Owl (Openwall GNU/*/Linux) is a small security-enhanced Linux distribution for servers. Owl also makes a good base system for customized virtual machine images and embedded systems, and Owl live CDs with remote SSH access are good for recovering or installing systems (whether with Owl or not). A single Owl CD includes the full live system, installable packages, the installer program, as well as full source code and the build environment capable of rebuilding the entire system from source. Owl supports multiple architectures (x86, x86-64, SPARC, and Alpha) and offers some compatibility for packages developed for other Linux distributions. The primary approaches to security are proactive source code review, privilege reduction, privilege separation, careful selection of third-party software, safe defaults, and "hardening" to reduce the likelihood of successful exploitation of security flaws.
