LTSP testing in Jaunty

[Stéphane Graber]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hello everyone,

As we're now only one month away from Jaunty's release and everything is
frozen in Ubuntu for the beta, it's a good time to start testing the new
LTSP.

There are two things you can do:
 - Install a new server: For that, please use alpha-6 or any later
alternate images and choose the "LTSP server" option by pressing F4 at
the CD boot menu. You'll need two network cards, documentation is
available on the wiki. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP

 - Upgrade testing: On an Intrepid (upgrade from older releases isn't
supported) server, run "do-release-upgrade -d" to update you system.
Once upgraded reboot your computer, remove your previous chroot from
/opt/ltsp (i386 directory and images/i386.img file) and generate a new
one using "ltsp-build-client". Chroot update isn't supported, please
start with a new one.

As Jaunty isn't stable yet, please only do that on a test computer to
avoid potential data loss.

Things that you should make sure are working after installation are:
 - Video card detection (driver and resolution)
 - Sound (both on the server and for localapps if you use them)
 - Local devices (CD and USB mass storage devices)
 - Localapps (see below)


Localapps are also supported although not integrated in a very user
friendly way for the administrator. You need to install the application
you want to use as a localapp in the chroot, make sure it creates an
entry in /usr/share/applications, note the name of the .desktop file.
Then create a lts.conf file in /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/ containing
for instance:
[default]
LOCAL_APPS_MENU = True
LOCAL_APPS_MENU_ITEMS = firefox

That'll make the firefox.desktop file to be exported to the server, and
so the firefox in gnome's menu will be a localapp.
Not setting LOCAL_APPS_MENU_ITEMS will make all softwares in
/usr/share/applications/ to become localapps.

Localapps don't work with any software using gconf, if you see that the
software you're installing in your chroot installs gconf as well, it
won't work.


Other things that you may want to test/experiment:
 - The new xorg.conf generator (using scripts in
/usr/share/ltsp/screen-session.d)
 - Translations (requires installing the language packs in the chroot)
 - RandR support (dual-head, resolution change, ...)
 - Real dhcp client support, installing udhcpc in the chroot, then
running "update-initramfs -u" will install a real dhcp client that'll
renew its leases.
 - Other new options of ltsp-build-client like ltsp-cluster (requires a
few more services to run) or the new apt options (proxy, popcon, apt
pinning, ...)

Bugs should be reported on Launchpad after checking that they haven't
been reported yet.
 - For LTSP: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ltsp/+filebug
 - For LTSPfs: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ltspfs/+filebug
 - For LDM: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ldm/+filebug

Help documenting the new features on the wiki is also welcome.

Thanks for your help.

- --
Stéphane Graber
Ubuntu developer
http://www.ubuntu.com
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iEUEARECAAYFAknGcwsACgkQjxyfqkjBhuwvAACYwybfbf16+5fQZnQ44xIE7Xc4
RgCfV7pCu8vkDWtnKSOJMS6lT2kOF+4=
=v1y9
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----