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

[Pierre Schmitz]

On Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:08:24 +0200, Dieter Plaetinck wrote:
> PS: a draft of the news message, so you know what's included.
> 
> 2011.08 snapshots.
> Hi,

I would remove that "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 is not only quite outdated, but yields broken installations if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?

than

> 
> <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.

This is most likely not important for users. In general I would only
mention stuff that affects users directly. Backend changes are awesome
but the news draft is already really long.

> * 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"

...which wont work on new computers anyway ;-)

> * 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.

May sound like you were able to install both in parallel.

> * 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.

Not important to the user

> * 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

No idea what this means.

> * fix an endless loop in CLI mode.
> * more flexible initialisation

initialization

> 
> 
> <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>

That is the most important link here; should probably be mentioned at
the beginning.

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

-- 
Pierre Schmitz, https://users.archlinux.de/~pierre