Revision 176940285 of "Ark Linux" on enwiki

{{Unreferenced|date=July 2007}}
{{Infobox_OS |
  name = Ark Linux |
  logo=[[Image:Arklinux distrowatch.png|50px|The Ark Linux logo]] |
  screenshot = [[Image:Arklinux installer.png|200px]] |
  caption = Ark Linux installer |
  developer = [[Bernhard Rosenkraenzer]] et al. |
  family = [[Linux]] |
  source_model = [[Free software]] |
  working_state = Current |
  latest_release_version = 2007.1 <!-- If you update this, don't forget to update [[Comparison of Linux distributions]]--> |
  latest_release_date = 2007-08-17 |
  kernel_type = [[Monolithic kernel]] (modular) |
  license = Various |
  website = [http://www.arklinux.org/ www.arklinux.org] |
}}
'''Ark Linux''' is a [[Free Software|free]] [[Linux distribution]].
Due to the similar sounding name, it is sometimes confused with [[Arch Linux]]. Ark Linux is built around [[KDE]].

'''Ark Linux''' is available both as a normal, installable operating system and as a [[Live CD]].

Ark Linux is a [[free software]] project maintained by a group of volunteers, and is always looking for new contributors.

==Philosophy==
The primary goals of Ark Linux are[http://www.arklinux.org/content/en/FAQ:+What+is+this%3F]:
* Being easy to install and learn.[http://www.arklinux.org/content/en/Front+Page]
* Including all tools and applications a typical desktop user will need.
* Including ''only'' tools and applications a typical desktop user will need -- avoid becoming "bloated".
* Making installation of additional software as easy and fast as possible.
* Being a technically sane development environment.
* Remaining 100% [[Free Software]].{{fact}}

== Content ==
The Ark Linux core system is one CD that provides everything the typical new desktop user will need, including an office suite, Internet access tools, instant messaging and filesharing clients.[http://www.arklinux.org/content/en/Software+Map]

For less commonly needed applications, Ark Linux provides add-on CDs, including Ark Development Suite, Ark Extra Software, Ark Extra Languages, and Ark Server Software (all packages on those CDs can also be installed online using [[Advanced Packaging Tool]]) - and an online repository of contributed but unsupported software (this includes software that's free to use, but not [[open source]], such as [[NVIDIA]]'s 3D driver or [[Adobe Flash]] - Ark Linux itself and all official add-ons are 100% [[Free software]] and [[Open Source]]).

==Package Management==
Ark Linux uses [[Advanced Packaging Tool|APT]] and [[RPM Package Manager|RPM]], with Kynaptic (a KDE port of [[Synaptic Package Manager]]) as the graphical frontend, to manage its packages[http://www.arklinux.org/content/en/FAQ:What+packaging+system+does+Ark+Linux+use,+and+why%3F].

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, edit spec sheets for the RPM source packages. Further information on this toolchain can be found on ArkWiki[http://wiki.arklinux.org/index.php/AL_Packaging].

== 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 [[Advanced Packaging Tool|apt-get]] dist-upgrade.

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

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)

==See also==
[[Comparison of Linux LiveDistros]]

{{Linux-distro}}

[[Category:RPM-based Linux distributions]]
[[Category:Free software]]

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