F16 Beta PPC release announcement: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 12:48, 9 December 2011

F16 Beta announcement

We are proud to announce the availability of the Beta release of Fedora 16.

Come see why we love Fedora so much. We are betting you will, too. Download it now:

https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/publiclist/Fedora/16/ppc64/

What is the Beta Release?

The Beta release is the last important milestone of Fedora 16 on Power. Only critical bug fixes will be pushed as updates leading to the general release of Fedora 16 on Power in late December. We invite you to join us in making Fedora 16 on Power a solid release by downloading, testing, and providing your valuable feedback.

Of course, this is a beta release, meaning that some problems may still be lurking. A list of the problems we already know about is found at the Common F16 bugs page, seen here: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F16_bugs

Features

This release of Fedora includes a variety of features both over and under the hood that show off the power and flexibility of the advancing state of free software. Examples include:

Services Management. Fedora 15 introduced the Systemd services management program. This release features better integration of Systemd via conversion to native systemd services from legacy init scripts in many software components -- for desktop users, this means faster boot times; for system administrators it means more powerful management of services.

Desktop Updates. The two major desktop environments have been updated to the latest releases: KDE Software Compilation 4.7 and GNOME 3.1 development release.

SELinux Enhancements. SELinux policy package now includes a pre-built policy that will only rebuild policy if any customizations have been made. A sample test run shows 4 times speedup on installing the package from 48 Seconds to 12 Seconds and max memory usage from 38M to 6M. In addition to that, SELinux file name transition allows better policy management. For instance, policy writers can take advantage of this and write a policy rule that states, if a SELinux unconfined process creates a file named resolv.conf in a directory labelled etc_t, the file should get labeled appropriately. This results is less chances of mislabeled files. Also, from this release onwards, selinuxfs is mounted at /sys/fs/selinux instead of in /selinux. All the affected components including anaconda, dracut, livecd-tools and policycoreutils have been modified to work with this change.

System Accounts. Fedora now standardizes on login.defs as authority for UID/GID space allocation, and has moved boundary between system and user accounts from 500 to 1000 to match conventions followed by several other Linux distributions. Upgrading from a existing release will not be affected by this change and you can use kickstart to override this change during installation if necessary.

Chrony NTP. Fedora has switched over to using Chrony as the default NTP client. There are several advantages including smaller memory footprint (1.3MB vs 6MB resident size), no unnecessary process wakeups which results in better power savings. better timekeeping on systems not running 24/7 or without permanent internet connection or with low quality/unstable clocks (virtual machines). Once the clock is synchronized, applications are not upset by backward time jumps. system-config-date and GNOME settings daemon has been modified to use Chrony as well.

HAL Removal. HAL, a hardware abstraction layer which has been a deprecated component for several releases, has been completely removed from all Fedora spins and DVD. Software components using HAL have moved over to using udisks and upower as well as libudev for device discovery. This results in faster system bootup and faster startup for applications depending on device discovery.

Cloud Updates. Fedora now includes a number of new and improved features to support cloud computing, including a "cloud ready" version of GlusterFS, including additional auth*/crypto/multi-tenancy; pacemaker-cloud, application service high availability in a cloud environment; Condor Cloud, an IaaS cloud implementation using Condor and the Deltacloud API, and Aeolus.

Developer Improvements. Developers get many goodies with Verne, including updated Ada, Haskell and Perl environments, a new Python plugin for GCC and a number of new and improved APIs.

These and many other improvements provide a wide and solid base for future Fedora releases. This release increases the range of possibilities for developers and helps Fedora to maintain its position at the leading edge of free and open source technology.

A more complete list and details of each new cited feature is available here:

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/16/FeatureList

Issues and Details

For more information including common and known bugs, tips on how to report bugs, and the official release schedule, please refer to the release notes:

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_16_Beta_PPC_release_notes

A shorter list of common bugs can be found here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F16_bugs

Contributing

Bug reports are helpful, especially for Alpha. If you encounter any issues please report them and help make this release of Fedora the best ever.

Thank you, and we hope to see you in the Fedora project!

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{autolang|base=yes}}
-== General Information ==
+== F16 Beta announcement ==
-{{admon/note | Download Fedora 16 Beta PPC now | To download Fedora 16 Beta PPC, visit [http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora-secondary/releases/test/16-Beta/ http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora-secondary/releases/test/16-Beta/] to get to one of the mirrors.  Download is available via direct download. This release is available for 64-bit Power PC platforms. Note that Fedora uses SHA256 instead of MD5 or SHA-1 to verify images in a more secure way. For more information, refer to [[#How_to_Try_Beta]] on this page. }}
+We are proud to announce the availability of the Beta release of Fedora 16.
-== Filing Bug Reports ==
+Come see why we love Fedora so much. We are betting you will, too. Download it now:
-'''Please [[How_to_file_a_bug_report| file bug reports]] on this Beta release if you find any problems.'''
+[https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/publiclist/Fedora/16/ppc64/ https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/publiclist/Fedora/16/ppc64/]
-== Known Issues ==
+== What is the Beta Release? ==
-Refer to the [[Common F16 bugs]] page for a listing of issues, and any known resolutions, commonly found with this release.  This page is maintained throughout the Fedora 16 developmental cycle.
+The Beta release is the last important milestone of Fedora 16 on Power. Only critical bug fixes will be pushed as updates leading to the general release of Fedora 16 on Power in late December. We invite you to join us in making Fedora 16 on Power a solid release by downloading, testing, and providing your valuable feedback.
-== Known PPC Issues ==
+Of course, this is a beta release, meaning that some problems may still be lurking. A list of the problems we already know about is found at the Common F16 bugs page, seen here: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F16_bugs
-We currently have several issues in the Beta that don't block installation.  Please read and review the following known issues before reporting bugs.
+==Features==
-=== Installation ===
+This release of Fedora includes a variety of features both over and under the hood that show off the power and flexibility of the advancing state of free software.  Examples include:
-* On IBM PPC64 hardware with graphics cards, graphical anaconda fails to load.  Bug -> [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=746410 746410]
+* '''Services Management.''' Fedora 15 introduced the '''Systemd''' services management program.  This release features better integration of '''Systemd''' via conversion to native systemd services from legacy init scripts in many software components -- for desktop users, this means faster boot times; for system administrators it means more powerful management of services.
-=== Runtime ===
+* '''Desktop Updates.''' The two major desktop environments have been updated to the latest releases: KDE Software Compilation 4.7 and GNOME 3.1 development release.
-No known issues
+* '''SELinux Enhancements.'''  SELinux policy package now includes a pre-built policy that will only rebuild policy if any customizations have been made.  A sample test run shows 4 times speedup on installing the package from 48 Seconds to 12 Seconds and max memory usage from 38M to 6M.   In addition to that,  SELinux file name transition allows better policy management.  For instance, policy writers can take advantage of this and write a policy rule that states, if a SELinux unconfined process creates a file named resolv.conf in a directory labelled etc_t, the file should get labeled appropriately.   This results is less chances of mislabeled files.  Also, from this release onwards, selinuxfs is mounted at /sys/fs/selinux instead of in /selinux.   All the affected components including anaconda, dracut,  livecd-tools and policycoreutils have been modified to work with this change.
-== Release Overview ==
+* '''System Accounts.'''  Fedora now standardizes on login.defs as authority for UID/GID space allocation, and has moved boundary between system and user accounts from 500 to 1000 to match conventions followed by several other Linux distributions.  Upgrading from a existing release will not be affected by this change and you can use kickstart to override this change during installation if necessary.
-As always, Fedora continues to [[Red_Hat_contributions | develop]] and [[Features | integrate]] the latest free and open sourced software. The following sections provide a brief overview of major changes from the last release of Fedora. For more details about other features that are making their way into Rawhide and set for inclusion in Fedora 16, refer to their individual [[FeatureList | wiki pages]] that detail feature goals and progress.
+* '''Chrony NTP.'''  Fedora has switched over to using '''Chrony''' as the default NTP client. There are several advantages including smaller memory footprint (1.3MB vs 6MB resident size),  no unnecessary process wakeups which results in better power savings. better timekeeping on systems not running 24/7 or without permanent internet connection or with low quality/unstable clocks (virtual machines). Once the clock is synchronized, applications are not upset by backward time jumps. system-config-date and GNOME settings daemon has been modified to use Chrony as well.
-<!-- Also, throughout the release cycle, there are [[Interviews | interviews]] with the developers behind key features giving out the inside story. -->
-Features for this release are tracked on the [[FeatureList|feature list page]].
-=== The Purpose of the Beta Release ===
+* '''HAL Removal.'''   HAL, a hardware abstraction layer which has been a deprecated component for several releases, has been completely removed from all Fedora spins and DVD. Software components using HAL have moved over to using '''udisks''' and '''upower''' as well as '''libudev''' for device discovery. This results in faster system bootup and faster startup for applications depending on device discovery.
-This release is an installable, testable version of the code and features being developed for Fedora 16 (Verne). The software has bugs, problems, and incomplete features.  It is not likely to eat your data or parts of your computer, but you should be aware that it could.
+* '''Cloud Updates.''' Fedora now includes a number of new and improved features to support cloud computing, including a "cloud ready" version of '''GlusterFS''', including additional auth*/crypto/multi-tenancy; '''pacemaker-cloud''', application service high availability in a cloud environment; '''Condor Cloud''', an IaaS cloud implementation using Condor and the Deltacloud API, and Aeolus.
-You have an important part to play in this release. Install Fedora 16 Beta PPC release, then try using a few applications or activities that are important to you.  If it doesn't work, [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter_bug.cgi?product=Fedora&rep_platform=powerpc file a bug], but make sure to set the 'Hardware' field to 'powerpc'.  This release gives the wider community a set of code to test against as a very important step in the process of making a solid Fedora 16 release.  You can make the Fedora 16 release better by testing this release and reporting your findings.
+* '''Developer Improvements.''' Developers get many goodies with Verne, including updated '''Ada''', '''Haskell''' and '''Perl''' environments, a new Python plugin for GCC and a number of new and improved APIs.
-== What's New in Fedora 16 Beta PPC ==
+These and many other improvements provide a wide and solid base for future Fedora releases. This release increases the range of possibilities for developers and helps Fedora to maintain its position at the leading edge of free and open source technology.
-In addition to the features mentioned in the release announcement,
+A more complete list and details of each new cited feature is available here:
-* '''No desktop folder by default'''  Major desktop environments including GNOME 3 and KDE 4 do not show the desktop folder's contents by default anymore and hence xdg-user-dirs has been configured to not create a desktop folder anymore by default.  This is still user configurable however.  Thanks to Matthias Clasen for doing this change.
+[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/16/FeatureList?wkanF16a http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/16/FeatureList]
-== Additional Information ==
+== Issues and Details ==
-The Fedora 16 Beta PPC release is a Secondary Arch release, in fact the first since Fedora 12. More information about this specific architecture can be found here:
+For more information including common and known bugs, tips on how to report bugs, and the official release schedule, please refer to the release notes:
-[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/PowerPC http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/PowerPC]
+[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_16_Beta_PPC_release_notes http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_16_Beta_PPC_release_notes]
-The developers working on it typically hang out on the FreeNode IRC channel #fedora-ppc and we do have a architecture specific mailinglist for Power PC on Fedora here:
+A shorter list of common bugs can be found here: [https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F16_bugs?wkanF16b https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F16_bugs]
-[https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/ppc https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/ppc]
+== Contributing ==
-=== How to Try Beta ===
+Bug reports are helpful, especially for Alpha.  If you encounter any issues please report them and help make this release of Fedora the best ever.
-* Simply install it via the DVD or the netboot images
+Thank you, and we hope to see you in the Fedora project!
-* Boot it!
-* Run it!
-* Test it!
-* Write bugs!
-==== IBM PPC64 Notes ====
+[[Category:F16]]
-* You should use the graphical installer to install Fedora whenever possible. This is enabled by passing the 'vnc=1' parameter.
-=== Verify Fedora ===
-Fedora does not publish MD5 or SHA1 hashes to verify images since they are not secure enough. Instead we have been using SHA256 since Fedora 11. In Linux, you can use sha256sum command (part of coreutils and installed by default) to verify the Fedora image
-<pre>sha256sum -c *-CHECKSUM</pre>
-Windows can use the free to download utility [http://www.slavasoft.com/hashcalc/index.htm HashCalc].
-Mac OS X can use the free to download utility [http://www.implbits.com/hashtab.aspx hashtab].
-Fedora GPG signatures can be verified following the [https://fedoraproject.org/en/verify?wkrnF14a instructions here]
-=== Debugging Information And Performance ===
-Fedora kernels have many [[KernelDebugStrategy | extensive debugging options]] during the developmental cycle that have a negative impact on performance but provide developers with more information automatically, in the case of bug reports. If you are running performance analysis on Rawhide or test releases such as Alpha or Beta, make sure you take this into account.
-=== Fedora 16 Release Schedule And Feature Details ===
-Development continues on Rawhide during and after this release, leading to the beta, then the final release. The links below provide the release schedule for both the pre-releases and the final release, as well as the wiki's pages for tracking the various features planned for inclusion in Fedora 16.
-* [[Releases/16/FeatureList | Feature List]]
-* [[Releases/16/Schedule | Schedule]]
-[[Category:Release_Notes]]

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