# SliTaz 4.0 Releases Notes

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## Release Notes (en)

Welcome to SliTaz 4.0! Modern, secure, stable, fast and flexible the new SliTaz stable version is now out for Desktops and servers in production use.

- More than 6500 commits in the wok
- More than 1000 packages added to database
- Boot in 10 seconds or less on a very recent machine
- Centralized configuration with the new control panel
- New build tool which lets you create SliTaz packages in a minute
- New rolling release ISO is built after each package cook
- 4 Distros in one on the LiveCD (The Russian dolls)
- New graphical installer and updater
- New GUI Boxes and tools to create Live systems
- Web boot improved: boot.slitaz.org
- Errata for 4.0 on the Wiki

### Toolchain and build tools

Slitaz 4.0 has been built with our new build tools aka cookutils. We have created new tools which handle the ~3300 packages dependencies in a simple and consistent way. The cookutils let you also create new Slitaz packages faster than ever. The tools are installed on each SliTaz system as well as any supporting documentation.

### Supported Hardware

SliTaz GNU/Linux 4.0 supports most machines based on i486 or x86 Intel compatible processors. A minimum of 192MB of memory is recommended to use the core LiveCD and our new russian dolls system will automatically detect your memory to boot a low memory resource flavor if needed. The default LiveCD provides the Core system which is a fully featured desktop, a GTK only desktop, a flavor with just X windows and a text mode system which will run with only 48 MB RAM (but can still let you install a full desktop).

### Live systems

SliTaz 4.0 core LiveCD provides in fact 4 versions and will use the one your hardware can support. The live CD holds several SliTaz nested subsets. The boot loader selects the most features that your computer memory can access. You can also select an image from the menu and hit [tab] to edit any options. A command line, the ability to webboot, help options and languages are also available from the menu. Now people with very little RAM can boot the Live CD, but probably in text mode. A full install can now be performed to hard disk directly from the Live CD using text mode with only 48MB ram.

### Installation

The installation is fully automated and can be done graphically or in text mode. Tazinst is a lightweight SliTaz HDD installer. It installs SliTaz to a hard drive from a Live-CD, a LiveUSB key, a SliTaz ISO image, or from the web (using Tazpanel) by downloading a stable, cooking or rolling version. The prerequisite material and other useful information can be found in the Manual and Handbook.

If you want to partition a disk before installation, you can quickly use Gparted in LiveCD mode or use a flavor containing the partitioning tool. At the end of the installation it is possible to setup the "GRUB" bootloader which is capable of starting almost any operating system. This allows SliTaz to co-exist with a previously installed operating system, such as Windows.

### Packages

Among the 3350 packages available in SliTaz 4.0 you will find anything you need to transform your machine to a complete graphical desktop (e17), a graphics studio with The Gimp or Inkscape, or to a video editor with Kino. You can experience the world wide web with instant messaging, VOIP, email and of course through a web browser. Packages can be found through the search function of Tazpkg, Tazpanel or via the website: http://pkgs.slitaz.org/

SliTaz is designed to function as a powerful web server, using the stable LightTPD/PHP package (not installed by default), supporting CGI, Perl and Python. Apache and Squid are also available. The ability to browse the web securely using the Tor network is also supported.

SliTaz can of course also provide a complete development environment with the GCC compiler, Geany IDE, Mercurial Repositories and all development libraries.

Packages are now built automatically by the SliTaz Build Bot: http://cook.slitaz.org/ and are checked by Cookutils to ensure that FHS standards are followed.

### Administration

The new way and tool to configure the system on SliTaz 4.0 is TazPanel. It is a CGI/web interface with a themable user interface from where you can control your entire system such as package management, adding or removing users, creating Live systems and much more. Each page provides a small description to help you manage your SliTaz system. To access the panel you can use the menu entry in “System Tools” or this url: http://tazpanel:82

### Core Desktop

A lot of attention has been paid the the core desktop. All applications are well integrated and a special SliTaz theme (including icons, Openbox, GTK) has been created.

By default, the SliTaz LiveCD uses the very light and stable Openbox window manager. Openbox is widely themeable and configurable using the ObConf utility. The integration of the taskbar “LXpanel” makes it possible to dynamically provide a menu based on the Freedesktop standards. The principle is to have a small menu accessible via a screen click with the favorites, windows effects, LiveCD and LiveUSB tools, Openbox configuration and system actions made available. Applications can also be accessed through the menu supplied by LXpanel. The managment of the Desktop and icons are entrusted to the file manager PCmanFM.

Through the support of a LiveCD flavor or an installed system you can install the Enlightenment (e17) desktop environment or the window managers XFCE, Pekwm, JWM and DWM. The different sessions can be selected via the F1 key when using the “Slim” login window. To change the default session you can use tazx; or manually edit the ~/.Xinitrc file.

### SliTaz network

All services have been changed and improved since 3.0 and a SliTaz community network has been created to help users, contributors and developers come together to share ideas about the project. This includes a community board, wiki based documentation, a forum and a bug tracker. Now developers, artists, documentation writers, bug reporters and anybody with a good suggestion can help others, get involved and work together to improve the project. The SliTaz community network (SCN), website and repos all combine the same graphical layout for easy navigation.

### From 3.0 to 4.0

A SliTaz GNU/Linux installer offers an update function allowing you to upgrade from a 3.0 to 4.0 version. To upgrade the system you first need to boot the Stable LiveCD, launch the installer from the command line or Tazpanel, select upgrade and then specify the partition or configuration file containing the system that you want to update. The installer will then clean out the system and reinstall all the packages not present on the CD from the mirror. When this has finished you can reboot with your new version of SliTaz.

To upgrade a 3.0 to 4.0 it is also possible to use the package manager Tazpkg via the set-release function, but beware this is not yet proven and may require some manual intervention.

### People of the Project

SliTaz is proud to be an international community project. The people of the project are the ones who develop the distribution, correct the website, develop the HG repositories and write the official documentation. Passing through Switzerland, France, Brazil, Quebec, China, India, Russia, Ukraine, England, and the U.S.

- Christophe Lincoln
- Pascal Bellard
- Eric Joseph-Alexandre
- Paul Issott
- Claudinei Pereira
- Dominique Corbex
- Brenton Edgar Scott
- Christopher Rogers
- Aleksej Bobylev
- Samuel Trassare
- Christian Mesh
- Alexander Medvedev
- ...