of the people who
helped break the codes and build the first
electronic computers was Alan Turing. See the
movie!
|
7.2.92
|
Skipjack
|
2002/03/20
|
?????
|
-
The Skipjack Beta seems to have been one that
almost wasnt. Looking at how Red Hat's Rawhide was
moving up until the Beta, they were using gcc-3.0
for the compiler, python2, gtk2.0 and other
nifty-neat tools. This gave the impression that the
next release was going to be an 8.0 versus
7.3..
However when Skipjack was released, it turned
out to be more of a gradual update. Gone was the
gcc-3.0 and reliance on python2/gtk2.x
tools. KDE3.0cvs was in there.. but otherwise it was
pretty much a maturing of the 7.x series.
Getting the inside scoop was a lot harder now that I
wasnt an employee.. but it would seem that there
were too many problems with the gcc-3.0 c++
compiler. It was very standard compliant, but most
of the c++ code out there wasnt. It was increasingly
turning into patch other peoples code over and
over... The gcc-3.1 code looked
to be a fix on this but wasnt going to be released
in time. Again this I got from sources who may or
may not have been pulling my leg.
-
Skipjack is another encryption algorithm. It was
originally going to be used in the government
clipper chip (a thankfully failed initiative to have
special govt encryption in all devices that could be
listened to by them with court order.) Like Enigma,
it was shown that the Skipjack algorithm was easily
broken with brute force methods.
|
7.3
|
Valhalla
|
2002/05/06
|
?????
|
-
The 7.3 release came out in early May with little
fanfair. It actually contained a very stable release
with a solid version of alternatives and very few
bug fixes needed in the next 6 months.
-
Ok here is the dime store version of Norse
mythology... it is MUCH deeper than this. Valhalla
is the warriors paradise in Norse legends. The Norse
believed that those who died in combat would ascend
to Asgard and live out time fighting all day and
carousing in the halls of Valhalla every night.
Possible links between Valhalla and Skipjack
are that
-
they are islands.
-
they are a class of sailing ships
-
they arent linked at all.
|
7.3.9[23]
|
Limbo
|
2002/07/03
|
?????
|
-
The limbo release saw Red Hat returning to using
GCC-3.1 and a glibc version numbered near 2.3. This
led to lots of speculation that the next release
would be 8.0. Other software that was added or
updated was OpenOffice-1.0, GNOME-2, KDE-3.0.2, and
various other tidbits.
Other big changes in this release was the beginning
of what could be called the Red Hat Desktop. In an
effort to unify the look and feel of KDE and GNOME
by using the same icons for applications and giving
the new user a limited number of applications on the
base menu so as to not 'confuse' things with 30 ways
to do email (all of them different.)
In an experiment that didnt extend to later betas,
the first cd set was based off of 700 mb ISO images
versus 650. This was to try and keep as many
packages as possible from the existing base. Sadly,
too many cdroms had problems writing, booting, or
reading the 700mb and packages had to be dropped.
-
Limbo has several definitions:
-
A dance where people try to scurry under a
lowered bar without falling onto the
ground. Much fun even if not drunk.
-
The place between heaven and hell where
unbaptized but innocent or righteous await
the end of the universe in Roman Catholic
theology.
This second definition would then be the link to
Valhalla.
|
7.3.94
|
Null
|
2002/08/19
|
?????
|
-
Null was the last beta released for the 7.3.x
cycle. Major changes were the removal of packages
from the usual distribution, upgrading the compiler
suite to GCC-3.2 and further refinements of the Red Hat
desktop. The controversy of this finally seemed to
make the press finally as KDE people said that Red
Hat was killing them, and GNOME people began to
wonder if they had a Microsoft in their midst. In
other words, the usual hullabaloo about nothing.
-
Null is a state of oblivion. Limbo is a place of
oblivion. That basically says it all.
|
8.0
|
Psyche
|
2002/09/30
|
?????
|
-
Historically this release ended up being a red
headed bastard stepchild release. While lots of
updates occured from the 7 tree.. the new emphasis
on enterprise releases saw less emphasis on the
release than in the past. With Red Hat Linux 9
coming out in early 2003 with more major
changes.. this release faded into obscurity.
-
Updates to GCC, rpm, GNOME, KDE, and the addition of
a commonized desktip of KDE and GNOME made this
release a major change from the 7.x tree. Many
changes to the Desktop were pretty controversial to
KDE users as it 'stripped' the differences between
the two desktops and made them look the
same. Adoption of 8.0 in a lot of shops was delayed
for the usual .0 release reasons of waiting for a
'stable' 8.1 to come out.
-
In Greek mythology, Psyche was one of the most
beautiful women of the world, and gathered the wrath
of Aphrodite because humanity began to adore Psyche
more than her. Aphrodite sent her son, Eros to
punish Psyche, but to make a long story short, fell
in love with her and didnt end her life. Aphrodite
turned her son into a large serpent and Psyche was
sent by Oracles to become his husband. After much
storymaking, Psyche made peace with Aphrodite and
the two lovers were united once more.
-
Psyche is a Greek name for butterfly. It is also
used in various mystics views as the soul and center
of being.
|
8.0.93
|
Phoebe
|
Winter 2002
|
?????
|
-
The Phoebe release started to show that Red Hat was
going to majorly change things. With the addition of
threaded libraries and gcc/kernel changes people
found that apps compiled on Phoebe didnt run on
8.0. There was further cleanup of the desktop making
it quite usable for people not familiar with X-Windows.
-
Phoebe was one of the original titans which would be
a Greek Mythology link to Psyche. Phoebe was the
original moon goddess who ceded her role to her
grand-daughter Artemis. It is also a moon of
Saturn. There is no known link between this release
and Phoebe Cates.
|
9
|
Shrike
|
2003/03/31
|
?????
|
-
This release was another major change to the Red Hat
release cycle due to major advances to glibc and
kernel threading that made packages binary
incompatible with Red Hat Linux 8.0.
-
And there was further wailing and nashing of teeth
from people as they read the new Errata cycle of 1
year per product. With changes in online access
having more people downloading ISOs from Bittorrent
and similar paths.. the company focussed less on
retail than in the past.
-
The Shrike is a predator bird in England. It is also
a character in 'Hyperion' by Dan Simmons. There may
be references to Keats poetry which would also lead
back to Psyche.
|
9.0.93
|
Severn
|
2003/07/21
|
?????
|
-
This Beta release saw the further evolution of Red
Hat Linux from Retail to Community edition. The
launch of RHL.REDHAT.COM saw
a more external push on the development of the Red
Hat products and a further seperation of the
Enterprise and Community Editions
-
The valley in England where many Shrikes live. Also
another character in the 'Hyperion' series.
|