Here is a draft.
Feel free to make any changes!
Zacharias
The
Fedora 21 alpha release has arrived, with a preview of the
latest
free and open source technology under development. Take a peek
inside!
http://fedoraproject.org/get-prerelease
***
What is the Alpha Release? ***
The
Alpha release contains all the exciting features of Fedora 21's
products in a form that anyone can help test. This testing,
guided by
the Fedora QA team, helps us target and identify bugs. When
these
bugs are fixed, we make a Beta release available. A Beta release
is
code-complete and bears a very strong resemblance to the third
and
final release. The final release of Fedora 21 is expected in
November.
We
need your help to make Fedora 21 the best release yet, so please
take
some time to download and try out the Alpha and make sure the
things
that are important to you are working. If you find a bug, please
report it – every bug you uncover is a chance to improve the
experience for millions of Fedora users worldwide. Together, we
can
make Fedora a rock-solid distribution. Together, we can make
Fedora a
rock-solid distribution. We have a culture of coordinating new
features and pushing fixes upstream as much as feasible and your
feedback will help improve not only Fedora but Linux and free
software on the whole. At the end of this announcement you can
find
more information on how to help.
==
Changes ==
Fedora
prides itself on bringing cutting-edge technologies to users of open
source software around the world, and this release continues
that
tradition.
No matter what you do, Fedora 21 has the tools you need to help
you get things done.
To
see how Fedora 21 is evolving from Fedora 20, see the accepted changes
here:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/21/ChangeSet
==
Fedora.Next and Fedora 21 Products ==
As
part of the Fedora.next initiative, Fedora 21 will
boast three products: cloud, server, and workstation.
===
Fedora 21 Base ===
Each
of the products will build on the "base" set of packages
for Fedora. For instance, each product will use the same
packages for
the kernel, RPM, Yum, systemd, Anaconda, and so forth.
The Base Working
Group develops the standard platform for all
Fedora products, which includes the installer, compose tools,
and
basic platform for the other products. Base is not a full
product
intended for use on its own, but to be kept as a small, stable
platform for other products to build on.
===
Fedora 21 Cloud ===
The
Fedora Cloud Working Group and Special Interest Group (SIG) has
been
busy leading up to Fedora 21. Cloud is now a top-level product
for
Fedora 21, and will include images for use in private cloud
environments like OpenStack, as well as AMIs for use on Amazon,
and a
new image streamlined for running Docker containers.
====
Modular Kernel Packaging for Cloud ====
Space
is precious, and there's little reason to include any kernel
modules
that aren't used in the cloud. As part of the work for Fedora
21, the cloud SIG and kernel
team split the kernel into two packages. One package contains
the
minimum modules for running in a virtualized environment, the
other
contains the larger set of modules for a more general
installation.
====
Fedora Atomic Host ====
In
early April, Red Hat announced Project
Atomic, an effort to provide the tools and patterns for a
streamlined operating system to run Docker containers. The
Fedora 21
release will be the first to offer an "Atomic" host for
Fedora, which includes a minimal set of packages and an image
composed with rpm-ostree.
While
using the same RPMs as other Fedora offerings, the Atomic host
will
allow users to roll back updates (if necessary) as one atomic
unit --
making update management much easier.
For
users and organizations looking to run Docker containers, the
Atomic
host will be ideal.
===
Fedora 21 Server ===
The
Fedora Server product is a common base platform that is
meant to run featured application stacks, which are produced,
tested,
and distributed by the Server Working Group. Want to use Fedora
as a
Web server, file server, database server, or platform for an
Infrastructure-as-a-Service? Fedora 21 Server is for you.
====
Fedora Server Management Features ====
The
Fedora Server product introduces new Server management features
aimed
at making it easier to install discrete infrastructure services.
The
Fedora Server will introduce three new technologies in Fedora to
handle this task, rolekit, Cockpit and OpenLMI.
*
Rolekit is a Role deployment and management toolkit that
provides a
consistent interface to administrators to install and configure
all
the packages needed to implement a specific server role.
*
Cockpit is a user interface for configuring and monitoring your
server
or
servers. It is accessible remotely via a web browser.
*
OpenLMI is a remote management system built atop DMTF-CIM. It
can be
used for scripting management functions across many machines as
well
as querying for capabilities and monitoring for system events.
====
Domain Controller Server Role ====
As
part of the server role offerings available for Fedora 21, the
server
product ships with a role deployment mechanism. One of the roles
offered in 21 is the Domain Controller Service.
*
The Domain Controller Service packages up the freeIPA integrated
Identity and Authentication solution for Linux/UNIX networked
environments. A FreeIPA server provides centralized
authentication,
authorization and account information by storing data about
user,
groups, hosts and other objects necessary to manage the security
aspects of a network of computers.
===
Fedora 21 Workstation ===
The
Fedora Workstation product is a reliable, user-friendly, and
powerful
operating system for laptops and PC hardware. Fedora 21
Workstation
is aimed at providing a platform for development of server side
and
client applications that is attractive to developers of all
stripes.
Whether you're a student or hobbyist, or a developer working in
a
corporate environment, Fedora Workstation is for you.
====
Latest GNOME ====
Fedora
21 Workstation includes the latest GNOME desktop. Fedora 21 is
tracking GNOME 3.14, which is due to be released in late
September.
GNOME 3.14 includes many new features such as integration of
Picasaweb and DNLA media server support in GNOME Photos, a new
game
called Hitori similar to Sudoku, and much more.
====
DevAssistant ====
Fedora
21 Worsktation includes the new DevAssistant tool by default.
DevAssistant helps developers set up environments for their
projects,
so they can concentrate on writing code. For more information on
DevAssistant, visit the website at http://devassistant.org.
==
Issues and Details ==
This
is an alpha release. As such, we expect that you may encounter
bugs
or missing features. To report issues encountered during
testing,
contact the Fedora QA team via the test mailing list or in
#fedora-qa on freenode.
As
testing progresses, common issues are tracked on the Fedora
wiki:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F20_bugs
For
tips on reporting a bug effectively, read "How to File a Bug Report:"
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_file_a_bug_report
.
You
can join the Fedora QA team mailing list here:
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/test
==
Note on performance ==
Fedora
development releases use a kernel with extra debug information to
help us understand and resolve issues faster; however, this can
have a
significant impact on performance. Refer to the kernel debug
strategy
page
for more details:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/KernelDebugStrategy
You
can boot with slub_debug=- or use the kernel from nodebug repository
to disable the extra debug info.
*** Contributing ***
There
are many ways to contribute beyond bug reporting. You can help translate
software and content, test and give feedback on software updates,
write and edit documentation, design and do artwork, help with all
sorts of promotional activities, and package free software for
use by
millions of Fedora users worldwide. To get started, visit:
http://join.fedoraproject.org