From: d-safford@tamu.edu (Dave Safford)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Subject: ANNOUNCE: TAMU.99p12 Source and Binary Release
Date: 16 Sep 1993 23:39:09 GMT
Approved: linux-announce@tc.cornell.edu (Matt Welsh)
Message-ID: <27atet$lp6@samba.oit.unc.edu>
[]
ANNOUNCING TAMU.99p12+ Linux Release
DESCRIPTION:
TAMU.99p12+ is the latest release in the TAMU linux series. Unlike
previous releases, this one includes both *integrated source* and binary
sets, with the entire binary set created from a single top level source
make. This ensures that all programs are compiled and linked with the
same current tools and libraries, and guarantees availability of working
source for every program in the binary set.
In addition, the new boot diskette fully automates the installation
process, including partitioning, lilo bootstrapping, and network
configuration. Installation requires no rebooting, and requires the
user to know only the host's name and IP address. At every step of
installation, the program provides intelligent defaults, making it
a snap for novices, while allowing experts full flexibility in setting
installation parameters. Reliability has been improved over past TAMU
installation by the use of labels on all disk images, so that the
program can detect and recover from bad or misordered diskettes.
This release is a full featured package, including XFree86-1.3,
emacs-19.18, net-2, bootutils, and sources for all installation
programs (without any use restrictions :-). A full list of all
included packages is included at the end of this announcement.
AVAILABILITY:
The binary and source sets are available in both diskette image and
untarred directories at net.tamu.edu (128.194.177.1), in the directory
pub/linux/TAMU.99p12
This directory contains a copy of this announcement, along with
readme files "INSTALL.BIN" and "INSTALL.SRC" with respective
installation instructions. The FTP server supports the automated
retrieval of directory hierarchies, so that any portion of the untarred
sets can be retrieved. Note: the previous TAMU releases are still
located at sc.tamu.edu. The move to the new server was necessitated to
provide adequate space for the tarred and untarred sources in the new
release.
REQUIREMENTS:
The binary set includes 1 boot, and 14 bin diskette images, and the
source set includes 35 diskette images (17 and 42 respectively for 5.25
inch diskettes). When installed, the binary set needs about 70MB of
disk space (this includes swap and filesystem overhead). The sources
take an additional 200MB, and need around another 50MB temporarily
during compilation. Individual packages within the sources can be
compiled independently, so you don't have to retrieve all 200MB to
modify one program. The source packages have, however, been configured
to compile under the TAMU.99p12 binary set, so there are no guarantees
they will compile on other systems.
PHILOSOPHY:
The source release is based on an integrated set of source packages.
This combines the advantages of a BSD style fully integrated release
(single top level make ...), with the flexibility of separate source
packages (it's easy to drop in new versions as they appear).
As for the religeous arguments related to the One True Directory
Structure, this release balances both esthetic and pragmatic approaches
to the problem. On the esthetic side, one goal was to move programs
from the root filesystem (ie from /bin and /etc) that are neither
specific to the local host, nor needed for booting. In addition,
/var is a place to catch things that were in /usr that should be local.
As for the pragmatic aspects, the sources are comprised of some 200MB
of code written by a large number of people, and one goal was to
respect their consensus view. Moving programs out of bin (such as
rm) would break enormous amounts of code, fly in the face of the
majority expectation, and not really gain much. Many of these
pragmatic considerations are not obvious until you try to make the
stage 2 operating system (ie until you try to compile the full sources
with an operating system made from the sources.)
One major accomplishment was to move all release programs out of
/usr/local. As shipped, /usr/local is empty, so that it is easy to
recognize user installed packages. If it is in /usr/local, it really
is local.
FUTURE PLANS:
The obvious next steps include bug fixes, and the incorporation
of additional software packages. A major goal for the mythical "1.0"
release will be the integration of a solid package installation/removal
system along the lines of the one in Solaris 2.x.
CONTACTS:
Please send questions, comments, and bug fixes to:
dave safford
d-safford@tamu.edu
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
Thanks to Khalid Warraich, who built the first draft, and contributed
a really nice set of init scripts.
MORE DETAILED CONTENTS:
boot: (tamu boot diskette src)
doc:
linux-0.99.12: (with posted patch)
bin:
bash-1.12 elvis-1.7 fileutils-3.4 gzip-1.2.3 ps-0.99.10 pwd
shadow-3.0 tar-1.11.1 tcsh-6.03 tput-1.0 utilb-1.3
etc:
bootutils-0.1 e2fsprogs-0.3 efsprogs init lilo-11 net-010 net2pch
poeigl-1.11 rpc-0.9 tamu_install tftp-5.1 time utile-1.5
usr.X386:
XFree86-1.3 Xlock xfm1.2 xinvaders.p2 xlock xsol xtetris-2.5.2
xxgdb-1.06
usr.bin:
a2ps as86 binutils-1.9l bison-1.19 diff-2.1 emacs-19.18 file-1.25
find-3.8 finger-5.22 flex-2.3.7 ftp-5.9 gas-1.38.1l gawk-2.15.2
gcc-2.4.5 gdb-4.6 grep-1.6 groff-1.08 kermit ld86 less-177 make-3.63
man-1.1 mtools-2.0.5 patch-2.0.12u8 perl-4.036 rcp-5.32 rlogin-5.33
rsh-5.24 ruptime-5.7 rwho-5.5 sed-1.13 shellutils-1.8 smail-3.1.28
strace-2 talk-5.5 tamu_src telnet-5.52 term-1.05 textutils-1.4
utila-1.5 vgaset wmail-401c wnews-402
usr.etc:
bind-4.8.3l bootpd-2.1a bwnfsd fingerd-5.6 fromto ftpd-5.6 inetd-5.3
lpd-5.12 nfsd-1.4 nntpd-1.5.11 pcnfsd-1.4 ping-5.9 popd-1.001
rlogind-5.53 routed-5.23 rshd-5.38 rwhod-5.19 talkd-5.8 tcpd-1.4
tftpd-5.13
usr.lib:
libc-4.4.1(with route patch) ncurses-0.7.2 tools-2.7.5 umail-360
--
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