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Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 updated

May 22nd, 2010

The Debian project is pleased to announce the ninth and final update of its oldstable distribution Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (codename etch).

This update incorporates all security updates which have been released for the oldstable release since the previous point release, with one exception which it was unfortunately not possible to include, together with a few adjustments to serious problems.

PLEASE NOTE: Security support for the oldstable distribution ended in February 2010 and no updates have been released since that point.

Those who frequently install updates from security.debian.org won't have to update many packages and most updates from security.debian.org are included in this update.

New CD and DVD images containing updated packages and the regular installation media accompanied with the package archive respectively will be available soon at the regular locations.

Upgrading to this revision online is usually done by pointing the aptitude (or apt) package tool (see the sources.list(5) manual page) to one of Debian's many FTP or HTTP mirrors. A comprehensive list of mirrors is available at:

Please note that the oldstable distribution will be moved from the main archive to the archive.debian.org repository after June 6th 2010. After this move, it will no longer be available from the main mirror network. More information about the distribution archive and a list of mirrors is available at:

Miscellaneous Bugfixes

This oldstable update adds a few important corrections to the following packages:

Debian Installer

The Debian Installer has been updated in this point release to offer better support for installation of the "oldstable" distribution and from archive.debian.org and to resolve issues with checking the GPG signatures of some files on mirror servers.

The kernel image used by the installer has been updated to incorporate a number of important and security-related fixes.

Security Updates

This revision adds the following security updates to the oldstable release. The Security Team has already released an advisory for each of these updates:

Unfortunately it was not possible to include the security updates for the lcms package in this point release due to a mismatch between the upstream tarball used for the security update and that already present in the oldstable distribution.

Removed packages

The following packages were removed due to circumstances beyond our control:

A few further packages were removed as a result, as they depend on libclass-dbi-loader-relationship-perl; these packages are:

• maypole
• maypole-authentication-usersession-cookie
• maypole-plugin-upload
• memories

Additionally those parts of the libwww-search-perl and libperl4caml-ocaml-dev packages which rely on the Google SOAP search API (provided by libnet-google-perl) are no longer functional as the API has been retired by Google. The remaining portions of the packages will continue to function as before.

About Debian

The Debian project is an organisation of Free Software developers who volunteer their time and effort, collaborating via the Internet. Their tasks include maintaining and updating Debian GNU/Linux which is a free distribution of the GNU/Linux operating system. Debian's dedication to Free Software, its non-profit nature, and its open development model makes it unique among GNU/Linux distributions.

Contact Information

For further information, please visit the Debian web pages at https://www.debian.org/, send mail to <press@debian.org>, or contact the stable release team at <debian-release@lists.debian.org>.