Red Hat Linux 6.2 Release notes ------------------------------- This document describes features that are new to Red Hat Linux 6.2, but may not have been available prior to our documentation being finalized. Installation-related Enhancements --------------------------------- The Red Hat Linux 6.2 installation program includes a number of new features. For more information, please refer to the Official Red Hat Linux Installation Guide. System-Related New Features --------------------------- There are many new features to Red Hat Linux 6.2 that are not part of the installation process. Some new features are tools or applications that you can use, others are new versions of the kernel or desktop environments. This list will provide a little more information about what to expect from Red Hat Linux 6.2 once you are actually using the OS itself. Network services split into client, server packages -- The following network services have been split into client and server packages: o telnet o finger o talk o rsh o rusers o rwall o tftp For example, on the Intel-compatible platform telnet is now packaged in two RPMs: telnet-0.16-6.i386.rpm telnet-server-0.16-6.i386.rpm rpmdb-redhat package included -- The rpmdb-redhat package contains an RPM database of a complete Red Hat Linux 6.2 install. This makes it easy to determine dependencies. For example, if you wanted to find out which package in Red Hat Linux 6.2 provides the library libldap.so.1, you could issue the following command: # rpm -q --redhatprovides libldap.so.1 openldap-1.2.9-5 To list all the packages that require kerberos libraries, you can do this: # rpm -q --redhatrequires libkrb5.so.2 cvs-1.10.7-7 fetchmail-5.3.1-1 gnome-kerberos-0.2-1 imap-4.7-5 krb5-devel-1.1.1-9 krb5-libs-1.1.1-9 krb5-server-1.1.1-9 krb5-workstation-1.1.1-9 krbafs-1.0-3 krbafs-utils-1.0-3 mutt-1.0.1i-6 pam_krb5-1-7 pine-4.21-8 Software RAID and the Pentium III -- Software RAID on Red Hat Linux 6.2 features enhanced performance for RAID level 5 on Pentium III-based systems. sysctl now controls system settings -- In Red Hat Linux 6.2, kernel options such as IPv4 forwarding and enabling and disabling of the "magic sysrq" keys is done via the sysctl program, as opposed to being controlled by the contents of files in /etc/sysconfig. The sysctl settings are stored in /etc/sysctl.conf, and are loaded at each boot by the command: sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.conf Here is a sample /etc/sysctl.conf: # Disables IPv4 packet forwarding net.ipv4.ip_forward = 0 # Enables source route verification # This drops packets that come in over interfaces they shouldn't; # (for example, a machine on an external net claiming to be one on your # local network) net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter = 1 # Disables automatic defragmentation # Automatic defragmentation is needed for masquerading and Linux # Virtual Server use; it is not needed otherwise. net.ipv4.ip_always_defrag = 0 # Disables the magic-sysrq key kernel.sysrq = 0 # Disables stop-a on the sparc kernel.stop-a = 0 Many other kernel tunable parameters can be set; to see the full list, run sysctl -a, or look in the directory: /usr/doc/kernel-doc-/sysctl. (Where is the current kernel version. Red Hat Linux 6.2 initially ships with kernel version 2.2.14.) Please Note ----------- If you are upgrading your Red Hat Linux system to Red Hat Linux 6.2, any changes you have made to files in /etc/sysconfig will be migrated to /etc/sysctl.conf. You should confirm this by reviewing the file. Linux 2.2.14 kernel -- Red Hat Linux 6.2 includes the latest stable version of the 2.2.x Linux kernel. ident service now run as daemon -- The ident service is now run as a stand-alone service (called "identd"), and is controlled by settings in the /etc/identd.conf file. Workstation-class installation now more secure -- Workstation-class installations no longer install the inetd "super server." This means that the following network-related services will not be available if you perform a workstation-class installation: o ftp o telnet o shell o login o talk o finger If you require the above network-related services, you should consider an installation type other than workstation-class. XFree86 version 3.3.6 -- Red Hat Linux 6.2 contains the latest version of XFree86 (version 3.3.6 which supports many new drivers). Services no longer run by default -- To permit a more fine-tuned system configuration, Red Hat Linux 6.2 no longer runs the following services by default: o The automount daemon amd (in the am-utils RPM) o The bind name server o The dhcpd DHCP server o The inn news server o The knfsd NFS server o The samba CIFS server used to support Windows-based file and print services To enable these services, either use chkconfig --level 35 on, or edit the list of services to start with the ntsysv or tksysv utilities. Mesa graphics library now included -- The Mesa 3-D graphics library (version 3.2) is now included. Mesa is compatible with the OpenGL graphics API. Sawmill window manager now included -- The sawmill window manager is now included in Red Hat Linux 6.2. Based on a Lisp-like language, sawmill is extensible, and GNOME-aware. Man pages now compressed -- All man pages are now compressed (using gzip) to save disk space. Starting programs at X startup -- By placing scripts in /etc/X11/xinitrc/xinitrc.d, it is now possible to automatically start programs whenever X starts. Fonts recognized automatically -- X fonts that have been added to your Red Hat Linux 6.2 system will now be recognized automatically, when the font server starts. This can be done during an X session by issuing the following command as root: /etc/rc.d/init.d/xfs restart Piranha updated -- The Piranha clustering technology has been updated with the following new features: o web based GUI config o 2-node service failover support o generic service monitoring/loadblancing o tunneling and direct routing support for IPVS Beowulf added -- The Beowulf "do-it-yourself supercomputer" technology has been added to Red Hat Linux 6.2. This includes the following packages: o PVM 3.4.3 (Parallel Virtual Machine) o LAM 6.3.1 (MPI library environment) o make-pvm (PVM aware version of GNU make) (Please note that mpich-1.2.0 is now part of PowerTools for Red Hat Linux 6.2.) Large-memory configurations supported -- Red Hat Linux 6.2 will now autodetect physical memory, and will use up to 4GB without user intervention. ISDN configuration utility added -- The isdn-config package has been added to Red Hat Linux 6.2. It may be launched either via the KDE 2.0 control center, or by issuing the isdn-config command. Encryption-related changes -- Due to relaxation of U.S. encryption laws, encryption-related changes have been made to the following packages: o Kerberos authentication has been added to mutt, pine, fetchmail, cvs, and imap. In addition, the following kerberos-aware versions of the following clients have been added: o rlogin o shell (rsh) o telnet o ftp (These clients are installed as part of the krb5-workstation package. Access to them can be controlled either by installing or removing this package, or by changing the users' PATH such that /usr/kerberos/bin is either present or absent. Note that the krb-workstation package adds a file to /etc/profile.d that prepends /usr/kerberos/bin/ to PATH, so that the kerberos-aware clients are used by default. Likewise, access to kerberos-aware servers can be controlled by configuring /etc/inetd.conf to point to the servers in /usr/kerberos/sbin, and to include additional flags appropriate to the services provided by the kerberos-aware servers.) o GNOME-based Kerberos configuration tools added -- The gnome-kerberos package includes the gkadmin and krb5 configuration tools. gkadmin is a Kerberos V5 database administration program, while krb5 is used to let clients log on to kerberos realms, and can also be used to change kerberos passwords. o The GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) is now included in all editions of Red Hat Linux 6.2. o For those platforms that support it, Netscape Communicator built with 128-bit encryption is included in Red Hat Linux 6.2. Miscellaneous New Features -------------------------- These new features defy categorization: Bug buddy bug reporting tool added -- The bug buddy bug reporting tool has been added to Red Hat Linux 6.2. Bug buddy makes it easier to report bugs related to the GNOME graphical environment. Packages moved to PowerTools -- The following packages have been moved from the Red Hat Linux operating system CD to the PowerTools CD: o The dosemu DOS emulator o Version 1 of the fvwm window manager o The aKtion and xanim movie viewers o The mxp fractal generator o The xwpick window grabber o The xearth eye candy application (PLEASE NOTE: PowerTools for Red Hat Linux 6.2 may not be shipped with every Red Hat Linux-related product.) vim editor enhanced -- vim can now do syntax colorization and programming language-based autoindenting. If you want the old behavior, create a .vimrc, edit /usr/share/vim/vim56/macros/vimrc (system-wide), or invoke it as /bin/vi. Due to the default PATH, root gets /bin/vi by default when invoking vi; if you want to enable the new features for root, either invoke it as vim or do alias vi=vim anacron added -- The anacron scheduler is similar to cron, in that it schedules the execution of commands. However, it is optimized for use on systems that are not necessarily running 24 hours a day. Changes to termcap and terminfo entries -- The termcap and terminfo entries have been changed to make the actions of the following keys more consistent: o Backspace o Delete o Home o End Changes may be made by editing your .inputrc file. DocBook support -- Red Hat Linux 6.2 includes support for editing and processing SGML documents written to use the DocBook DTD. Support for display of double-byte, other languages -- The Netscape web browser has been configured to correctly display web pages containing Japanese, Chinese, and Korean content. In addition, Netscape has been configured to support French, Spanish, and German. New documentation CD-ROM -- Red Hat Linux 6.2 boxed sets now include a documentation CD-ROM. The CD-ROM can be used in two ways: o To install RPM-packaged documentation on your Red Hat Linux system. o To read the documentation directly from the CD-ROM. For more information, please see the README on the documentation CD-ROM. Colorized ls command -- The ls command is now colorized by default. To turn off this feature, add the command unalias ls in your .bashrc file, or (to disable color on a system-wide basis) delete the colorls.* files in /etc/profile.d/. Deprecated features and packages -- The following features and packages are deprecated, and may not be supported or included in future releases of Red Hat Linux: o The AnotherLevel environment o The wmconfig dynamic window manager configuration tool o The svgalib graphics library o The Red Hat Linux version 5.2 compatibility development environment o The mars-nwe NetWare server emulator o The BSD lpr printing system o The libc5 compatibility runtime libraries o Version 1.x of the Qt library o The libjpeg6a Red Hat Linux 5.x compatibility library o The iBCS program compatibility technology Packages new to Red Hat Linux 6.2 --------------------------------- The following packages have been added to Red Hat Linux 6.2. For more information on these packages, use RPM (after the package has been installed) to print a brief description of the package, and to find any documentation included with each package: rpm -qid Where is one of the following: o bug-buddy-0.7 o cdparanoia-alpha9.6 o gpgp-0.4 o joystick-1.2.15 o librep-0.10 o memprof-0.3.0 o pnm2ppa-0.8.9pre1 o rep-gtk-0.8 o rpmlint-0.8 o stylesheets-0.13rh Packages new to PowerTools for Red Hat Linux 6.2 ------------------------------------------------ The following packages have been added to PowerTools for Red Hat Linux 6.2. (PLEASE NOTE: PowerTools for Red Hat Linux 6.2 may not be shipped with every Red Hat Linux-related product.) For more information on these packages, use RPM (after the package has been installed) to print a brief description of the package, and to find any documentation included with each package: rpm -qid Where is one of the following: o C-Kermit-7.0.196 o InDependence-1.0 o Maelstrom-3.0.1 o PyKDE-0.10 o PyQt-0.10.1 o R-Devore5-0.1.R3 o R-NISTnls-0.9.R3 o R-RmSQL-0.2.R1 o R-gss-0.4.R1 o R-leaps-2.0 o R-mda-0.2.R3 o R-multilm-0.1.R3 o R-nlme-3.1.R2 o R-rmeta-1.0 o R-sgeostat-1.0.R9 o R-stataread-2.0 o R-wavethresh-2.2.R3 o SDL-1.0.4 o SNNS-4.2 o Squishdot-0.3.2 o TinyTable-B2 o WebMaker-0.8.5 o ZZplayer-0.2 o a2ps-i18n-0.1 o abiword-0.7.8 o afio-2.4.5 o aktion-0.3.6 o alien-6.53 o apcd-0.5 o armadillo-0.3.10 o asp2php-0.70a o aspell-.28.2.1 o auctex-9.10g o bibview-2.2 o blockade-1.00 o bm2font-3.0 o calamaris-2.27 o cvsmapfs-1.3 o eMusic-DR0.9 o exim-3.13 o fpc-0.99.12b o fpc-extra-0.99.12b o fpc-units-0.99.12b o freeamp-2.0.0 o ftnchek-2.10.1 o fvwm-1.24r o fwconfig-1.4 o gcal-2.40 o glxMesa-3.2-0.3.src.rpm o gnokii-0.3.1 o isdnbutton-2.5 o jpilot-0.95 o kimon-1.1 o kisdnload-0.9.1 o ksnuffle-0.3 o ktalk-0.2.7 o ktranslator-0.6.1 o lavaps-1.9 o lftp-2.1.5 o lha-1.00 o libsafe-1.1 o licq-data-1.5 o links-0.82 o linux_logo-3.02 o mpich-1.2.0 o mrtg-2.8.11 o mxp-1.0 o nasm-0.98 o netatalk-1.4b2+asun2.1.3 o nmap-2.3BETA10 o ntop-1.1 o perl-Mon-0.7 o perl-Net-Telnet-3.01 o perl-libnet-1.0607 o postfix-19991231_pl02 o powertweak-0.1.7 o prc-tools-0.5.0 o qtarch-2.0 o rhisdn-0.2 o sart-0.6a1 o sip-0.10.1 o smpeg-0.3.1 o swatch-3.0b4 o thttpd-2.10 o tkdesk-1.2 o vacation-1.2.0 o wv-0.5.43 o xearth-1.1 o xengine-1.10 o xfce-3.2.3 o xkeycaps-2.45 o xmmsskins-1.0 o xmris-4.0.5 o xwpick-2.20