openSUSE 10.3 Alpha4 has been released:

Important Changes Since Alpha3
==============================

The following are some highlights of Alpha4 compared to Alpha3:

* Inclusion of YaST Meta Packages handler
* InstLux allows users to start the Linux installation from Windows
* We have removed zmd from the distribution and concentrate now on the tools opensuse-updater and zypper.
* TeX Live replaces teTex
* First parts of KDE4svn entered Factory, its games are installed
* OpenOffice.org 2.2
* GNOME 2.18.1
* Improvements to our init script starter startpar to reduce boottime
* First changes to support Sony PS3. The PowerPC installation media do not yet support the installation on PS3, this is planned for Alpha5.
* Linux 2.6.21 with an updated AppArmor patchset
* Reduced size and cleaned up dependencies of some packages
* Initial support for installation in Afrikaans, Gurajati, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Xhosa, Zulu. (for complete list of languages and how to participate in translation see http://i18n.opensuse.org/stats/trunk/index.php

A more detailed list of changes is available via
http://en.opensuse.org/Factory/News ;.

Most Annoying Bugs
==================
So far the following critical bugs have been found, please read before you install:

* No online update offered during installation (Bug 270919)
* No NIS offered during installation (Bug 270899)

The list of annoying bugs is found here as well, please update it if you find more:

http://en.opensuse.org/Bugs:Most_Annoying_Bugs_10.3-dev


Call for Testing
================

* libata for IDE devices

We're using the libata stack now also for IDE controllers. Please do test that an update works and all files are changed automatically (libata uses /dev/sda for the first harddisk instead of /dev/hda). Disks with more than 15 partitions are not handled right now, we're still evaluating whether there is a good solution. to use the old scheme, boot with "hwprobe=-modules.pata".

* Instlux

Please test InstLux, to start a Linux installation under Windows. Thanks a lot for Jordi for his great work!

* OpenOffice.Org 2.2

Please test the new versions

Media and Download
==================

openSUSE 10.3 Alpha4 for i386, x86-64 and ppc comes as different media
sets:
* 6 CDs (CD 6 was needed due to the increase space of TeXLive)
* 1 AddOn CD with only NonOSS packages on it
* 1 AddOn CD with language packages that are used for extra languages (the 6 CDs contain support for english, french, italian, spanish, german, chinese, japanese, czech, danish, norwegian, khmer, hungarian, polish) (the 6 CDs have support for installation in all languages, just extra packages are only on this extra media)
* 1 DVD containing the contents of the 6 CDs and the NonOSS AddOn CD
* CDs/DVDs containing the sources corresponding to the media

We have created Delta ISOs from openSUSE 10.3 Alpha3. Please use them for download.

The DVDs and the source media are only available via bittorrent.

Please report all bugs you find on in our bugzilla as explained in http://bugs.opensuse.org, discussion is most appropriate on the opensuse-factory@xxxxxxxxxxxx mailing list.

To download media, please use the links provided at:
http://en.opensuse.org/Development_Version#Downloads

The next Alpha is planned for Thu, June 14.

--

Adrian Schroeter