Scientific Linux 7.0 x86_64 BETA 4 - Sep 16, 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 a beta 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.

CAUTION: 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

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.

       Alternatively the livecd-iso-to-disk utility is able to convert
       this to USB successfully.  A USB device of sufficient size is
       required.

       Alternatively you can utilize the dd command to write the
       raw image to a USB device.

http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/7rolling/x86_64/os/sl-release-notes.html#_how_to_make_a_bootable_usb_installer

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

== CHANGES SINCE OUR LAST UPDATE ==

* sl-release
** The SL7 Fastbugs repo is enabled by default.
*** This will grant access to all SL published updates by default.
*** Systems not wishing to use this repo can disable it.

* SL_enable_serialconsole
** A bug has been fixed regarding TTY paths under some conditions

* pesign
** Patched so that the pesign socket works
** Made the macro.pesign more generic vs hardcoded Fedora

* kernel/grub2
** These RPMs are a third step towards our Secure Boot implementation.
** kernel modules are correctly signed by a FNAL cert
** kernel now features a driver update and kpatch public key
*** this does not mean Scientific Linux is committing to producing
     kpatch kernel updates at this time.

** Everything is signed except for the UEFI CA signing "shim".
*** You will need to use mokutil to import the SL key for Secure Boot

.Example Command
mokutil --import 
/etc/pki/secure-boot/SECURE-BOOT-KEY-fnal-sl7-exp-2017-07-26

NOTE: The kernels in sl7-security have not been updated with
       secure boot compatibility.

* OpenAFS
** OpenAFS packages have been added to SL7.
*** These packages contain the a 'namespace' prefix
**** They are openafs-1.6-sl rather than merely openafs
** For installing the AFS client you should run
*** yum install openafs-1.6-sl-client
** The OpenAFS kernel module is signed for Secure Boot compatibility

NOTE: OpenAFS packages are not on the single DVD install media

* yum-conf-epel
** A convenience package for EPEL is now included

* yum-conf-softwarecollections
** In preparation for the upstream release of Software Collection
    Library for EL7, we have included this yum conf.


== THINGS NOT YET INCLUDED ==

* Secure Boot
** Everything is signed except for the UEFI CA signing "shim".
*** You will need to use mokutil to import the SL key for Secure Boot

.Example Command
mokutil --import 
/etc/pki/secure-boot/SECURE-BOOT-KEY-fnal-sl7-exp-2017-07-26

== 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.

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

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


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