XS Release Notes

Please read these notes to understand the capabilities and known problems with a particular release of the XS ("XO School server") software. For older release notes, see XS Release Notes archived.

XS 0.7

Read steps to install.

• Rebased onto CentOS 6.2.
• Linux-3.2 backported from Fedora 15 for maximum hardware compatibility
• USB install is easier than before, and is expected to be more reliable
• Supports installation on top of existing RHEL-compatible install (e.g. CentOS), in addition to regular install media
• Interoperates better when run on an existing network - you are no longer required to make the XS 'run' the network.
• Networking setup greatly simplified: no more bonding
• eth0 is now the LAN, eth1 is now WAN. This is the opposite of previous XS releases, aimed at situations where no WAN connection is available (or when running on a previously existing network).
• Active antenna and mesh support dropped.

Known issues/untested items:

• XS-on-XO1 not generated for this release (and XO-1 mesh is no longer supported)
• No tested upgrade path from XS-0.6. Feedback/documentation welcome.

XS 0.6

XS 0.6 was released on 07 October 2009!

1. Download OLPC-School-Server-0.6-i386.iso ,
2. Read steps to install. From XS-0.5.x, the upgrade is easy -- see upgrade notes.

This release provides

• Installation improvements: significantly easier installation and configuration.
• Moodle+XO automagic authentication: using Browse.xo v101 or newer, users autologin to Moodle after registration.
• Better network scalability through Moodle+ejabberd integration Moodle can now control the presence information shown in ejabberd.
• Delegated security: xs-activation now handles lease delegation, making it possible to delegate activation to disconnected or partially connected School Servers.
• WAN connections: Better handling of alternative WAN connections.
• An experimental XS build that runs on the XO: this is suitable for small groups or schools.
• Bugfixes
• Full details.

Recommended reading:

• XS Techniques and Configuration

Known issues:

• ejabberd:Users added to a shared roster don't see pubsub presence of existing users immediately
• Installing from USB is buggy

XS 0.5.2

XS 0.5.2 was released in March 18th, 2009!

1. Download OLPC-School-Server-0.5.2-i386.iso ,
2. Read steps to install. From XS-0.5, you can 'yum update'.

This release provides important bugfixes for ejabberd, activation and installation.

XS 0.5.1

XS 0.5.1 was released in January 28th, 2009!

1. Download OLPC-School-Server-0.5.1-i386.iso ,
2. Read steps to install. From XS-0.5, you can 'yum update'.

This release provides important bugfixes for networking and ejabberd.

XS 0.5

XS 0.5 was released around November 15, 2008.

1. Download OLPC-School-Server-0.5-i386.iso ,
2. Read steps to install.

This release provides:

• Major improvements in installation and upgrade infrastructure
• Major improvements in the network configuration -- allowing up to 8192 devices on the LAN
• Now based on Fedora 9, which brings major overall improvements and better security support
• An install and upgrade service for activities, complementing the OS upgrade service
• Simple One Time Password (SOTP) scheme for administrator password management
• A cryptographic signing scheme to ensure the XS only accepts trusted content and configuration
• A newer eJabberd Jabber server for better scalability in the presence service
• Significantly tighter security
• A simple Moodle installation

Notes:

• If you are upgrading from 0.4 or earlier there are special upgrade instructions.
• Some issues with the LAN port have been identified, please use the latest 0.5.x instead.

WLAN Firmware: 5.110.22.p14-1.fc9 Kernel: 2.6.26.6-79.fc9 xs-config: 0.5.6.gb81

XS 0.4

1. Download OLPC_XS_0_4.iso ,
2. Read steps to install.

This release provides:

• A complete reimplementation of xs-config, and a upgrade-and-cleanup from earlier configurations.
• An upgrade server for the XO.
• RSSH-jailing of ds-backup
• PAM SOTP package (unconfigured)
• DHCP Leases for up to 512 Devices off the LAN NIC.
• See Example school server configuration for a step-by-step installation and configuration guide.
• Backup and restore of XO journal. Requires XO running 8.2 or later. Documentation at XS_Blueprints:Datastore_Simple_Backup_and_Restore

WLAN Firmware: 22.p6 Kernel: 2.6.23.1-23.fc7 xs-config: 0.3.6-1

Notes

• Upgrades: With this release you can now upgrade sanely from earlier version. The steps are:
  1. Recommended: Backup the system! :-)
  2. Edit /etc/yum.repos.olpc.d/stable.repo - set the 'baseurl' of the 'olpc' repo to http://fedora.laptop.org/xs/stable/olpc/xs-0.4/i386/
  3. Run yum -y upgrade
  4. You will have to re-run /etc/sysconfig/olpc-scripts/domain_config <yourbasedomain>
  5. Some new system daemons are set to start on the next restart - either restart the machine or start them manually. The services that need starting should be: incrond, apache
• New installations: there is a bug in Anaconda which prevents it from setting the ownerships and permissions correctly in the /library directory. After installation, execute chown -R xs-rsync.xs-rsync /library/xs-rsync/{pub,tmp,state}
• This release contains the DS-Backup implementation, with a restore facility aimed mainly at the test team. The user-friendly (and privacy-friendly) version of this will be part of Moodle - coming to a build near you soon. For production deployments you might want to disable the restore page. See documentation on this feature here.

• This build requires a minimum of a 5.5Gig hard drive to install -- thanks to Grant Patterson for the kickstart fixes for trac 7241 .