T2 Linux 6.0.2 review

With T2 you can define targets for various purposes, ranging from embedded linux systems with a few MB of size over server configurat

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 0K Developer: The T2 Project

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With T2 you can define targets for various purposes, ranging from embedded linux systems with a few MB of size over server configurations to a full desktop system featuring X.Org foundation, KDE, Gnome, OpenOffice.Org and many more.

Those targets can be compiled for use on the most common architectures (ARM, Alpha, HPPA/HPPA64, ia64, MIPS, PowerPC/PowerPC64, Sparc/Sparc64 and x86/x86-64 - theoretically any GCC/Linux supported one).

T2 comes with many predefined targets (desktop, router, live CD ...) and over 1400 package descriptions ready to build.

T2 features an automated build system which manages the whole compilation process including a possible installer CD creation. After initial creation of the build-tool chain, all packages are built inside a sandbox environment to monitor installed files and dependencies automatically. The build system can also modify the execution of various programs to provide a generic way to control compiler flags and file manipulations.

The T2 framework allows the creation of individual custom build target definitions and to customize any build aspect, as well as every single package built for it. Due to the nature of the clean source packages and its automatic build system, T2 is highly portable. It includes support for ARM, Alpha, HPPA/HPPA64, ia64, MIPS, PowerPC, x86, sparc/sparc64 and x86-64. Adding new architectures is easy and can be done within a day!

Since the automatic build system controls the whole build, it can transform compiler arguments used by the various packages on-the-fly. This allows adapting the optimization for the specified CPU platform, thus accelerating your product over its current limits.

During T2 development, measurements are used to assure the high quality level defined by the developers. The sandbox environment is used to review the content installed by the packages, as well as the preconditions needed to build the package. In addition, a regression tester automatically verifies cross builds for the supported architectures and tracks the build status for every package included in T2.

With all the points outlined above, T2 offers a solid base and a flexible framework for integration with your custom applications. The state-of-the-art technology reduces the development time and the time to market.

Many end users and system administrators enjoy T2 with its clean and tested packages for daily home or office use.

With developers around the world, T2 is best suited for commercial scale products, especially in the embedded and high performance clustering market.

T2 aims to be open for active maintainers. Currently seven people have write access to the T2 Subversion repository. This organization provides for delivery of quick bug and security fixes (not relying on a single person in the process) and offers a nice development climate.

What's New in This Release:
The release primarily focuses on ironing out all known SPARC 64 issues for smooth support of Sun T1, Niagara CPU systems such as the T1000 and T2000.
It also includes non SPARC changes, such as multilib gcc library installation, dietlibc builds on uclibc based systems, GRUB auto-setup for a separate /boot partition, python imaging (PIL) headers installation, and other security-related updates.