CentOS 5.5 Release Notes

Last updated: June 30th, 2010

1. Translations

Translations of these release notes are available in the following languages:

• Brazilian Portuguese (Português do Brasil) - Cleber Paiva de Souza

• Simplified Chinese (简体中文) - Timothy Lee

• Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) - Timothy Lee

• Czech (Česky) - David Hrbáč

• German (Deutsch) - Marcus Moeller

• Japanese (日本語) - Tadashi Jokagi Akemi Yagi

• Romanian - Manuel Wolfshant

• Spanish (Español) - Hardy Beltran

• Turkish (Türkçe) - Osman Aksit

2. Introduction

Welcome to the CentOS 5.5 release. CentOS is an Enterprise-class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by our Upstream OS Provider (UOP)¹.

CentOS conforms fully with the upstream vendors redistribution policy and aims to be 100% binary compatible. (CentOS mainly changes packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork.) CentOS is a Free Operating System.

CentOS 5.5 is the fifth update to the CentOS 5 distribution series. It contains a lot of bugfixes, updates and new functionality. Before reading any further we advise you to read the UOP Release Notes (or Single Page Release Notes) and Technical Notes (or Single Page Technical Notes). The rest of this document is an addendum and primarily covers CentOS-specific issues.

3. Install Media and sha1sum

--------------------------------------------
i386 media and their sha1sums are:
2ace21ada6705ed2893b651927bca612ac0882a2  CentOS-5.5-i386-bin-1of7.iso
febe79c5b42b1b1038ed748500e231dd6565a8e5  CentOS-5.5-i386-bin-2of7.iso
f9772b5c9e5bb4d2da748cb6c4c38a4a5c1a2cf9  CentOS-5.5-i386-bin-3of7.iso
0b86a414fadb9f0981ef3cb862aba8b9ace82f76  CentOS-5.5-i386-bin-4of7.iso
8ae4b28c6d551600d6b1eab2677153b5c0d3b1c6  CentOS-5.5-i386-bin-5of7.iso
9a8c36abd230ced70ca600c540c2b06aa6e91497  CentOS-5.5-i386-bin-6of7.iso
4ef1f284961f3e035ec2641cabec86048317939f  CentOS-5.5-i386-bin-7of7.iso
48c158fb9446148432a07634b2688915a279580b  CentOS-5.5-i386-bin-DVD.iso
f86bcef84e2584acc0c9d31a46bc9737347c4616  CentOS-5.5-i386-LiveCD-Release2.iso
37aa393aef7e6aa2d19607f45eeed9ae7e63f0fb  CentOS-5.5-i386-netinstall.iso
--------------------------------------------
x86_64 media and their sha1sums are:
0c27f508728f6a96f50e4201cd770fe9e57af3e2  CentOS-5.5-x86_64-bin-1of8.iso
ff57db0cf9af9bfc65471f49444ea92cdc238347  CentOS-5.5-x86_64-bin-2of8.iso
0faf38976fbf4053180a25f7535d66b084092059  CentOS-5.5-x86_64-bin-3of8.iso
b097bf9b747f2d16da00ff29f1e0d40b523b0a55  CentOS-5.5-x86_64-bin-4of8.iso
f1179ec875c0b4792e56f660493e82f0aff5e0f3  CentOS-5.5-x86_64-bin-5of8.iso
009892c8de408dc091e5a96b4a4ab213f2d5fe17  CentOS-5.5-x86_64-bin-6of8.iso
9660e63bd06a68ce94fe98defae1a0806ab834ae  CentOS-5.5-x86_64-bin-7of8.iso
80c74ca2622b9aee3621a13a0cf6dbdc7743b4ee  CentOS-5.5-x86_64-bin-8of8.iso
a85d7cd41f49f2146177dae52163d5dca276efc2  CentOS-5.5-x86_64-bin-DVD-1of2.iso
bb9a2c140170f10ed854541004539890ef7c68c8  CentOS-5.5-x86_64-bin-DVD-2of2.iso
3a04aa81ef75f329bf245a8c4f02af8137a84fb8  CentOS-5.5-x86_64-LiveCD.iso
231af7ca726557634a1f4d4f57436aab5a75f3b4  CentOS-5.5-x86_64-netinstall.iso
--------------------------------------------

4. Known Issues

• As of CentOS 5.5, x86_64 is split into two DVDs. If you need the additional language packs for OpenOffice (OOo), you can no longer just loop mount the DVD iso and run an install from it. You will either need to do a 'cp -al' and regenerate the metadata or install the langpack packages after the rest of the system. Installs not requiring the additional OOo language packs should run using only DVD#1.

• When installing from local media such as CD or DVD, do not select "CentOS extras repository" as this will break the install process. See the CentOS bug report #3961 for details.

• Problems have been encountered when updating a system using the proprietary Nvidia video drivers. After a reboot X fails to start. A workaround is to boot to runlevel 3, run system-config-display to configure the "nv" driver, and to then remove and reinstall the "nvidia" driver.

• Similar problems requiring removal and reinstall of a package using kernel drivers were encountered on a 5.4 system with VirtualBox 3.1.6. After the update to 5.5 x86_64 CentOS installers from 5.3 5.4 and 5.5 hung during the boot. Removing and reinstalling VirtualBox fixed the problem.

• It has been reported by a forum user that flash audio failed to work after an update on x86_64. Removing and re-installing flash-plugin corrected the problem.

• A forum user identified an issue with clustering and a missing dependency on "which" used in /usr/share/cluster/vm.sh from rgmanager-2.0.52-6.el5.centos, causing the cluster to hang. The solution is to 'yum install which' on all nodes lacking it, and reboot the cluster.

• A forum user identified a problem with a black screen after update using an Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller. A workaround is to change the driver from "intel" to "i810" in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

• A patch introduced in kernel -194 contains a bug that causes problems with systems using nVidia controllers. The problem is not limited to sound as the bug may also cause system sluggishness and lockups. See Bug#4335. A workaround is to have this line in /etc/modprobe.conf (Disabling MSI is the key):

  options snd-hda-intel index=0 enable_msi=0

• If upgrading from a CentOS 5 release earlier than 5.4 the following procedure is advised:

  yum clean all
  yum update glibc\*
  yum update yum\* rpm\* pyth\*
  yum clean all
  yum update mkinitrd nash
  yum update selinux\*
  yum update
  shutdown -r now

• Problems with LDAP after upgrades have been reported. See the forum thread "Does 5.5 break LDAP" for details. The default content of the new 5.5 /etc/sysconfig/ldap file has:

  SLAPD_LDAP=yes
  SLAPD_LDAPS=no
  SLAPD_LDAPI=no

  • On boxes that already have a /etc/sysconfig/ldap file (it used to be optional), the new file will be installed as /etc/sysconfig/ldap.rpmnew, and the existing file will remain untouched. This causes issues. On boxes that have no /etc/sysconfig/ldap file at all, the new file will be installed as /etc/sysconfig/ldap and cause slapd to only listen on port 389. Configurations having slapd listen on ldap (port 389) only and currently not having a /etc/sysconfig/ldap file most likely will therefore not show any issues after the update. All other setups will likely need intervention.

• If you plan on installing the supplementary postgresql84 and httpd together on one box, you will get dependency problems if httpd (and thus apr-util and postgresql) are already installed, as postgresql conflicts with postgresql84. Workaround: remove postgresql, apr-util and httpd, install postgresql84 after that and then reinstall the packages you just have removed.

5. Resolved Issues

6. Changes

6.1. New packages in 5.5 that were not present in 5.4

• freeradius2
• gpxe (x86_64 only)
• gsl
• postgresql84
• python-dmidecode
• samba3x
• tunctl
• xz

6.2. Packages that have been upgraded in 5.5 since the 5.4 release

• acl
• aide
• anaconda
• apr-util
• arpwatch
• at
• audit
• autofs
• automake
• avahi
• binutils
• bogl
• bootparamd
• booty
• brlapi
• brltty
• centos-release
• centos-release-notes
• checkpolicy
• chkconfig
• cman
• cmirror
• coolkey
• cpuspeed
• crash
• cups
• curl
• dapl
• dbus
• device-mapper
• device-mapper-multipath
• dhcp
• dhcpv6
• dmidecode
• dmraid
• dogtail
• dosfstools
• e4fsprogs
• esc
• ethtool
• evince
• exim
• filesystem
• firstboot
• freeradius
• gail
• gcc
• gdb
• gfs2-utils
• gfs-utils
• glibc
• gnome-vfs2
• gpart
• hal
• hmaccalc
• httpd
• hwdata
• ibsim
• ibutils
• ibvexdmtools
• infiniband-diags
• inn
• iproute
• iptstate
• iscsi-initiator-utils
• kernel
• kexec-tools
• kmod-cmirror
• kmod-gfs
• ksh
• ktune
• kudzu
• less
• libaio
• libcmpiutil
• libcxgb3
• libevent
• libgnomecups
• libhugetlbfs
• libsepol
• libvirt
• libvirt-cim
• libXrandr
• libXt
• linuxwacom
• lm_sensors
• log4cpp
• logwatch
• lvm2
• lvm2-cluster
• man-pages
• man-pages-ja
• mdadm
• mesa
• metacity
• microcode_ctl
• mkinitrd
• module-init-tools
• mpitests
• mtx
• mvapich
• mvapich2
• nautilus-open-terminal
• net-snmp
• net-tools

• NetworkManager

• newt
• nfs-utils
• nspluginwrapper
• nss_ldap
• numactl
• openais
• openib
• OpenIPMI
• openldap
• openmpi
• openoffice.org
• opensm
• openssh
• oprofile
• pam_krb5
• paps
• parted
• pax
• pciutils
• pcsc-lite
• perftest
• perl-Sys-Virt
• perl-XML-LibXML
• perl-XML-SAX
• pexpect
• php
• piranha
• pirut
• policycoreutils
• procps
• pykickstart
• python-virtinst
• qlvnictools
• qperf
• rds-tools
• readahead
• rgmanager
• rhpxl
• rsyslog
• samba
• sblim
• selinux-policy
• sendmail
• shadow-utils
• sos
• squid
• srptools
• star
• sudo
• sysklogd
• system-config-cluster
• system-config-lvm
• system-config-securitylevel
• system-config-services
• systemtap
• tar
• taskjuggler
• tcpdump
• tcsh
• tog-pegasus
• valgrind
• vconfig
• vino
• virt-manager
• wdaemon
• wpa_supplicant
• xen
• xorg-x11-drivers
• xorg-x11-drv-ast
• xorg-x11-drv-evdev
• xorg-x11-drv-fbdev
• xorg-x11-drv-i810
• xorg-x11-drv-mga
• xorg-x11-drv-nv
• xorg-x11-drv-qxl
• xorg-x11-drv-vesa
• xorg-x11-server
• xorg-x11-xdm
• yp-tools
• yum

6.3. Packages removed by upstream in 5.5 that were present in 5.4

• libpfm
• pfmon

6.4. Packages released as 5.4 updates with older packages on the 5.5 install media

• gnutls ( 1.4.1-3.el5_4.8 )
• nspr ( 4.8.4-1.el5_4 )
• nss ( 3.12.6-1.el5.centos )
• openssl097a ( 0.9.7a-9.el5_4.2 )
• pango ( 1.14.9-8.el5.centos )
• pidgin ( 2.6.6-2.el5_4 )
• strace ( 4.5.18-5.el5_4.4 )

These packages are now in the updates repository for CentOS 5.5.

7. Changes made by CentOS

7.1. Packages modified by CentOS

• anaconda
• anacron
• basesystem
• bluez-utils
• brltty
• busybox
• centos-release
• Cluster_Administration
• clustermon
• comps-extras
• conga
• crash
• Deployment_Guide
• desktop-backgrounds
• eclipse
• filesystem
• firefox
• firstboot
• gdm
• geronimo-specs
• Global_File_System
• gnome-desktop
• gnome-session
• gzip
• httpd
• initscripts
• kdebase
• kdelibs
• kudzu
• nautilus-sendto
• nss
• ntp
• pango
• pirut
• pm-utils
• procmail
• python-virtinst
• redhat-artwork
• redhat-logos
• redhat-lsb
• redhat-rpm-config
• rgmanager
• rhdb-utils
• rhgb
• setuptool
• specspo
• squirrelmail
• system-config-bind
• tftp
• thunderbird
• Virtualization_Guide
• xorg-x11-proto-devel
• yum
• yum-utils

Note: Details of changes can be found in the package changelog. It's also important to keep in mind that most of these packages are only changed to remove upstream branding, as required by their terms of use.

7.2. Packages removed from CentOS that are included upstream

• redhat-release-5Client
• redhat-release-5Server
• redhat-release-notes
• rhel-instnum
• rhn-check
• rhn-client-tools
• rhnlib
• rhnsd
• rhn-setup
• rhn-setup-gnome
• yum-rhn-plugin

7.3. Packages added by CentOS that are not included upstream

8. How to help and get help

As a CentOS user there are various ways you can help out with the CentOS community. Take a look at our Contribute page for further information on how to get involved.

8.1. Special Interest Groups

CentOS consists of different Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that bring together people with similar interests. The following SIGs already exist:

• Artwork - create and improve artwork for CentOS releases and promotion

• Promotion - help promoting CentOS online or at events

• Virtualization - unite people around virtualization in CentOS

And we encourage people to join any of these SIGs or start up a new SIG, e.g.

• Alpha, S390, Sparc and PPC port - help with porting CentOS to other architectures
• Hardware compatibility - provide feedback about specific hardware
• RPM Packaging - contribute new useful RPM packages
• Translation - help translating the documentation, website and wiki content

8.2. Mailinglists and Fora

Another way you can help others in the community is by actively helping and resolving problems that users come up against in the mailinglists and the fora.

8.3. Wiki and Website

Even as an inexperienced CentOS user we can use your help. Because we like to know what problems you encountered, if you had problems finding specific information, how you would improve documentation so it becomes more accessible. This kind of feedback is as valuable to others as it would have been to you so your involvement is required to make CentOS better.

So if you want to help out and improve our documentation and wiki, register on the wiki or subscribe to the centos-docs mailinglist.

9. Further Reading

The following websites contain large amounts of information to help people with their CentOS systems :

• Upstream release notes and documentation : https://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/#RHEL5

• http://www.centos.org/

• http://wiki.centos.org/

• http://lists.centos.org/

• http://bugs.centos.org.

• http://planet.centos.org/

• http://mirrors.kernel.org/redhat/redhat/linux/enterprise/5Client/en/os/SRPMS/

• http://mirrors.kernel.org/redhat/redhat/linux/enterprise/5Server/en/os/SRPMS/

10. Thanks

We thank everyone involved for helping us produce this product.

Copyright (C) 2010 The CentOS Project

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