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== News for Debian Edu 6.0.4+r0 Codename "Squeeze" released 2012-03-11 ==

FIXME This section still needs some more work :-) but we are getting there.
== New features for Debian Edu 6.0.4+r0 Codename "Squeeze" released 2012-03-11 ==
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 * See below for updated software.  * Updated artwork and new Debian Edu / Skolelinux logo, visible during installation, in the login screen and as desktop wallpaper.
 * See below for a list of updated software.
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 * Updated artwork and new Debian Edu / Skolelinux logo, visible during installation, in the login screen and as desktop wallpaper.
 * Add link to http://linuxsignpost.org/ on the start page shown to new users.
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 * All LTSP servers are also [[http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/HowTo/NetworkClients#Remote_Desktop_Service|RDP servers]] by default.
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 * Changing passwords using PAM is working (using a workaround for bug #656309 in libpam-krb5), but this will only update the Kerberos password, and not the Samba and GOsa² (LDAP) password.  * Add link to http://linuxsignpost.org/ on the start page shown to new users.
 * All LTSP servers are also [[http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/HowTo/NetworkClients#Remote_Desktop_Service|RDP servers]] by default.
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 * Changing passwords using PAM is working (using a workaround for bug #656309 in libpam-krb5), but this will only update the Kerberos password, and not the Samba and GOsa² (LDAP) password. FIXME: this needs fixing...
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 * New version of debian-installer  * New version of debian-installer, see [[http://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze/installmanual|installation manual]] for more details.
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  * More information about Debian Squeeze 6.0 is provided in the [[http://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze/releasenotes|release notes]] and the [[http://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze/installmanual]]   * More information about Debian Squeeze 6.0 is provided in the [[http://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze/releasenotes|release notes]] and the [[http://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze/installmanual|installation manual]].

New features in Debian Edu Squeeze

New features for Debian Edu 6.0.4+r0 Codename "Squeeze" released 2012-03-11

User visible changes

  • Updated artwork and new Debian Edu / Skolelinux logo, visible during installation, in the login screen and as desktop wallpaper.
  • See below for a list of updated software.
  • Show welcome page to users when they first log in. This default start page for Iceweasel is fetched from LDAP at installation and boot time for networked profiles. Set to http://www.skolelinux.org/ for Standalone installations.

  • New LXDE desktop option, in addition to KDE (default) and Gnome. As the Gnome option, the LXDE desktop option is only supported by the CD installation method.
  • Speed up LTSP client boot.
  • Provide a KDE menu entry for changing the password in GOsa².
  • Add link to http://linuxsignpost.org/ on the start page shown to new users.

  • All LTSP servers are also RDP servers by default.

  • Improve handing of removable media on thin clients. Show desktop notification longer when inserting new media and provide an option to start dolphin when such media is inserted.
  • Changing passwords using PAM is working (using a workaround for bug #656309 in libpam-krb5), but this will only update the Kerberos password, and not the Samba and GOsa² (LDAP) password. FIXME: this needs fixing...

Installation changes

  • New version of debian-installer, see installation manual for more details.

  • Since we no longer allow root to log in using gdm/kdm, create a user in LDAP during installation of a Main Server, and set this user up as GOsa² administrator. Also grant this first user sudo access and enable the Debian Edu menu reordering by adding it to the teacher group.
  • The .iso images can directly be copied onto USB sticks using dd.

  • Add code in the installer to select suggested profile combinations by default based on the detected environment.
  • New profile: roaming workstation
  • Device access for all users are handled by PolicyKit, and no extra group memberships are needed to get access to devices.

  • A warning is issued when installing on too small disks for the profiles selected.
  • Change partitioning for Standalone installs, to have separate /home/ and no /usr.
  • More tests in the test suite, and correct some of the tests that failed earlier.
  • Make sure to report an error and abort the installation when trying to use the netinst images without a working Internet connection, instead of silently installing a broken system.

Software updates

  • Replace LWAT with GOsa² as the LDAP administration interface. See below and the Getting started chapter of the manual for more information on GOsa².

  • Everything which is new in Debian Squeeze:
    • compatibility with the FHS v2.3 and software developed for version 3.2 of the LSB.
    • Linux kernel 2.6.32
    • Desktop environments KDE "Plasma" 4.4 and GNOME 2.30
    • Web browser Iceweasel 3.5
    • OpenOffice.org 3.2.1

    • Educational toolbox GCompris 9.3
    • Music creator Rosegarden 10.04.2
    • Image editor Gimp 2.6.10
    • Virtual universe Celestia 1.6.0
    • Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.10.4
    • Debian Squeeze includes over 10,000 new packages available for installation, including the browser Chromium

Infrastructural changes

  • The 10.0.0.0/8 network is used instead of 10.0.2.0/23, and the default gateway is 10.0.0.1/8, not 10.0.2.1/8 as used in the past.
    • The dynamic DHCP range was extended on the backbone network to around 4k IP addresses, and around 200 IP addresses for the thin client network.
    • The DHCP network for 10.0.0.0/8 has been renamed from barebone to intern

    • There are no pre-defined host entries for client systems in DNS anymore (staticXX, ..., dhcpYY...)
  • New roaming workstation profile for laptops.
    • Disable the idle job and user killer for roaming workstation profiles.
  • MIT Kerberos5 used for user authentication, enabled for:
    • PAM
    • IMAP
    • SMTP
  • NFSv4, but without added Kerberos privacy/integrity/authentication. The machines still have to be added to the workstation netgroup to be able to mount the home directories

  • Full Samba NT4 domain support for Windows XP/Vista/7
  • A complete PXE boot environment is setup when installing from the DVD, so that further installations can be done using PXE network installs only. A new script pxe-addfirmware is provided to support more hardware models needing firmware.
  • Remove all hard coded settings on workstations, and configure workstations and roaming workstations using settings detected from the environment using DNS, DHCP and LDAP. See this blog post with more information on the changes.

Documentation and translation updates

  • Translation updates for the templates used in the installer. These templates are now available in 28 languages!
  • The Debian Edu Squeeze Manual has generally been cleaned up and improved. A proof-read with corrections was done by a native English linguist.
  • The Debian Edu Squeeze Manual is fully translated to German, French and Italian. Partly translated versions exist for Danish, Norwegian Bokmal and Spanish.
  • Improved French and Danish language tasks.
  • Updated default web page content.
  • Add new Japanese translation of welcome web page.

Regressions

  • CD and DVD installs are different - the DVD is only suitable for installing a KDE environemnt.

  • Support for powerpc architecture dropped from netinst installation CDs. It is still possible to run Debian Edu on powerpc, but installation is less automated.

  • Drop gtick in the default installation, because it doesn't work on thin clients (BTS #566335).

New administration tool: GOsa²

  • gosa (2.6.11-3+squeeze1~edu+1) from the upcoming 6.0.5 Debian point release, with:
    • Fix DHCP host removal. Closes: #650258
    • Backport user generator unicode character transliteration. Closes: #657086
  • Customized GOsa² configuration to better suit the Debian Edu network architecture.
    • GOsa² updates DNS and NFS exports immediately when a system is updated in LDAP, making diskless workstations work right after they are added to the required netgroup.
  • Provide script sitesummary2ldapdhcp to update or populate GOsa² with system objects using information gathered by sitesummary, to make it easier to add new computers to the network.

More software changes

  • Add video editor Kdenlive 0.7.7 and interactive geometry tool Geogebra 3.2.42
  • Change default package manager from adept to synaptic, to avoid getting two graphical package managers installed by default.
  • Install openoffice.org-kde by default ensure OOo uses KDE file dialogs in KDE.
  • Change video player setup to install different players in KDE (dragonplayer), Gnome (totem) and LXDE (totem).
  • Add the normal KDE tools freespacenotifier, kinfocenter, update-notifier-kde to the default KDE installation.
  • Replace network-manager-kde with plasma-widget-networkmanagement in the standalone KDE profile
  • Install usb-modeswitch on laptops to handle dual mode USB devices.
  • Add cifs-utils to the default installation to ensure SMB mounting can work in any profile.
  • Drop octave, gpscorrelate, qlandkartegt, viking, starplot, kig, kseg, luma, and valgrind from the default installation and the DVD to make room for higher priority packages.
  • Drop libnss-mdns from stationary profiles, to make sure DNS is the authoritive source of host names.
  • freerdp-x11 is installed by default as RDP and VNC client. (Previously rdesktop was installed instead.)

  • Make the LDAP server handle more clients after increasing the server's file descriptor limit from 1024 to 32768.
  • Add code to re-enable stopped CUPS queues every hour on the Main Server, and flush all CUPS queues every night. Both can be disabled in LDAP.
  • Provide network blocking / exam mode by default, controlled by LDAP. In addition to network blocking, changes to the Squid proxy configuration is needed.
  • Enable automatic extending of full file systems on the Main Server by default. This can be disabled in LDAP.
  • Change SSL certificate name used by the LDAP server and adjust clients to use the new name to be able to enable certificate checking on clients.
  • Switch PowerDNS to use strict LDAP mode, to allow us to simplify the LDAP setup used for DNS.
  • Simplify autofs LDAP rules to make sure they work with extra home directory partitions exported from the main-server without any changes.
  • Make backup system more robust in handling LDAP database dump and restart.

Other changes

  • Root logins are denied for both KDM and GDM - see above and Getting started for details.

  • Clients set up to shut down at night will stay up for at least an hour if they are turned on manually between 16:00 and 07:00.
  • Additionally use local NTP clock on the main-server to ensure clients and server sync clocks also when disconnected from the Internet.
  • All Nagios checks work properly after installation.
  • Access to Debian repositories is always done via a proxy on the main server - read more about the implementation details using DHCP and WPAD

  • The home0 partition is mounted nosuid, to increase security.
  • Change KDE/Akonadi configuration to reduce the disk footprint of every user from 144 to 24 MiB.
  • New tool notify-local-users to send desktop notification to all logged in users on a machine. Useful for thin client servers.

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