[yellowdog-announce] Yellow Dog Linux v4.0 devel update: 2004 07/13

Yellow Dog Enthusiasts:

In the following, we will quickly share where we stand with Yellow Dog Linux 
v4.0 development and an overview of the development process in order that you 
may understand the complexity of this effort and perhaps further appreciate 
the pending v4.0 release.

To date ...
	All component (RPM) builds were completed three weeks ago.

	This past week we have successfully built a number of systems,
	starting with a v3.0.1 base and updating to v4.0 via yum. While not
	ready for distribution, this does grant our internal staff, key
	community members and customers an opportunity to test packages
	prior to release.

	Anaconda, the graphical installer, is the problem child, consuming a
	great deal of time and patience. As of July 13th, we have a set of
	functional ISOs for both G3/G4-systems and G5-based systems. These
	ISOs are currently under extensive testing which will certainly result
	in fixes and further testing.

	Hoping to have an auto-machine detector completed for shipment.
	May default to a yaboot/user selection if the timing is not good.

	With the last production run, Apple modified the North bridge in 
	the G5 Power Mac towers, resulting in need for a revised kernel.


An overview ...
Yellow Dog Linux v4.0 represents a major overhaul as it is built from the 
ground-up upon Fedora, the community foundation for Red Hat based Linux. The 
Fedora foundation, while an excellent resource, is not (currently) as easy to 
work with as was the internal Red Hat effort, invoking a need for a greater 
amount of hand-holding by TSS staff and community members. Once up and 
running with Fedora, subsequent releases of Yellow Dog Linux will be produced 
with far greater ease.

While the majority of more than 1000 packages compiled smoothly, there were 
several dozen that required manual intervention. Some just a few hours, 
others a few weeks effort. In particular, the rebuild of Anaconda resulted in 
nearly three weeks delay. This is not the fault of its authors, the Fedora 
effort, nor our staff. It is simply the nature of software development where 
some things go smooth and others seem to intentionally torture the programmer 
until the end of his or her wits, the solution making itself known after 
weeks of relentless attempts and fixes, patches and work-arounds.

With every release of Yellow Dog Linux, it is our goal to support as wide a 
variety of hardware as is realistic and possible. While YDL v4.0 will no 
longer officially support the OldWorld ROM (beige series) Apple systems, we 
will launch with support for the latest iMacs, iBooks, PowerBooks, and of 
course G5 Power Macs (the Xserves will be officially supported with Y-HPC).

This is where it becomes interesting, for had we shipped in late May or 
mid-June as planned, we would have launched a product that would immediately 
be dated for it would not have supported the current G5 towers given the 
change in the North bridge resulting in a non-bootable Install CD.

Therefore, the wrestling match with Anaconda worked to our (and your) benefit, 
for we will be able to roll into Yellow Dog Linux 4.0 support the latest 
models.

Stay tuned to this Announce list and the Yellow Dog Linux website where 
notification of the launch of v4.0, initially via YDL.net Enhanced accounts 
and two weeks later via the Terra Soft Store, will be made.

We appreciate your patience, understanding, and steadfast dedication to our 
Yellow Dog Linux. We promise an exceptional product, our finest release to 
date.

			--TSS Devel Team