Mandriva Linux 2007 Release Notes
Changes and Updates for the Mandriva Linux 2007 release.
Introduction
This document contains important information about the Mandriva Linux
2007 release.
The following topics are covered:
* General information about new features and major changes
* Changes to the Mandriva installer and upgrade instructions for
Mandriva 2006 users
* Changes to supported hardware and drivers
* Changes regarding software packages
* Other technical information for experienced users
This document may be updated. The latest version of these release
notes is available at
http://qa.mandriva.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/MandrivaLinux2007ReleaseNot
es
Please also refer to MandrivaLinux2007Errata - the Errata for the 2007
release. The Errata page contains information on known bugs and
problems in the release and instructions on fixing, avoiding or
working around them.
General information about new features and major changes
Mandriva Linux 2007 integrates the latest versions of the major open
source projects: kernel 2.6.17, KDE 3.5.4, GNOME 2.16, and many
others.
Many major new features have also been integrated:
* a 3D/OpenGL desktop interface with both AIGLX and XGL support
* improved rpmdrake software management tool
* the new Mandriva 'Ia Ora' desktop theme and screensavers
* improved network tools to access the Internet from any wireless or
3G/GPRS networks
* Support for the XDG menu system, a freedesktop.org standard
* new "Web 2.0" frameworks, like Ruby on Rails, Django and Catalyst
* the Invictus redundant / failover firewall system
Mandriva Linux 2007 is available in several different editions:
* the "One" edition is an installable live CD integrating the latest
proprietary drivers, available free of charge
* the "Free" edition is a pure Free Software version, without any of
the non-free packages bundled with other editions; it is also
available as a free download
* the "Discovery", "Powerpack" & "Powerpack+" products, for beginner
users, power users and SOHO users respectively, including support,
services and many third-party applications like LinDVD and Cedega
Additional information is also available online:
* The Mandriva Hardware Database
* The Mandriva Club
* The Mandriva User Forums
* The Mandriva Linux Development Community (Wiki)
* or at the main Mandriva site
Changes to the Mandriva installer and upgrade instructions for Mandriva 2006
users
The Mandriva installer has been updated to support the following new
features:
* multi-arch mode (32 & 64-bit)
* Express / Live Install mode
* Driver updates or patches on USB media
* Use of additional media during installation
* In-place system upgrade for Mandriva Linux 2006 users
multi-arch mode
The Mandriva Installer now supports both 32 & 64-bit architectures and
auto-detects the right platform at boot time. A single installation
medium is now provided for both architectures.
Express / Live Install mode
With the "Discovery" and "One" editions of Mandriva Linux 2007, the
system is provided as an installable live CD. Users can test drive the
product on their system and then decide to proceed with an express
installation mode. In this mode, all the software packages present on
the installation media are copied to a new partition on the hard drive
from within the running live CD - no need to reboot to a separate
installation mode. The other post-installation steps (club signup,
package updates) will then proceed as usual.
Patches during installation
The Mandriva installer now supports USB keys as a source for driver
updates or patches. Previously, only floppy drives were supported.
Use of additional media during installation
Update media can be added at the end of the installation process. All
available updates can be retrieved and applied at the end of the
installation process. This feature works both in interactive mode and
in the automated mode (auto_inst_cfg). Of course, this feature
requires that the system is already configured to have working network
access to the update medias.
It is also possible to integrate additional or custom media during the
installation process. This can help administrators doing automated
installations. The following example shows how to modify the
auto_inst_cfg configuration file:
media => [
{ type => 'media_cfg', url => 'nfs://a_server/the_path/i586/media' },
{ type => 'media', id => "media=more_apps", url =>
'ftp://a:a@server//the_path2/media/apps' },
],
The packages provided by the additional media are available both
during the installation process, to select additional packages or
install groups, and also for updates.
Upgrade instructions for Mandriva 2006 users
The Mandriva Installer supports in-place system upgrade for Mandriva
Linux 2006 users. Users of the previous version of Mandriva Linux can
choose the upgrade installation path from the installation media. The
upgrade procedures replaces the installed system with the new packages
provided by Mandriva Linux 2007, including kernel and driver updates.
User data is preserved as usual. Configuration settings are migrated
to the extent supported by the various software installed.
We have validated many upgrade paths from Mandriva Linux 2006 during
the beta test period. However, some additional operations may be
necessary to complete the upgrade, due to some major updates like xorg
path changes, the overhauled menu system, and the new KDE default
configuration scheme.
In case of errors, it is advised to perform the following operations:
* check if all updates have been installed: to do that, open a shell
window, and use the 'urpmi --auto-select' command
* re-run Mandriva configuration tools to ensure settings are
applied: open the Mandriva Control Center and visit each
configuration section, review settings then press the 'OK' or
'Apply' button, to write a new configuration file
* re-run other desktop configuration tools (KDE): open the KDE
Control Panel, visit each configuration section, review settings
and apply
* re-run other desktop configuration tools (GNOME): open each
configuration tool in the System / Preferences menu, review
settings and apply
* If your display configuration appears to have been broken by the
upgrade, boot in 'failsafe' mode, run XFdrake, configure the
display and reboot. If this still does not work, do the same thing
but remove the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file first. You may also have to
run mousedrake and keyboarddrake after doing this, to recreate
your mouse and keyboard configuration.
These operations are optional. All settings should be migrated by
either the Mandriva tools or the desktop configuration system. Consult
the updated version of these release notes and refer to additional
online support resources if you still experience problems after an
upgrade.
Changes to supported hardware and drivers
Mandriva Linux 2007 supports a wide range of hardware configurations,
and some of the most recent platforms:
* support for the latest Intel Core / Core 2 Duo CPUs (laptop,
desktop and server reference designs)
* advanced ACPI suspend/restore support (S3/S4), tested on many
notebook configurations, in particular Intel ICH6, ICH7, ICH8 (*)
* support for hardware virtualization features, like Intel VT(tm)
* support for all Intel graphic adapters, including the latest
GMA950(i945G) & x3000(i965G),
* support for all the latest Intel ICH8 based platforms, NVIDIA
nForce 5 and ATI SB600 chipsets
* support for the latest Intel WiFi adapters (ipw2200 / ipw3945),
the latest ndiswrapper, atheros and bcm43xxx modules
* support for all major graphic cards (Intel, ATI, NVIDIA) with
X.Org 7.1, VIA Unichrome, SiS (660), etc.
* support for all major xDSL adapters, including fixes for the
Speedtouch models
* support for the latest storage drivers, including updated Adaptec
drivers with Host RAID support
* support for the major sound chipsets with ALSA 1.0.12 final (note
Creative X-Fi cards are not supported in Linux)
Mandriva Linux 2007 now includes proprietary drivers by default, even
in the One freely downloadable versions. A Free Software edition (the
"Free" version) is also available, without the offending non-free
components.
* In the Mandriva One live CD edition and in Mandriva Discovery, both
the nvidia and nvidia_legacy drivers are available, to support all
hardware configurations without the need for a persistent
configuration mechanism. Once installed, or with the other editions
(Powerpack, etc.), only one of these NVIDIA drivers can be installed
at a time to prevent configuration errors.
Additional and up-to-date information about hardware support and
certified configurations is also available in the Mandriva Hardware
Database.
(*)Note: ACPI suspend/restore support depends on many components and
drivers: please check the HCL for certified configurations.
Changes regarding software packages
Changes to the Mandriva Linux base system
Mandriva Linux 2007 ships with updated components at the base system
level:
* latest 2.6.17 kernel, with up-to-date RSBAC support
* gcc 4.1 and glibc 2.4
* LSB 3.1 compliant
* Xen 3.0.2 (plus patches) with hardware acceleration support
* improved boot speed with parallel init
* new and improved bootsplash support
Mandriva Linux 2007 contains an updated multi-arch switch system.
Users can build 32-bit applications also from a x86-64 workstation
without any chroot or rpm coloring/repacking tricks. To use this
feature, just install the required 32-bit development packages and
rebuild with 'linux32 rpm --rebuild package.src.rpm'.
There are no longer separate kernels for systems with more than one
processor core (the -smp kernels). All three kernels include support
for multiple processor cores. At boot time, the kernel will detect
whether multiple processors are present and enable or disable SMP
support as appropriate.
Warning: the PAE addressing mode previously available with standard
Mandriva 2006 kernels is now only available in "kernel-enterprise".
This in particular affects systems with more than 4GB of memory, which
should use kernel-enterprise.
The optimal kernel "flavor" is automatically selected by the Mandriva
Installer. Similarly, Mandriva Linux 2006 users should be migrated
transparently to the right kernel with the installer-based upgrade
procedure.
For users performing a manual upgrade, the recommended upgrade path is
as follows:
* users of kernel-2.6.12.x, who do not require PAE, can move to the
kernel-2.6.17.x release
* users of kernel-2.6.12.x, who do require PAE support, must move to
the kernel-enterprise-2.6.17.x release
* users of kernel-i586-up-1GB-2.6.12.x should move to the
kernel-legacy-2.6.17.x release
* users of kernel-i686-up-4GB-2.6.12.x should move to the standard
kernel release
Mandriva Linux 2007 now ships with JRE (Java Runtime Environment) 1.5
by default on 32-bit x86. This package is not distributed in the "Free
Software" edition.
Mandriva Linux 2007 now ships with the Mono C# environment by default,
after licensing updates.
Changes to Mandriva tools
The Mandriva tools have been updated to provide new features and
improved interfaces.
The updated XFdrake tool (X Window configuration) supports many new
configurations and options:
* support for card specific options (clone, BIOS FN key for ATI
cards, etc.)
* automatically detects and applies recommended settings for DRI,
Composite, EXA, multi-head support
* add support for the new horizontal wheel feature (e.g. mouses like
the Logitech MX-1000 model), with thumb "back/forward" support
* enhanced monitor detection support, including monitor-edid fixes
* most VGA projectors are now supported out of the box, with the new
Display Clone option turned on by default
* evdev is now used in addition to the traditional X and imwheel
components for pointer devices with many buttons and /or a
horizontal wheel, providing improved support for these devices:
try your thumb buttons!
Other minor interface improvements have also been integrated.
The new drak3d tool detects the best settings depending on card brands
and supported features and automatically enables either AIGLX or XGL,
only allowing you to select configurations which should work on your
hardware.
The Mandriva Network tools include many new features:
* support for 3G/EDGE/GPRS network access, including the most common
devices offered by phone operators
* extended hardware integration, like rf-kill switch support
* enhanced information messages to help with network access
troubleshooting
* new configuration interface for network profiles support
* new VPN support (OpenVPN and vpnc)
* Improved zeroconf support
* Bluetooth networking support
* improved user interface, with additional network status
notifications
The Mandriva 'rpmdrake' tool has been reworked and features a new and
improved user interface with the software installation and removal
modes merged.
urpmi now supports rollbacks: see urpmi-recover(1) for details.
Invictus Firewall
The Invictus Firewall is a new module for building a cluster of
firewalls with full failover and high-availability features.
Invictus Firewall integrates ucarp and ct_sync in the background to
achieve this. ucarp monitors the status of each firewall, and decides
which router is the current master in the cluster. ct_sync is a kernel
module which replicates the connection tracking state across multiple
firewall nodes.
In order to secure the replication connection, it is required to
update the iptables configuration on each node and mark the traffic
between the interfaces with the CONNMARK target.
Check out the online documentation of Invictus Firewall for more
information.
Digital Imaging sub-system
Mandriva Linux 2007 introduces CUPS 1.2, the new generation of the
Common Unix Printing System with:
* Vastly improved web interface with local and printer
auto-detection, easy queue setup with a few clicks, access to all
installed printer drivers, most important CUPS server
configuration functions (printer sharing, debug mode), access to
log files, searchable job and print queue lists, searchable
documentation
* Fast SNMP-broadcast-based scan for network printers (~4 sec)
* Per-queue de-activation of printer sharing
* More detailed definition of acces rights per-printer
* IPv6 support
* Improved interface for printer drivers
Also new:
* HPLIP 1.6.9: Support for the newest HP printers and multi-function
devices from HP, with support for faxing and printing onto
CDs/DVDs
* Gutenprint 5.0.0 final release: Highest photo quality on most
Epson inkjet printers including the recent models
* Many other new printer drivers and PPD files to support thousands
of printers, including the latest models from Ricoh, Gestetner,
Infotec, Lanier, NRG, Savin, HP, Epson, Brother, Samsung, Konica
Minolta, and many more.
* Printerdrake, the Mandriva printer setup tool, supports the new
features of CUPS and HPLIP in its graphical user interface,
automatically downloads firmware and color profiles for printers
which need these files, allows fast discovery of network printers
and of their communication protocols (IPP, TCP, and LPD),
configuration of optional printer add-ons during printer setup,
and more.
* SANE 1.0.18: Support for many new scanner models.
* Epson Avasys scanner driver: Support for latest Epson scanners.
* GPhoto 2.2.1 + DCRaw 8.31 + UFRaw 0.9: Support for the latest
digital cameras and their RAW image formats.
USAGE NOTE: In order to fax with an HP multi-function device, users
need to start "hp-sendfax" (Menu: Office -> Communications -> Fax ->
HP Sendfax) BEFORE sending a job to the fax printer (usually with a
print queue name with "FAX" in it), otherwise the job will be
discarded. It is possible to send more than one job into one fax. Fax
is available through the print functionality of any application.
KDE Desktop & related applications
Mandriva Linux 2007 features the new KDE 3.5.4 release, with many
improvements and bugfixes. Further information about this release is
available on the KDE site.
The KDE desktop included in Mandriva 2007 now uses a new configuration
scheme with a "cascading overlay" approach. In particular it enables
administrators or OEMs to change almost all KDE settings without
needing to touch standard KDE packages or recompile packages.
Additional KDE configuration profiles can be referenced in /etc/kderc.
The default configuration profiles are now available in different
packages: mandriva-kde-config-common-2007 discovery-kde-config-2007
powerpack-kde-config-2007 powerpackplus-kde-config-2007
one-kde-config-2007 download-kde-config-2007 mandriva-kdm-config-2007
KDE now supports the new standard XDG menus.
KDE now uses kmplayer with the xine backend by default. Kaffeine is
still available, but is not recommended due to instabilities when used
as a konqueror plugin.
KDE now integrates the Kerry search front-end by default.
GNOME Desktop & related applications
Mandriva Linux 2007 ships with the latest GNOME 2.16 release. Further
information about this release is available on the GNOME site.
Mozilla applications
Mandriva Linux 2007 ships with the Mozilla Firefox & Thunderbird 1.5
releases.
The Mozilla Firefox packages have been split into multiple packages,
with a library part and a program part. Multiple versions of the
Firefox libraries can now be installed in parallel to cope with other
program dependencies like Epiphany or Eclipse that also use the Gecko
engine.
Mandriva Linux 2007 features native 64-bit Mozilla browsers with
support for 32-bit plugins. 64-bit native browsers and JVM add
improved performance while preserving compatibility with existing
32-bit plugins like FlashPlayer, RealPlayer, and Acrobat Reader 7.
OpenOffice.org
Mandriva Linux 2007 integrates the latest OpenOffice.org 2.0.3
release, supporting the ISO-standard Open Document Format as well as
most of the Microsoft proprietary document formats and the .sx*
formats used by OpenOffice 1.x.
This version includes the latest VBA model patchset to enhance
compatibility with Visual Basic macros included in many legacy
documents.
The native x86-64 version is currently not recommended for intensive
or enterprise use. The x86-64 packages can be installed concurrently
with the i586 version, allowing you to switch from one version to the
other. The x86-64 version can be launched with the 'ooffice2.0_64'
command.
The font wizard may not work properly in some situations: in this
case, users are advised to install all .TTF fonts into
~/.ooo-2.0/user/fonts/ (this is also applicable to Type1 and other
bitmap fonts).
Some new clipart is now provided in the openoffice-clipart packages.
Apache
Apache has been updated to the latest 2.2 stable version.
Configuration files need to be manually reviewed and migrated to the
new version. Please refer to the indivual package release notes in
/usr/share/doc/apache-base-2.2.3/README.urpmi and
/usr/share/doc/apache-conf-2.2.3/README.urpmi.
Other technical information for experienced users
New XDG Menu system
Migration to XDG Menu system (as explained on XDGMenuSystem and
MenuMigrationToXDG) has been completed with Mandriva Linux 2007.0. The
Debian menu system is no longer used and files in /usr/lib/menu,
/etc/menu and ~/.menu are now ignored. Menu customization should be
done using desktop menu editors, such as kmenuedit (for KDE) or
alacarte (for GNOME).
If upgrading from an older version of Mandriva Linux, no customization
(such as menu changes or applications association to file type) will
be migrated to the new system. Those customizations will need to be
re-done using desktop native tools. To prevent conflicts, old
generated files in ~/.local/share/applications,
~/.local/share/desktop-directories and ~/.config/menus/*.menu will be
renamed as ~/.local/share/applications-obsolete,
~/.local/share/desktop-dirctories-obsolete and
~/.config/menus/*.menu.obsolete when doing a first login using
Mandriva Linux 2007.0.
New Init system
Mandriva Linux 2007.0 introduces a new parallel initialization system,
replacing the classic sequential initialization system. This means
that during boot, many services are started at the same time,
improving boot speed. Dependencies in the initialization scripts are
used to ensure the correct starting order for services that rely on
other services being started first. This system should work without
problems on most systems, but there are some potential issues. For
more information on these, see the Errata.
USB and/or removable media management
Removable storage media are automatically managed by HAL, D-BUS and
the respective KDE or GNOME media managers.
Devices mounted through an automatic desktop mechanism must be
unmounted with the same mechanism (the "remove safely" action offered
by the file/device manager applications). Such devices cannot
currently be unmounted using the umount command, except by the
super-user. You can however use some command line tools like
gnome-umount.
Devices are mounted under /mnt by default.
New X.org 7.1 graphical sub-system
Following upstream changes in X.org 7.0, the few large packages that
made up X.org releases prior to 7.0 have been split into many small
packages, one for each driver and library. See this Cooker mailing
list post for more details.
Software cursor can be configured from XFdrake for owners of specific
cards that do not support accelerated pointers.
On specific notebooks, Clone is automatically disabled to prevent
stability issues experienced during the beta period.
Base system packages and common libraries
cron
Cron was updated to the latest version. crontab now requires an empty
/etc/cron.deny file so it can be used by any user (this was not the
case before). Use "touch /etc/cron.deny" to restore the old behavior.
glibc
glibc has been updated to the 2.4 version, which implies the removal
of linuxthreads, replaced by ntpl. See this Cooker mailing list post
for more details. As linuxthreads has been broken and deprecated for
some years, this should not be a problem, except on some legacy
software.
nss_ldap
Upstream, the intended behaviour of (the upstream default)
'bind_policy hard' has been correctly implemented. This changes the
default upstream behaviour to block on connecting to the first LDAP
server. On Mandriva, the default for bind_policy has been changed to
"soft", to retain the previous default behaviour. The default upstream
behaviour may be had by setting "bind_policy hard" in /etc/ldap.conf
keychain
For gpg and ssh agents, the new preferred solution is based on the
keychain package, which properly handles both tools. Keychain provides
authentication dialogs in three environments, console, qt and GTK+, so
every user that needs GPG cryptography or SSH public key agents only
need install the package keychain, and nothing more. This solution now
deprecates home dir scripts, so users are advised to remove custom
ssh-agent and gpg-agent scripts on home, in favour of keychain.
PalmOS based PDAs
Pilot-link (software used to access PalmOS based PDAs) has been
upgraded to version 0.12 and has been configured to use only libusb to
communicate with USB PalmOS based PDAs. The 'visor' kernel module will
no longer be loaded and software used to synchronize with such PDAs
should be reconfigured to use the usb: port, instead of the deprecated
/dev/pilot , /dev/ttyUSB0 or /dev/ttyUSB1 device nodes.
netplugd
In previous releases, the netplugd daemon was included in the
net-tools package. Since it should not be used by default, netplugd
has been moved in its own package, in the contrib repository. Use of
the ifplugd daemon is preferred, since it is supported by Mandriva
initscripts, more configurable, and has been used by default for a few
years.
irssi
irssi perl support was split from the main package, in irssi-perl
subpackage. Install it if you need to run perl scripts.
New Shorewall version 3
Shorewall has been upgraded to version 3. The syntax of the
/etc/shorewall/zones files has changed in this Shorewall release. If
you upgrade from a previous Mandriva release, please run the firewall
configuration tool (drakfirewall) to update your firewall
configuration.
autofs
autofs 5 introduced changes in LDAP support. Most importantly, you
have to configure the LDAP schema you're using in autofs configuration
(/etc/autofs/autofs.conf), and package update can't handle it. autofs
client no longer supports --timeout number_of_seconds option. Server
must be reconfigured to use instead --timeout=number_of_seconds.
php-session
Changes have been made to the way PHP session files are dealt with.
Sessions are now saved in /var/lib/php instead of /tmp and a cron
script (/etc/cron.d/php) will clean the directory when needed.
Miscellaneous notes for x86_64 packages
This section summarizes some of the issues that may exist with the
x86_64 versions of Linux applications or drivers.
Mandriva is working on eliminating differences between the 32 and the
64-bit releases of its product, yet some applications may not exist in
a 64-bit version (proprietary applications) or may not be currently
recommended by the upstream project.
Proprietary packages
The 64-bit ISOs do not contain proprietary 32-bit applications for
which we have had no compatibility statement from the vendors.
The following applications are not present on the 64-bit ISOs:
acroread, BitDefender, crossover (demo), FlashPlayer, opera, skype,
VMwarePlayer.
Note: this restriction is only applicable to the download versions of
Mandriva Linux 2007. Boxed-set products do contain dual-arch medias
with all the packages.
Important: Customers of download versions are entitled to access both
the 32 and 64-bit versions. We advise customers of download versions
to retrieve both medias to have a backup copy of all packages in the
release.
Note: LinDVD, Cedega & the Flatout game are present on the 64-bit
ISOs. No need to download the 32-bit version if you only need these
packages.
Proprietary drivers
Some drivers are not available in 64-bit configuration, either because
the vendor does not advertise compatibility with this architecture or
because our own QA process identified issues preventing default usage
of the package.
The following proprietary drivers are not provided on the 64-bit
media: drdsl, hcfpcimodem*, slmodem*, unicorn.
Flash plugin
Flash is only available in 32-bit version. The vendor does not provide
a 64-bit version for the Linux platform.
Yet, Mandriva provides the 'nspluginwrapper' switch that automatically
calls the right 32-bit plugin, from a 64-bit browser. Thus, even if
Flash is a 32-bit application, Mandriva users can still use a 64-bit
version of Mozilla Firefox or Konqueror.
Other packages
The Java Environment is available in both 32 and 64-bit versions. When
using a 64-bit browser, the 64-bit java plugin is thus used by
default.
OpenOffice is currently not recommended in the 64-bit version: see the
OpenOffice related section in this document for details.
Mandriva Kiosk: the bundles are currently available only in 32-bit
versions.
Changes regarding packages
Mandriva Linux 2007 contains updated packages of the major open source
components and is one of the most up-to-date distributions on the
market. Updates are too numerous to list, but new (previously not
distributed) packages have also been added. Some packages have been
dropped from the distribution because they have been obsoleted by
newer components, because they are not maintained, or because of
licensing changes.
You can see the full list of changes at MandrivaLinux2007Packages
(http://qa.mandriva.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/MandrivaLinux2007Packages)