I'd like to give you an update on our beta process with the following list of topics: * Deliverable of Beta4 and further schedule * non-GPL kernel modules * Kernel Changes km_ packages * Major bug in Beta3: Fontconfig * Package manager major changes * XGL Deliverable of Beta4 and Further Schedule ========================================= Beta4 did not pass our internal tests, we have to delay it by one week. The FACTORY distribution has been updated with our current packages that everybody can use, but doing a complete installation from the current FACTORY tree is NOT recommended. You should just update single packages as needed. We have decided to release Beta 4 on 2006-02-16 and Beta 5 on 2006-02-23. We'll finalize the schedule after testing and evaluating these two betas. non-GPL kernel modules: ======================= Most developers of the kernel community consider non-GPL kernel modules to be infringing on their copyright. Novell does respect this position, and will no longer distribute non-GPL kernel modules as part of future products. Novell is working with vendors to find alternative ways to provide the functionality that was previously only available with non-GPL kernel modules. Kernel Changes / km_, kmp, and kernel-flavor-nongpl packages: ============================================================= We added support to cleanly handle packages that contain kernel modules by representing the dependencies of mouldes on the kernel ABI as rpm dependencies. This allows third party modules to be provided and integrated cleanly. Modules that were previously included in our kernel packages using the km_ package mechanism [1] have been converted to the new package format [2]; the km_ mechanism is no longer supported. Packages that contain additional kernel modules are now named name-kmp-kernelflavor (e.g., wlan-kmp-default. lirc-kmp-smp). The kmp mechanism [2] supports creating and using additional Kernel Module Packages easily and reliably. The kernel-kernelflavor-nongpl packages which contained modules that had non-GPL licenses have been removed. [1] The km_ package mechanism is described at http://www.suse.de/~agruen/kernel-doc/. [2] Kernel Module Packages Manual for CODE10, http://www.suse.de/~agruen/KMPM/ Major Bug in Beta3: Fontconfig ============================== It might be that X11 apps just crash or are really slow (installation of some packages took rather long), which was due to a bug in fontconfig. A first fix is in fontconfig packages in the Beta3 fixed-rpm directory on ftp.opensuse.org . Beta4 will fix most known bugs. Current packages are available at: ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/m17n/10.1 - If you use them, update to both fontconfig and fonts-config. The packages in there are newer than what is currently in the FACTORY tree. If you find bugs in the m17n packages, please report them in bugzilla stating the exact version you're using. Package Manager Major Changes ============================= We're replacing our package manager resolver library with a new version called "libzypp". libzypp is the integration of SUSE's yast2 Package manager and Ximian's libredcarpet. At Novell we used two solutions so far - Red Carpet and YaST package manager - and decided to merge both in a best of breed approach. The advantages for SUSE Linux are: * A better resolver than before * More information about why a package is installed or no solution is found * A better integration of all those feature that were added over the years to our package manager. * A command line interface ("rug") * A common handling of packages *and* patches * Dependency handling for update packages * A better way to handle selections (we call them now "patterns") * Remote management (not yet in SUSE Linux 10.1) * Additional repositories during installation (no GUI in SUSE Linux 10.1) * More flexibility in handling of different repositories, e.g. it is possible to have additional patterns for each repository. The new library handles yum metadata, YaST sources (both also remote via ftp, http, nfs and smb) and additionally Zenworks, Opencarpet and RCE (Red Carpet Enterprise) servers as installation sources. The alternatives smart and apt-get will also work as they did on SUSE Linux 10.0. Together with libzypp, we get the zmd daemon, the rug command line interface, the zen-updater, zen-remover, zen-installer packages. In addition to the existing packages, we're adding these new packages: * zmd: system daemon used by rug, zen-* * rug: Command line client * web-updater: Updater with more features than zen-updater * zen-updater: Simple updater * zen-remover: Tool to remove packages * zen-installer: Tool to add packages We're still working on the integration of "libzypp" into our tree, the package manager in our FACTORY tree is not yet fully functional. XGL === Xgl is an Xserver that uses OpenGL for its drawing operations. Xgl engineer David Reveman has posted enhancements to Xgl and a new compositor, 'Compiz' with a request that it be added to the freedesktop.org CVS repository. Some operations like antialiased font rendering is noticeably faster with this technology, and future graphics hardware might only have support for 3D operations and no 2D core any more. These additional packages have now been added to the SUSE Linux FACTORY tree. Note that compiz has a couple of build problems that need to be fixed before it will go out. For details on XGL, please check http://www.opensuse.org/Xgl . Andreas -- Andreas Jaeger, aj@suse.de, http://www.suse.de/~aj/ SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 Nürnberg, Germany GPG fingerprint = 93A3 365E CE47 B889 DF7F FED1 389A 563C C272 A126