110 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
110 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
ANNOUNCING BETA TAMU-1.0A Linux Release
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DESCRIPTION:
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TAMU-1.0A is the latest release in the TAMU linux series. Like the
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previous release, this one includes both *integrated source* and binary
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sets, with the entire binary set created from a single top level source
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make. This ensures that all programs are compiled and linked with the
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same current tools and libraries, and guarantees availability of working
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source for every program in the binary set.
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In addition, the boot diskette fully automates the installation
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process, including partitioning, lilo bootstrapping, and network
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configuration. Installation requires no rebooting, and requires the
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user to know only the host's name and IP address. At every step of
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installation, the program provides intelligent defaults, making it
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a snap for novices, while allowing experts full flexibility in setting
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installation parameters. Reliability has been improved over past TAMU
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installation by the addition of checksums to the diskette image labels,
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so that the program can detect and recover from bad images or misordered
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diskettes.
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Key Features:
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full sources available
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fully automatic installation
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New in this release:
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ghostscript, fvwm, xdos, seyon, kbd, man-1.0, gprof, ...
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File System Standard Compliant!
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"rawfd" -- a super replacement for rawrite that lets you
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ftp images directly to floppy, with on the fly
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formatting, all in one step!
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Updated in this release:
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almost everything!
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XFree86-2.1
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gcc-2.5.8/libc-4.5.21 (with fixes)
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shadow-3.3.1
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installation now automatically configures smail
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Bug Fixes:
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all reported bugs in the prior release fixed
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AVAILABILITY:
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The binary and source sets are available in both diskette image and
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untarred directories at net.tamu.edu (128.194.177.1), in the directory
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pub/linux/BETA-TAMU-1.0
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This directory contains a copy of this announcement, along with
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readme files "INSTALL.BIN" and "INSTALL.SRC" with respective
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installation instructions. The FTP server supports the automated
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retrieval of directory hierarchies, so that any portion of the untarred
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sets can be retrieved. Note: the previous TAMU releases are still
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located at sc.tamu.edu. The move to the new server was necessitated to
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provide adequate space for the tarred and untarred sources in the new
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release.
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REQUIREMENTS:
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The binary set includes 1 boot, and 17 bin diskette images, and the
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source set includes 35 diskette images (17 and 42 respectively for 5.25
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inch diskettes). When installed, the binary set needs about 80MB of
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disk space (this includes swap and filesystem overhead). The sources
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take an additional 200MB, and need around another 50MB temporarily
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during compilation. Individual packages within the sources can be
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compiled independently, so you don't have to retrieve all 200MB to
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modify one program. The source packages have, however, been configured
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to compile under the TAMU-1.0 binary set, so there are no guarantees
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they will compile on other systems.
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PHILOSOPHY:
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The source release is based on an integrated set of source packages.
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This combines the advantages of a BSD style fully integrated release
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(single top level make ...), with the flexibility of separate source
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packages (it's easy to drop in new versions as they appear).
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As for the religeous arguments related to the One True Directory
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Structure, this release balances both esthetic and pragmatic approaches
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to the problem. On the esthetic side, one goal was to move programs
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from the root filesystem (ie from /bin and /etc) that are neither
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specific to the local host, nor needed for booting. In addition,
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/var is a place to catch things that were in /usr that should be local.
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As for the pragmatic aspects, the sources are comprised of some 200MB
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of code written by a large number of people, and one goal was to
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respect their consensus view. Moving programs out of bin (such as
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rm) would break enormous amounts of code, fly in the face of the
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majority expectation, and not really gain much. Many of these
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pragmatic considerations are not obvious until you try to make the
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stage 2 operating system (ie until you try to compile the full sources
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with an operating system made from the sources.)
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One major accomplishment was to move all release programs out of
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/usr/local. As shipped, /usr/local is empty, so that it is easy to
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recognize user installed packages. If it is in /usr/local, it really
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is local.
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FUTURE PLANS:
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The obvious next steps include bug fixes, and the incorporation
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of additional software packages. A major goal for the mythical "1.0"
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release will be the integration of a solid package installation/removal
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system along the lines of the one in Solaris 2.x.
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CONTACTS:
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Please send questions, comments, and bug fixes to:
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dave safford
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dave.safford@net.tamu.edu
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