Scientific Linux 7.0 x86_64 ALPHA  2 - July 11, 2014

== Information ==

Fermilab's intention is to continue the development and support of 
Scientific Linux and refine its focus as an operating system for 
scientific computing. Today we are announcing an alpha release of 
Scientific Linux 7.  We continue to develop a stable process for 
generating and distributing Scientific Linux, with the intent that 
Scientific Linux remains the same high quality operating system the 
community has come to expect.

Please do not install Pre-Release software in your production
environment.

THIS IS FOR TESTING PURPOSES ONLY.

Please review the SL release notes at:
http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/7rolling/x86_64/os/sl-release-notes.html

The Upstream release notes are at:
https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/index.html

These packages were built at Fermilab from TUV's sources.

You can find the release at:
http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/7rolling/

NOTE: The 'everything' dvd image requires a Dual-Layer (DL) compatible 
drive for both burning and booting off of.  The livecd-iso-to-disk 
utility is able to convert this to USB successfully.

Send comments/issues/test reports to:
  [log in to unmask]


== CHANGES SINCE OUR LAST UPDATE ==

* Removed TUV branding from:
** abrt
** dhcp
** libreport
** PackageKit
** subscription-manager

* Correctly signed sl-logos
** Thanks Stephan Wiesand for the report.

* Updated firstboot
** Now has correct Requires
** Thanks to Bill Maidment for reporting this issue and getting 
resolution upstream.  Future customization should not be required.

* Updated sl-release
** For (hopefully clear and explicit) documentation please review 
http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/7rolling/x86_64/os/sl-release-notes.html#_using_sl_yum_variables
** This documentation will be published with each version of SL7 so it 
is important to be sure we've got clear wording here.  Sorry for making 
you go look elsewhere.
** Special thanks to:
*** Mátyás Selmeci
*** Andras Horvath

* Updated Anaconda (installer)
** Should now correctly support XFS in all standard cases

* Removed subscription-manager-migration
** Thanks to Akemi Yagi for the report

* Added yum-conf-elrepo
** Thanks to Akemi Yagi and the whole ELRepo team for making this ready!

* Added SL_no_colorls per community request
** Testing by the community is requested

* Added SL_enable_serialconsole per community request
** Testing by the community is requested

* Added yum-conf-sl7x
** Currently it does nothing, but will eventually point yum to the SL 7x 
repo.

* Added yum-cron to the default installation
** In SL5 and SL6 yum-autoupdate was used for this task
** The default configuration does not exclude any packages
*** You can modify /etc/yum-cron.conf to set any exclude you wish
*** Historically automatic updates on SL excluded the kernel
*** Some community comments on this difference between SL6 and SL7 would 
be helpful.


== THINGS NOT YET INCLUDED ==

* OpenAFS
** Stephan Wiesand has offered to build OpenAFS packages for SL7
*** He has a proposal on scientific-linux-devel for a possible packaging 
setup.  Interested parties should provide feedback.

* yum-conf-epel
** EPEL is still in BETA and as such we are waiting until things 
solidify more in that area before loading the repository config information.

* Secure Boot
** Scientific Linux has joined the UEFI forum with the intent of 
providing valid secure boot images.  This it not yet implemented.



== REMAINING QUESTIONS ==

* default tuning
** The current default tuning is the upstream provided 'balanced' from 
tuned.  This profile tries to provide even performance for any workload. 
  Alternatively we could set the profile to one optimized for IO 
intensive workloads.  However, it is less power efficient and less 
sensitive to latency.

* Installation Media
** We are currently making two install iso images: Network and 
Everything.  The Everything image is a Dual Layer DVD image.
** Are these sufficient?


== In Conclusion ==
Please keep the feedback coming!

For organization sake, I'll ask that package/feature questions be put 
into their own email thread.