#
# "SystemImager"
#
#  Copyright (C) 2002-2004 Brian Elliott Finley
#
#   $Id: RELEASE_ANNOUNCEMENT,v 1.12 2004/09/12 04:19:46 brianfinley Exp $
#

Submit links to the following sites:
http://www.debianplanet.org/
http://slashdot.org/
http://lwn.net/
http://clustering.foundries.sourceforge.net/
http://freshmeat.net/
http://systemimager.org/

TO:
systemimager-announce@lists.sourceforge.net
sisuite-announce@lists.sourceforge.net
oscar-core@lists.sourceforge.net
oscar-users@lists.sourceforge.net


SUBJECT:
SystemImager STABLE_VERSION is Released!


BODY:
Greetings and salutations,

SystemImager(R) unstable STABLE_VERSION is released.  

Download and Installation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
For download and installation instructions, please visit:

    http://systemimager.org/download/


Comments about this release
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Very recent developments that are included in the current stable
  release (which will probably go out in a week or so) include:
  - Pre and post-install script support.  Users can drop in their own
    pre-install scripts, that get run immediately after bringing up the
    network.  Post-install scripts are run after the target system has
    been imaged, immediately prior to unmounting the newly filled
    filesystems.  The post-install scripts are executed in the target
    client's installed environment, not in the embedded BOEL
    environment used for install, giving users great flexibility and
    ease of use in their script writing.
  - Full integration with Egan Ford's xCat.
  - Append parameters -- ability to specify _all_ configuration
    parameters (same as those in local.cfg -- see attached) as kernel
    append parameters.

    This allows a user to do something like this at an autoinstall
    client's boot promt:

        kernel IPADDR=10.1.1.20 IMAGE=compute_node IMAGESERVER=10.1.1.1

  - Minor features include:
    - Time stamps on images that can be viewed with "lsimage", allowing
      an admin to know the freshness of each image at a glance.
    - Security improvement on prepareclient -- requires that you specify
      the name of the server that will be collecting the golden client's
      image, restricting access to only that server.
    - Ssh support as part of the standard release, instead of requiring
      the user to self-compile their own seperate package.
    - renamed _all_ commands to use the "si_" prefix.  allows for tab 
      completion with a competent shell, like zsh ;-)

- Relatively recent developments that are included in the current stable
  release (which will probably go out in a week or so) include:
  - It includes multicast support via Flamethrower, which uses udpcast
    as the transport.  Flamethrower was written specifically for
    SystemImager, but was created as a seperate, independently viable
    tool.  Flamethrower has already been adopted for use in AutoYast,
    perhaps other places too.
  - Support for multiple autoinstall scripts for a single image.
  - Override directories -- Allow admins to start with a base image, and
    have override directories with additional files, or software, for 
    specific clients.
- Currently supported architectures:
  - Tier one support: i386, ia64
  - Tier two support: alpha, parisc, ppc, and ppc64.
  - PPC support (including all ppc chipsets) soon to become tier one, 
    as Terrasoft (Yellow Dog Linux) is becoming part of the development 
    team, and will become the maintainer for the PPC port.

- Future features in the works:
  - x86_64 support
  - Use your own kernel support.  One of the current biggest issues is 
    people with new hardware requiring a funky driver that isn't in the
    "standard" SystemImager kernel.  This one is a _really big_ deal.  
    This work is about half-way finished.


Support
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can find information about our email lists, IRC, bug reports, and a 
convenient support search via Google at: http://systemimager.org/support/

If you have features or modifications that you would like to see,
please submit a bug report.

If a feature you are interested in is already listed, please add a 
"ME TOO!" comment as a logged in SourceForge user.  This will help us 
determine demand for certain features.


Disclaimer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Certainly it's not possible to include all improvements here, but as you
can see, there have been quite a few.  

Notes:  
        1. All of this is subject to change prior to release.
        2. BOEL(TM) is Brian's Own Embedded Linux(TM).  It is the embedded Linux
           used to autoinstall clients.

Please feel free to forward this message on to other lists, or groups
that use SystemImager and System Installation Suite (SIS).

Cheers, -Brian

