We’re very, very close to the final release of openSUSE 11.2!

To help promote the 11.2 release, we have banners for openSUSE 11.2 available on the openSUSE wiki, courtesy of Jakub Steiner (jimmac). They’re available in most standard ad sizes for the Web, so you should be able to find one to fit your blog or site.

When openSUSE 11.2 is released you can link to the openSUSE.org home page or to the download page for 11.2 directly.

Take a look – they’re quite good! (And no, 11.2 isn’t “out now” just yet. Unless you’re reading this on Thursday after the release, or later…)

openSUSE 11.2 banner by Jakub Steiner

openSUSE 11.2 is scheduled to be officially released in about a week (give or take a few hours…) and, as usual, we’re gearing up to press a bunch of media for shows and the ambassadors.

Typically Novell has created the artwork for the openSUSE DVDs, but this time around we had some really interesting and creative input from openSUSE contributors. Want to help choose the cover? Check out the entries and vote on your favorite!

This is it folks! We’re almost there for openSUSE 11.2. Time to grab the final 11.2 release candidate and shake out any remaining bugs to get the lizard ready for release. This release includes an updated kernel, Samba, Firefox, and more.

This release should be almost ready for the gold master stamp, but there’s still time to shake out remaining bugs. This release should not be deployed on production systems, but should be ready for early adopters and contributors who want to help with testing and development of 11.2.

Changes Since openSUSE 11.2 RC 1

Release Candidate 2 includes a few new packages, and several of the “most annoying bugs” in RC 1 have been fixed for this release. New packages include:

• Linux kernel 2.6.31.5
• SeaMonkey 2.0
• Firefox 3.5.4
• Samba 3.4.2
• xorg-x11-server 1.6.5

A more complete list can be found on the wiki and an updated list of Factory packages can be found on DistroWatch.

11.2 is looking fantastic. Want screenshots? We’ve got ‘em! Check out the shots here, and/or add your own.

Most Annoying Bugs

As this is a release candidate, we’re still shaking the release out for major bugs. However, at this point in the cycle, we’re almost ready to call 11.2 RC 2 production ready. We do know of one bug worth noting, however: The Net ISO images will call the factory repository. The URL for repositories needs to be changed from /factory/repo/oss to /factory-snapshot/repo/oss manually.

You can find more on adding repositories on the openSUSE wiki.

If any major new bugs do crop up, they will be listed on the openSUSE wiki.

Testing! Testing! Testing!

As you can see, 11.2 RC2 does have a few bugs that we know about — but there may be more lurking somewhere in the release that haven’t been found yet. If you want to make sure 11.2 final is free of Most Annoying Bugs, we’ll need your help finding, reporting, and fixing those hidden bugs.

To learn more about testing openSUSE, visit the Testing pages on the openSUSE wiki. To follow the testing and development process, we suggest that you subscribe to the openSUSE-Factory mailing list, and join the #openSUSE-Factory channel on Freenode to discuss openSUSE development.

Get Release Candidate 2 Today!

What are you waiting for? Grab the milestone release today! Downloads are available at software.opensuse.org/developer/ now.

Note, if you need to try the live CD on a machine with no CD-ROM drive, you can copy it to a USB key with the following command:

dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M

Replace “image.iso” with the name of the ISO image that you have downloaded, and replace “sdX” with the actual device name of your USB drive. Be careful! This will erase the target device, so make sure you have the correct device name and have any vital data backed up!

The final release for 11.2 is scheduled to be released on November 12, 2009. See the detailed roadmap on the on the wiki.

We’re at the home stretch. A big thanks to all the contributors who have participated in the 11.2 cycle. Without you, we’d have no openSUSE.

We’re well on the way to openSUSE 11.2! Today we’re happy to announce the first release candidate for openSUSE 11.2. This release includes quite a few bugfixes and several updates, including GNOME 2.28 final, Linux 2.6.31.3, and many others.

As the first release candidate for openSUSE 11.2, it should be almost ready for final release. However, there still are a few remaining known issues and the purpose of the release candidate is to discover any major issues before 11.2 final. It may not be suitable for production systems, but is ready for contributors who want to help with testing and development for 11.2.

What’s new in openSUSE 11.2?

The new version includes latest versions of all kind of software and delivers:

• Live version upgrade. No need to stop working while upgrading from openSUSE 11.1 to openSUSE 11.2
• Support for several social networks like Facebook, Twitter and identi.ca
• Running openSUSE from an USB stick (especially for that we ask you for testing)
• For more new stuff check this wiki page

Changes Since openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 8

Release Candidate 1 includes a few new packages, and several of the “most annoying bugs” in milestone 8 have been fixed for this release. New packages include:

• Linux kernel 2.6.31.3
• GNOME 2.28
• PulseAudio 0.9.19
• Evolution 2.28
• Qt 4.5.3
• SeaMonkey 2.0 RC 1

A more complete list can be found on the wiki and an updated list of Factory packages can be found on DistroWatch.

11.2 is looking fantastic. Want screenshots? We’ve got ‘em! Check out the shots here, and/or add your own.

Most Annoying Bugs

As this is a release candidate, 11.2 RC1 does contain a few bugs that we know about, but should not stand between courageous contributors and release testing. The most annoying known bugs in 11.2 RC 1 are:

• Bug 545753: GNOME icon is only partially visible during Desktop selection on DVD installer.
• Bug 544079: sonar: gdm panel contains GtkComboBox that is unreadable.
• Bug 546359: Messages “not a regular file or has tail and normal blocks” on console during boot caused by preload bug.
• Bug 546838: “soft” lockup on shutdown in qemu
• Bug 540482: Restart fails to restart computer
• Bug 543468: all repos are lost on update

You can track the Most Annoying Bugs on the wiki along with 11.2 development.

Testing! Testing! Testing!

As you can see, 11.2 RC1 does have a few bugs that we know about — but there may be more lurking somewhere in the release that haven’t been found yet. If you want to make sure 11.2 final is free of Most Annoying Bugs, we’ll need your help finding, reporting, and fixing those hidden bugs.

To learn more about testing openSUSE, visit the Testing pages on the openSUSE wiki. To follow the testing and development process, we suggest that you subscribe to the openSUSE-Factory mailing list, and join the #openSUSE-Factory channel on Freenode to discuss openSUSE development.

Get Release Candidate 1 Today!

What are you waiting for? Grab the milestone release today! Downloads are available at software.opensuse.org/developer/ now.

Note, if you need to try the live CD on a machine with no CD-ROM drive, you can copy it to a USB key with the following command:

dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M

Replace “image.iso” with the name of the ISO image that you have downloaded, and replace “sdX” with the actual device name of your USB drive. Be careful! This will erase the target device, so make sure you have the correct device name and have any vital data backed up!

The next and final release candidate is scheduled to be released on October 29, 2009. See the detailed roadmap on the on the wiki.

The openSUSE Project is happy to announce that the last openSUSE 11.2 Milestone  8 (M8) is available for download. Test now and give feedback via our bugzilla since this is the last milestone before the first release candidate.

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The openSUSE Project is happy to announce that the openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 7 (M7) is available for download. This release includes GNOME 2.28 beta 2, KDE 4.3.1, RPM 4.7.1, and much more.

This is a Milestone Release, one of several that lead up to the 11.2 final release in November. It may not be suitable for production systems, but is ready for contributors who want to help with testing and development for 11.2. This release is of “beta” quality, and would have been labeled a beta in past openSUSE development cycles.

Changes Since openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 6

Milestone 7 includes an initial version of the YaST2 installer theme, new KDE theming, is built with RPM 4.7.1, and adds the “–download-only” option for several Zypper commands. And, of course, it includes many updated packages:

• Linux kernel 2.6.31-rc9
• Valgrind 3.5
• Samba 3.4.0
• Evolution 2.27.91
• OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 RC 1
• Gwibber 1.2

A more complete list can be found on the wiki and an updated list of Factory packages can be found on DistroWatch.

11.2 is looking fantastic. Want screenshots? We’ve got ‘em! Check out the shots here, and/or add your own.

Most Annoying Bugs

As this is a milestone release, 11.2 M7 does contain a few bugs that we know about, but should not stand between courageous contributors and release testing. The big bugs in 11.2 M7 are:

• grub and bootsplash still use 11.1 artwork
• Bug 537343: GNOME live system asks for root password to mount
• Bug 537470: GNOME YaST Control Center cannot be started

You can track the Most Annoying Bugs on the wiki along with 11.2 development.

Testing! Testing! Testing!

As you can see, 11.2 M7 does have a few bugs that we know about — but there may be more lurking somewhere in the release that haven’t been found yet. If you want to make sure 11.2 final is free of Most Annoying Bugs, we’ll need your help finding, reporting, and fixing those hidden bugs.

To learn more about testing openSUSE, visit the Testing pages on the openSUSE wiki. To follow the testing and development process, we suggest that you subscribe to the openSUSE-Factory mailing list, and join the #openSUSE-Factory channel on Freenode to discuss openSUSE development.

Get Milestone 7 Today!

What are you waiting for? Grab the milestone release today! Downloads are available at software.opensuse.org/developer/ now.

Note, if you need to try the live CD on a machine with no CD-ROM drive, you can copy it to a USB key with the following command:

dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M

Replace “image.iso” with the name of the ISO image that you have downloaded, and replace “sdX” with the actual device name of your USB drive. Be careful! This will erase the target device, so make sure you have the correct device name and have any vital data backed up!

The next milestone is scheduled to be released on October 1, 2009. A reminder: only one more milestone release is planned for 11.2, followed by two release candidate (RC) releases. See the detailed roadmap on the on the wiki.

The openSUSE Project is happy to announce that the openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 6 (M6) is available for download. This release includes new packages on the GNOME and KDE live CDs, Python 3.1, and Linux kernel 2.6.31-rc6.

This is a Milestone Release, one of several that lead up to the 11.2 final release in November. It may not be suitable for production systems, but is ready for contributors who want to help with testing and development for 11.2.

Changes Since openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 5

Milestone 6 includes new packages on the KDE live CD (Choqok, KNode, Kompare, KSystemlog, Okteta and more) and Transmission is now on the GNOME live CD. This release includes Python 3.1, PackageKit 0.5.1, and a number of updated packages, including:

• Linux kernel 2.6.31-rc6
• Firefox 3.5.2
• GIMP 2.6.7
• GNOME 2.28 Beta
• Konversation 1.2 Alpha 6
• OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 Beta 2
• VirtualBox 3.0.4
• Wine 1.1.27

A more complete list can be found on the wiki and an updated list of Factory packages can be found on DistroWatch.

11.2 is looking fantastic. Want screenshots? We’ve got ‘em! Check out the shots here, and/or add your own.

Most Annoying Bugs

As this is a milestone release, 11.2 M6 does contain a few bugs that we know about, but should not stand between courageous contributors and release testing. The big bugs in 11.2 M6 are:

• Evolution not on the GNOME live CDs.
• Second stage of live CD installation runs in text-mode.
• Calling “Install Software” from start menus of both KDE and GNOME fails, work-around: start module over YaST Control Center.
• Downloads/updates with aria/metalink support will fail, work-around: “export ZYPP_ARIA2C=0″.

You can track the Most Annoying Bugs on the wiki along with 11.2 development.

Testing! Testing! Testing!

As you can see, 11.2 M6 does have a few bugs that we know about — but there may be more lurking somewhere in the release that haven’t been found yet. If you want to make sure 11.2 final is free of Most Annoying Bugs, we’ll need your help finding, reporting, and fixing those hidden bugs.

To learn more about testing openSUSE, visit the Testing pages on the openSUSE wiki. To follow the testing and development process, we suggest that you subscribe to the openSUSE-Factory mailing list, and join the #openSUSE-Factory channel on Freenode to discuss openSUSE development.

Get Milestone 6 Today!

What are you waiting for? Grab the milestone release today! Downloads are available at software.opensuse.org/developer/ now.

Note, if you need to try the live DVD on a machine with no CD-ROM drive, you can copy it to a USB key with the following command:

dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M

Replace “image.iso” with the name of the ISO image that you have downloaded, and replace “sdX” with the actual device name of your USB drive. Be careful! This will erase the target device, so make sure you have the correct device name and have any vital data backed up!

The next milestone is scheduled to be released on September 10. A reminder: only two more milestone releases are planned for 11.2, followed by two release candidate (RC) releases. See the detailed roadmap on the on the wiki.

Michael Löffler has announced to the opensuse-announce mailing list:

With regards to the discontinuation mail for openSUSE 10.3 sent out by Marcus the other day I’d like to clarify the changes in the maintenance period of openSUSE.

openSUSE will shorten the maintenance period to 2 versions plus 2 months which translates with the current release cycle of 8 months to 18 months instead of 24 months we had with openSUSE 11.1 and previous releases.

With that we now can guarantee an overlap time from a maintenance perspective which gives enough time to update machines to newer versions.

Best
Michael

Reactions including discussion about forming a group to provide longer life time can be found on the opensuse-project mailing list.

Looking for some summer fun? Try the latest milestone release for openSUSE 11.2! Milestone 4 is hot off the openSUSE Build Service and ready for your testing pleasure.This release includes updates to KDE, GNOME, NetworkManager, Samba, YaST, and many other updated packages.

This is a Milestone Release, one of several that lead up to the 11.2 final release in November. It may not be suitable for production systems, but is ready for contributors who want to help with testing and development for 11.2.

Changes Since openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 3

Lots of changes since the M3 release! The live CDs can now be deployed using USB sticks — which is particularly important for netbook computers without CD or DVD drives. The live CDs now contain mc, and the KDE live CDs include YaKuake. And YaST has a new Qt-based Control Center. Other updates and changes:

• Linux kernel 2.6.30.2
• CUPS 1.3.10
• NetworkManager 0.7.1
• Samba 3.4.0
• Firefox 3.5
• KDE 4.3 RC1
• Qt 4.5.2
• Qt Creator 1.2
• Seamonkey 2.0a3
• VirtualBox 3.0 beta 2

A more complete list can be found on the wiki and an updated list of Factory packages can be found on DistroWatch.

11.2 is looking fantastic. Want screenshots? We’ve got ‘em! Check out the shots here, and/or add your own.

Most Annoying Bugs

As this is a milestone release, 11.2 m4 does contain a few bugs that we know about, but should not stand between courageous contributors and release testing. The big bugs in 11.2 M4 are:

• Bug #525243: Booting the live CDs in VirtualBox, you’ll get 800×600 resolution at start, no matter what was selected at boot.
• Bug #522025: X does not display properly in VirtualBox initially. This can be worked around by switching to a virtual console (Ctrl+F1) and then switching back to X (Ctrl+F7).
• Bug #525094: Some packages are missing from KDE live CDs, including plasma-addons and OpenOffice_org-kde4.
• Bug #496505: Live-CDs will not boot from USB if system has a CD-ROM drive.
• Bug #515529: During installation, an empty error box is shown during the bootloader config, but it does install properly.

You can track the Most Annoying Bugs on the wiki along with 11.2 development.

Testing! Testing! Testing!

As you can see, 11.2 M4 does have a few annoying bugs that we know about — but there may be more lurking somewhere in the release that haven’t been found yet. If you want to make sure 11.2 final is free of Most Annoying Bugs, we’ll need your help finding, reporting, and fixing those hidden bugs.

Holger Sickenberg has put out a call for testing team members. If you’re interested in doing some heavy testing on openSUSE, check out Holger’s announcement.

Get Milestone 4 Today!

What are you waiting for? Grab the milestone release today! Downloads are available at software.opensuse.org/developer/ right now.

From openFATE’s launch in January ‘09 the addition of a new feature was limited to openSUSE members. Due and thanks to several requests out of the openSUSE community we changed this and are happy to announce today that openFATE now allows feature requests for non-members as well. This will lower the bar again to participate directly in the project and in the development of openSUSE, openSUSE Build Service and openFATE itself.
We’re looking forward to receive more qualified feature requests to make our openSUSE distribution and the project itself fit your needs better from day to day. To use openFATE please check first here

Have a lot of fun!