Fedora 17 Alpha PPC release notes

Filing Bug Reports
Please file bug reports on this Alpha release if you find any problems.

Known Issues
Refer to the Common F17 bugs page for a listing of issues, and any known resolutions, commonly found with this release. This page is maintained throughout the Fedora 17 developmental cycle.

Known PPC Issues
We currently have several issues in the Alpha that don't block installation. Please read and review the following known issues before reporting bugs.

Installation

 * Be sure to check out http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Anaconda_Boot_Options for the latest options for anaconda.
 * On Apple hardware the boot parameter root=live:/dev/hda needs to be used for DVD installations.
 * Do not use the 'Free space' option in the disk partitioning section.
 * Netbooting is not tested for alpha. Remember for F17 you will need a root= that points to the squashfs image and a repo= that points to the install repo.
 * The nfsiso repo method does not work on all architectures. Use http or nfs.

Runtime

 * On certain hardware and under certain conditions, the up/down arrows do not work in grub2. Instead, use ctrl-n and ctrl-p.
 * If you wish to see kernel messages during boot, edit the kernel arguments in grub2 and remove 'quiet'
 * Mozilla firefox for ppc64 segfaults; The ppc[32] version is included in the install tree.

Release Overview
As always, Fedora continues to develop and  integrate the latest free and open sourced software. The following sections provide a brief overview of major changes from the last release of Fedora. For more details about other features that are making their way into Rawhide and set for inclusion in Fedora 17, refer to their individual wiki pages that detail feature goals and progress.

Features for this release are tracked on the feature list page.

The Purpose of the Alpha Release
This release is an installable, testable version of the code and features being developed for Fedora 17. The software has bugs, problems, and incomplete features. It is not likely to eat your data or parts of your computer, but you should be aware that it could.

You have an important part to play in this release. Install Fedora 17 Alpha PPC release, then try using a few applications or activities that are important to you. If it doesn't work, file a bug, but make sure to set the 'Hardware' field to 'powerpc'. This release gives the wider community a set of code to test against as a very important step in the process of making a solid Fedora 17 release. You can make the Fedora 17 release better by testing this release and reporting your findings.

What's New in Fedora 17 Alpha PPC
There are several new features in F17 that warrant being called out.


 * 1) Anaconda is now loaded by dracut, which enables enhanced maintainability and flexibility. Be sure to check out the anaconda options listed earlier in this wiki and recognize that netbooting may have changed from F16.
 * 2) PPC64 has switched to grub2 for runtime systems.  We still use yaboot to boot the DVD media.
 * 3) Console detection for hvc devices is now automatic.  You no longer have to pass serial=
 * 4) There is a prompt in anaconda to load VNC now.  You no longer have to pass vnc=1 (though it will still work)

Additional Information
The Fedora 17 Alpha PPC release is a Secondary Arch release. More information about this specific architecture can be found here:

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/PowerPC

The developers working on it typically hang out on the FreeNode IRC channel #fedora-ppc and we do have a architecture specific mailinglist for Power PC on Fedora here:

https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/ppc

How to Try Alpha

 * Simply install it via the DVD or the netboot images
 * Boot it!
 * Run it!
 * Test it!
 * Write bugs!

Verify Fedora
Fedora does not publish MD5 or SHA1 hashes to verify images since they are not secure enough. Instead we have been using SHA256 since Fedora 11. In Linux, you can use sha256sum command (part of coreutils and installed by default) to verify the Fedora image

sha256sum -c *-CHECKSUM

Windows can use the free to download utility HashCalc.

Mac OS X can use the free to download utility hashtab.

Fedora GPG signatures can be verified following the instructions here

Debugging Information And Performance
Fedora kernels have many extensive debugging options during the developmental cycle that have a negative impact on performance but provide developers with more information automatically, in the case of bug reports. If you are running performance analysis on Rawhide or test releases such as Alpha or Beta, make sure you take this into account.

Fedora 17 Release Schedule And Feature Details
Development continues on Rawhide during and after this release, leading to the beta, then the final release. The links below provide the release schedule for both the pre-releases and the final release, as well as the wiki's pages for tracking the various features planned for inclusion in Fedora 17.


 * Feature List
 * Schedule