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2001-- Red Hat, Inc. (Nasdaq:RHAT - news), the leader in
developing, deploying and managing open source solutions, announced
today the availability of Red Hat Linux 7.1, the latest version of the
world's most popular open source server operating environment. Red Hat
Linux 7.1 includes the new 2.4 kernel with improved SMP support for
superior performance on Intel multi-processor platforms. Red Hat Linux
7.1 also delivers new configuration tools that enable users to
effortlessly set up and administer DNS, Web and print servers. This
release features Red Hat Network connectivity, including software
manager.
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April 16, 2001-- Red Hat, Inc. (Nasdaq:RHAT - news), the leader in
developing, deploying and managing open source solutions, announced
today the availability of Red Hat Linux 7.1, the latest version of the
world's most popular open source server operating environment. Red Hat
Linux 7.1 includes the new 2.4 kernel with improved SMP support for
superior performance on Intel multi-processor platforms. Red Hat Linux
7.1 also delivers new configuration tools that enable users to
effortlessly set up and administer DNS, Web and print servers. This
release features Red Hat Network connectivity, including software
manager.
''Red Hat Linux is firmly embedded in today's computing
infrastructure. The release of Red Hat Linux 7.1 and the first in a
series of Red Hat Network subscription services makes it easy for
organizations to quickly realize the benefits of open source
computing,'' said Matthew Szulik, CEO of Red Hat, Inc. ''The elements of
Red Hat Linux 7.1 work together to deliver the most powerful, automated
open source operating system for fast-growing enterprise and Internet
infrastructure users.''
According to IDC Research, Linux is the second fastest growing server
operating system (from 1999-2000).
New Features and Benefits of Red Hat Linux 7.1:
* 2.4 Kernel positions Red Hat Linux as an enterprise class operating
system. It provides significantly improved multiprocessor support
and support for 4GB userland process, eliminates PCI bus limit,
makes virtual memory effectively limitless, supports 64 GB of
physical RAM, supports greater number of users and groups, includes
revised scheduler to handle more processes, carries increased and
improved device support, as well as an improved multi-threaded
network stack.
* Red Hat Network Software Manager delivers Errata Alerts so users are
automatically notified of new Errata and RPM updates that provide
notification of new RPM packages.
* Heightened Security delivers secure default settings that keep ports
closed and Internet utilities inactive until needed. A new firewall
screen enables user to turn on or off as many features as desired
for totally customized security.
* Configuration tools make system administration easier than ever with
BIND (DNS), Apache and Print tool.
* Installer enhancements improve the user experience by providing a
graphical Kickstart configuration tool for unattended installation
and a new install class for laptop users.
* Increased internationalization supports global user communities with
a fully translated GNOME interface in Japanese, Spanish, French,
German and Italian.
* Desktop Functionality includes updated GNOME & KDE, popular
graphical environments where users can choose their preferred
desktop, and Mozilla, a Web browser, email client and news reader
that provides a complete open source Web and messaging client.
* XFree86 4.0.3 interface supports 2D and 3D graphics.USB
support for ''hot pluggable'' devices
* New 200-page Customization Guide TUX - world's fastest web server(1)
Holds SPECweb99(TM) benchmark records for 1, 2, 4 and 8 processor machines.(1)
For a complete list of new features, visit:
http://www.redhat.com/products/software/linux/rhl_new_features.html
Widespread Industry Adoption
Red Hat has partnered with industry leaders to provide its customers
with the best solutions for Internet computing. Dell and IBM, leaders in
the hardware space, continue to embrace Red Hat Linux.
''Dell continues to see growing demand for powerful servers,
workstations and notebook computers running Red Hat Linux backed with
Red Hat's industry-leading support,'' said Rick Hoffman, director and
general manager of Linux Development, Dell Enterprise Systems
Group. ''Red Hat Linux 7.1 offers our enterprise customers the
scalability, performance and power they have been waiting for in their
Linux-based infrastructures. Our direct model and global factory install
process will allow us to be one of the first major systems manufacturers
to ship Red Hat Linux 7.1 directly to customers--with no middleman
required.''
''With the scalability enhancements in the new 2.4 kernel, Red Hat is
delivering the most robust version of Linux to date,'' said Dick
Sullivan, vice president, Solutions and Integration Marketing, IBM
Software. ''When coupled with the proven enterprise capability of IBM's
server and software products, including DB2 Universal Database,
WebSphere Application Server, Lotus Domino and the xSeries eServer
running Red Hat Linux 7.1 today, customers and solution providers should
see an increase in overall performance to complement Linux's cost and
reliability advantages.''
Pricing (in USD) and Availability for Red Hat Linux 7.1
Red Hat Linux 7.1 is available in three versions; all include the Red
Hat Linux operating system, installation manual, support and Red Hat
Network. Red Hat Linux Deluxe and Professional versions include
productivity applications (some trial versions and some full),
StarOffice Office Suite, Loki Games CD and user guides. The versions
are: Standard: 30 days Web-based support and 30 days Red Hat Network
Software Manager for 1 system. Pricing: $39.95.Deluxe: 60 days of Red
Hat Network Software Manager for up to 5 systems and 60 days of
telephone and Web support. Pricing: $79.95.Professional: 90 days of Red
Hat Network Software Manager for up to 10 systems and 90 days of
telephone and Web support. Red Hat Linux 7.1 Professional also includes
support for Software RAID Configuration and Apache and BIND
configuration. Pricing: $179.95.
All versions are available for order immediately from redhat.com and
through retail outlets worldwide beginning April 24.
Red Hat's comprehensive services and support organization round out an
enterprise solution that delivers the tools and performance necessary to
translate the promise of open source into high-value, scalable Internet
infrastructure implementations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Download availability: Please check
http://www.redhat.com/download/mirror.html for a mirror close to you
before trying to download from http://ftp.redhat.com directly.
Red Hat Linux 7.1 Release Notes
-------------------------------
This document describes features that are new to Red Hat Linux 7.1, but may
not have been available prior to our documentation being finalized. For
the very latest information, please read the RELEASE-NOTES file on the Red
Hat Linux CD #1.
Last-Minute Changes
-------------------
o The Oracle installation program (versions 8.1.7, 8.1.6, and possibly
others) does not work properly with glibc 2.2 and above. The problem
is that it is linking object files compiled against different glibc
(binary compatibility is ensured only for linked executables and
shared libraries through symbol versioning). You may work around
this by installing the Red Hat Linux 6.2 compatibility packages
(compat-egcs, compat-glibc and compat-libs) and issuing the following
commands before running the Oracle installer:
export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5
. /usr/i386-glibc21-linux/bin/i386-glibc21-linux-env.sh
The second line exports environment variables which will cause gcc
and ld to look for glibc 2.1.3 compatibility headers and libraries.
o Reminder regarding NFS, FTP, or HTTP installations -- Because the Red
Hat Linux 7.1 installation program is capable of installing Red Hat
Linux from multiple CD-ROMs, if you intend to support NFS, FTP, or
HTTP installations it is no longer possible to simply mount a single
Red Hat Linux CD-ROM, and install from it.
Instead, you must copy the RedHat directory from each CD-ROM
comprising Red Hat Linux 7.1 onto a disk drive:
- Insert CD 1
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
cp -var /mnt/cdrom/RedHat /location/of/disk/space
umount /mnt/cdrom
- Insert CD 2
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
cp -var /mnt/cdrom/RedHat /location/of/disk/space
umount /mnt/cdrom
You must then make /location/of/disk/space accessible to the
installation program (for example, exporting it for NFS
installations):
- Export /location/of/disk/space
Installation-Related Enhancements and Changes
---------------------------------------------
The Red Hat Linux 7.1 installation program includes a number of new
features. For more information, please refer to the Official Red Hat Linux
Installation Guide.
o Swap-related issues -- The 2.4 kernel is more aggressive than the 2.2
kernel in its use of swap space. However, as with previous versions
of the kernel, the optimal sizing of swap space remains dependent on
the following:
- The amount of RAM installed
- The amount of disk space available for swap
- The applications being run
- The mix of applications that are run concurrently
No rule-of-thumb can possibly take all these data points into
account. However, we recommend the following swap sizes:
- Single-user systems with less than 128MB physical RAM: 256MB
- Single-user systems and low-end servers with more than 128MB
physical RAM: two times physical RAM (2xRAM)
- Dedicated servers with more than 512MB physical RAM: highly
dependent on environment (must be determined on a case-by-case
basis)
While it is certainly possible for systems with specific
configurations and application loads to run with less (or even no)
swap space, these guidelines attempt to ensure that you will not run
out of swap. The old saying certainly applies to swap space:
"It's better to have it and not need it, than to need
it and not have it."
o Swap-related issues specific to upgrades -- If you are performing a
fresh Red Hat Linux 7.1 installation, the sizing of swap partitions
is a relatively-straightforward process. However, if you have an
older Red Hat Linux system that you wish to upgrade to Red Hat Linux
7.1, please keep in mind that the size of the swap partition(s) you
had previously created may no longer be sufficient.
The Red Hat Linux 7.1 installation program now examines the available
swap space. If insufficient swap space exists, it will configure
additional swap space in the form of a swap file. The installation
program will do this by asking you to select a partition on which to
create a swap file. You will also be asked for the desired size of
the new swap file.
(NOTE: In no instance will the Red Hat Linux 7.1 installation program
create a swap partition or file larger than 2GB. Should your swap
requirements exceed this size, you will need to address this after
the installation has completed.)
o XFree86 4.0.3 -- The Red Hat Linux 7.1 installation program includes
improved test screens and better detection of video memory, doing
more than ever to help you get everything correct with a minimum of
fuss.
o Firewall Configuration -- For added security, you can now configure a
firewall as part of your system installation. You can choose from
two levels of security, as well as choosing which common system
services should be allowed or disallowed by default.
Please note that both "medium" and "high" firewall settings will
cause RPC-based services (such as NIS or NFS) to be blocked, and
thus fail.
o Hard Drive Installation - ISO images are now required for hard drive
installations, making it no longer necessary to copy and install the
entire tree. Instead, simply put the required ISO images in a
directory. During the hard drive installation, point the Red Hat
Linux installation program at that directory. In addition, since Red
Hat publishes MD5 checksums for all ISO images, it is now possible to
ensure that you are using officially-released software by running the
md5sum program against your ISO images, and comparing the checksums
against the ones published by Red Hat.
o Language Selection -- Language selection has been significantly
re-vamped. It is now possible to install in one language, but
specify that the system, after installation, will operate in another
language.
o Laptop Installation Class -- A New "Laptop" installation class is
available, which enables PCMCIA support by default. It should be
detected automatically if your computer has a supported PCMCIA
controller.
o LBA32 Support -- There is now support for the LBA32 option in LILO.
This makes it possible to boot from partitions partially or
completely above cylinder 1024 (which had been a historical
limitation). Note, however, that we have found that not all
motherboards support this option, even when the BIOS claims support
is available. Therefore, this option is disabled by default. Note
also that this option is available ONLY when a partition has been
created using fdisk, and that partition is then chosen as the /boot
or / partition. The fdisk restriction is necessary as it is not
possible to create a bootable partition above cylinder 1024 using
Disk Druid.
o Disk Druid Improvements -- Disk Druid now detects partition table
inconsistencies, such as partitions that do not end on cylinder
boundaries. This can be caused if the geometry of a hard disk drive
is detected differently than when the drive was originally
partitioned. In these cases, we recommend that you use the fdisk
program to more closely inspect these inconsistencies, or choose to
skip the drive entirely.
o Graphical Kickstart Configuration -- Red Hat Linux 7.1 now provides a
graphical interface for creating kickstart configurations, allowing
custom, unattended installations to be created with greater ease than
ever before.
o Improved Rescue Mode -- Rescue mode now attempts to mount the
filesystems listed in /etc/fstab (assuming the root filesystem can be
found). The filesystems are mounted under /mnt/sysimage. This
eliminates a very confusing step for users using rescue-mode for the
first time.
o New Authentication Configuration Security Option -- Authentication
configuration now includes the ability to use Transport Layer
Security (TLS) when performing lookups. TLS allows LDAP clients to
use an encrypted connection when performing authentication.
o Miscellaneous Installation Program Improvements -- Overall, there are
many additional tests and checks performed to catch potential
problems which previously caused tracebacks (installer crashes).
This should reduce the number of poor out-of-box experiences for
newer users.
System-Related Enhancements and Changes
---------------------------------------
There are many features new to Red Hat Linux 7.1 that are not part of the
installation process. Some new features are server-oriented programs,
while others are new applications or desktop environment changes. This
list will provide a bit more information about what to expect from Red Hat
Linux 7.1 once you are actually using the OS.
o Upgraded Core System Components -- The following major system
components have been upgraded in Red Hat Linux 7.1:
- kernel 2.4.x (with additional fixes)
- glibc 2.2.2
- KDE 2.1.1
- XFree86 4.0.3 with the Xft anti-aliased font render extension
- GCC 2.96-RH, with many new fixes since the original 7.0 release
o Improved USB Support -- The 2.4 kernel gives Red Hat Linux 7.1 more
mature USB support than previous versions of Red Hat Linux. It
contains more drivers, and includes support for storage devices such
as CD-ROMs. It also supports "hot-pluggable" or removable devices --
if a supported device is plugged in after booting, the necessary
drivers will load automatically.
o Removable media drives automatically added to /etc/fstab -- Red Hat
Linux 7.1 now includes the ability for users to mount and unmount
removable media drives. This is done by the updfstab program (which
is part of the kudzu boot-time hardware configurator). It adds and
removes the necessary entries in /etc/fstab. Note that each entry
managed by updfstab contains the new "kudzu" option -- this acts as a
token indicating that the entry may subsequently be removed; if you
wish to permanently add such an entry to your fstab, simply remove
the "kudzu" option.
Hotpluggable devices are handled through a combination of cardmgr,
hotplug, updfstab, and pam_console_apply. When the kernel notifies
hotplug or cardmgr that a new storage device has been attached to the
system, updfstab is run to add the new entries to the fstab. Then,
updfstab runs pam_console_apply, which uses the rules specified in
/etc/security/console.perms to give the current console user access
to the device.
GNOME users who run magicdev will see device icons appear on their
desktop automatically. magicdev regularly checks the timestamp of
/etc/fstab, and directs gmc to rescan devices when the fstab has
changed. If you do not run magicdev, the "Rescan Devices" option on
the root gmc menu (which appears when you right-click on the desktop)
performs an equivalent function.
KDE users will see similar functionality.
o New and Updated Drivers -- Many drivers are new to Red Hat Linux 7.1,
or have been upgraded as a result of switching to a 2.4-based kernel.
Changes include:
- Updated Adaptec AIC7XXX SCSI driver
- IEEE1394 (FireWire(tm)) subsystem
- Adaptec starfire quad ethernet
- Aironet 802.11 WiFI ethernet
- National Semiconductor DP83810 ethernet
- ATM subsystem and various ATM drivers
- DECnet subsystem
- Cyclom 2X, DEFEA, and DEFPA FDDI
- IPv6 support
- NFS version 3
- iptables, an improved firewall layer
- Maestro3 sound
- Broadcom BCM5700 PCI-X 10/100/1000BASE-T controller
- IDE UltraDMA/66 and UltraDMA/100 contoller support
o 3D acceleration under XFree86 4.0.3 -- A wide variety of 3DFX cards
have been added to the list of cards supporting accelerated 3D
graphics. In addition, Intel i810, Matrox G200, G400, G450 (NOTE:
dual-head operation on the G450 is unsupported), and ATI Rage 128
based cards also support accelerated 3D graphics. Please note that
3D acceleration on ATI Radeon cards is not yet supported by XFree86
4.0.3.
o New Apache Configuration Tool -- apacheconf:
- Helps manage virtual hosts in an intelligent fashion
- Configured via the Alchemist Data Library
o New BIND Configuration Tool -- bindconf:
- Makes DNS configuration easier
- Configured via the Alchemist Data Library
o New Printing Configuration Tool -- printconf:
- Filters are based on David Parson's magicfilter, the foomatic
system, and the Linux Printing Database
(http://linuxprinting.org).
- Supports over 500 printers
- Upgrades old systems configured with printtool
- Configured via the Alchemist Data Library
o Improvements to Red Hat Network, Software Manager service announced
-- Red Hat Network, and its client program Update Agent, have been
extended for this release of Red Hat Linux. In addition, a new
service -- Software Manager -- has been announced. This technology
includes the following enhancements over the previous release:
- Update Agent now fully supports command-line operation.
- Text-mode configuration utility is included.
- Usage of the GUI mode can be disabled by specifying the "--nox"
command line option.
- More intelligent resolution of complex chains of package
inter-dependencies.
- "--whatprovides" and "--solvedeps" command line options allow
querying of the Red Hat Network database to visually report
package dependencies.
- "--packagedir" command line option allows a list of directories
to be specified. These directories will be searched for packages
when satisfying dependencies.
- Kernel upgrades can now be processed by Update Agent.
o Emacs/XEmacs site-start.d Directories -- Emacs/XEmacs each support a
site-start.d directory. Packages can now place emacs .el startup
files in the appropriate directory, and they will be loaded when the
editor starts. This eliminates the need to edit the site-start.el
file directly. The directories are:
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d
/usr/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages/lisp/site-start.d
o New ADSL/ISDN Configuration Tool -- internet-config is a replacement
for adsl-config and isdn-config. It guides new users through setting
up networking for these popular connection methods.
o PostgreSQL Upgrade-Related Notes -- If you are upgrading from Red Hat
Linux 6.2 or earlier, your existing databases must undergo a dump and
restore cycle. The best way to do this is to use pg_dumpall(1)
BEFORE upgrading to Red Hat Linux 7.1. After the upgrade, please see
the README.rpm file in /usr/share/doc/postgresql*/.
Also note that the upgrade keeps the old binaries around (along with
a helper script) after the upgrade, but doing the dump before the
upgrade and restoring afterwards (after removing the old database) is
highly recommended.
o OpenLDAP Upgrade-Related Notes -- The on-disk storage format used by
slapd, the standalone OpenLDAP server binary, has changed. Users
upgrading LDAP servers from previous releases of Red Hat Linux will
need to dump their directories to LDIF files using 'ldbmcat -n' and
re-import them into the new format using 'slapadd'.
o IMAP server changes -- The IMAP server now defaults to using its
built-in SSL support instead of stunnel's tunneling support.
Accordingly, the name of the certificate file used by imapd has
changed from stunnel.pem to imapd.pem. Users upgrading from previous
releases of Red Hat Linux will need to rename, copy, or create a
symbolic link to their existing certificate.
o Sendmail -- By default, sendmail does not accept network connections
from any host other than the local computer. If you want to
configure sendmail as a server for other clients, please edit
/etc/mail/sendmail.mc and change DAEMON_OPTIONS to also listen on
network devices, or comment out this option all together. You will
need to regenerate /etc/sendmail.cf by running:
m4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc > /etc/sendmail.cf
Note that you must have the sendmail-cf package installed for this to
work.
o Other package highlights:
- Ogg Vorbis audio encoder/decoder
- Mozilla Web browser
- LSB-compliant SGML and XML packages
- KDE 2.1 and KOffice
- BIND 9.x with DNSsec support and remote named control
- SSL support in links, slrn, OpenLDAP, and pine
- Pine 4.33
- Quanta HTML editor (on Powertools)
- Postfix and exim (on Powertools) include SSL/TLS support
- WINE (on Powertools) can directly execute Windows .exe binaries
from Linux
o Deprecated Packages -- the following packages are deprecated, and
could disappear in a future release:
- AfterStep
- Netscape 4.x
- Qt 1.x
- KDE v1 compatibility libraries / build environment
- elm
- linuxconf
- ncpfs
- mars_nwe
Known Issues / Trouble Spots:
-----------------------------
o PCMCIA support has changed greatly since Red Hat Linux 7; if you
customized PCMCIA support under prior versions of Red Hat Linux, you
should review your changes.
o Some Java JVMs (both from Sun and IBM) don't work with the new
floating stack feature of the i686 version of glibc. The failures
are due to programming assumptions in the JVMs that are now invalid.
JVM vendors are working on making the necessary corrections. Until
corrected JVM packages are available, you may force glibc to use the
deprecated stack model by setting the following environment variable:
LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5
Documentation-Related Enhancements and Changes
----------------------------------------------
o Additional documentation regarding the /etc/sysconfig/vncservers file
-- Due to time constraints, the following information was not
available prior to the Red Hat Linux Reference Guide's print date.
The /etc/sysconfig/vncservers file configures how the Virtual Network
Computing (VNC) server starts up. VNC is a remote display system
which allows you to view a desktop environment not only on the
machine where it is running but across different networks (from a LAN
to the Internet) and using a wide variety of machine architectures.
It may contain the following:
VNCSERVERS=, where is set to something like "1:fred",
to indicate that a VNC server should be started for user fred on
display :1. User fred must have set a VNC passwd using vncpasswd
before attempting to connect to the remote VNC server.
Note that when you use a VNC server, your communication with it is
unencrypted, and so it should not be used on an untrusted
network. For specific instructions concerning the use of SSH to
secure the VNC communication, please read the information found at
http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/sshvnc.html. To find out more
about SSH, please refer to the Red Hat Linux Reference and
Customization Guides.
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