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

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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 download Owl, try it out, and provide your feedback to us via the owl-users mailing list (see below). At this time, we recommend a fresh ISO-9660 CD image of Owl-current for 32-bit x86 or x86-64, as we're approaching another release. The latest images have been generated on January 28, 2010. These use 2.6 OpenVZ kernels and they have optional OpenVZ container-based virtualization integrated.

Quick direct download links (more mirrors are available):

• Owl-current 2010/01/28 ISO for 32-bit x86 ("i686")
  471441781 bytes (450 MB) .iso.gz (requires at least a 700 MB CD-R)
  bootable on Pentium Pro/2/3/4 and Celeron (except for some older Pentium M and Celeron M found in some laptops); Xeon (all kinds); Core, Core 2, and Core i7 (all kinds); Athlon (all variations), Opteron; and many more / all newer x86 CPUs and virtual machines (QEMU, etc.)
  (requires PAE, supports NX bit when present)
• Owl-current 2010/01/28 ISO for x86-64
  475256600 bytes (454 MB) .iso.gz (requires at least a 700 MB CD-R)
  bootable on 64-bit capable machines only (including virtual ones such as QEMU, etc.)

The above images include a live system, installable packages, the installer program, as well as full source code and the build environment - everything!

Owl 2.0 consists of Linux kernel 2.4.x (as maintained by us), glibc 2.3.6 (with our security enhancements), gcc 3.4.5, and over 100 other packages. It offers binary- and package-level compatibility for most packages intended for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (RHEL4), CentOS 4, and Fedora Core 3 (FC3). The Owl 2.0 userland supports Linux 2.6.x kernels as well, and it is usable along with OpenVZ (both for the host system and in containers).

After the 2.0 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>.

Owl is a registered project with Freshmeat and Ohloh.

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.