Introduction:

One of the latest additions to the Linux security community is the Netwosix project. The first public release was made available this year on January 31st. Netwosix is a light distribution intended for system administrators and other advanced users. It is based on the 2.6.1 Linux kernel and includes GCC 3.3.2. It also includes a diverse range of security tools that may be useful to a pentester or paranoid system administrator. A complete list of packages can be found here.

On of the best things about the Netwosix project is the enthusiasm of the founder. It will not take you long to realize that Vincenzo Ciaglia certainly loves what he is doing, and is making a valiant effort to contribute to the community. It would be great if more people exhibited his passion to contribute to open source security.

Another interesting aspect about this project is that Vincenzo has written his own package manager. He calls it Nepote and gives a description later in the interview.

Interview:

LinuxSecurity.com: Please introduce yourself. Who are you, where are you from, how long have you been involved with security and/or Linux.

Vincenzo Ciaglia: My name is Vincenzo Ciaglia and I am from Italy. I'm 17 years old and have been involved in security, networking, and Linux since 2000. I love open source systems and the GNU philosophy. In my spare time I read many books, papers, and other related material. I also enjoy coding in PERL and C.

LinuxSecurity.com: What is Netwosix, and what does it do differently than other distributions? Who is the target user?

Vincenzo Ciaglia: Linux Netwosix is a powerful and optimized Linux distribution for servers and Network security related jobs. It has been created for sysadmins and security specialists. Linux Netwosix is powered by its portage system: Nepote. Nepote is the acronim of NEtwosix POrting Tool Environment and it's similar to the xBSD systems. Nepote gives the sysadmin a fast configuration tool for software packages, helping with fast and complete installations from the Internet.

LinuxSecurity.com: Who are some of the key members of the Netwosix development team? What do they specialize in?

Vincenzo Ciaglia: Actually, I am the only developer of Linux Netwosix. I maintain the project and portage tree.

LinuxSecurity.com: What made you want to create your own distribution? What is the process that you took to bring it from an idea to a reality?

Vincenzo Ciaglia: Only the simple concept, a passion for Linux security and networking. There aren't many distributions that include all of the same fuctions as Netwosix

LinuxSecurity.com: Specifically, what security features/network tools does Netwosix provide? What is the advantage of using Netwosix?

Vincenzo Ciaglia: Netwosix provides a big collection of security tools ready to be used by the expert users (localized into /netwosix/additional and /netwosix/tools of Official Netwosix CDROM. You can view a complete list of all packages at http://www.netwosix.org/packages.html). The advantages? Netwosix is a light distribution. There is a large amount of choice during the installation and you will not install useless packages like many others distributions. The install is only a base system (using a .tgz or a .tar.gz installation method) then the sysadmin will decide which packages install and which ones not. Linux Netwosix is the first linux distribution to run Linux kernel 2.6.1 by default.

LinuxSecurity.com: Tell us more about Nepote. What is the purpose; how did it originate? What is the advantage Nepote has over similar software?

Vincenzo Ciaglia: Nepote is the package tool of Linux Netwosix. It has been created from the idea of Armando Trinchillo, one of my best friends, and it's the acronim of NEtwosix POrting Tool Environment. Actually I'm developing more features to improve Nepote. Now it gives users the possibility of installing packages through our portage tree rather than installing many packages from the Internet, similar to xBSD systems.

LinuxSecurity.com: Does the Netwosix project need volunteers? If so, in what area? How can someone get involved?

Vincenzo Ciaglia: Yes, volunteers are welcome! Email me to suggest features or help in implementation.

LinuxSecurity.com: How would you describe this experience?

Vincenzo Ciaglia:

I'm studying the TCP/IP protocols and Distributed Systems. I would create some softwares about these arguments. Maybe ... in the future. Now, i only want create the best Linux Distribution for the GNU/LINUX networker.

Linux Netwosix Release Announcement:

**************************************************************************
Linux Netwosix Announcement Release Italy
Release 1.0 - 31 January 2004
<http://www.netwosix.org> by Vincenzo Ciaglia
**************************************************************************
The NETWOSIX Linux distribution (v. 1.0) is now available.

Overview:
*******************
Linux Netwosix is a powerful and optimized Linux distribution for servers
and Network Security related jobs. It can be also used for special operations as penetration test with its big collection of software and sources security oriented. It's a ligh distribution created for the requirements of every SysAdmin and it's very portable and highly configurable. Our philosophy is to give a big liberty of configuration to the SysAdmin. Only in this way he/she can configure a powerful and stable server machine. Linux Netwosix have also a powerful ports system (Nepote) similar to the xBSD systems but more flexible and usable.

Features:
*******************

• It runs Linux Kernel 2.6.1. Linux Netwosix is the first distribution that uses this new and powerful kernel by default.
• System binaries linked with the GNU C Library, version 2.3.2.
• Printer server powered by CUPS 1.1.19.
• Duoble possibility of installation: from .tgz or from .tar.gz (for
  experts).
• Iptables 1.2.7a.
• GCC 3.3.2 as the default C compiler.
• It runs "nepote" as default Porting Tool.
• Perl 5.8.2 as perl compiler.
• A big collection of tools security-oriented is localized into
  /netwosix/tools of the Official NETWOSIX CDROM.

Extra Features:
********************

• XFree86 4.3.0
• Support for fully encrypted network connections with OpenSSL,
  OpenSSH, and GnuPG.
• Apache 2.0.48 web server and PHP 4.3.4
• Zebra 0.93, the free routing software distributed under GNU GPL.
• Support for Proftp 1.2.9 and Wu-FTP 2.6.2.
• Wireless tools (wireless_tools25)

Download CD Image (HTTP)
********************
http://download.netwosix.org/
http://ftp.man.olsztyn.pl/pub/linux/netwosix/
http://rm.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/netwosix
http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/linux/mirrors/netwosix/pub/netwosix

ftp://ftp.man.olsztyn.pl/pub/linux/netwosix/
ftp://rm.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/netwosix
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/linux/mirrors/netwosix/pub/netwosix
ftp://ftp.webtrek.com/pub/mirrors/netwosix/

rsync://rm.mirror.garr.it/netwosix

Acknowledgements
********************

Futurahost.com for hosting netwosix.org
Robert d'Aystetten
Pablo Povarchik
Armando Trinchillo

CD Image Checksum
********************

MD5 (netwosix1.0.x86.iso)62ce6077f762b9e36b28f873f6981f61

----
Vincenzo Ciaglia - Project Leader of Linux Netwosix
<ciaglia@netwosix.org> - <http://www.netwosix.org>

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