Other languages: German, Russian

Other languages:
German, Russian

Concepts
Architectures
Build environment
Installation instructions

Purchase CDs
Download (FTP, anoncvs, CVSweb)

Change logs:
Changes in current
Changes in 2.0-stable
Changes up to 2.0
Changes in 1.1-stable
Changes up to 1.1
Changes up to 1.0
Changes in 0.1-stable

Artwork

Openwall GNU/*/Linux (or Owl for short) is a security-enhanced operating system with Linux and GNU software as its core, compatible with other major distributions of GNU/*/Linux. It is intended as a server platform. And, of course, it is free.

You can read more about the concepts behind Owl (including its features and our approach to security), the architectures we support, the guide on using the Owl build environment, and the installation instructions.

You're encouraged to purchase official Owl CDs instead of or in addition to downloading a copy.

After many public Owl-current snapshots, Owl 2.0 is finally out. The major changes made since 1.1 are documented.

Owl 2.0 is built around Linux kernel 2.4.32-ow1, glibc 2.3.6 (with our security enhancements), gcc 3.4.5, and recent versions of over 100 other packages. It offers binary- and package-level compatibility for most packages intended for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (RHEL4) and Fedora Core 3 (FC3), as well as for many FC4 packages.

After the release development continues on the current branch while important bug fixes pertaining to Owl 2.0 are being rolled into the 2.0-stable branch.

There's a mailing list where you can share your experience with Owl and ask questions. Please be sure to specify an informative message subject whenever you post to the list (that is, something better than "question" or "problem"). To subscribe, send an empty message to <owl-users-subscribe at lists.openwall.com> or enter your e-mail address below. You will be required to confirm your subscription by "replying" to the automated confirmation request that will be sent to you. You will be able to unsubscribe at any time and we will not use your e-mail address for any other purposes or share it with a third party. The list archives are available on MARC and Gmane, as well as locally.

In addition to the owl-users list you have the option to direct your comments regarding Owl to us privately via <feedback at cvs.openwall.com>. Potential security issues are to be reported to <security at cvs.openwall.com> and non-security bugs to <bugs at cvs.openwall.com>.

Commercial support for Owl is available, please check out our services. Alternatively, you may support the project with donations.

Please check out our presentation slides on Owl.