Filesystems

Digg This!

Page 1 of 2   next page »

If one term could be applied to the new Fedora Core 5, it could well be streamlined. The focus of this release seems to be more on the desktop user because of the changes in software management, applications support, and security configuration. The changes make the distribution much easier to use, with a new and simpler install procedure. Greater software functionality has been added with support for .NET using Mono.

Software management has undergone a major shift in orientation, from the disk-based software installation of the old system-config-packages tool to an entirely online repository software orientation. Using YUM-based repositories, the new software management tools, Pirut Package Manager and PUP updater, will download and install added and new software from Fedora repositories.

Installation Procedure
There are three key changes in the installation procedure:

• A new software install tool Pirut Package Manager that's designed to work with YUM repositories.
• The Firewall and SE Linux configuration has moved to the post-install process
• The default software configurations have changed to Office and Productivity, Software development, and Web server.

The Fedora Core 5 install program now features a new package manager, Pirut. A small set of major software categories expands to more detailed subcategories. Within each subcategory an optional panel lists the packages you can add or remove. Take the time to check out what packages are not being installed, especially for the Internet and Multimedia. For example, in the Internet collection you'll find that useful tools such as the gftp FTP application aren't selected by default. You'll have to select it manually. In Multimedia the popular K3b CD/DVD burning application isn't selected either. You can no longer just install everything, or even everything in a category.

In keeping with the more refined approach, the default software selections have been reworked and slimmed down to reflect the kind of tasks users are likely to do. Keep in mind though that these default selections still don't select everything in their categories. And you should check the optional selections to see if there are any added packages you want. Instead of a servers' default, you now just have a Web server selection. If you want other servers you'll have to select them manually.

Another major change is that the Firewall and SE Linux configuration has been removed from the install procedure and move to the post-install process. The idea behind all the changes is to not have the install process burdened with tasks that can be done better afterwards. No lengthy installing of packages and leaving security configuration until after the system is up and running.

Pirut: A Repository Model of Software Management
The Pirut Package Manager is a new package management tool that replaces the older system-config-packages there were used primarily for the disk-based packages. The Pirut Package Manager is Internet-based, installing from online repositories only, using Yum to download and install. The Package Manager is the same tool used during installation to select packages. (see Figure 1)

To start the Pirut Package Manager, select Add/Remove Software from the Applications menu. It has the same interface as descript used in the install process, but with a List button that lets you add and remove software using a single list of all the available software from all the configured repositories and a search button to search for packages.

YUM is now integrated as the primary install packages tool. When you install a package with Pirut Package Manger, YUM will be invoked and will automatically select and download the package from the appropriate online repository. This is a major change that users may not be aware of at first glance. After installing your system and you want to install additional packages, the install packages tool will now use YUM to install from an online repository rather than retrieving the packages from your CD or DVD ROM. This will include all the YUM online repositories that you may have configured such as sites like rpm.livna.org, not just the Fedora Core base, extras, and update repositories configured for you during installation.

Keep in mind that when you use the package manager to list your available software, the package manager is listing software on all the repositories taken together. The software on your CD/DVD isn't being referenced. When you click List on the package manger and you see the list of software, you're seeing the collections of all repositories together. The previous system-config-packages used in the earlier release only accessed packages on your disk.

That means that the repositories with their updated versions become the primary software source, not the disks. On the other hand, if you want to install a package from the disk, you have to do it manually with an rpm command in a terminal window.

You might think that trying to install a disk package by right-clicking on it from Gnome and selecting "install software" would install that disk package. This is not the case. The Package Manger will still be invoked and will download the package from a repository. In effect, the software packages on your disks are completely ignored after the system installation.

PUP Package Updater: No More RHN
To update your packages you now use the Package Updater Program (PUP), instead of RHN uptodate. PUP is a graphical update interface for YUM, which now does all the updates. With PUP you no longer have to update using a YUM update command entered in a terminal window. (see Figure 2)

To update from Gnome, you go to the Applications menu and select the System Tools menu. There you'll find a Package Software Updater entry with a yellow puppy logo. Selecting this starts PUP, which will list all the packages in need of update. All will be selected automatically. The checkboxes for each entry let you de-select any particular packages you may not want to update. Click the Apply button to start updating. Dependencies will be checked first. Then the packages will be downloaded from their appropriate repository. Once downloaded the packages are updated. All the YUM-compatible repositories that are configured on your system will be checked. Again, software is now seen as a set of collections on different online repositories, rather than particular disks.

Be sure to check down the list for critical installs, like a new kernel. You may or may not want such an install. Should a new kernel be installed you'll be prompted to reboot your system.

Mono & .NET support
With Mono, Fedora now provides .NET support, along with .NET applications like the Beagle desktop search tool and the F-Spot photo management tool. Mono provides an Open Source development environment for .NET applications. The Mono project is an Open Source project supported by Novell that implements a .NET Framework on Unix, Linux, and OS-X systems. Currently Mono 1.2 and 2.0 are included.

Mono is implemented on Fedora using several RPM packages. The mono-core package contains the basic Mono .NET application, including documentation, man pages, and the Mono code generator for runtime for the Common Intermediate Language. It includes Mono tools like the Mono certification manager (certmgr), a Global Assemblies Cache Manager tool (gacutil) for making assemblies available at runtime, and mcs, the Mono C# compiler. There are several separate packages for distinct features like mono-basic for Visual Basic support, mono-data for SQL database queries, and mono-web and web-forms for .NET Web support, which include the disco Web Services discovery tool, along with soapsuds and wsdl for WSDL management. A Mono language-testing tool NUnit and JavaScript packages are also included.

Fedora Core 5 Desktop Look-and-Feel: No More Red Hat - Literally
Fedora Core 5 features a new desktop look-and-feel with a new Fedora logo, as well as a new default Fedora logo screen background. The logo depicts an F encased in a blue circle. On the main panel you'll now see the blue Fedora logo as the icon for the Applications menu, instead of Red Hat's hat. The default background is the Fedora blue F logo encased in a bubble surrounded by rising bubbles. The logo even has its own package, fedora-logos. (see Figure 3)

The default theme is still clearlooks, but the latest clearlooks has a very comforting feel to it. Buttons and windows are easier to use and more pleasing to the eye. Of course numerous other themes are available from the Gnome theme manager.

The functionality of the Gnome desktop is the same as in Fedora Core 4, with Application, Places, and System menus. Fedora Core 5 will use Gnome 2.14. Gnome 2.14 features include interface changes to new applications like Ekiga (voice/video IP) and Deskbar (filesearch) as well as efficiencies in load time and memory use making for a faster response time. GEdit has been reworked to adhere to the Multiple Documentation Interface specs. New tools like F-Spot image and camera mangers and Beagle search tool are emphasized (both are .NET Mono-supported packages).

Browsing Windows shares and remote printers with Samba is now enabled from Gnome through the Gnome virtual file manager. In Fedora Core 5, the firewall and Samba Windows browsing are compatible. You can now use system-config-securitylevel to enable Samba Windows browsing (the default setting).

The terminal window is no longer part of the desktop menu. You'll find it in Applications|Accessories. A recommended terminal package is nautilus-open-terminal, easily installed with YUM.

Screensavers are no longer installed by default. They're available from the Extras repository.

New Applications
The F-Spot Photo Manager provides a simple and powerful way to manage, display, and import your photos and images. Photos can be organized by different categories such as events, people, and places. You can do standard display operations like rotation or full-screen viewing, along with slide shows. Image editing support is provided. (see Figure 4)

For administration, you have System Tap for analyzing performance bottlenecks and Frysk for analyzing running processes. With system-config-cluster, you can now manage GFS file systems using a simple GUI interface.

A preview release of the Gnome Power Manager is available, useful for managing laptop power usage.

For Java, Fedora Core 5 now includes a free Open Source Java-like environment consisting of three packages: GNU Java runtime (libgcj), the Eclipse Java compiler (ecj), and a compatibility package containing wrappers and links (java-gcj-compat). This lets applications like OpenOffice and Eclipse support Java without having to install the Java Runtime Environment from Sun. For Java runtime support install the java-1.4.2-gcj-compat package; for development use the development package. See www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/JavaFAQ for more details.

The SE Linux Reference Policy
SE Linux on Fedora Core 5 provides three possible policies: MLS, strict, and targeted. All are variations of a basic reference policy instead of the two separate targeted and strict policies used in previous editions (see serefpolicy.sourceforge.net). The SE Linux reference policy project aims to provide a basic policy that can be easily adapted and expanded as needed. The SE Linux reference policy configures SE Linux into modules that can be handled separately. You still have strict and targeted directories in your /etc/selinux, but they now each contain a modules directory. It is here that you'll find your SE Linux configurations. You can also have an mls policy for multi-layer security. The targeted policy is installed by default.

To do your own configuration, you now have to download the source code file selinux-policy from the SRPMS directory from the Fedora Core repository. Documentation for using the source files is in another source SRPMS file called selinux-doc.

SE Linux for Fedora Core 5 now features both multi-layer and multi-category security. Multi-layer security (MLS) provides a more refined security access method. MLS adds a security level value to resources. Only users with access to certain levels can access the corresponding files and applications. Access becomes more refined, instead of an all or nothing situation. Multi-category security (MCS) extends SE Linux to use by both administrators and users. Users can set categories that can restrict and control access to their files and applications.

Page 1 of 2   next page »