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  * win32-loader doesn't work properly on 64-bit Vista. See [http://bugs.debian.org/441379 #441379]

This page is used to prepare the next release announcement to be send to debian-boot and debian-devel-announce mailing lists.

Intro

The Debian Installer team is pleased to announce the first beta of Debian Lenny's Installer. This is the first release since Etch has been out. The whole team has been hard at work during all these past 11 months and have made this a release full of new features.

There are new features and bugfixes in all possible areas and you should try it! We do need your help to find bugs and improve the installer.

Main improvements

For a more details on what has changed since Etch was released, the comprehensive changelog is [http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/HumanReadableChangelogs/LennyBeta1 available on the wiki].

Support for CD/DVD set is back

Support for loading additional CD/DVD from a set (a feature missing in Etch) has been added back. As language-related packages do not all fit on the first CD, this greatly improve the situation for non-English speakers performing installations without Internet connectivity.

Support for "volatile" has been added

The installer now supports adding "volatile.debian.org" when adding additional APT sources. Just like security.debian.org, it will be configured by default when the "stable" distribution is installed.

In addition, it is now possible to disable the security and volatile sources when the installer is run in expert mode.

Please read the [http://www.debian.org/volatile/ debian-volatile homepage] for more information about the volatile project.

Clock synchronization using NTP

The installer will now attempt to synchronize the system clock using the Network Time Protocol (NTP) when a network connection has been configured.

This will ensure a valid system time during installation, preventing odd behaviors with cryptographic signatures or filesystem checks.

Starting the installer from Microsoft Windows

Since the integration of the [http://packages.debian.org/win32-loader win32-loader package], it is now possible to start the installer directly from Microsoft Windows without the need to change BIOS settings. Upon insertion of a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or USB stick, an autorun program will be started, offering a step-by-step process to start the Debian Installer. A few installer settings (including language) will be preconfigured from this process.

Experimental support for Serial ATA RAID (dmraid)

As [http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2007/07/msg00008.html previously announced], the debian-installer now include experimental support for installing Debian on systems with Serial ATA RAID as supported in Linux via the dmraid utility. Please see the [http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/SataRaid dedicated wiki page] for more information.

Misc. important stuff

  • The installer has been updated to use Linux 2.6.22
  • Various reductions in memory usage have been made
  • Rescue mode now supports LUKS encrypted partition
  • Various code cleanups, reorganizations and refactorings were performed

No longer supported

Plans for next Beta release

The next beta will be mainly focused on getting an installer version working with Linux 2.6.24.

Other contributors have nevertheless spoke about working on [http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2008/02/msg00274.html non-free firmware support], [http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2008/02/msg00285.html improvements on the partioner, locale support and mirror selection] or [http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2008/03/msg00121.html improvements to the graphical installer].

The debian-installer is still looking for active contributors for new features, bug triaging and squashing, improvements on the manual and the developer documentation. If you want Lenny to release on time, please [http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Contrib join and help]!

Known issues in this release