OStatic

Joe Zonker Brockmeier, openSUSE community manager, announced this morning that openSUSE 11.1 RC1 will not only sport new features and bug fixes, but a new license. The openSUSE release is licensed under the GNU GPL version 2, with the included packages retaining their governing licenses.

Previously, openSUSE installations required an agreement with the terms of the distribution's license. With the 11.1 RC1 release, the license text will be displayed at installation so that the user is aware of the license, but clicking I agree won't be necessary. Brockmeier says that this licensing is based on Fedora's license procedures, and that work is being done to clarify trademark guidelines in openSUSE to make redistribution easier.

Most people who attend an open source conference typically walk away with t-shirts, stickers and other accessories branded with the logo of their favorite distro or open source project. If you don't go to those events, you can still buy cool stuff to show your support or to give as gifts this holiday season.

Here are some Web sites to check out:

openSUSE 11.1 is moving ever closer to its December release date. The fourth beta release became available Monday, with some new bug fixes, updated versions of GNOME, Banshee and the kernel, and webcam support re-enabled. One of the changes long time openSUSE users will notice right away is the new YaST disk partitioner.

I had the chance to kick the tires of the new partitioner this week. It does what it says, but the box looks very, very different.