Slackware 10.1 release notes.  Mon Jan 31 14:49:35 PST 2005

Hi everyone,

This is the long awaited Slackware 10.1.  My apologies for the delays
in getting this release out (I had originally planned it for sometime
in early November), but as most of you know I've had some health
issues, and it's been difficult to keep up my usual work schedule.
I'm still getting an usually rapid pulse rate with any kind of
exertion, but overall I'm feeling better.  The cause of all of this
still isn't known, but I'm optimistic that it will keep improving with
time.  Now that the release is ready I'll be trying to get more rest
and take it easy before trying to get back up to full speed again.
Perhaps I went back to work a little too soon after returning to
California (since I did experience a relapse), but this release has
been long overdue and I was itching to get back to work on it.  I
meant to go slow, but just couldn't help it.  :-)

Enough of that, here are a few notes on this release, which should be
very stable.  The next one, which will likely by based on a 2.6.x
kernel and glibc with NPTL might take some time to stabilize, which
is part of the reason I think it's good to get one last stable 2.4.x
based Slackware release out.  It's also been a difficult period for
me (and thus Slackware...) financially speaking, so your support of
this Slackware 10.1 release is needed (and greatly appreciated).

The installer utilizes the 2.4.29 kernel (this still provides the best
performance on my own machines, and is also safer for partitioning
hard drives).  If you want to upgrade to the 2.6.10 kernel it is also
included and the system will fully support it.  See the README.initrd
file in the testing/packages/linux-2.6.10/ directory for directions on
upgrading the system to use 2.6.10 (or better yet, make it an alternate
boot choice).

The name of the keyboard driver in the X.Org release of X11 is now
"kbd" rather than "Keyboard" in /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
    Driver      "kbd"

GCC remains at version 3.3.4 (there's a 3.3.5 out now, but there wasn't
enough time to give it a complete test, and I'm getting no bug reports
on GCC 3.3.4 and so will play it safe).  Version 3.4.3 can also be
found in the /testing directory, and perhaps a gcc-3.4.x will be the
default for the next Slackware -current.

Slackware's default install now includes Sun's Java(TM) 2 Runtime
Environment (JRE) rather than the full Java Software Development Kit.
This is primarily due to the ever-growing size of the full Java SDK;
it is now too large to fit on either of the first two (install) ISO
images.  A standard replicated disc has a factory limit of 670MB, and
there just aren't enough bits to include the full Java(TM) 2 SDK
there.  My apologies if you are inconvenienced by this change.
Luckily, after working out the breakdown of the third ISO image it
was discovered that there was just barely enough room to include the
J2SDK in the /extra directory there.  The Java(TM) SDK is not likely
to fit on the next release of Slackware (11) though, so in the future
those of you who require the full Java Software Development Kit will
need to download it from java.sun.com.  I will continue to include
the scripts to convert the .bin file to a .tgz, so this shouldn't
present too much difficulty.

The default sound system is now ALSA (the Advanced Linux Sound
Architecture), which is also the default sound system in the 
Linux 2.6.x kernel.  If you wish to use OSS instead, the modules are
still available, but you'll need to remove the packages beginning with
alsa- and remove the OSS modules from /etc/hotplug/blacklist.

CUPS is now the default printing system, with LPRng moved to /pasture
(but still considered supported).  A number of command locations (like
/usr/bin/lpr) are shared by these programs, and whichever package
(cups or lprng) is installed last will "own" these symbolic links, so
it was time to have only one of these systems in the default
installation to avoid conflicts.  If you want to use LPRng, you'll
want to first remove CUPS with removepkg, and then install LPRng
using installpkg.  This will make sure the links are set correctly,
and get the tools you won't be using out of the way.

The system init files have been further streamlined while keeping
their number small and structure easy to understand.  Most of the init
scripts in /etc/rc.d that control network and other services may be
enabled or disabled by setting them executable (or not) with chmod,
and a new menu in the installer lets you choose the initial state for
many of them.  If you want your machine to come up on the network with
no open ports at the first boot, that's easily possible.

There is improved Linux hotplugging support.  This takes over the job of
configuring Cardbus cards (instead of pcmcia-cs, still used for non-Cardbus
cards).  However, this means that if you're used to configuring your card in
/etc/pcmcia/, you'll need to set it up elsewhere.  For example, the old way
of configuring a Cardbus network card is by editing /etc/pcmcia/network.opts.
Now you'll need to set up the IP in /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf (or by running 
"netconfig") instead.  To make matters more confusing, non-Cardbus PC cards
continue to use /etc/pcmcia/network.opts!
   Even with the rough edges, the addition of Linux hotplug support is a
major step forward.  In most cases this new subsystem can probe for and detect
every piece of PCI, Cardbus, and USB hardware connected to the machine and
automatically load all the correct kernel modules.  Very nice.  :-)
NOTE:  if the hotplugging subsystem causes problems at boot time, it can be
skipped by passing the kernel a "nohotplug" flag on the kernel command line.
It is highly recommended to use hotplug if possible.  As more things are
designed to use hotplug, trying to run without it becomes like trying to
run with half a kernel (really, it is the user space portion of the kernel
in many ways).  If enabling hotplug causes your machine to crash or hang,
odds are that it's loading a kernel module that your system doesn't agree
with.  If you can figure out which one it is (perhaps the logs will help),
you'll be able to add it to /etc/hotplug/blacklist to prevent hotplug from
trying to load it.  If you run into this and determine that a module needs
to be listed, let me know so it can be considered here as well.

Speaking of PC card support, we're no longer using the driver modules that
come with the pcmcia-cs sources and have moved to the ones included with the
Linux kernel source.  Besides providing better PC card support, this will
make things easier for people who like to keep up with the latest kernels.

Wireless support is substantially better thanks to improved tools and
drivers (including the linux-wlan-ng driver for Prism2 cards in the
extra package collection), and Eric Hameleers work on supporting USB, PCI,
and Cardbus wireless cards (/etc/rc.d/rc.wireless).

Support for USB keyboards is now integrated into the installer.  If USB
device detection causes problems (it shouldn't), it may be skipped by
passing the kernel a "nousb" flag at boot.  In the event that the keyboard
doesn't work right away when the install CD is booted, wait.  It will
boot automatically after two minutes without a keypress, and then the
kernel should find your keyboard.

Have fun!  :-)

Pat Volkerding <volkerdi@slackware.com>