Major release of the Jargon File — 4.4.0, now with cartoons

The Jargon File is a central part of the heritage of the Linux and
open-source movements. As we approach the File’s 30th anniversary,
it is my pleasure and honor to bring the hacker community a major new
release, 4.4.0.

This is a not a mere point release, but a major revision incorporating
weeks of work. The file masters have been converted from Texinfo to
XML-Docbook; as a result,

• There is a real change-log file; you can see which entries have been
  added, changed, or deleted in each release since 4.0.0.

• The new File includes cartoons and illustrations. In addition to
  the Crunchly cartoons from the paper edition (the New Hacker’s
  Dictionary) there are other photographs and illustrations
  of historical and current interest.

There have been many content changes as well:

• The entries have been systematically weeded out with Google
  searches, so the File reflects live usage better than
  ever before. Over a hundred bogus entries were removed.

• Copies of all old versions still extant are now available in an archive
  directory, together with the tools I used for reconstructing the
  entry histories.

As usual, many entries have been revised and updated. Enjoy!

— Eric S. Raymond