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Russian Linux-based computer operating system

Astra Linux

Astra Linux Operating System

Developer| Rusbitech-Astra
OS family| Linux (Unix-like)
Working state| Current
Marketing target| Russian Armed Forces
Available in| Russian, English
Update method| APT
Package manager| dpkg
Platforms| x86-64, ARM, Elbrus
Kernel type| Monolithic
Default
user interface| fly, twm
License| proprietary[1]
Official website| astralinux.ru

Astra Linux is a Russian Linux-based computer operating system (OS) that is being widely deployed in the Russian Federation in order to replace Microsoft Windows.[2][3][4] Initially it was created and developed to meet the needs of the Russian army, other armed forces and intelligence agencies.[5] It provides data protection up to the level of "top secret" in Russian classified information grade by featuring mandatory access control. It has been officially certified by Russian Defense Ministry, Federal Service for Technical and Export Control[6] and Federal Security Service.[7]

In the course of 2010s, as Russian authorities and industry were trying to lower dependence on Western products ("import substitution industrialization"), Astra Linux became widely used by Russian civilians as a universal operating system for personal computers. Aside from army and police, it is now being supplied to educational, healthcare and other state institutions, as well as in industry giants such as RZD, Gazprom, Rosatom and others.[2][3][4] Server versions of Astra Linux are certified to work with Huawei equipment.

## Specifications[edit]

The creator of the OS is the Scientific/Manufacturing Enterprise Rusbitech which is applying solutions according to Russian Government decree No.2299-р of 17/10/2010 that orders federal authorities and budget institutions to implement Free Software use.[8]

There are two available editions of the OS: the main one is called "Special Edition" and the other one is called "Common Edition". The main differences between the two are the fact that the former is paid, while the latter is free; the former is available for x86-64 architecture, ARM architecture and Elbrus architecture, while the latter is only available for x86-64 architecture; the former has a security certification and provides 3 levels of OS security (which are named after Russian cities and which from the lowest to the highest are: Oryol, Voronezh and Smolensk), while the latter doesn't have the security certification and only provides the lowest level of OS security (Oryol).[9][10]

Rusbitech also manufactures a "soft/hardware trusted boot control module" MAKSIM-M1 ("М643М1") with PCI bus. It prevents unauthorized access and offers some other raised digital security features. The module, besides Astra Linux, also supports OSes with Linux kernel 2.6.x up to 5.x.x, as well as several Microsoft Windows OSes.[11]

It is declared the Astra Linux licenses correspond with Russian and international laws and "don't contradict with the spirit and demands of GPL license".[12] The system uses .deb packages.[13]

Astra Linux Special Edition is being used in the Russian National Center for Defence Control

Astra Linux is a recognized Debian derivative.[14] Rusbitech has partnership relations with The Linux Foundation.[15] It was part of the advisory board of The Document Foundation,[16] but was suspended on 26 February 2022 because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[17]

## Use[edit]

The Special Edition version (paid) is used in many Russian state-related organizations. Particularly, it is used in the Russian National Center for Defence Control.[18]

There are talks to deploy mass use of Astra Linux in many state institutions of the Republic of Crimea – legitimate use of other popular OSes is questionable because of international sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War.[19]

Also there were plans on cooperation of Rusbitech and Huawei.[20][21]

In January 2018, it was announced that Astra Linux was going to be deployed to all Russian Army computers, and Microsoft Windows will be dropped.[22]

In February 2018, Rusbitech announced it has ported Astra Linux to Russian-made Elbrus microprocessors.[23]

In February 2019, Astra Linux was announced to be implemented at Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in China.[24]

Since 2019 "super-protected" tablet computers branded MIG are available with Astra Linux,[25] smartphones are expected.[26]

In 2019 Gazprom national gas/oil holding announced Astra Linux implementation, in 2020 nuclear corporation Rosatom,[27] in early 2021 Russian Railways was reported to do so.[28]

In 2020, Astra Linux sold more than a million copies in licenses and generated 2 billion rubles in sales.[29]

In 2021, several Russian nuclear power plants and subsidiaries of Rosatom are planned to switch to Astra Linux, with a total of 15000 users.[30]

In 2022, subsequent departure of Microsoft from the Russian market,[31] Astra Linux announced that it was planning to be publicly listed on the Moscow Exchange, although it has not yet given a planned timeline.[32]

## Version history[edit]

Versions of Astra Linux Special Edition  Version | Release date | Linux kernel

|
|

1.2 | 28 October 2011 | 2.6.34
1.3 | 26 April 2013 | 3.2.0[33]
1.4[34] | 19 December 2014 | 3.16.0
1.5[35] | 8 April 2016 | 4.2.0
1.6 | 12 October 2018 | 4.15.0
1.7 | 22 October 2021 | 5.4
1.7.3  | 29 November 2022  | 5.15
1.7.5  | 16 October 2023  | 6.1
Versions of Astra Linux Common Edition  Version | Release date | Linux kernel

|
|

1.5 | ending of 2009 | 2.6.31
1.6 | 23 November 2010 | —
1.7[36] | 3 February 2012 | 2.6.34
1.9 | 12 February 2013 | 3.2.0
1.10[37] | 14 November 2014 | 3.16.0
1.11[38] | 17 March 2016 | 4.2.0
2.12 | 21 August 2018 | 4.15
2.12.29 | 14 May 2020 | 4.15.3-2
2.12.40  | 29 December 2020  | 5.4
2.12.43  | 8 September 2021  | 5.10
2.12.45  | 4 August 2022  | 5.15

## See also[edit]

* Unity Operating System, a Linux distribution planned to be used on Chinese government computers
* List of Debian-based Linux distributions
* Debian GNU/Linux
* Ubuntu Kylin
* Linux adoption
* Red Flag Linux
* Canaima (operating system) – a similar project by the Venezuelan computer manufacturer VIT, C.A. and Chinese information technology company Inspur
* GendBuntu – a similar project used by Gendarmerie in France
* LiMux – a similar project of the city council of Munich
* Nova (operating system) – a similar project by the Cuban government
* Red Star OS – a similar project by the North Korean government

## References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Astra Linux.

1. ^ "Лицензионные соглашения". astralinux.ru. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
2. ^ a b "Госорганы России массово меняют Windows на Astra Linux - CNews". CNews.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 14 December 2023.
3. ^ a b "Какие российские альтернативы есть у зарубежного программного обеспечения". Российская газета (in Russian). 23 March 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
4. ^ a b "Россияне стало массово скачивать отечественные программы вместо зарубежных". www.ferra.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 14 December 2023.
5. ^ "Звезда по имени Linux: почему "военные" ОС прочнее". old.computerra.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 14 December 2023.
6. ^ (in Russian) http://fstec.ru/en/
7. ^ (in Russian) http://www.astra-linux.com/sertifikat.html Archived 2018-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
8. ^ (in Russian) http://www.computerra.ru/vision/609608/
9. ^ (in Russian) https://astralinux.ru/products/
10. ^ (in Russian) https://astralinux.ru/products/astra-linux-special-edition/
11. ^ "АПМДЗ "Максим-М1"" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
12. ^ "Часто задаваемые вопросы" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
13. ^ "Настройка apt" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
14. ^ "Derivatives/Census/AstraLinux - Debian Wiki".
15. ^ (in Russian) http://www.cnews.ru/news/line/2019-02-19_gk_astra_linux_rasshiryaet_sotrudnichestvo_s_the
16. ^ "The Document Foundation welcomes RusBITech in the project Advisory Board". 6 October 2015.
17. ^ "The Document Foundation suspends RusBITech from its Advisory Board". 28 February 2022.
18. ^ (in Russian) http://spbit.ru/news/n119990/
19. ^ (in Russian) n:ru:Власти Крыма планируют переход на Linux из-за санкций – Russian Wikinews, 22.07.2015
20. ^ "Huawei, RusBITex to design information protection systems".
21. ^ "Huawei Enterprise: New Value Together". Huawei Enterprise. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
22. ^ "Russian military moves closer to replacing Windows with Astra Linux". ZDNet.
23. ^ (in Russian) http://www.astralinux.com/home/novosti/469-rbt-elbrus.html Archived 2018-02-27 at the Wayback Machine
24. ^ (in Russian) http://corp.cnews.ru/news/line/2019-02-05_rossijskaya_os_astra_linux_vnedrena_na_tyanvanskoj
25. ^ "Начались продажи российского суперзащищенного планшета на отечественной ОС - CNews". CNews.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 14 December 2023.
26. ^ (in Russian) https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3999021
27. ^ "«Росатом» потратит до 800 млн рублей на российскую ОС Astra Linux". iXBT.com (in Russian). Retrieved 14 December 2023.
28. ^ (in Russian) https://company.rzd.ru/ru/9397/page/104069?id=260438[permanent dead link]
29. ^ "The Russian distribution of Astra Linux has passed the milestone of 1 million licenses". Retrieved 25 March 2021.
30. ^ (in Russian) https://bankstoday.net/last-news/pervye-9-rossijskih-aes-pereveli-na-sistemu-astra-linux-a-skoro-pomenyayut-i-sami-kompyutery-na-baikal-ili-elbrus
31. ^ Warren, Tom (8 June 2022). "Microsoft winds down its business in Russia, lays off more than 400 people". The Verge. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
32. ^ "Russian OS producer Astra Linux plans Moscow IPO, Vedomosti reports". Reuters. 8 July 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
33. ^ Основные компоненты Archived 2015-01-27 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
34. ^ Операционная система "Astra Linux Special Edition" релиз "Смоленск" (версия 1.4) (in Russian)
35. ^ Завершен инспекционный контроль версии 1.5 релиза "Смоленск" операционной системы специального назначения "Astra Linux Special Edition" Archived 2016-05-08 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
36. ^ Вышла версия 1.7 релиза Astra Linux Common Edition (Orel) Archived 2018-04-19 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
37. ^ Вышла новая версия "Astra Linux Common Edition" 1.10 - релиз "Орёл" Archived 2015-08-11 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
38. ^ "Вышла фиксированная версия 1.11 релиза "Орёл"". Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2018.

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