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Skolelinux / Debian Edu CD release notes

This is a summary of the changes done between releases. It should include info on what is working and what is broken. HowTo make test releases

Debian-Edu/Skolelinux 6.0 (Squeeze based)

First test release, 6.0.0 edu alpha0, 2010-07-XX

This is the first test release based on Squeeze. The focus of this release is to test the user application selection. To have a look, install the standalone profile and let the developers know if the set of installed packages i.e. applications should be modified. If some user application is missing, or if there are some applications that no longer make sense to be included in Debian Edu, please let us know. Also, if a useful application is missing the translation for your language of choice, please let us know too.

In addition, feedback and help to polish the desktop (menus, artwork, starters, etc.) is appreciated. We would like to ship a nice and handy KDE4 desktop targeted for schools out of the box.

The other profiles should be installable, but there is a lot more work left to be done before they are ready, so do not expect to much.

Changes compared to the lenny based version

  • Everything from Debian Squeeze
    • KDE 4.4 => the new KDE desktop in combination with some new artwork

    • KOffice 2.2.1 (tbc)
    • Iceweasel 3.5
    • OpenOffice.org 3.2

    • GCompris 9.3
    • Rosegarden 10.04.2
    • Gimp 2.6.10
    • Celestia 1.6.0
    • Stellarium 0.10.4
    • Blender 2.49.2 (new application)
    • ....
  • Now using Kerberos for password checking (migration not finished). Enabled for:
    • PAM
    • LDAP
    • IMAP
    • SMTP (sender verification)
  • New experimental roaming workstation profile for laptops.
  • Show welcome page to users when they first log in. The URL is fetched from LDAP.
  • New LXDE desktop option, in addition to KDE (default) and Gnome.
  • General cleanup (not finished)
  • ...

The following features are not working as they should

  • No web based administration tool for creating users and groups. The script ldap-createuser-krb can be used for testing.
  • DVD installs are missing debian-installer images for the PXE boot, and do not set up the PXE menu because of this.
  • The restructured KDE menu is not implemented.
  • The LDAP server setup need to be reviewed for security.
  • The LDAP directory structure need to be reworked.
  • FIXME - fill in more

Known missing/incomplete translations

See http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Squeeze for updated status.

  • Rosegarden: nb
  • Hydrogen: nb
  • Blender: nb

Please help improve the translation status.

To download this multiarch netinstall release you can use

FIXME:

To download this multiarch dvd release you can use

FIXME:

To download this dvd release you can use

FIXME:

The MD5SUM of these images are

FIXME:

  • 01e4ad9bcb36380076bfb19fa81a0465 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso
  • ec3b592931491d50f10b8f7f38ad1da3 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso
  • c8253bc5d29b8a4d66378271d72a9f08 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-source-DVD.iso

The SHA1SUM of these images are

FIXME:

  • 19041c2bb9c6a8c5ca692085379c5736522f921b debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-CD.iso
  • 49883e1d714ba9df805d9f1c8bdc6bb224c98e19 debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-DVD.iso
  • 2da737ba64797eb102596eb577958ef37119cfce debian-edu-6.0.0+edua0-source-DVD.iso

How to report bugs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsInBugzilla

Debian-Edu/Skolelinux 5.0 (Lenny based)

Releases using Debian/Lenny

First update release, 5.0.5 edu1, 2010-07-XX

Changes compared to edu0

  • Every update from Debian between 5.0.4 and 5.0.5.
  • Fixed some ordering bugs in the boot sequence of a Main-server, making the boot more robust.
  • Make PXE installation of LTSP servers with the Squid HTTP proxy more robust, by disabling HTTP pipelining in APT.
  • Updated internal web page and its translations.
  • FIXME - add more
  • FIXME - Check if the issues reported for edu0 is fixe.d

The following features are not working as they should

  • FIXME

To download this multiarch netinstall release you can use

FIXME:

To download this multiarch dvd release you can use

FIXME:

To download the source for this dvd release you can use (not available yet)

FIXME:

The MD5SUM of these images are

FIXME:

  • 01e4ad9bcb36380076bfb19fa81a0465 debian-edu-5.0.4+edu1-CD.iso
  • ec3b592931491d50f10b8f7f38ad1da3 debian-edu-5.0.4+edu1-DVD.iso
  • c8253bc5d29b8a4d66378271d72a9f08 debian-edu-5.0.4+edu1-source-DVD.iso

The SHA1SUM of these images are

FIXME:

  • 19041c2bb9c6a8c5ca692085379c5736522f921b debian-edu-5.0.4+edu1-CD.iso
  • 49883e1d714ba9df805d9f1c8bdc6bb224c98e19 debian-edu-5.0.4+edu1-DVD.iso
  • 2da737ba64797eb102596eb577958ef37119cfce debian-edu-5.0.4+edu1-source-DVD.iso

How to report bugs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsInBugzilla

"Final" release, 5.0.4 edu0, 2010-02-08

  • we need to list the most significant changes compared to etch here, but probably not everything from alpha1-3 and rc1-2

Changes compared to rc2

  • Proxy setting for APT is no longer only readable for the root user, avoiding at least a Nagios warning in the default installation. (Bug #1431)

  • Now disables most cronjobs on LTSP clients, avoiding long emails about read only file system issues to root from every client. (Bugs #1432 and #1433)

  • No longer start exim4 on LTSP clients. It is not useful with a read only file system. (Bug #1434)

The following features are not working as they should

  • Turning off unused clients automatically at night based on netgroup membership (due to lwat/shutdown-at-night incompatibility). Will be solved after r0. Bug #1435.

  • Extending file systems automatically based on netgroup membership (due to lwat/shutdown-at-night incompatibility). Will be solved after r0. (Same issue as bug #1435, but in debian-edu-config cron job.
  • PXE installing might ask for region without any sensible defaults. Observed with non-common language/keyboard layout/region combinations. Will be solved for new installations after r0. Bug #1436.

  • DNS lookups do not work for DHCP clients on a thin client network connected to a combined main-server+thin-client server. Will be solved after r0. Bug #1441.

To download this multiarch netinstall release you can use

To download this multiarch dvd release you can use

To download this dvd release you can use

The MD5SUM of these images are

  • 01e4ad9bcb36380076bfb19fa81a0465 debian-edu-5.0.4+edu0-CD.iso
  • ec3b592931491d50f10b8f7f38ad1da3 debian-edu-5.0.4+edu0-DVD.iso
  • c8253bc5d29b8a4d66378271d72a9f08 debian-edu-5.0.4+edu0-source-DVD.iso

The SHA1SUM of these images are

  • 19041c2bb9c6a8c5ca692085379c5736522f921b debian-edu-5.0.4+edu0-CD.iso
  • 49883e1d714ba9df805d9f1c8bdc6bb224c98e19 debian-edu-5.0.4+edu0-DVD.iso
  • 2da737ba64797eb102596eb577958ef37119cfce debian-edu-5.0.4+edu0-source-DVD.iso

How to report bugs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsInBugzilla

Test release 6, rc2 2010-01-31

This is the sixth test release of the Lenny based Skolelinux version. Since the previous test release some bugs got fixed and some of the features broken in the last release are now working.

The updated images can be downloaded via FTP, HTTP and rsync (see below for detailed instructions). The CD image size is about 606 MiB and the binary DVD about 4.4 GiB, the source DVD is a bit bigger.

Here are the most remarkable changes since the last test release (rc1):

  • Updated manual and updated translations to German, Italian and Norwegian.
  • Updated translations of the installer for German, Swedish, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Portuguese, Chinese, Norwegian, French, Japanese and Czech.
  • Optimisations for running cfengine, resulting in a faster install.
  • usplash is disabled on specific hardware where it is known to break.
  • Some improvements to sitesummary.
  • Source DVD is available.

The following features are not working as they should:

  • none known

To download this rc2 multiarch netinstall prerelease you can use

To download this rc2 multiarch dvd prerelease you can use

To download this rc2 source dvd prerelease you can use

The MD5SUM of these images are

  • e1b77aba814833e84de6c44e66ba972e debian-edu-lenny-dvd-rc2.iso
  • 7a2627629020d17149f5b2ef99503115 debian-edu-lenny-netinstall-rc2.iso
  • b45fcf02225046c0f9bb5cc380fcd309 debian-edu-lenny-source-dvd-rc2.iso

The SHA1SUM of these images are

  • cdc240f0d0b712fcc1ba65ec468901460fe7e4e1 debian-edu-lenny-dvd-rc2.iso
  • 776c2e2c8758470cdf0167ea1b5629c077496f05 debian-edu-lenny-netinstall-rc2.iso
  • 0ea98b747eb750240dc368f14d5e869b6475676a debian-edu-lenny-source-dvd-rc2.iso

How to report bugs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsInBugzilla

Test release 5, rc1 2010-01-22

This is the fifth test release of the Lenny based Skolelinux version. Since the previous test release some bugs got fixed and some of the features broken in the last release are now working.

The updated images can be downloaded via FTP, HTTP and rsync (see below for detailed instructions). The CD image size is about 606 MiB and the DVD about 4.4 GiB.

Here are the most remarkable changes since the last test release (alpha3):

  • Fix non-root PAM access on diskless workstations, making sure screen unlocking work in KDE (#1415).

  • Fix incorrect DNS setup for diskless workstations installed from DVD (#1416).

  • Nagios monitoring is now automatically configured using information collected from each machine.
  • Fix problem affecting PXE installations using Squid as a package proxy.
  • Fix boot problem with Gnome based diskless workstations.
  • Changed proxy configuration to use the WPAD file as the authorative source, allowing the proxy settings to be changed centrally.
  • Remove some obsolete configuration files for Nagios and cfengine during upgrades.
  • Make sure the KDE media applet is part of the default user configuration, for easier use of removable media.

To download this rc1 multiarch netinstall prerelease you can use

To download this rc1 multiarch dvd prerelease you can use

The MD5SUM of these images are

  • 4f8c266e57dce7234fb451198960325b debian-edu-lenny-dvd-rc1.iso bd342303c35ae8ee838035995091143c debian-edu-lenny-netinstall-rc1.iso

The SHA1SUM of these images are

  • 1acb698a4bcf2c9f23a83ff743ce2ef8b94a021f debian-edu-lenny-dvd-rc1.iso 22c86039e4418a3df31f7b2db83ab5c05c887123 debian-edu-lenny-netinstall-rc1.iso

How to report bugs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsInBugzilla

Test release 4, alpha3 2010-01-12

This is the forth test release (alpha3) of the Lenny based Skolelinux version. Since the previous test release (alpha3) some bugs got fixed and some of the features broken in the last release are now working.

The updated images can be downloaded via FTP, HTTP and rsync (see below for detailed instructions). The CD image size is about 606 MiB and the DVD about 4.4 GiB.

Here are the most remarkable changes since the last test release (alpha2):

  • Rewrote sound handling for thin clients, to use ESD for KDE and Pulseaudio and ALSA via pulseaudio for everything else, to get more applications working with sound on thin clients. Selected applications (audacity, gtick) using /dev/dsp (OSS) have been configured to use Pulseaudio instead.
  • Adjusted PowerDNS configuration to avoid slow lookups when no Internet cconnection is available.
  • Correct PXE installation settings when installing the main-server using DVD, to make sure the preseeded mirror settings make sense.
  • Added some more post-installation tests.
  • Updated Gnash to a version writing less log messages to ~/.xsession-errors (#1404).

  • The bug that made dhcp3d die every night when it saw little trafic has been fixed (#1398).

  • Adjusted Iceweasel handling of the home-made SSL certificate. This still need more work.
  • Partition sizes have been adjusted for installation of Main-server+Thin-Client-Server, Main-Server+Workstation and Workstation to avoid having to extend them during installation.
  • Now install the bash-completion package in every profile, to make sure bash behave the same in Debian Edu and the normal Debian installation.
  • Now install acpi-support-base on LTSP clients to make sure the power button work on hardware where it send an ACPI event.
  • Fixed syslog setup for all clients, now syslog messages are forwarded to the main-server.
  • No longer generate incorrect iceweasel setup for handling overrided SSL certificates (#1409).

  • Fixed automatic cleanup of LTSP swap files on the LTSP server.
  • Updated Nagios checks to make sure they work when no Internet connection is available. Added swap check in Nagios.
  • Added debian-edu-update-netblock script useful for implementing exam mode.
  • General cleanup and removal of obsolete code in the installer.
  • Corrected charset on the web server front page, and added the Italian web page to the package.
  • Updated Squid web proxy configuration to make sure all packages used by the PXE installation will be cached by Squid.
  • ...

The following features are still not working as they should:

  • In some settings, the diskless workstations fail to connect to the LDAP server and fail to work (#1408).

  • Locking the display do not work on diskless workstations. This can be fixed by running "chmod 644 /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/ldap/ssl/ldap-server-pubkey.pem" as root on the LTSP server (#1415).

  • ...

Test release 3, alpha2 2009-12-21

This is the third test release (alpha2) of the Lenny based Skolelinux version. Since the previous test release (alpha1) some bugs got fixed and some of the features broken in the last release are now working.

The updated images can be downloaded via FTP, HTTP and rsync (see below for detailed instructions). The CD image size is about 606 MiB and the DVD about 4.4 GiB.

Here are the most remarkable changes since the second test release (alpha1):

  • Diskless workstations should now work out of the box, and boot faster.
  • Thin clients should boot faster.
  • PXE installation work properly, and pass on some installation parameter (language, mirror, desktop) from the parameters used when installing main-server.
  • the DVD installation now works without problems.

The following features are still not working as they should:

  • Gnash produce lot of messages in the users ~/.xsession-error, filling up home directories when visiting web pages with Flash content.
  • The DHCP server dies if it used after a long time of none-use.

To download this alpha2 multiarch netinstall prerelease you can use

To download this alpha2 multiarch dvd prerelease you can use

The MD5SUM of these images are

  • 8a5fa6793f4c8e85c3be4fdf0eb51cec debian-edu-lenny-netinstall-alpha2.iso
  • 9d73d39fcbe4b4b86e469aac7c6ac19b debian-edu-lenny-dvd-alpha2.iso

Test release 2, alpha1 2009-12-03

This is the second test release (alpha1) of the Lenny based Skolelinux version. Since the first test release (alpha0) some bugs got fixed and some of the features broken in the last release are now working.

The updated images can be downloaded via FTP, HTTP and rsync (see below for detailed instructions). The CD image size is about 606 MiB and the DVD about 4.4 GiB.

Here are the most remarkable changes since the first test release (alpha0):

  • The package killer is no longer automatically installed, because of some remaining bugs.

  • KPDF, Quanta and Kturtle are now installed automatically if KDE is installed as desktop environment.
  • The proxy server is now used by Iceweasel, even if the users remove proxy configuration from his/her profile.
  • The old DNS range names like printer, static, dhcp and ltsp are now added to the LDAP tree on installation.
  • Nagios3 configuration was revised and now has a better default behavior.
  • Further examples for extended Samba configuration are distributed.
  • The test suite, used to automatically detect errors in the installed system, after installation, is now more robust.

The following features are still not working as they should:

  • DVD does not work properly:
    • on installation of the combined mainserver+ltsp-server+workstation the text-mode installer hangs at the end with a bluescreen - press CTRL-C to continue installation
  • Nagios is not configured automatically through the data collected by Sitesummary.
  • Some flash based websites are not displayed correctly:
    • Gnash is now the default flash player, the non free flash plugin can be installed from lenny-backports (see http://www.backports.org/ for more information).

To download this alpha1 multiarch netinstall prerelease you can use

To download this alpha1 multiarch dvd prerelease you can use

The MD5SUM of these images are

  • d72ea38d7ca2ed94d7c0a3a208d7b3fa debian-edu-lenny-netinstall-alpha1.iso
  • 641d1f56fd380a9d8d821e7ab889690c debian-edu-lenny-dvd-alpha1.iso

Test release 1, 2009-10-15

This is a first test release (alpha0) of the Skolelinux version based on Debian Lenny. As this is merely a snapshot of the currently ongoing development efforts, there are still some features missing or not in the final state. There are also some bugs not yet fixed. This test release is for the brave users who want to have a look at the next Skolelinux release and want to make sure, that their favorite feature is bug free (or report bugs otherwise).

After months of hard work, a new Skolelinux multi architecture (amd64, i386 and powerpc) netinstall CD is ready. This is the first test CD preparing for a Debian/Lenny based release. It is available from FTP, HTTP and rsync. The CD image size is about 606 MiB.

There are a lot of changes since the last CD/DVD release based on Etch. Here are some highlights:

  • Support for newer hardware: Based on Linux Kernel version 2.6.26 and X.org version 7.3
  • More flexible configuration: The configuration of the local DNS zone and the DHCP configuration have been moved into LDAP
  • Multi architecture network installer CD-Rom (amd64, i386 and powerpc).
  • PXE (network boot) installation of addition hosts (Workstations, Terminal Servers) are now supported by the main server (Tjener).
  • Some minor changes under the hood.

Some features have been removed as we thing they are no longer required:

  • Singe architecture installer CD-ROMs:
    • Please use the network installer CD or the DVD images instead.

Some features are still not working as they should. We are aware of these at the moment:

  • PowerPC is currently out of date (missing packages).
  • LTSP chroot is not created when the Terminal Server is installed using the new PXE network installer.
  • Nagios is not configured automatically through the data collected by Sitesummary.
  • Some flash based websites are not displayed correctly:
    • Gnash is now the default flash player, the non free flash plugin can be installed from lenny-backports (see http://www.backports.org/ for more information).

  • DVD does not work properly, this alpha0 release is netinstall image only.

To download this alpha0 multiarch prerelease you can use

The MD5SUM of this image is

  • dca1720f76562782b3f08b77b8eabab5 debian-edu-lenny-netinstall-alpha0.iso

Debian-Edu/Skolelinux 3.0 codename terra (etch based)

Releases using Debian/Etch

Final release 3.0r1, 2007-12-05

Highlights:

  • Modified CD build to make sure all packages used by the main-server and barebone profiles are included on the CDs.
  • Install japanese translations by default.
  • Install additional spell checkers for Greek, Brazilian, Catalan, Dutch, Portoguese and Finnish by default.
  • Install the programs needed by stopmotion to fetch pictures from cameras by default.
  • Activated the Debian Edu KDE background by default by fixing bug in the debian-edu-artwork package.
  • Provide the kiosk mode with the following kiosk mode settings

  • New kernel (version 2.6.18-5) fixing a few security issues.
  • Changed the sitesummary web page to be available from everywhere, and not just localhost, as almost the same information is available from the munin summary page and admins were confused when only one of the web pages were available.
  • Solve installation problem on machines with Adaptec RAID controllers using the dpt_i2o kernel module.
  • Fix konqueror mount problem for removable devices with xfs and other file systems who do not understand the umask mount option.
  • detailed list of all bugs fixed that were submitted into our bug tracking system

Security updates, see http://skolelinux.org/security/

  • clamav (0.90.1-3etch4), DSA-1340
  • iceweasel (2.0.0.5-0etch1), DSA-1338
  • xulrunner (1.8.0.13~pre070720-0etch1), DSA-1337
  • bind9 (9.3.4-2etch1), DSA-1342-1, DSA-1341-2
  • file (4.17-5etch1), DSA-1343
  • xfs (1.0.1-6), DSA-1342
  • samba, DSA-1409-2
  • ruby1.8, DSA-1410-1
  • mysql-dfsg-5.0, DSA-1413-1
  • wireshark, DSA-1414-1
  • tk8.4, DSA-1415-1
  • tk8.3, DSA-1416-1

The dvd ISO image is 4.4 GiB large. To download it, use either of these methods:

or for the netinstall cd you can download for i386

and for amd64

The powerpc port has not been tested as much as the other architectures, though it should work just fine and has been reported to work. Still, we consider the port an experimental release of Debian-Edu, which we might not be able to support as the other archs. Its available for download at

Final release 3.0r0, 2007-07-22

Highlights:

  • Updated translations of the install time questions.
  • Updated documentation.
  • Corrected links to documentation to select the correct langauge for those with translated documentation.
  • Corrected package installation for the barebone profile.

Test Releases using Debian/Etch

These are older release candidates. some of these might still be found in our ftp archive. http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/old

Test release candidate 5, 2007-07-18

This is the fifth release candidate of debian-edu etch. After the release of rc4 there have been some new reports about critical bugs which were unknown before. Thanks to this testing there have also been fixes and changes made since rc4. Because of that, we like to present one more and hopefuly the last release candidate. With this common test ground, we would like to ask you for doing all kind of final testing. So please file bugs at http://bugs.skolelinux.org/ now, if you see any problems. We are especially interested in reports about upgrades from the sarge based version of Debian-Edu. If you do not have hardware available to test on, please have a look at http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/TestCDinstall for hints about to test without.

Please help to make Debian-Edu/Skolelinux 3.0 the best release ever by testing this release candidate and providing feedback of any kind to: debian-edu@lists.debian.org

Highlights:

  • Enabling diskless workstations no longer break thin client boot.
  • Hotplug devices now work on diskless workstations.
  • No longer provide read/write access to the thin clients hard drive to the thin client user. New configuration variable LOCALDEV_FIXEDVISIBLE to enable the old behaviour. This configuration variable is not yet provided from upstream and might change name or behaviour in the future.
  • Minor cleanup in how PAM and NSS are configured for LDAP, reducing the amount of manual editing done by cfengine.
  • Changed partitioning rules to get more of the available disk space allocated as unused LVM space, and reduce the minimum disk requirements. Adjusted the minimum partition sizes based on recent installations.
  • Fixed bug in Samba LDAP integration to make it possible to add machines to the Domain.
  • Fix bug in X configuration to get scroll wheels working.
  • Updated the Debian Edu documentation provided in /usr/share/doc/debian-edu-doc/.
  • lsb-releases returns the same values as on debian etch now, except for DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION, which returns "DebianEdu/Skolelinux (terra)". And, same as debian etch, debian-edu etch is lsb 3.1 compliant.
  • Replaced the logo used in the graphical installer with our own image.

Some features are still not working as they should. We are aware of these at the moment and would like help finding a fix for it:

  • The netinst installation from CD tend to have a timeout when downloading packages. The workaround is to restart package installation when this happen.
  • The amd64 netinst CD can not install LTSP, as it is missing the i386 binaries needed.
  • The LDAP server SSL certificate is not verified by the clients.
  • The release documentation is a bit sparse.

Test release candidate 4, 2007-07-08

This is the fourth release candidate of debian-edu etch. Even though it was planned to release the final version after rc3, it was decided to release (at least) one more release candidate. The reason for that is, that some critical bugs have been fixed and some new features and changes have been implemented. So please file bugs at http://bugs.skolelinux.org/ now, if you see any problems. If you do not have hardware available to test on, please have a look at http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/TestCDinstall to learn about ways to test without hardware.

Even if we did not hold the promise to release within 1.5 weeks after rc3, we still plan to release soon.

Highlights

  • Fixed admin user access to LDAP.
  • Keep the /etc directory under version control (using debian-edu-etc-svk).
  • Fixed students kde start menu and put some more icons on the desktop.
  • Changed the sitesummary client code to make it less likely that all clients connect to the server at the same time, to spread the load on the server.
  • Changed sitesummary to only add clients with munin-node installed to the list of munin clients to check.
  • Includes another round of translation updates for kde 3.5.5 for Bokmål and Nynorsk
  • Added 700 MiB of desktop packages proposed by Linex.
  • Fixed propagation of the LDAP SSL certificate to the clients.
  • Added support for the LDM_DIRECTX LTSP setting to reduce security for higher performance.
  • Prevent storage devices like usb-sticks and medias like cds inserted into the terminal server from raising an popup window on KDE sessions of remote terminal server users.
  • Restrict jradmins to only be able to change passwords of users who are not members of the "admins" group.
  • Improved the ltsp-make-client script used to generate the LTSP environment for diskless workstations.
  • Made sure all the support programs used by gcompris are installed by default.

Some features are still not working as they should. We are aware of these at the moment and would like help finding a fix for it:

  • Enabling diskless workstation support break thin client support.
  • The LDAP server SSL certificate is not verified by the clients.
  • The release documentation is a bit sparse.

  • The Sarge based Newdriftbook has not yet been updated to Etch.
  • Does not yet include live-helper to build live-CDs

Test release candidate 3, 2007-06-24

Highlights

  • Improved support for ssh based installation by not changing the network settings at the end of the installation if working network is enabled.
  • Modified the CD/DVD build system to include archtecture specific packages, and use this to include the kernels needed by LTSP on amd64 and powerpc.
  • Fixed bug in code telling KDE to use esd on thin clients with sound enabled.
  • Now install scribus and tuxpaint by default in desktop installs.
  • Enabled sound and local device access on thin clients by default.
  • Added Hebrew and Japanese support.
  • Removed the free Flash implementation Gnash, because it is not ready for production use.
  • Provide the amd64 version as well as a multi arch dvd and a cd (i386)
  • When installed with the multi arch dvd on amd64 an i386 ltsp environment is created so old hardware could be used with new terminal server.

Test release candidate 2, 2007-06-09

This is the second release candidate of debian-edu etch. We plan to release RC3 before the final release. So please file bugs at http://bugs.skolelinux.org/ now, if you see problems. Even if you dont have available hardware to test on, you can still help with testing in qemu. The url http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/TestCDinstall will help you get started.

Highlights

  • New script debian-edu-fsautoresize to make it easier to resize LVM volumes
  • Changed LTSP network swap location from /tmp/ to it's own lvm volume /var/opt/ltsp/swapfiles
  • Scripts to clean up leftover ltsp swap files and processes from abnormal shutdowns of clients and server.
  • Fixed local device access in Standalone installs.
  • Fixed network-manager access for the initial user in Standalone installs.
  • Samba used scripts from wlus to update ldap when joining the domain. Fixed by including the script in our configuration package.
  • Made sure the client part of LTSP local device support (ltspfsd) is installed on the clients.
  • Changed the pam_group config to add all users loggin in to the fuse group, to try to get local device access working out of the box when enabled in LTSP.
  • Removed some obsolete code in the installer used on woody and sarge.
  • Munin on main-server will now monitor all hosts reporting to sitesummary automatically.
  • Removed unused code and obsolete comments from dhcpd.conf.
  • Modified code generating self-signed certificate for the LDAP server to make the public key available on the web, and added a boot script to download this key to all clients the first time they boot.
  • Fixed code to make admin users get a link to the web site with admin tools and information on their desktop.

Test release candidate 1, 2007-05-20

The Debian-Edu/Skolelinux project is pleased to announce that the next test release of "Debian-Edu/Skolelinux 3.0, codename 'terra'" is ready. This is the fifth test release based on Debian/Etch. It is available to download using FTP, HTTP and rsync.

This is the first release candidate of debian-edu etch. After that we will release RC2 and RC3 with shorter delays in between and then we will release. So please file bugs at http://bugs.skolelinux.org/ now, if you see problems. Even if you dont have available hardware to test on, you can still help with testing in qemu. The url http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/TestCDinstall will help you get started.

test4 was one day late, so we shifted the release schedule: we now plan to release RC2 on May 27h, RC3 on June 3nd and Debian-Edu etch on June 10th. We might cut RC2 and RC3, as we want to release at the end of May.

Highlights

  • Firefox is now installed by default, with a few much used translations. Due to legal reasons firefox is called iceweasel in Debian.
  • The hostname is now correctly set based on DNS name.
  • This release reintroduces the CD. It will grab the packages that did not fit on the first cd from network.
  • debian-edu-doc is a new package containing all documentation. Currently it lacks update of the information for etch and translation. Help welcome!
  • slbackup-php is now installed as default. Test it with http://tjener.intern/slbackup-php

  • Checks in place to avoid installing the standalone profile together with any of the others.

Test release 4, 2007-05-13

The Debian-Edu/Skolelinux project is pleased to announce that the next test release of "Debian-Edu/Skolelinux 3.0, codename 'terra'" is ready. This is the fourth test release based on Debian/Etch. It is available to download using FTP, HTTP and rsync.

This will be the last test-release of debian-edu etch. After that we will release RC1, RC2 and RC3 with shorter delays in between and then we will release. So please file bugs at http://bugs.skolelinux.org/ now, if you see problems. Even if you dont have available hardware to test on, you can still help with testing in qemu. The url http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/TestCDinstall will help you get started.

We plan to release RC1 on May 19th, RC2 on May 26th, RC3 on June 2nd and Debian-Edu etch on June 9th. We might cut RC2 and RC3, as we want to release at the end of May.

Highlights

  • Fix handling of USB and other hotplug devices.
  • Framework for selecting languages during installation is now working again.
  • LTSP default keyboard layout now uses the one selected during installation.
  • LTSP network swap is enabled by default.
  • CPU frequency scaling is enabled on all machines supporting it. Will increase battery lifetime and reduce power bill.
  • slbackup-php is available on the DVD, install it with aptitude -y install slbackup-php. And test it with http://tjener.intern/slbackup-php

  • all the other highlights from the previous test-releases

Test release 3, 2007-04-21

The Debian-Edu/Skolelinux project is pleased to announce that the next test release of "Debian-Edu/Skolelinux 3.0, codename 'terra'" is ready. This is the third test release based on Debian/Etch. It is available to download using FTP, HTTP and rsync.

Highlights

  • Based on the recently released Debian 4.0 Etch.
  • Released as a DVD image, with a lot more translations and applications available.
  • Includes ltspfs for local device access from thin clients.
  • Improved laptop support.
  • And a lot more...

Test release 2, 2006-11-23

Highlights

  • Installer support encrypting disks and partitions
  • Added flash web plugin support using gnash
  • Added the adept graphical package manager
  • Added much used package ktuberling
  • Added sitesummary system to make it easier to keep track of a lot of machines in the network.
  • Fixed the NTP configuration.
  • ltsp 0.99debian8 (supports encrypted swap and on-demand network swap)
  • KDE upgraded from version 3.5.4 to 3.5.5
  • New artwork (boot splash and KDE)
  • Audio device access should work out of the box.
  • X.org upgraded from version 7.0 to 7.1.

Some new features which are not yet fully working, but the framework is already in place:

  • Kiosk mode

Some features are still not working as they should. We are aware of these at the moment:

  • No LDAP user admin tool yet
  • Hotplugging USB disks do not work
  • Dropped gcompris and gperiodic to save space.

Test release 1, 2006-09-24

After months of hard work, a new Skolelinux CD image is ready. This is the first test CD preparing for a debian/etch based release. It is available from FTP, HTTP and rsync. The image size is 695 MiB.

There are a lot of changes since the last CD release based on Sarge. Here are some highlights

  • Ported the installer to etch using d-i beta3
  • Linux kernel 2.6.17
  • KDE 3.5.4
  • New versions of educational software and improvements in the package choice
  • LTSP 0.93debian1
  • Now support resizing of LVM volumes without umounting
  • Improved laptop support (hybernate, extra keys, wireless configuration)
  • The installer now support encrypted file systems
  • New debian-edu-expert mode with new profile and manual partitioning to enable a bare-bone system without any services, for single-service installs
  • Debian-Edu bootsplash during the boot process
  • Custom kdm and kde artwork

Some features are still not working as they should. We are aware of these at the moment:

  • LTSP server is not set up during installation. It can be set up manually after the installation.
  • LVM partitioning fail if an existing LVM partition is found on the hard drive. A workaround is to boot with boot param 'linux debian-edu-expert' to get the manuall partitioning. This will be fixed in the next version of debian-installer.
  • Clock sync config with NTP client/server is not correct.

Next developer meeting is tomorrow. More information available from http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Meeting

Announcing new releases

New releases are sent to debian-edu at lists.debian.org, linuxiskolen at skolelinux.no, distro at distrowatch.com, admin-discuss at skolelinux.org, user at skolelinux.de, bruker at skolelinux.no and debian-edu-french at lists.debian.org.