On Fri, 14 Jan 2011, Troy Dawson wrote:

> Hello,
> We have released the fifth Alpha of Scientific Linux 6.
>
> The release is at
> http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/6rolling/
>
> DVD and Net Install downloads are at
> http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/6rolling/i386/iso/
> http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/6rolling/x86_64/iso/
>
> ***CHANGED SINCE ALPHA 4***
>
> *External Repo's added*
> adobe, atrpms, elrepo, epel, rpmforge
> you can add these repositories via yum
>  "yum install yum-conf-adobe"
> which will install the corresponding setup rpm from that repository (in this 
> case adobe-release-i386) or just install the corresponding setup rpm via yum
>  "yum install adobe-release-i386"
>
> *Updates split into Security and Fastbugs*
> We were trying to lump all updates, (security, bugs and enhancements) into 
> one repository called updates.  There was going to be a fancy way so that 
> people would only get security updates automatically and not everything, 
> unless you wanted it.
> In the end, simple is better than complex, so we separated the two. There is 
> now updates/security and updates/fastbugs like it was in SL5.
> For those who already have previous alpha's installed, we made sure your yum 
> updates will work until you have updated.
>
> *Packages Added*
> - perl-Sys-Virt - not really added, but it finally built and was put in.
>
> *OpenAFS fix - sorta*
> If you had selinux turned on, then AFS wouldn't turn on unless you ran
>  /sbin/restorecon /afs
> This was put into a trigger script so that it got ran when you install 
> openafs.  This fixes the problem if you install openafs by hand, but it 
> doesn't fit it if you install it when you install your machine.
>
>
> ***KNOWN ISSUES***
> If you install openafs during the install, you do not get the firstboot
> screen that asks you which cell you want.
>
> If you install openafs during the install, and you keep selinux turned on, 
> you have to run "/sbin/restorecon /afs" before starting afs for the first 
> time.
>
> If you are on a x86_64 machine, install the adobe repo, and install 
> flash-plugin and/or AdobeReader_enu, you will get AdobeReader_<random 
> language> in addition to what you asked for.

And many i686 rpms will be installed for dependencies since AdobeReader is 
a 32 bit binary.

>
> ***CHANGES PLANNED FOR ALPHA 6 / BETA 1***
>
> We are planning on SL6 Alpha 6 or BETA 1 to be released Friday January
> 21, 2011
>
> Expected Updates for Alpha 5 / Beta 1
> - We will continue to compare our packages against The Upstream Vendor's
> packages, comparing everything in them.  We still have about 30 packages
> left.  We are going to try to finish this this week.  If we get this done, 
> the next release will be a beta.
> - Finishing touches on graphics and overall look.
> - get openafs firstboot to run correctly.  This is going to involve a total 
> rewrite, so will take longer than we expected.
>
> Thanks to everyone who has tested and helped thus far.
> The Scientific Linux Development Team
>

-Connie Sieh