Red Hat has released the second beta of their upcoming Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4. Here the full announcement:

Red Hat is pleased to announce the availability of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (version 4) Beta 2 milestone.

This is a public beta. Please feel free to forward this announcement to anyone who may be interested in testing this beta release.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux v. 4 Beta is a preview of the next generation of Red Hat's comprehensive suite of enterprise operating systems -- designed for mission-critical enterprise computing and certified by top enterprise software vendors. More information on the current Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 3 and version 2.1 products is available at:

http://www.redhat.com/software/rhel/

This announcement includes details on obtaining the beta software, reporting bugs, and communicating with Red Hat and other testers via mailing lists during the beta period.

* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 is the first RHEL release based on the 2.6 Linux kernel. We are particularly interested in feedback on hardware compatibility including sound, video, networking, storage device, and USB support on both server and desktop-class systems.

* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Beta 2 includes updated version of many major system components, including:
- Kernel 2.6.9
- gcc 3.4.2
- GNU libc 2.3.3
- GNOME 2.8.0
- OpenOffice.org 1.1.2
- Evolution 2.0.2
- Mozilla 1.7.3, Firefox 0.10.1 (1.0 PR), and Epiphany 1.4.4
- X.org X11 6.8.1

* This beta release supports a wide range of hardware platforms, including:
- 32-bit x86-compatible (i386/i686)
- 64-bit AMD64 and Intel EM64T (x86_64)
- 64-bit Intel Itanium2 (ia64)
- 64-bit IBM POWER (ppc64)
- 31-bit IBM S/390 (s390)
- 64-bit IBM eServer zSeries (s390x)

* This beta release is available in four product variants, all of which are part of the RHEL 4 product family:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (for x86, AMD64/EM64T, ia64, ppc64, s390, s390x)
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES (for x86, AMD64/EM64T, ia64)
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS (for x86, AMD64/EM64T, ia64)
- Red Hat Desktop (for x86, AMD64/EM64T)

* Note that the AS and ES distributions contain a superset of the packages found in the WS and Desktop distributions. For a detailed description of the relative features of the AS, ES, WS and Desktop products, please consult:

http://www.redhat.com/software/rhel/

* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Beta 2 includes support for Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux). By default, SELinux is enabled with a targeted policy that secures key system services. These developer resources provide more information on SELinux:
- Fedora SELinux FAQ
http://people.redhat.com/kwade/fedora-docs/selinux-faq-en/
- NSA SELinux main website:
http://www.nsa.gov/selinux/
- NSA SELinux FAQ:
http://www.nsa.gov/selinux/info/faq.cfm

* Runtime support for 32-bit applications on the 64-bit Intel Itanium2 architecture is provided via the Intel IA-32 Execution Layer. A beta version of the IA-32 Execution Layer RPM package, for testing in conjunction with this beta release, is available at the following FTP location:
ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/beta/nahant-beta2/en/Extras/ia64/

Note also that 32-bit compatibility packages for the Itanium2 architecture distributions are now provided on a separate "Compatibility Layer Disc" CD image.

* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Beta 2 adds support for the Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 and Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 family wireless network adapters. Separate firmware packages that are required in order for these adapters to function are available at the following FTP location:
ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/beta/nahant-beta2/en/Extras/noarch/

* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Beta 2 includes system-config-lvm, a new tool for configuring Logical Volume Manager (LVM).

* For the 32-bit x86 architecture, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Beta 2 includes an optional kernel known as the hugemem kernel. This kernel supports a 4GB per process user space (versus 3GB for the other kernels), and a 4GB direct kernel space. The hugemem kernel is required in order to use all the memory in 32-bit x86 system configurations containing more than 16GB of memory.

* For support of raw devices using raw(8), a newer util-linux package than that included on the Beta 2 CD images is required. util-linux-2.12a-16.EL4, which includes raw(8), is available via the beta channels on Red Hat Network.

* Note that specific features, packages, and naming are subject to change before the final release.

The supplied beta packages and CD images are intended for testing purposes only. We ask that you report bugs in the Beta 2 release as soon as possible, so that fixes can be included in the next beta release.

Please remember that this early access software is not supported and is not intended for production environments! Please do not publish any benchmark or performance results based on this beta release. Upgrades will *not* be supported from this beta software to subsequent beta releases or official releases.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Beta 2 is available for download via FTP and Red Hat Network.

FTP Availability
----------------

Installable binary ISO images, binary RPM packages, and source RPM packages are available at the Red Hat FTP site, as well as select Red Hat FTP mirrors worldwide:

ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/beta/nahant-beta2

Red Hat Network Availability and Updates
----------------------------------------

Installable binary and source ISO images are also available via Red Hat Network at:

https://rhn.redhat.com/network/software/download_isos_full.pxt

You will be required to login using a valid RHN account, or create a new one.

During the beta period, we will also be supplying updated packages via Red Hat Network channels. We strongly encourage you to register your system with Red Hat Network at installation time, and use the Red Hat Update Agent (up2date) to keep your systems up-to-date with the latest beta packages. Help on using the Red Hat Update Agent is available at:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/RHNetwork/ref-guide/3.4/ch-up2date.html

Note that Red Hat Network service entitlements are required for each system registered for updates with RHN, Beta or otherwise. Each RHN account includes a single demo entitlement, and paid RHEL enterprise entitlements can optionally be used to subscribe additional systems to the RHEL 4 Beta channels for updates.

Bug Reporting
-------------

To ensure accurate tracking and follow-up, please re
port all bugs via Red Hat's web-based Bugzilla tool.

To report a bug:

1. Login to the Bugzilla home page at http://bugzilla.redhat.com.
If you don't have an existing account, simply create one by following the link on this page.

2. On the Bugzilla home page, choose the "New" tab. Proceed to Step 3, "Choosing Your Product" by clicking that button at the bottom of the page.

3. Choose "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Public Beta". Proceed to Step 4, "Choosing Component" by clicking that button at the bottom of the web page.

4. Choose the component against which you wish to report a problem, such as kernel, glibc, etc.

5. Scroll the page to Step 5, "Choosing Version and Architecture". In the Version field, choose 'rhel4-beta2'. Choose the appropriate architecture. Proceed to Step 6, "Additional Info", by clicking that button at the bottom of the web page.

6. Provide the information about the problem you're reporting by entering information in the appropriate fields. Then click the "Open Bugzilla Entry Form" button. In the summary of the bug, and in the text describing your problem, please state clearly that you are using a *BETA* package and provide the full package versions of any components you are experiencing problems with (as packages may be updated during the beta period). Check to make sure that all information is accurate and click the "Commit" button to submit your problem report.

Mailing List
------------
Red Hat has created a public mailing list for general discussion of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (Nahant) Beta releases.

To subscribe to nahant-beta-list, send mail to nahant-beta-list-request redhat com with 'subscribe' in the
subject line. You can leave the body empty.

Or subscribe using the web-based mailing list interface at:

https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/nahant-beta-list/

Thank you for your interest in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux v. 4 beta program. We look forward to working with you to ensure a high quality release!

Sincerely,

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Team