Security the focus as Debian upgrades

"This is the first update of Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 (codename 'Sarge') which mainly adds security updates to the stable release, along with some corrections to serious problems," said Debian security team member Martin Schulze in an e-mail announcing the update.

Schulze said systems administrators who regularly updated their Debian-based systems with security patches would not have to update much software.

The update contains fixes for 172 pieces of software, including high-profile entries like spam-buster SpamAssassin, Web browser Mozilla Firefox and its sister project the Thunderbird e-mail client, the PHP and Python scripting languages, Web server Apache and anti-virus software ClamAV, in addition to the Linux kernel.

An update to file-sharing software Samba may aid in maintaining data integrity.

Today's update comes at the end of a mixed year for Debian in terms of security. The group suffered several setbacks relating to ongoing security support after it ended a three-year wait and released the long-anticipated new version of its GNU/Linux offering back in June.

Since that time, however, Debian has addressed its security record, with its elected leader Branden Robinson informing the Debian-using community that Debian had resolved problems with the infrastructure and would investigate the internal processes by which security updates get released.