8/17/2005 -- The Linux Professional Institute said earlier this week that English versions of its LPI Certified (LPIC) 101 exam will require candidates know both RPM and DPKG package management beginning Oct. 1.

The organization announced the upcoming change back in May, citing community consensus that candidates should know both. Previously, candidates were allowed to choose which one they preferred to test on.

LPI said that it does not yet have specific dates for when this change will affected translated versions of the exam. The exam is currently available in Japanese, German, Portuguese and Chinese, among other languages.

In other LPI news, the organization also announced that it is updating the objectives for all of its current exams focusing on objective descriptions and key knowledge areas covered. A community review of the Level 1 objectives is now under way and will last through the end of the year, with final objectives for this level scheduled to be released in April. A community review of new Level 2 certification objectives will begin in September, with final objectives released in May.

LPI is a non-profit organization that runs the LPIC certification program, featuring two levels of vendor-neutral Linux certification. For more information on the LPI certification program and these announcements, go here. -Becky Nagel