[arch-releng] new test isos for upcoming release, testing needed

[Dieter Plaetinck]

Hi guys,

here are the latest testbuilds, please give them a spin.
I want to do a new official release asap!
http://releng.archlinux.org/isos/2011.08.15/

If you find bugs -> https://bugs.archlinux.org/index.php?project=6
To let me know how your installation went ->
http://www.archlinux.org/releng/feedback/submit/
This is sort of a signoff system but you can specify exactly which options you tested.

I want to see as many mentions of 2011.08.15 in the "last success" column of http://www.archlinux.org/releng/feedback/ as possible.
So have a look there first, you'll see that it needs more testing on x86_64 systems, a physical install, PXE boot, etc.

thank you,

Dieter 


PS: a draft of the news message, so you know what's included.

2011.08 snapshots.
Hi,
time for a much needed update to the Arch installation media, as the last
release (<a
href="http://www.archlinux.org/news/201005-snapshots-less-is-more/">2010.05</a>)
is not only quite outdated, but yields broken installations if
you do a netinstall (because the old installer is not aware of the <a
href="http://www.archlinux.org/news/changes-to-kernel-package-and-filenames/">changed
kernel/initramfs filename</a> in our new Linux 3.0 packages).

What has changed in this period of more then a year?

<a href="http://projects.archlinux.org/archiso.git/">Archiso</a> (image builds):

* TODO fill in snapshot of current core, including kernel 3., pacman-3 and
* glibc,, mkinitcpio/initscripts/netcfg
* Big overhaul: use dm-snapshot instead of aufs2
* Consolidate image building, use single build.sh script which also does dual-arch images.
* All needed files to boot for custom USB mediums installed on /arch
* Allow changing NBD export name
* Allow using serial console with console kernel parameter.
* Allow starting custom script with script kernel parameter, autologin tty1.
* Add support to mount iso in loopback mode
* Add new menu entry "Power off"
* Added packages: btrfs-progs-unstable crda curl dhclient dialog dnsmasq hdparm
netcfg nilfs-utils openconnect rp-pppoe rsync vpnc wpa_actiond
* Removed packages: aufs2 aufs2-util joe ndiswrapper ndiswrapper-utils tiacx tiacx-firmware
* Remove x86test, add HDT to initial syslinux menu
* Add support for booting from memdisk
* XZ compression for SquashFS and initramfs.
* Various cleanups, improvements and bugfixes.

<a href="http://projects.archlinux.org/aif.git/"AIF</a> (installation tool):
* experimental support for btrfs and nilfs2.
* support syslinux next to grub.
* changes to configuration formats to support new rc.conf and linux3.0
* make selecting source more flexible (multiple local and/or remote repos)
* show package descriptions when installing packages
* run with debugging and logging enabled by default, add /arch/report-issues script
* make automatic profiles switch source depending on whether core or netinstall system is running
* remove support for tcp_wrappers in accordance to Arch Linux policy
* change develop model: primary development goes on in (rewritable) develop branch, master == stable.
* various code cleanups, improvements and bugfixes.

<a href="https://github.com/Dieterbe/libui-sh">libui.sh</a> (bash UI framework)
* made long checklists much easier in CLI mode, by using $EDITOR
* fix an endless loop in CLI mode.
* more flexible initialisation


<a
href"=http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Official_Arch_Linux_Install_Guide"Official
installation guide</a>:
* brought up to date.

For those interested in the build environment (which is now set up on a <a
href="releng.archlinux.org">new server</a>), can check <a
href="http://projects.archlinux.org/users/dieter/releng.git/">releng.git</a>

Please assure tickets exist in the <a
href="https://bugs.archlinux.org/index.php?project=6">bugtracker - Release
Engineering project</a> for any issues you may find.

* <a href="http://www.archlinux.org/download/">Download</a>
* <a href="http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/DeveloperWiki:2011.08">List of
* packages</a>