Release-Critical Bugs Delay Release of Debian Lenny

Debian Lenny was originally scheduled for release in September. Now that we're well into October, Debian developer Alexander Reichle-Schmehl admits that plan was "too optimistic." Although there are still over 200 release-critical bugs still waiting to be patched, if the Debian community is willing to step up, Lenny can see the light of day sooner rather than later.

Reichle-Schmehl says in order to get Lenny out the door, the project needs people willing to "Fix rc-bugs, take care, that the fixed packages are migrated to 'Lenny', do upgrade tests, [and] document problems in the release-notes."

Even users with no developer skills can still help by simply taking Lenny for a test drive and reporting any problems to the team. Reichle-Schmehl is also looking for people to join the translation team.

Although Reichle-Schmehl didn't say when he expects Lenny to ship, Debian project leader Steve McIntyre says it won't take as long as some predict. McIntyre told The Register that the team is working on the release-critical bugs as fast as possible and also considering dropping some packages from the release if necessary.

"As for exact timing, I can't promise anything. I'd love to see Lenny out before the end of the month, but we'll have to see," said McIntyre.