Announcing the release of Fedora 18 Alpha!!

[Dennis Gilmore]

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The Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" Alpha release is plumping up! This release 
offers a preview of some of the best free and open source technology 
currently under development. Model a glimpse of the future:

http://fedoraproject.org/get-prerelease

Already mooo-tivated to give F18 Alpha a try? Great! We still hope that 
you'll read onwards; there are fabulous features in this release you may 
want to know about, as well as important information regarding specific, 
common F18 Alpha installation issues and bugs, all of which are detailed 
in this release announcement.

*** What is the Alpha Release? ***

Fedora 18 adds many new and improved features for a variety of 
audiences. A small sample is included below; the full list of features 
for this release can be seen on the Fedora 18 Feature List, here:

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FeatureList

= On the Desktop =
   * NetworkManager Hotspots improve the ability to use a computer's 
WiFi adapter to create a network hot spot.
   * The redesigned installation system adds flexibility to the 
installation process while simplifying the user interface.
   * Desktop updates galore: Gnome 3.6, KDE Plasma Workspace 4.9, Xfce 
4.10, Sugar 0.98, and the introduction of the MATE Desktop in Fedora.

= For sysadmins =
   * The Riak NoSQL database, a fault-tolerant and scalable database 
system, is included for the first time in Fedora 18.
   * Samba 4 adds SMB3 support and support for FreeIPA trusted domains.
   * Offline system updates adds support for installing OS packages at 
boot. This gives systems administrators the ability to upgrade important 
libraries in a controlled manner.
   * Fedora 18 will be able to easily join an Active Directory domain or 
FreeIPA realm.

= For developers =
   * The Python 3 stack is upgraded to version 3.3.
   * Rails is upgraded from version 3.0 to version 3.2.
   * Perl 5.16 adds Unicode 6.1 support.
   * Power7 optimized ppc64p7 is added as a supported platform for 
Fedora 18 packages.

= Cloud and Virtualization =
   * OpenShift Origin brings Platform as a Service (PaaS) infrastructure 
to Fedora.
   * Eucalyptus gives Fedora the ability to support private, 
AWS-compatible Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) clouds.
   * Fedora 18 Alpha's OpenStack packages are synchronized with 
"Folsom," the OpenStack release due near the end of September.
   * Heat provides an API for orchestration of cloud applications using 
file- or web-based templates, enabling a standardized method for 
OpenStack users to launch applications in an OpenStack cloud. It is 
currently an OpenStack related project.
   * Virt Live Snapshots adds the ability to perform snapshots of QEMU 
and libvirt virtual machines without having to stop the guest.
   * The oVirt Engine is upgraded to version 3.1 and adds GUI tools.

*** Known Issues and Bugs ***

We know that many of you are moo-tivated to download and try the Alpha 
release of "Spherical Cow"; to help you avoid stepping into any sticky 
issues, we'd like to highlight a few specific issues, before you moooove 
on to the downloads page. Information about these, and other common 
bugs, including bug reports and workarounds for known issues where 
available, are detailed on the Common F18 Bugs page, as well as in the 
Alpha release notes; links to both pages are provided below.

* Utilizing automatic partitioning during installation will reformat all 
selected disks on which to install without any further warning; ALL 
EXISTING DATA ON THE DISKS WILL BE LOST. At this time, there is no 
option presented to use free space on the disks, or to resize existing 
partitions. A workaround solution exists.

* Some NVIDIA graphics adapters will have problems with the start or 
display of the login manager or the desktop. This will prevent the user 
from reaching a usable desktop, when booting the live image or an 
installed system. In these cases, the login manager and/or desktop may 
fail to appear at all, or may appear but with the cursor missing, and/or 
visual corruption issues.

* This release features a new user interface for the anaconda installer, 
which will significantly enhance the end-user installation experience. 
Known issues relating to the new installer user interface include:
   ** For non-graphical installations, a root password must be set to be 
able to login; for graphical installations, the first user should be set 
as an adminstrative user. This is currently the default setup during 
installation.
   ** There is no anaconda-based upgrade or preupgrade to F18 Alpha; if 
you must upgrade an installed system, you should use yum.
   ** The new installer user interface is still undergoing work; the 
Alpha release may not necessarily duplicate exactly the implementation 
seen in the Final release of Fedora 18 in November.

For more information, including information about other common and known 
bugs, tips on how to report bugs, and the official release schedule, 
please refer to the release notes:

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_18_Alpha_release_notes

A shorter list of common bugs can be found here: 
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F18_bugs

*** Contributing ***

Great releases like Fedora 18 don't get made in a vacuum. We can't do it 
without you! Bug reports are especially helpful as we move from the 
theory to the applied physics. If you encounter any issues, please 
report them!

Fedora is a fantastic, friendly community, and we have many ways in 
which you can contribute, including Documentation, Marketing, Design, 
QA, Development, and more.

To learn how to help us, visit: http://join.fedoraproject.org/

Thank you, and we hope to see you in the Fedora Project!
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