Fedora 11

Release Notes

Release Notes for Fedora 11

Logo

Rüdiger Landmann

Installation Release Notes 

Jens Petersen

Internationalization Release Notes 

John McDonough

Amateur Radio Release Notes 

Dale Bewley

Virtualization Release Notes 

Legal Notice

Copyright © 2009 Fedora Documentation Project. This material may only be distributed subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, V1.0, (the latest version is presently available at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/).
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Red Hat and the Red Hat "Shadow Man" logo are registered trademarks of Red Hat Inc. in the United States and other countries.
All other trademarks and copyrights referred to are the property of their respective owners.
Documentation, as with software itself, may be subject to export control. Read about Fedora Project export controls at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal/Export.
Abstract
This document details the release notes for Fedora 11.
1. Welcome to Fedora 11
1.1. Fedora 11 Overview
1.2. Hardware Requirements
1.3. Welcome to Fedora
1.4. Feedback
2. Installation Notes
2.1. Installation in text mode
2.2. Upgrade Notes
2.3. Boot menu
2.4. boot.iso now works on systems with UEFI
3. Architecture Specific Notes
3.1. PPC Specifics for Fedora
3.2. x86 Specifics for Fedora
3.3. x86_64 Specifics for Fedora
4. Changes in Fedora for Desktop users
4.1. Fedora Desktop
4.2. Networking
4.3. Printing
4.4. International Language Support
4.5. Multimedia
4.6. Games and Entertainment
4.7. Fedora Live Images
5. Changes in Fedora for System Administrators
5.1. Fedora 11 Boot Time
5.2. Security
5.3. Virtualization
5.4. Web and Content Servers
5.5. Mail Servers
5.6. Database Servers
5.7. File Servers
5.8. Samba (Windows Compatibility)
5.9. System Daemons
5.10. Server Tools
5.11. File Systems
5.12. X Window System (Graphics)
6. Changes in Fedora for developers
6.1. Development
6.2. Runtime
6.3. Tools
6.4. Java
6.5. Eclipse
6.6. Haskell
6.7. Embedded Development
6.8. Backwards Compatibility
6.9. Linux Kernel
7. Changes in Fedora for specific audiences
7.1. What's new in science and mathematics
7.2. Electronic Design Automation
7.3. What's new for amateur radio operators
A. Legal Information
A.1. License
A.2. Trademarks
A.3. External References
A.4. Export
A.5. Legal Information
A.6. More Information
B. Revision History

1. Welcome to Fedora 11

1.1. Fedora 11 Overview

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/OverView

As always, Fedora continues to develop (http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/RedHatContributions) and integrate the latest free and open source software (http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features). The following sections provide a brief overview of major changes from the last release of Fedora. For more details about other features that are included in Fedora 11, refer to their individual wiki pages that detail feature goals and progress:
http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/11/FeatureList
Throughout the release cycle, there are interviews with the developers behind key features giving out the inside story:
http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Interviews
The following are major features for Fedora 11:
  • Automatic font and mime-type installation - PackageKit was introduced in Fedora 9 as a cross-distro software management application for users. The capabilities it offers thanks to integration with the desktop became more visible in Fedora 10, where it provided automatic codec installation. Now in Fedora 11, PackageKit extends this functionality with the ability to automatically install fonts where needed for viewing and editing documents. It also includes the capability to install handlers for specific content types as needed. Some work is still being completed to provide automatic installation of applications.
  • Volume Control - Currently, people using Fedora have to go through many levels of mixers in different applications to properly set up sound sources. These are all exposed in the volume control on the desktop, making for a very confusing user experience. PulseAudio allows us to unify the volume controls in one interface that makes setting up sound easier and more pain-free.
  • Intel, ATI and Nvidia kernel modsetting - Fedora 10 provided the first steps by a major distribution into using the kernel modesetting (KMS) feature to speed up graphical boot. We indicated at the time that we would be adding greater support for additional video cards as time went on. KMS originally was featured only on some ATI cards. In Fedora 11, this work is extended to include many more video cards, including Intel and Nvidia, and additional ATI as well. Although not fully complete, we have increased enormously the video card coverage of the KMS feature, with more to come.
  • Fingerprint - Extensive work has been done to make fingerprint readers easy to use as an authentication mechanism. Currently, using fingerprint readers is a bit of a pain, and installing/using fprint and its pam module take more time than should ever be necessary. The goal of this feature is to make it painless by providing all the required pieces in Fedora, together with nicely integrated configuration. To enable this functionality the user will register their fingerprints on the system as part of user account creation. After doing so, they will easily be able to log in and authenticate seamlessly using a simple finger swipe. This greatly simplifies one element of identity management and is a great step in the evolution of the linux desktop.
  • IBus input method system - ibus has been rewritten in C and is the new default input method for Asian languages. It allows input methods to be added and removed dynamically during a desktop session. It supports Chinese (pinyin, libchewing, tables), Indic (m17n), Japanese (anthy), Korean (libhangul), and more. There are still some features missing compared to scim so testing is strongly encouraged and reports of problems and suggestions for improvements welcome.
Some other features in this release include:
  • Ext4 filesystem - The ext3 file system has remained the mature standard in Linux for a long time. The ext4 file system is a major update that has an improved design, even better performance and reliability, support for much larger storage, and very fast file system checks and file deletions. It is now the default filesystem for new installations.
  • Virt Improved Console - In Fedora 10 and earlier the virtual guest console is limited to a screen resolution of 800x600. In Fedora 11 the goal is to have the screen default to at least 1024x768 resolution out of the box. New installations of F11 provide the ability to use other interface devices in the virtual guest, such as a USB tablet, which the guest will automatically detect and configure. Among the results is a mouse pointer that tracks the local client pointer one-for-one, and providing expanded capabilities.
  • MinGW (Windows cross compiler) - Fedora 11 provides MinGW, a development environment for Fedora users who wish to cross-compile their programs to run on Windows without having to use Windows. In the past developers have had to port and compile all of the libraries and tools they have needed, and this huge effort has happened independently many times over. MinGW eliminates duplication of work for application developers by providing a range of libraries and development tools already ported to the cross-compiler environment. Developers don't have to recompile the application stack themselves, but can concentrate just on the changes needed to their own application.
Features for Fedora 11 tracked on the feature list page:
http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/11/FeatureList

1.2. Hardware Requirements

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/HardwareOverview

1.2.1. Processor and memory requirements for PPC Architectures

  • Minimum CPU: PowerPC G3 / POWER3
  • Fedora 11 supports the New World generation of Apple Power Macintosh, shipped from circa 1999 onward. Although Old World machines should work, they require a special bootloader which is not included in the Fedora distribution. Fedora has also been installed and tested on POWER5 and POWER6 machines.
  • Fedora 11 supports pSeries and Cell Broadband Engine machines.
  • Fedora 11 also supports the Sony PlayStation 3 and Genesi Pegasos II and Efika.
  • Fedora 11 includes new hardware support for the P.A. Semiconductor 'Electra' machines.
  • Fedora 11 also includes support for Terrasoft Solutions powerstation workstations.
  • Recommended for text-mode: 233 MHz G3 or better, 128MiB RAM.
  • Recommended for graphical: 400 MHz G3 or better, 256MiB RAM.

1.2.2. Processor and memory requirements for x86 Architectures

The following CPU specifications are stated in terms of Intel processors. Other processors, such as those from AMD, Cyrix, and VIA that are compatible with and equivalent to the following Intel processors, may also be used with Fedora. Fedora 11 requires an Intel Pentium or better processor, and is optimized for Pentium 4 and later processors.
  • Recommended for text-mode: 200 MHz Pentium-class or better
  • Recommended for graphical: 400 MHz Pentium II or better
  • Minimum RAM for text-mode: 128MiB
  • Minimum RAM for graphical: 192MiB
  • Recommended RAM for graphical: 256MiB

1.2.3. Processor and memory requirements for x86_64 architectures

  • Minimum RAM for text-mode: 256MiB
  • Minimum RAM for graphical: 384MiB
  • Recommended RAM for graphical: 512MiB

1.2.4. Hard disk space requirements for all architectures

The complete packages can occupy over 9 GB of disk space. Final size is entirely determined by the installing spin and the packages selected during installation. Additional disk space is required during installation to support the installation environment. This additional disk space corresponds to the size of /Fedora/base/stage2.img (on Installation Disc 1) plus the size of the files in /var/lib/rpm on the installed system.
In practical terms, additional space requirements may range from as little as 90 MiB for a minimal installation to as much as an additional 175 MiB for a larger installation.
Additional space is also required for any user data, and at least 5% free space should be maintained for proper system operation.

1.3. Welcome to Fedora

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Welcome

Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that showcases the latest in free and open source software. Fedora is always free for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. It is built by people across the globe who work together as a community: the Fedora Project. The Fedora Project is open and anyone is welcome to join. The Fedora Project is out front for you, leading the advancement of free, open software and content.

Note

Visit http://docs.fedoraproject.org/release-notes/ to view the latest release notes for Fedora, especially if you are upgrading. If you are migrating from a release of Fedora older than the immediately previous one, you should refer to older Release Notes for additional information.
You can help the Fedora Project community continue to improve Fedora if you file bug reports and enhancement requests. Refer to http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugsAndFeatureRequests for more information about bug and feature reporting. Thank you for your participation.
To find out more general information about Fedora, refer to the following Web pages:

1.4. Feedback

Thank you for taking the time to provide your comments, suggestions, and bug reports to the Fedora community; this helps improve the state of Fedora, Linux, and free software worldwide.

1.4.1.  Providing Feedback on Fedora Software

To provide feedback on Fedora software or other system elements, please refer to http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugsAndFeatureRequests. A list of commonly reported bugs and known issues for this release is available from http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Bugs/F11Common.

1.4.2.  Providing Feedback on Release Notes

If you feel these release notes could be improved in any way, you can provide your feedback directly to the beat writers. There are several ways to provide feedback, in order of preference:

2.  Installation Notes

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/BackwardsCompatibility

Note

To learn how to install Fedora, refer to http://docs.fedoraproject.org/install-guide/. If you encounter a problem or have a question during installation that is not covered in these release notes, refer to http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/FAQ and http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Bugs/Common.
Anaconda is the name of the Fedora installer. This section outlines issues related to anaconda and installing Fedora 11.

2.1. Installation in text mode

Note

We recommend that you use the graphical installer to install Fedora on your computer wherever possible. If you are installing Fedora on a system that lacks a graphical display, consider performing the installation over a VNC connection (see "Chapter 12. Installing Through VNC" in the Fedora 11 Installation Guide). If your system has a graphical display, but graphical installation fails, try booting with the xdriver=vesa option (see "Chapter 9. Boot Options" in the Fedora 11 Installation Guide) or with the Install system with basic video driver option when booting from the Fedora 11 Distro DVD.
The text-mode installation option in Fedora 11 is significantly more streamlined than it was in earlier versions. Text-mode installation now omits the more complicated steps that were previously part of the process, and provides you with an uncluttered and straightforward experience.
These steps are now automated in text mode:
Package selection
Anaconda now automatically selects packages only from the base and core groups. These packages are sufficient to ensure that the system is operational at the end of the installation process, ready to install updates and new packages.
Advanced partitioning
Anaconda still presents you with the initial screen from previous versions that allows you to specify where Anaconda should install Fedora on your system. You can choose to use a whole drive, to remove existing Linux partitions, or to use the free space on the drive. However, anaconda now automatically sets the layout of the partitions and does not ask you to add or delete partitions or file systems from this basic layout. If you require a customised layout at installation time, you should perform a graphical installation over a VNC connection or a kickstart installation. More advanced options yet, such as LVM, encrypted filesystems, and resizable filesystems are still only available only in graphical mode and kickstart.
Bootloader configuration
Anaconda now performs bootloader configuration automatically.

2.1.1. Kickstart installations in text mode

Text-mode installations using kickstart are carried out in the same way that they were in previous versions. However, because package selection, advanced partitioning, and bootloader configuration are now automated in text mode, anaconda cannot prompt you for information that it requires during these steps. You must therefore ensure that the kickstart file includes the packaging, partitioning, and bootloader configurations. If any of this information is missing, anaconda will exit with an error message.

2.2. Upgrade Notes

Upgrading from Fedora 9 directly to Fedora 11 using yum is not possible, you must upgrade to Fedora 10 first, then upgrade to Fedora 11. See http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/YumUpgradeFaq for more information. You can also use preupgrade to upgrade directly to Fedora 11 using anaconda, minimizing the system downtime by downloading the packages in advance.
Some modified configuration files will be replaced by their original versions during the upgrade. Your modified versions of these configuration files will be saved as *.rpmsave files in that case.

2.3. Boot menu

The boot menu for the Fedora Distro DVD includes a new option: Install system with basic video driver. This option boots the system with the generic vesa driver (using the xdriver=vesa boot option) and allows you to use Fedora's graphical installation mode even when anaconda cannot load the correct driver for your video card.

2.4. boot.iso now works on systems with UEFI

The Fedora installation CDs and DVD provide you with an image file, boot.iso that you can burn to a CD and use to boot a system and start the installation process. Typically, you would do this prior to installing Fedora from a local hard drive or from a location on a network. You can now use the CD produced from the boot.iso image to start installation on a system that uses Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). CDs produced from older versions of boot.iso only worked with systems that used Basic Input Output System (BIOS).

3.  Architecture Specific Notes

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/ArchSpecific

This section provides notes that are specific to the supported hardware architectures of Fedora.

3.1. PPC Specifics for Fedora

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/ArchSpecific/PPC

This section covers specific information about Fedora and the PPC hardware platform.

3.2. x86 Specifics for Fedora

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/ArchSpecific/x86

This section covers specific information about Fedora and the x86 hardware platform.

3.3. x86_64 Specifics for Fedora

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/ArchSpecific/x86_64

This section covers specific information about Fedora and the x86_64 hardware platform.

4. Changes in Fedora for Desktop users

4.1. Fedora Desktop

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Desktop

4.1.1. GNOME

Gnome-panel
Previously, users could move the gnome-panel to from one part of the desktop to another by clicking on the gnome-panel, dragging it to another location while holding down the mouse button, and releasing the mouse button. Now, users must also hold down a key on the keyboard while moving the gnome-panel. By default, this modifier key is the Alt key, but users may change it to any other key by using the windows preference tool (System>Preferences>Windows).
This change in behavior greatly reduces the chances of a user accidentally moving the panel, and makes moving the gnome-panel the same as moving windows in GNOME.
Bluetooth
The bluez-gnome Bluetooth management tools was replaced by gnome-bluetooth. This adds easy access to switching Bluetooth on/off for laptops, and an easier to use new device setup assistant.
The ObexFTP browsing code now has write support (it was read-only and delete before).
Root User disabled for GNOME Display Manager
Root user is disabled by defaulf for GNOME Display Manager (GDM) from Fedora 10 onwards. We strongly recommend that you avoid logging in as root user and instead use su - or sudo for running commands requiring root access. If you wish to revert this setting however, refer to http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Enabling_Root_User_For_GNOME_Display_Manager .

4.1.2. KDE

This release features KDE 4.2.1.
Fedora 11 includes a snapshot of the NetworkManager plasmoid kde-plasma-networkmanagement, which replaces the KDE 3 knetworkmanager snapshot in Fedora 10. As it was not considered ready for production use, the KDE Live images still use nm-applet from NetworkManager-gnome instead, as in Fedora 8, 9 and 10. The gnome-keyring-daemon facility saves passwords for nm-applet. If you wish to try kde-plasma-networkmanagement, it can be installed from the repository.
Software Updates (PackageKit)
As the default updater in KDE is kpackagekit (since Fedora 10), the gnome-packagekit updater is no longer set up to run in KDE (as of Fedora 11). This avoids the situation where both update applets were trying to run at the same time. Users of Fedora 9 or 10 who were running gnome-packagekit under KDE should install kpackagekit when upgrading to Fedora 11.
Enhancements
 
Package and Application Changes
 

4.2. Networking

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Networking

This section contains information about networking changes in Fedora 11.

4.3. Printing

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Printing

TBD

4.4. International Language Support

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/I18n

This section includes information on language support under Fedora.

4.4.1. Language Coverage

Fedora features a variety of software that is translated in many languages. For a list of languages refer to the translation statistics for the Anaconda module, which is one of the core software applications in Fedora.
4.4.1.1. Language Support Installation
To install langpacks and additional language support from the Languages group, run this command: 
su -c 'yum groupinstall <language>-support'
In the command above, <language> is one of assamese, bengali, chinese, gujarati, hindi, japanese, kannada, korean, malayalam, marathi, oriya, punjabi, sinhala, tamil, telegu, thai, and so on.
4.4.1.2. Online Translation
Fedora uses the Transifex online tool to facilitate contributing translations of Fedora-hosted and other upstream projects by numerous translators.
Using the online web tool, translators can contribute directly to any registered upstream project through one translator-oriented web interface. Developers of projects with no existing translation community can easily reach out to Fedora's established community for translations. In turn, translators can reach out to numerous projects related to Fedora to easily contribute translations.
https://translate.fedoraproject.org/submit

4.4.2. Fonts

Fonts for most languages are installed by default on the desktop to give good default language coverage.
4.4.2.1. Default Language for Han Unification
When GTK-based applications are not running in a Chinese, Japanese, or Korean (CJK) locale, Chinese characters (that is, Chinese Hanzi, Japanese Kanji, or Korean Hanja) may render with a mixture of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fonts depending on the text. This happens when Pango does not have sufficient context to know which language is being used, due to the Han unification in Unicode. The current default font configuration seems to prefer Chinese fonts. If you normally want to use Japanese or Korean say, you can tell Pango to use it by default by setting the PANGO_LANGUAGE environment variable. For example... 
export PANGO_LANGUAGE=ja
...tells Pango rendering to assume Japanese text when it has no other indications.
4.4.2.2. Japanese
The fonts-japanese package has been renamed to japanese-bitmap-fonts.
4.4.2.3. Khmer
Khmer OS Fonts khmeros-fonts have been added to Fedora for Khmer coverage in this release.
4.4.2.4. Korean
The un-core-fonts packages replaces baekmuk-ttf-fonts as the new Hangul default fonts.un-extra-fonts packages have been added.
4.4.2.5. Complete List of Changes
All fonts changes are listed on their dedicated page: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fonts_inclusion_history#F10

Note

Fonts in Fedora: The Fonts SIG takes loving care of Fedora fonts. Please join this special interest group if you are interested in creating, improving, packaging, or just suggesting a font. Any help will be appreciated.

4.4.3. Input Methods

The yum group called input-methods (Input Methods) is installed by default providing standard input methods for many languages. This allows turning on the default input method system and immediately having the standard input methods for most languages available.
4.4.3.1. iBus
Fedora 11 includes iBus, a new input method system that has been developed to overcome some of the architectural limitations of SCIM. http://code.google.com/p/ibus
It provides a number of input method engines and immodules:
  • ibus-anthy (Japanese)
  • ibus-chewing (Traditional Chinese)
  • ibus-gtk (GTK+ immodule)
  • ibus-hangul (Korean)
  • ibus-m17n (Indic and many other languages)
  • ibus-pinyin (Simplified Chinese)
  • ibus-qt (Qt immodule)
  • ibus-table (Chinese, etc.)
The first time ibus is run it is necessary to choose which input method engines are needed in the Preferences.
We encourage people upgrading from earlier releases to install iBus, turn it on with im-chooser, and test it for their language, and report any problems in Bugzilla.
4.4.3.2. im-chooser and imsettings
Input Methods only start by default on desktops running in an Asian locale (specifically for the following locale: as, bn, gu, hi, ja, kn, ko, ml, mr, ne, or, pa, si, ta, te, th, ur, vi, zh). Use im-chooser via System > Preferences > Personal > Input Method to enable or disable input method usage on your desktop at any time with imsettings.
Under imsettings framework the GTK_IM_MODULE environment variable is no longer needed by default.
4.4.3.3. Indic Onscreen Keyboard
iok is an onscreen virtual keyboard for Indian languages, which allows input using Inscript keymap layouts and other 1:1 key mappings. For more information refer to the homepage: https://fedorahosted.org/iok

4.4.4. Indic Collation Support

Fedora 10 includes sorting support for Indic languages. This support fixes listing and order of menus in these languages, representing them in sorted order and making it easy to find desired elements. These languages are covered by this support:
  • Gujarati
  • Hindi
  • Kannada
  • Kashmiri
  • Konkani
  • Maithili
  • Marathi
  • Nepali
  • Punjabi
  • Sindhi
  • Telugu

4.5. Multimedia

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Multimedia

Freedom
Fedora 11 ships with support for Ogg Vorbis, Theora, FLAC, and Speex, giving you the freedom to watch or listen to your media in a free format. Not only are they all open source but no codec that ships with Fedora contains any harmful patents or licensing fees.
MP3 and Flash
Because of patent issues Fedora can not ship with an MP3 decoder, however if you are unable to convert to a patent free codec, such as Ogg Vorbis, Fluendo offers an MP3 decoder that follows all legal requirements set by the patent holder. Visit Fluendo's website (http://www.fluendo.com/) for more information.
Abode's Flash player is proprietary software and Fedora recommends installing either swfdec or gnash from the repositories.
Volume Control
An updated volume control manager application provides you with more control over your audio preferences. Better integrated with PulseAudio, you can now control individual application inputs and outputs along with the sources and destinations for the audio.
With the removal of gnome-volume-manager, you may be left without an obvious way to adjust ALSA sound levels after an upgrade. If they are set too low, raising the PulseAudio sound levels may not work acceptably. The way to deal with this is to install alsa-utils and run alsamixer -c0 from a shell prompt. To access the recording channels rather than the playback channels (for instance, to select which input you wish to record from) run alsamixer -c0 -Vcapture. The alsamixer program has a curses text-based user interface to adjust sound levels for ALSA devices. Once alsamixer is running, get help by typing a question mark.
For more information refer to http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Multimedia.

4.6. Games and Entertainment

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Entertainment

TBD

4.7. Fedora Live Images

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Live

The Games Spin provides a Live DVD with a sampling of the best games available in Fedora.

5. Changes in Fedora for System Administrators

5.1.  Fedora 11 Boot Time

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Boot

TBD

5.2. Security

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Security

This section highlights various security items from Fedora.

5.2.1. SHA-2 support

TBD: application-specific notes about SHA-2 will go here. See Features/StrongerHashes#Release_Notes and Hash_algorithm_migration_status#Configuration.

5.3. Virtualization

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Virtualization

Virtualization in Fedora 11 includes major changes, and new features, that continue to support KVM, Xen, and many other virtual machine platforms.

5.3.1. Virtualization VNC Authentication

Warning

Work in progress. Feature is not yet complete.
Define a mapping of SASL authentication into the VNC protocol, and implement it for QEMU and GTK-VNC, providing strongly authenticated, securely encrypted remote access of virtual guest consoles.
For further details refer to the Virtualization VNC Authentication wiki page

5.3.2. Improved Graphical Console for Virtual Guests

This feature aims to improve the user experiance for virtual guests' graphical console, by providing an accurate mouse pointer and higher screen resolution, without requiring manual configuration.
For further details refer to the Improved Graphical Console for Virtual Guests wiki page

5.3.3. KVM PCI Device Assignment

Warning

Work in progress. Feature is not yet complete.
Fedora 11 expands its virtualization capabilities to include KVM PCI device assignment support. KVM users can now give virtual machines exclusive access to physical PCI devices using Fedora's virtualization toools, including the Virtual Machine Manager application.
Intel VT-d or AMD IOMMU hardware platform support is required in order for this feature to be available.
For further details refer to the KVM PCI Device Assignment wiki page.

5.3.4. SVirt Mandatory Access Control

Warning

Work in progress. Feature is not yet complete.
Fedora 11 integrates SELinux's Mandatory Access Control with Virtualization. Virtual machines can now be much more effectively isolated from the host and one another, giving the increased assurance that security flaws cannot be exploited by malicious guests.
For further details refer to the SVirt Mandatory Access Control wiki page.

5.3.5. Other Improvements

Fedora also includes the following virtualization improvements:
5.3.5.1. libvirt Updated to 0.6.0
The libvirt package provides an API and tools to interact with the virtualization capabilities of recent versions of Linux (and other OSes). The libvirt software is designed to be a common denominator among all virtualization technologies with support for the following:
  • The Xen hypervisor on Linux and Solaris hosts.
  • The QEMU emulator
  • The KVM Linux hypervisor
  • The LXC Linux container system
  • The OpenVZ Linux container system
  • Storage on IDE/SCSI/USB disks, FibreChannel, LVM, iSCSI, and NFS
New features and improvements since 0.4.6:
  • thread safety of the API and event handling
  • allow QEmu domains to survive daemon restart
  • extended logging capabilities
  • support copy-on-write storage volumes
  • support of storage cache control options for QEmu/KVM
  • driver infrastructure and locking
  • Test driver infrastructure
  • parallelism in the daemon and associated config
  • virsh help cleanups
  • logrotate daemon logs
  • more regression tests
  • QEmu SDL graphics
  • add --version flag to daemon
  • memory consumption cleanup
  • QEmu pid file and XML states for daemon restart
  • gnulib updates
  • PCI passthrough for KVM
  • generic internal thread API
  • RHEL-5 specific Xen configure option and code
  • save domain state as string in status file
  • add locking to all API entry points
  • new ref counting APIs
  • IP address for Xen bridges
  • driver format for disk file types
  • improve QEmu/KVM tun/tap performances
  • enable floppies for Xen fully virt
  • support VNC password settings for QEmu/KVM
  • qemu driver version reporting
There were also dozens of cleanups, documentation enhancements, portability and bug fixes. For further details refer to: http://www.libvirt.org/news.html
5.3.5.2. virt-manager Updated to 0.6.1
The virt-manager package provides a GUI implementation of virtinst and libvirt functionality.
New features and improvements since 0.6.0:
  • VM disk and network stats reporting (Guido Gunther)
  • VM Migration support (Shigeki Sakamoto)
  • Support for adding sound devices to an existing VM
  • Enumerate host devices attached to an existing VM
  • Allow specifying a device model when adding a network device to an existing VM
  • Combine the serial console view with the VM Details window
  • Allow connection to multiple VM serial consoles
  • Bug fixes and many minor improvements.
For further details refer to: http://virt-manager.et.redhat.com/
5.3.5.3. virtinst Updated to 0.400.1
The python-virtinst package contains tools for installing and manipulating multiple VM guest image formats.
New features and improvements since 0.400.0:
  • Add virt-image -> vmx support to virt-convert, replacing virt-pack (Joey Boggs)
  • Add disk checksum support to virt-image (Joey Boggs)
  • Enhanced URL install support: Debian Xen paravirt, Ubuntu kernel and boot.iso, Mandriva kernel, and Solaris Xen Paravirt (Guido Gunther, John Levon, Cole Robinson)
  • Expanded test suite
  • Numerous bug fixes, cleanups, and minor improvements
For further details refer to: http://virt-manager.et.redhat.com/
5.3.5.4.  Xen Updated to 3.3.1
Fedora 11 supports booting as a domU guest, but will not function as a dom0 host until such support is provided in the upstream kernel. Support for a pv_ops dom0 is targeted for Xen 3.4.
Changes since 3.3.0:
Xen 3.3.1 is a maintenance release in the 3.3 series.
For further details refer to:

5.3.6. Xen Kernel Support

The kernel package in Fedora 11 supports booting as a guest domU, but will not function as a dom0 until such support is provided upstream. The most recent Fedora release with dom0 support is Fedora 8.
Booting a Xen domU guest within a Fedora 11 host requires the KVM based xenner. Xenner runs the guest kernel and a small Xen emulator together as a KVM guest.

Important

KVM requires hardware virtualization features in the host system. Systems lacking hardware virtualization do not support Xen guests at this time.
For more information refer to:

5.4. Web and Content Servers

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Documentation_Web_Servers_Beat

Fedora includes both the MySQL and PostgreSQL database servers.

5.5. Mail Servers

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/MailServers

This section concerns electronic mail servers or mail transfer agents (MTAs).

5.6. Database Servers

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/DatabaseServers

Fedora includes both the MySQL and PostgreSQL database servers.

5.7. File Servers

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Documentation_File_Servers_Beat

This section refers to file transfer and sharing servers. Refer to http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/WebServers and http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Samba for information on HTTP (Web) file transfer and Samba (Windows) file sharing services.

5.8. Samba (Windows Compatibility)

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Samba

This section contains information related to Samba, the suite of software Fedora uses to interact with Microsoft Windows systems.
samba
samba 3.3.1 is the latest bugfix release for Samba. Major enhancements in Samba 3.3.1 include:
  • Fix net ads join when "ldap ssl = start tls".
  • Fix renaming/deleting of files using Windows clients.
  • Fix renaming/deleting a "not matching/resolving" symlink.
  • Fix remotely adding a share via the Windows MMC.
system-config-samba
system-config-samba has been updated to version 1.2.71.

5.9. System Daemons

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/SystemDaemons

TBD

5.10. Server Tools

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/ServerTools

This section highlights changes and additions to the various GUI server and system configuration tools in Fedora 10.

5.11. File Systems

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/FileSystems

5.11.1. Ext4 - The default file system

  • Serious notes needed about upgrading and downgrading. Following content uses this reference: http://kernelnewbies.org/Ext4
  • Improvements in file systems and sizes
    • File system size increased to one exabyte (1 EiB)
    • File size limit is sixteen terabytes (16 TiB)
    • No limit on number of sub-directories
  • Performance
    • Extents increase performance in certain situations, especially large files
    • Multiblock allocation is a new file block allocation method with faster write speed
    • These combine with delayed allocation of blocks for better performance and fragmentation

5.12. X Window System (Graphics)

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Xorg

This section contains information related to the X Window System implementation, X.Org, provided with Fedora.
Third-party Video Drivers
Refer to the Xorg third-party drivers page for detailed guidelines on using third-party video drivers: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Xorg/3rdPartyVideoDrivers

6. Changes in Fedora for developers

6.1. Development

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Devel

This section covers various development tools and features.

6.2. Runtime

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Documentation_Development_Runtime_Beat

TBD

6.3. Tools

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Devel/Tools

The following packages are new or updated for Fedora 11:

6.3.1. Applicance Tools

ace
The ace suite of appliance tools has been upgraded to version 0.0.6, including ace, ace-apache, ace-banners, ace-basic-site, ace-mysql, ace-php, ace-postgres, and ace-ssh

6.3.2. Languages

clisp
clisp (Common Lisp) has been updated to 2.47. There are a number of changes, please review the project's site (http://clisp.cons.org).
gcc
The gcc compiler suite has been updated to 4.4.0 including gcc, gcc-c++, gcc-gfortran, gcc-gnat, and gcc-objc.

Warning

Some of the changes involve syntax changes which have the potential to break existing code. Please review the NEWS files at http://gcc.gnu.org carefully before upgrading.
gcl
GNU Common Lisp is updated to 2.68pre. This long awaited release fixes a great many bugs. Project site: (http://www.gnu.org/software/gcl)
gforth
Fast and portable implementation of the ANS Forth language
Fedora 11 includes version 0.7.0 of gforth.
There are a large number of changes to gforth in this release. The developer is strongly encouraged to view the project site before proceeding.
Project site: (http://www.jwdt.com/~paysan/gforth.html)
gprolog
GNU Prolog has been updated to version 1.3.1. The changes since 1.3.0 are largely of a bug fix nature. The programmer may wish to review the NEWS file at http://www.gprolog.org/NEWS.
iasl
The Intel Advanced Configuration and Power Interface compiler has been upgraded to version 20090123. This is the first update since 2006 and a number of functions have changed names. The developer should review http://www.acpica.org/download/changes.txt before proceeding.
mingw32-gcc
Fedora 11 now includes the MinGW compiler. This is a major new feature allowing developers to build application for Windows and Linux from the same source code.
nasm
nasm has been upgraded from 2.03.01 to 2.05.01. This change involves a large number of bug fixes as well as the addition of a number of new directives. See the project's change list at http://www.nasm.us/doc/nasmdocc.html for complete details.
ocaml
Some of the highlights in release 3.11 are:
  • The Dynlink library is now available in native code on some platforms.
  • ocamldebug is now supported under Windows (MSVC and Mingw ports) but without the replay feature. (Contributed by Dmitry Bely and Sylvain Le Gall at OCamlCore with support from Lexifi.)
  • New port: MacOS X, AMD/Intel, 64 bits.
For more information, please consult the comprehensive list of changes at http://caml.inria.fr/pub/distrib/ocaml-3.11/notes/Changes.
pl
The Edinburgh compatible Prolog compiler has been updated to 5.7.6. In addition to a number of bugfixes, enhancements include faster labeling for complex optimization expressions, improvements in handling additional dialects, smarter loading of libraries and extensions to YAP compatibility. Project site: (http://www.swi-prolog.org)
sbcl
Version 1.0.25 of Steel Bank Common Lisp includes a large number of enhancements and fixes over the previous 1.0.21 version. See http://sbcl.sourceforge.net/news.html for a complete list.
ucblogo
Version 6.0 of ucblogo fixes a problem with the PowerPC.
yasm
Complete rewrite of the NASM assembler. Changes from 0.7.1 to 0.7.2:
  • Add PIC support to 64-bit Mach-O.
  • Add --prefix and --suffix options for naming globals.
  • Make "rel foo wrt ..gotpc" generate GOTPCREL in elf64 (alias for "rel foo wrt ..gotpcrel").
  • Add support for newly specified AVX/AES instructions not in original spec.
  • Remove invalid 256-bit form of VPBLENDVB.
  • Optimize non-strict push with 66h override to byte size if possible.
  • Fix address printing in bin map file.
  • Fix GAS syntax handling of no section flags.
  • Name the absolute symbol in coff/win32/win64 output.
  • Miscellaneous other fixes.

6.3.3. Debug tools

alleyoop
Version 0.9.4 of alleyoop is a minor bugfix update.
memtest86+
Stand-alone memory tester for x86 and x86-64 computers updated to 2.10. Enhancements in v2.10 :
  • Added support for Intel Core i7 (Nehalem) CPU
  • Added support for Intel Atom Processors
  • Added support for Intel G41/G43/G45 Chipsets
  • Added support for Intel P43/P45 Chipsets
  • Added support for Intel US15W (Poulsbo) Chipset
  • Added support for Intel EP80579 (Tolapai) SoC CPU
  • Added support for ICH10 Southbridge (SPD/DMI)
  • Added detection for Intel 5000X
  • Now fully aware of CPU w/ L3 cache (Core i7 & K10)
  • Added workaround for DDR3 DMI detection
  • Fixed Intel 5000Z chipset detection
  • Fixed Memory Frequency on AMD K10
  • Fixed cache detection on C7/Isaiah CPU
  • Fix Memtest86+ not recognized as Linux Kernel
nemiver
In addition to some bug fixes, 0.6.4 of nemiver now allows setting breakpoints even when it cannot get the current source editor.
pylint
pylint 0.16.0 includes a number of bug fixes and minor enhancements. See the project site at http://www.logilab.org/projects/pylint for complete details.
valgrind
3.4.0 is a feature release with many significant improvements and the usual collection of bug fixes. This release supports X86/Linux, AMD64/Linux, PPC32/Linux and PPC64/Linux. Support for recent distros (using gcc 4.4, glibc 2.8 and 2.9) has been added. See the complete valgrind release notes at http://www.valgrind.org/docs/manual/dist.news.html.

6.3.4. Documentation Tools

colordiff
colordiff has been updated to 1.08a. Changes (from the project website) include: Support for numeric colours added, for 256-colour terminals (thanks to Gautam Iyer). Diff-types can now be specified explicitly, for use when diff-type detection doesn't work or isn't possible. Return diff's exit code, patch from Tim Connors. Allow extraneous diff text to be coloured separately.
doxygen
doxygen 1.5.8 includes a completely rewritten doxywizard, enhanced extension mapping, support for Vietnamese and better support for Turkish. In addition there are numerous bug fixes as outlined in http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/changelog.html.
highlight
Version 2.7 of highlight includes (from http://www.andre-simon.de/):
  • improved XML- and VHDL highlighting
  • added support for Clojure
  • added wrapping arrows in LaTeX output
texinfo
Version 4.13 of texinfo includes a reference card, better support for HTML, and support for multibyte character sets. For full details, see the project site: http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/.

6.3.5. IDEs and Editors

emacs
Release 22.3 of emacs is primarily concerned with cleaning out old/obsolete features. See the NEWS file (http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/NEWS.22.3) for full details.
eric
Fedora 11 includes version 4.3.0 of the eric Python IDE. See http://eric-ide.python-projects.org/eric-news.html for full details.
ipython
ipython 0.9.1 is included, an update from 0.8.4. This is a major release. See http://ipython.scipy.org/announcements/ann-ipython-0.9.txt for the full story.
monodevelop
monodevelop 1.9.2 includes a large number of new features. You can review these features at http://monodevelop.com/Release_notes_for_MonoDevelop_2.0_Beta_1.
plt-scheme
This is a bugfix release.

6.3.6. Issue and Bug Tracking Tools

mantis
mantis has been upgraded to 1.1.6. "This release fixes once and for all the caching troubles from previous stable releases, some access permissions bugs, and a few various other issues. This release also improves the existing source control integration by allowing remote checkins." For a complete list of all other changes see http://www.mantisbt.org/.
trac
0.11.3 of trac contains a number of new features, including a new template engine for generating content, new configurable workflow, and finer grained control of permissions.
trac-mercurial-plugin
trac-mercurial-plugin 0.11.0.7 works with the trac 0.11 release, and provides added features including quickjump to a tag or branch, blame support, and custom property renderers.

6.3.7. Lexical and Parsing Tools

bison
Fedora 11 includes version 2.4.1 of bison. This is a minor upgrade.

6.3.8. Make and Build Tools

automake
automake 1.10.2 improvements:
  • Changes to Libtool support:
    • distcheck works with Libtool 2.x even when LT_OUTPUT is used, as config.lt is removed correctly now.
  • Miscellaneous changes:
    • The manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL 1.3.
    • When automake --add-missingcommand> causes the COPYING file to be installed, it will also warn that the license file should be added to source control.
In addition a few bugs were fixed.
cmake
cmake has been upgraded to version 2.6.3. This update includes many bug fixes. For a complete list visit http://www.cmake.org/files/v2.6/CMakeChangeLog-2.6.3.
cpanspec
Fedora 11 includes version 1.78 of cpanspec. In addition to a number of bug fixes, there are some additional command line options.
meld
meld 1.2.1:
  • Pygtk version 2.8 now required
  • Port to gtk.UIManager
  • Handle spaces in svn paths
  • Command-line auto-compare all option on startup (Ondrej Novy)
  • Command-line can launch several comparisons
  • Several UI tweaks (better focus behavior, better defaults)
patchutils
Version 0.3.1 includes a number of minor enhancements and bug fixes.

6.3.9. Revision Control Tools

bzr
bzr has been upgraded to 1.12 which includes a large number of new features and bug fixes over the 1.7 version in Fedora 10. The bzr user is encouraged to visit the project's webpage at http://www.bazaar-vcs.org/ to review these improvements.
cvs2svn
cvs2svn has been updated to 2.2.0. In addition to bugfixes, there are a large number of new features. Visit http://cvs2svn.tigris.org/source/browse/cvs2svn/tags/2.2.0/CHANGES for the details.
darcs
Version 2.2.0 of darcs includes a number of new features in addition to a number of bugfixes. See the changelog at http://allmydata.org/trac/darcs-2/browser/NEWS.
giggle
Most important changes in 0.4.90:
  • The user interface has been cleaned up dramatically.
  • The file browing view was restored and has annotation support now.
  • The compact view is gone.
  • There are the basics of a plugin system now.
  • The revision view shows avatars retreived from Gravatar.
git
git has been updated to 1.6.2. In addition to other changes, the Fedora packages now follow upstream defaults and install the majority of git-* commands outside the default PATH. If you have scripts that call git-* binaries, you are encouraged to change them to use the git foo style. If this is not feasible, you can adjust your PATH. Git provides a convenient method to do this: 
	      PATH=$(git --exec-path):$PATH
It is worth noting that git hooks are run with $(git --exec-path) in their PATH.
mercurial
Version 1.1.2 is included in Fedora 11 with a large number of new features. See the release notes for mercurial at http://www.selenic.com/mercurial/wiki/index.cgi/WhatsNew.
monotone
monotone 0.42 includes the following changes:
  • The output of automate show_conflicts has been changed; a default resolution for file content conflicts and user resolutions for other conflict types has been added. directory_loop_created changed to directory_loop.
  • The French, Brazilian-Portuguese and Japanese translations were outdated and thus have been removed from the distribution. In case you care about them and want them back, drop us a note at monotone-devel@nongnu.org.
and the following new features:
  • New mtn ls duplicates command which lets you list duplicated files in a given revision or the workspace.
  • New option --no-workspace, to make monotone ignore any workspace it might have been run in.
  • New command group mtn conflicts * provides asynchronous conflict resolutions for merge and propagate.
  • New automate file_merge command which runs the internal line merger on two files from two revisions and outputs the result.
  • New automate lua command with which lua functions, like monotone hooks, can be called over automate. This is particularily useful to get user defaults, like ignorable files, branch keys and passwords, which are managed through one or more monotonerc files.
  • New automate read_packets command which reads data packets like public keys similar to mtn read.
  • merge and propagate accept user commit messages; the merge rev rev or propagate branch branch message will be prefixed to the user message. --no-prefix removes the prefix.
as well as a number of bugfixes.
subversion
User-visible changes in 1.5.5:
  • allow prop commits on dirs with modified children
  • make Cyrus auth implementation always prefer EXTERNAL to ANONYMOUS
  • do not create mergeinfo for wc-wc moves or copies
  • do not autoupgrade old BDB filesystems to 1.5 or 1.4 format
  • return mergeinfo to prior state during reverse merges
  • remove mergeinfo deleted by merge
  • make proxy slaves pass through txn GET and PROPFIND requests
  • merge can now use targets with inconsistent newlines2
  • don't allow empty-string changelists
  • remove false positive ra_neon mergeinfo errors
  • improve performance of svn merge --reintegrate
  • fixed: foreign merges keep UUID of foreign repository
  • fixed: properly encode diff headers used in conflict resolution
  • fixed: segfault in svn cp --parents
  • fixed: mergeinfo for '...' maps to empty revision range
  • fixed: segfault in BDB backend node-origins cache
  • fixed: broken merge if target's history includes resurrections
  • fixed: invalid mergeinfo created on a subtree during merge
svn2cl
svn2cl has been updated to 0.11. Changes since release 0.10:
  • small portability improvements
  • fix for OpenBSD's ksh
tkcvs
Changes in version 8.2:
  • The Branch Browser can now draw merge arrows for merges tracked by Subversion 1.5's mergeinfo property and CVSNT's mergepoint feature. The work-around of using tags is no longer necessary, if your Subversion or CVSNT server and client support their own merge tracking.
  • The Branch Browser has a new search ability, so you can highlight a revision on the diagram by its version, date, tag, or author.
  • The Log button in the Branch Browser always produces a full log of revisions on the selected branch instead of inappropriately following the Directory Browser's "Log Detail" setting.
  • If your SVN repository has a structure that's functionally similar to trunk, branches, and tags but with different names, you can tell TkCVS about it by setting variables in tkcvs_def.tcl:
    • cvscfg(svn_trunkdir)
    • cvscfg(svn_branchdir)
    • cvscfg(svn_tagdir)

6.3.10. Other Development Tools

amqp
The AMQP specification has been updated to 1.0.738618 reflecting recent work on the specification. Project site: http://www.amqp.org.
binutils
binutils has been updated to 2.19.51.0.2. This is a minor update, see http://sources.redhat.com/binutils.
coccinelle (spatch)
coccinelle enables semantic patches to be written for C code, particularly Linux kernel patches.
See the LWN article about semantic patching (http://lwn.net/Articles/315686/) and the Coccinelle home page (http://www.emn.fr/x-info/coccoinelle).
cproto
In addition to a few bugfixes, the following changes have been made:
  • modify cpp command to redirect stderr to /dev/null if -q option is given, for consistency with the non-cpp mode
  • add configure --disable-leaks option.
  • use configure macro CF_XOPEN_SOURCE macro to make mkstemp() prototyped on Linux.
  • remove isascii() usage.
http://freshmeat.net/projects/cproto/
elfutils
elfutils has been updated to 0.140 (from 0.137). In addition to a number of bug fixes, it adds Intel SSE4 disassembler support and automatic decompression of ELF files. For the full story, see the NEWS file at http://fedorahosted.org/elfutils/browser/NEWS.
libtool
Fedora 11 includes libtool 2.2.6, which is a complete rewrite of the version 1.5 in Fedora 10. The upstream project has released a number of interim versions which were not reflected in Fedora. For a complete history, see http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/news.html.
livecd-tools
livecd-tools version 021 includes a number of bug fixes and corrects some oversights, including support for ext4 filesystems and creating large ISOs using UDF.
mcrypt
Version 2.6.8 of mcrypt is largely a source code cleanup and should not affect functionality. See the NEWS file for details.
scons
scons 1.2.0 is a minor upgrade to 1.0.0. See http://www.scons.org/CHANGES.txt for a detailed list of changes.
srecord
Version 1.46 includes the following changes:
  • There is a new option for the --x-e-length filters, they can now accept a width, and this is divided into the byte length, so that you can insert the length in units of words (2) or longs (4).
  • Some small corrections have been made to the documentation.
  • The -minimum and -maximum options have been renamed -minimum-address and -maximum-address, to avoid a command line grammar syntax problem.
swig
swig is a package which connects C/C++/Objective C to some high-level programming languages. Fedora 11 includes version 1.3.38 with a number of changes:
  • Enhancement to directors to wrap all protected members
  • Optimisation feature for objects returned by value
  • A few bugs fixes in the PHP, Java, Ruby, R, C#, Python, Lua and Perl modules
  • Other minor generic bug fixes
Project site: (http://swig.sourceforge.net/)
translate-toolkit
translate-toolkit has been updated to 1.3.0. There are a large number of changes which affect specific languages. See the ChangeLog file for full details.

6.4. Java

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Java

6.4.1. netbeans

netbeans has been updated to version 6.5. netbeans 6.5 is a significant update of netbeans 6.1 and includes the following changes:
  • PHP support with code completion, Xdebug and web service features.
  • JavaFX 1.0 supports animation, graphics and media codecs for rich content application development.
  • New Support for Groovy and Grails.
  • Improved JavaScript, AJAX and Ruby support.
  • Automatic Compile and Deploy on Save for Java and Java EE applications.
  • Improved database support: SQL history, SQL completion, and results viewing and editing improvements.
  • Improved Java ME support for Data Binding, SVG and Custom Component creation.
  • GUI Builder: Support for Nimbus and simple class names.
  • JUnit: single test method support.
  • Debugger: Redesign of Step into feature.
For information about the main development features in NetBeans IDE, see:

6.5.  Eclipse

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Documentation_Development_Eclipse_Beat

eclipse has been updated to 3.4.2. Along with this update, many plugins and tools have also been updated. These are largely bugfix updates and with a few exceptions, users should not see any differences.
Users should visit the Eclipse web site at http://www.eclipse.org/ for the latest news on Eclipse.
Version 1.2.1 of eclipse-phpeclipse corrects a problem with word selection. See http://phpeclipse.net/.
The pydev-mylen has been updated to 1.4.4. See http://pydev.sourceforge.net for details.

6.6. Haskell

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Documentation_Development_Haskell_Beat

The Fedora Haskell SIG has been busy updating Haskell packages and our Packaging Guidelines. The new guidelines and cabal2spec now make it very easy to package Haskell Cabal packages for Fedora.
For Fedora 11 the various packages have been updated to new versions including ghc-6.10.1, darcs-2.2.0, ghc-gtk2hs-0.10.0. Newly added packages include cabal-install, cpphs, ghc-HTTP, ghc-paths, ghc-zlib.
There is also a new #fedora-haskell IRC channel on Freenode for discussion.

6.7. Embedded Development

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Documentation_Embedded_Development_Beat

Fedora 11 includes a range of packages to support development of embedded applications on various targets. There is broad support for the AVR and related parts as well as for the Microchip PIC. In addition, there are packages to support development on older, less popular parts such as the Z80, 8051, and others. For a more complete description see Packages for embedded development on the wiki .
Fedora 11 includes version 5.1 of dfu-programmerpackage>, a command-line programmer for Atmel (8051 & AVR) chips with a USB bootloader supporting ISP. A command line option was added to support the AVR32 trampoline. All known Atmel USB AVR/8051/AVR32 devices are now supported.

6.8. Backwards Compatibility

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/BackwardsCompatibility

Fedora provides legacy system libraries for compatibility with older software. This software is part of the Legacy Software Development group, which is not installed by default. Users who require this functionality may select this group either during installation or after the installation process is complete. To install the package group on a Fedora system, use Applications > Add/Remove Software or enter the following command in a terminal window: 
			su -c 'yum groupinstall "Legacy Software Development"'
Enter the password for the root account when prompted.

6.9. Linux Kernel

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Documentation_Kernel_Beat

TBD

7. Changes in Fedora for specific audiences

7.1. What's new in science and mathematics

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Documentation_Scientific_and_Technical_Beat

Fedora 11 includes a range of packages for science and mathematics. The following packages have been updated for Fedora 11.

7.1.1. Mathematics

freefem++
freefem++ is a finite element analysis package which has been updated to 3.0.
Highlights:
  • complete change of the graphical interface (freefem++ replaced freefem++-nw)
  • added medit (visualization software by P. Frey) inside freefem++ under the name ffmedit
  • the IDE version is gone until Antoine Le Hyaric makes a good one see: http://www.ann.jussieu.fr/~lehyaric/ffcs
  • introduced client-server architecture freefem++
  • ffglut visualizer using glut library
Full upstream changelog is here: http://www.freefem.org/ff++/ftp/INNOVATION

7.1.2. Chemistry

gabedit
gabedit is a gui for a number of computational chemistry packages. Highlights of version 2.1.17 include:
  • full undo/redo for geometry changes
  • full control over displayed bonds
  • support for reading connectivities from gabedit, hin, pdb, mol2 and mol files
  • molecular dynamics conformational searches using MM potential (Amber 99) and Semi-Empirical method (from Open Mopac or PCGamess)
  • migration from GDK drawing functions to Cairo
  • geometry and plots can be exported to eps, ps, pdf or svg formats
For complete details see the upstream changelog at: http://sites.google.com/site/allouchear/Home/gabedit/download/changelog

7.2. Electronic Design Automation

Fedora Electronic Lab is Fedora's high-end hardware design and simulation platform. This platform provides different hardware design flows based on the semiconductor industry's current trend. FEL maps in three methodologies {design, simulation and verification} with opensource EDA software.
FEL's website : http://chitlesh.fedorapeople.org/FEL/.
The latest methodology included on FEL platform is the means for verifications and debugging for digital based designs.
The perl modules included for F11 brings a new methodology under the Fedora umbrella. This methodology is Verification together with possibilities for co-simulation based design and simulation. Fedora remains the sole linux distribution distributing FEL methodologies for hardware design, simulation and verification.
Updates of the existing RPM packages have improved design experience in terms of development time and debugging. While FEL understands Moore's Law is important for its userbase, these improvements will allow users to design a more efficient and successful designs with opensource software.
These enhancements brought to the Fedora umbrella increase chances that Fedora users can complete their high-end hardware design even if scaled to 90nm and wrap up their project with final tapeout.
FEL bridges 2 different opensource communities :
  • opensource software community
  • opensource hardware community
After 3 consecutive and successive releases, FEL/Fedora is regarded as the Leader in this field by both communities due to its 3-years experience and quality EDA solutions.
Below entails the highlights of the major development items to put the quality barrier higher than the previous releases:
  • Perl modules to extend vhdl and verilog support. These perl modules together with rawhide's gtkwave improves chip testing support.
  • Introduction of Verilog-AMS modeling into ngspice
  • Improved VHDL debugging support with gcov.
  • Improved support for re-usable HDL packages as IP core
  • Improved PLI support on both iverilog and ghdl
  • Introduction of C-based methodologies for HDL testbenches and models.
  • Improved co-simulation based hardware design.
  • Introduction of design tools for DSP design flow
Users who are using the standard fedora live media and even 
      yum groupinstall 'Electronic Lab'
to deploy this high-end hardware design, simulation and verification platform.

7.3. What's new for amateur radio operators

This beat is located here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/AmateurRadio

Fedora 11 includes a number of applications and libraries that are of interest to amateur radio operators and electronic hobbyists. Many of these applications are included in the Fedora Electronic Lab spin. For a complete list of amateur radio applications available within Fedora see Applications for amateur radio on the wiki.

7.3.1. Sound card applications

fldigi
Fedora 11 includes version 3.10 of fldigi. Changes from Fedora 10 include many enhancements to the waterfall and logging, along with dozens of minor changes to the user interface and bug fixes. For a complete list of changes see the upstream project's site at http://www.w1hkj.com/fldigi-distro/
xfhell
Version 1.9 of xfhell includes some improvements in handling the PTT line and additional flexibility in adjusting window sizes, as well as some bug fixes. The project's site is at http://5b4az.chronos.org.uk/pages/digital.html
soundmodem
soundmodem is now back in Fedora. soundmodem 0.10 provides a way to use your sound card as a modem for digital applications such as AX.25. The upstream's project page is http://www.baycom.org/~tom/ham/soundmodem/
HamFax
HamFax 0.54 is new to Fedora. HamFax is an application for sending and receiving facsimiles in amateur radio and for receiving public facsimile broadcasts like weather maps. Supported interfaces are sound cards and the SCS-PTCII from Special Communication Systems.
wxapt
wxapt is a console application for decoding and saving weather images transmitted in the APT format of NOAA and METEOR satellites. wxapt is a new addition to Fedora.

7.3.2. Software Defined Radio

gnuradio
gnuradio has been updated to version 3.1.3. This is largely a bugfix update.

7.3.3. Circuit Design and Simulation

The gEDA suite has been updated to 20081231. This includes the packages geda-docs, geda-examples, geda-gattrib, geda-gnetlist, geda-gschem, geda-gsymcheck, geda-symbols and geda-utils. These are all bugfix releases. In addition, gerbv, pcb, and ngspice are a part of the gEDA suite, but released separately.
gerbv
gerbv 2.1.0 includes improvements to object selection, improved exporting, and more flexibility in dealing with drill files. The complete release notes for this package can be found at http://gerbv.sourceforge.net/ANNOUNCEMENT-2.1.0
pcb
pcb has been updated to 20081128. Included among the improvements is a new 'Ben mode' that exports a 'photograph' of the board as a .png file. There are also some minor improvements in drill handling and a number of bug fixes. The complete release notes for this version are available at http://pcb.sourceforge.net/news.html#20081128
ngspice
ngspice has been updated to version 18. Changes include:
  • Tclspice simulator library has been merged with ngspice. Now you can compile ngapice or tclspice by asserting a configure switch. See README.tcl
  • New options have been introduced: brief, listing, autostop and scale
  • Support for .lib file has been introduced. This allows the use of third party model libraries in ngspice.
  • .measure statements: avg, integ, rms, max, min, delay, param
  • .global statements t support for global nodes whose name is not expanded when flattening the netlist.
  • .func macros for inlining functions into netlists
  • Improved the numparam library to support fully parametrized netlists.
  • BSIM model binning.
  • new multi-input gate VCVS using XSPICE extensions.
iverilog
iverliog has been updated to 0.9.20081118. This is largely a bugfix update.

7.3.4. Logging and related applications

LinLog
LinLog has been updated to version 0.4.

Note

Before updating to 0.4 you should export your database to ADIF. Then install 0.4, create a new database, and import the ADIF. Step-by-step instructions are available at http://linlogbook.sourceforge.net/doc/LinLocDoc.html
qle
qle 0.0.10 is new to Fedora 11. qle is a graphic QSO log viewer, log editor and QSO logger. It logs (or modifies) QSOs directly in a fast and light-weight SQLite database.
ibp
A tool to show which IBP beacons are transmitting. The International Beacon Project is a set of 18 amateur (ham) radio transmitters around the world, each of which transmit every 3 minutes on a set of 5 short-wave frequencies. This allows short-wave radio users to quickly assess the current worldwide propagation conditions. Much more information can be found on http://www.ncdxf.org/beacons.html
xwota
xwota is intended for amateur radio operators who want to make use of the WOTA database. It can be used to find out who is on the air, the band and frequency they are operating on, and their location by country, state, county, grid, and latitude/longitude. xwota is new to Fedora 11.
If you don't known what is the WOTA database, please read some infos at http://www.wotadb.org.

7.3.5. Antenna Modeling

xnec2c
Fedora includes nec2c, the powerful antenna modeling program, and xnec2c which provides a graphical user interface to nec2c. Both of these packages have been updated to version 1.2 in Fedora 11. The changes are minor bugfixes. Project site: http://5b4az.chronos.org.uk/pages/nec2.html

7.3.6. Internet and Related Applications

thebridge
thebridge is an ILink/EchoLink compatible conference bridge. This is a new feature in Fedora 11.
cwirc
X-Chat plugin for sending and receiving raw morse code over IRC. New to Fedora 11.
svxlink-server
svxlink server is a general purpose voice services system for ham radio use. Each voice service is implemented as a plugin called a module. Some examples of voice services are: Help system, Simplex repeater, EchoLink connection. The core of the system handles the radio interface and is quite flexible as well. It can act both as a simplex node and as a repeater controller. svxlink-server 0.10.1 is new to Fedora with this release. For programmers, there is also a development package, svxlink-server-devel.
qtel
qtel 0.11.1 is an Echolink client. Note that it is a client only, not a full link. If you want to create a link, install svxlink-server. If you need a conference bridge, use thebridge. qtel is new with Fedora 11.

7.3.7. Other applications

hamlib
Fedora 11 includes version 1.28 of hamlib. There are a large number of new models supported and fixes to support for existing models. There are a number of new commands. See the project's website at http://hamlib.sourceforge.net for complete details.
xdx
The DX cluster client xdx has been updated to 2.4.1. This is a bugfix update
xdemorse
xdemorse has been updated to 1.3. This is a bugfix update.
ssbd
ssbd (Single-Side Band daemon) is voice keyer for hamradio use. It's written as part of Tucnak, contest log for VHF contests, but is possible to use ssbd with any other program. ssbd is new to Fedora with this release.
gpsman
gpsman has been updated to 6.4. See the details at http://www.ncc.up.pt/gpsman/wGPSMan_4.html
splat
splat-utils has been removed from Fedora and the contents included in the splat package. It is no longer necessary to install splat-utils to use splat.

A. Legal Information

The Fedora Project is sponsored by Red Hat, Inc.

A.1.  License

The Fedora License Agreement is included with each release. A reference version is available on the Fedora Project website: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal/Licenses/LicenseAgreement This document is licensed under the terms of the Open Publication License v1.0 without options: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal/Licenses/OPL

A.2. Trademarks

'Fedora' and the Fedora logo are trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. and are subject to the terms of the Fedora Trademark Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal/TrademarkGuidelines All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

A.3. External References

This document may link to other resources that are not under the control of and are not maintained by the Fedora Project. Red Hat, Inc. is not responsible for the content of those resources. We provide these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link to such a resource does not imply endorsement by the Fedora Project or Red Hat of that resource. We reserve the right to terminate any link or linking program at any time.

A.4.  Export

Certain export restrictions may apply to Fedora Project releases. Refer to http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal/Export for more details.

A.5. Legal Information

The following legal information concerns some software in Fedora. Portions Copyright (c) 2002-2007 Charlie Poole or Copyright (c) 2002-2004 James W. Newkirk, Michael C. Two, Alexei A. Vorontsov or Copyright (c) 2000-2002 Philip A. Craig

A.6. More Information

Additional legal information surrounding this document and Fedora Project releases is available on the Fedora Project website: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal

B. Revision History

Revision History
Revision 1.3Tue Mar 31 2009John McDonough
Development Tools updates
Revision 1.2Mon Mar 30 2009John McDonough
Add changes in boot menu
New Gnome and KDE content
Multimedia Beat
Revision 1.1Sun Mar 15 2009John McDonough
Add Scientific and Technical section
Revision 1.0Tue Feb 10 2009Ryan Lerch
First Draft