SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.7V
Version 2.0.0
Release Notes
November 2010
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This document describes features and bug fixes added to
SCO OpenServer™ Release 5.0.7V (OSR507V) Version 2.0.0 since the initial
OpenServer 5.0.7V Version 1.0.0 releases.
For installation instructions:
OpenServer 5.0.7V Version 2.0.0 provides new features and bug fixes
that were not in OpenServer 5.0.7V Version 1.0.0.
New features include:
-
The vmtools package has been updated to
Version 2010.03.20.
-
The VMware balloon
device driver (vmmemctl) is now provided.
-
On license expiration, the system restricts services
rather than shut down.
-
SCO Symmetrical Multiprocessing (SMP) is now supported on
VMware vSphere 4.x and VMware ESXi 4.x.
SMP should not be used on VMware ESX 3.5,
VMware ESXi 3.5,
VMware Workstation 7.x,
or Hyper-V.
-
OpenServer 5.0.7V Version 2.0.0 is supported on VMware Workstation 7.x.
If you are upgrading from OpenServer 5.0.7V Version 1.0.0 on VMware Workstation
6.5.x, you should upgrade to both OpenServer 5.0.7V Version 2.0.0
and VMware Workstation 7.x.
-
patchck is now included in OpenServer 5.0.7V.
New features and bug fixes are described in detail below.
- Commands and Utilities
- Graphics
- Kernel
- Installation
- Operating System
- SCOAdmin
- Other Fixes
Commands and Utilities
- Enhance hw to display arbitrary model-specific registers (MSRs) --
Hyper-V makes certain resources available as synthetic model-specific
registers (MSRs). In order to facilitate support of Hyper-V, the
msr report of the hw command has been enhanced to accept queries
on individual MSRs, specified by an option argument of the form
msr=number following the
-r option. For example, the command
hw -r msr=16
reports on MSR number 16. The MSR number may be specified
in decimal, hex (with a leading 0x) or octal (with a leading 0).
(ID: 535611:3)
- Problems encountered when adding a new disk --
Disk configuration problems were seen as a result of erroneous entries in the
administrative file /etc/conf/cf.d/hdlist. The erroneous
hdlist
entries have been removed from the version 2 appliances. Installation of the
upgrade supplement removes such entries when it is safe to do so.
(ID: 535686:1)
- Custom may fail to upgrade components as expected --
Fixed a bug in which custom sometimes failed to install a
new version of a component even if the new version number was greater
than the version already installed.
The problem was that custom's version number comparison
routines
treated numeric parts with leading zeros as equal even if they
were not.
(ID: 535610:1)
- At log in time, warn users if license is about to expire --
Display a reminder message when a user logs in if the
system's OS license expiration date is fewer than fifteen
days away. The reminder message is generated by the new
script /etc/expirewarning, run from
/etc/profile.
(ID: 535566:2)
- Warn all logged-in users if license is about to expire --
Display a reminder message daily to all users who are logged-in
if the system's OS license expiration date is fewer than
fifteen days away. The reminder message is generated by the
new script /etc/expirewarning, run via
cron.
(ID: 535567:3)
- Custom verify errors reported on /etc/default/issue and /etc/dkinit --
These have been fixed.
(ID: 535672:1)
- Custom verify errors on disk driver files --
Fixed custom verify problems reported on the disk driver
/etc/conf/pack.d/dk/Driver.o and several related header files.
(ID: 535702:1)
- Custom verify error on etc/conf/cf.d/mdevice --
This has been fixed.
(ID: 535702:5)
- Custom verify error on /usr/adm/install/contents --
The pkgadd command maintains a database of installed pkgadd
packages in /usr/adm/install/contents. The pkgadd command
treats this path as a file, while the custom database listed this
path as a symbolic link. As a result, custom verify reported
this discrepancy as an error, and, if asked to fix it, would replace
the file with a symbolic link, deleting the contents of the
pkgadd database.
The problem has been fixed by deleting the path
/usr/adm/install/contents from the custom database.
(ID: 535702:4)
- Custom verify errors on /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/ScoTerm --
These have been fixed.
(ID: 535702:3)
- Custom verify errors on /etc/default/inet and /etc/default/tcp --
These have been fixed.
(ID: 535703:1)
- Sysinfo hangs --
Sysinfo
hung when it invoked
cdrecord
with the
scanbus option.
The problem has been fixed by deleting the invocation of
cdrecord
from
sysinfo.
(ID: 535455:1)
- Custom verify errors and install stops seen after downloading sysinfo --
Sysinfo was initially delivered in custom
format. However, updates were delivered via a tar
archive. This resulted in custom verify errors,
since installing a new version of sysinfo
modified files without updating information about
them in the custom database. The problem
has been fixed by always delivering sysinfo
in the same format - a pkgadd package -
regardless of whether it is delivered with the product
or as a separately installable update.
(ID: 535544:1)
- Port VMware balloon device driver --
The VMware balloon driver, vmmemctl, is now included
in OSR507V.
The driver allows a VMware server to reclaim currently unused memory
from virtual machines running on it.
This gives the server the ability to distribute the available real memory
among VMs dynamically, depending on their instantaneous memory
requirements, thereby improving the overall performance on a system
on which the
total memory allocated to VMs is larger than the memory pool. This also
allows for larger memory allocations to VMs without provoking swapping.
For a more detailed description see the VMware documentation.
Operational statistics for this driver are provided by
the special file /dev/vmmemstat.
To see the statistics, cat the file as follows:
# cat /dev/vmmemstat
If the output shows a value of target larger than zero, then
ballooning is in effect.
(ID: 535507:3)
- Provide updated vmtools open source ports for Version 2.0.0 --
OpenServer 5.0.7V Version 1.0.0 provided many of the open source community's
June 2009 vmtools ports. See
http://wdb1.sco.com/kb/showta?taid=127360 for details.
Version 2.0.0 updates these ports to the community's
March 2010 release. Changes include:
(ID: 535629:1)
- Several vmware-toolbox-cmd "stat" commands fail --
VMware vSphere hosts use External Data Representation (XDR) to exchange
information with the stat function of
vmware-toolbox-cmd.
Stat sub-functions, such as balloon and
swap, that
exchange 64-bit integer values, failed because of the absence of 64-bit XDR
support in the native runtime libraries. The problem was resolved by
implementing the needed 64-bit XDR functions in the OpenServer 5.0.7V port of
vmtools.
(ID: 535748:1)
Graphics
- Add option to disable scologin during first boot interview --
Administrators are now provided with an option to disable the graphical
login screen when configuring OpenServer 5.0.7V with guest_conf.
(ID: 535452:1)
- Mouse sometimes gets "stuck" at screen boundary --
Fixed bug in which the mouse would get stuck at the edge of
the window when displaying the desktop in full-console mode
under VMware.
(ID: 535224:2)
Kernel
- Panic following "G crllry_sec_init" output --
Fixed a kernel panic that could occur during OS startup immediately following
the display of the output
G crllry_sec_init
The panic was caused by the kernel dereferencing a NULL pointer when processing
a partially initialized entry in a table.
(ID: 535397:1)
- init 0 doesn't power the system down --
Previously, shutting down the operating system to init state 0, either via
shutdown or init, left the OS in a state where it could be powered off, but did
not actually power it off. Now, when running on VMware, shutting down to init
state 0 causes the OS to power down completely.
This fix does not apply to Hyper-V.
(ID: 535596:1)
- Lock timeout panic in wait system call --
Fixed a lock timeout panic in the wait system call caused by a
process trying to acquire a lock that it already held. The panic
was seen occasionally under heavy load.
(ID: 535648:1)
- OS is sometimes restarted out of init state 0 --
Some virtualization platforms were seen to restart the operating system out of
init state 0. This problem has been resolved.
(ID: 535667:1)
- Warning message that MAXEXECARGS is exceeded should name the executable --
The kernel warning that the argument list size exceeds MAXEXECARGS is now
accompanied by a message that gives the name of the executable that could not
be run due to the argument size limit.
(ID: 535687:1)
- Lock timeout panic during system start up --
Fixed a lock timeout panic seen during OS startup by adjusting the timing
requirements of kernel startup code to allow for running in a virtualized
environment.
(ID: 535522:1)
Installation
- Custom's top-level products display overly cluttered --
Packaged vmtools and its prerequisite components as a single
custom product to reduce clutter in the output of the
software manager custom.
Previously, these components were each packaged as a separate
custom product.
(ID: 535339:1)
- Guest_conf should allow setting of locale --
The initial configuration script
guest_conf now provides the system administrator the option
to select the system locale as was done for OpenServer 5.0.7 ISL.
Choices are:
Standard C
American English
British English
French French
German German
If the pre-loaded French or German Language Support supplement has
been removed from the system, the corresponding locale option is not
available.
The LANG variable is set in /etc/default/lang and the
Calendar Server
databases are rebuilt in the selected locale.
(ID: 535374:2)
- Warning messages interfere with OpenServer 5.0.7V initial configuration --
Turned off licensing-related warning messages during initial system
configuration to keep them from interfering with configuration prompts.
(ID: 535409:1)
- Add SCO Symmetrical Multiprocessing to OpenServer 5.0.7V --
SCO OpenServer 5.0.7V Version 2.0.0 has introduced support for SCO Symmetrical
Multiprocessing (SMP) on VMware vSphere 4.x and VMware ESXi 4.x platforms.
Two new scripts, /usr/sbin/smp_enable
and
/usr/sbin/smp_disable,
allow an administrator to enable and disable SMP support. For
instructions on how to configure SMP support, please consult the
relevant Getting Started Guide.
Note: Do not enable SCO SMP on Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESX(i) 3.5 or VMware
Workstation.
(ID: 535500:1)
- Custom verify error on backup copy of /etc/masterboot --
Fixed a common custom
verify error by updating the custom database,
during installation of the upgrade supplement,
to reflect
the contents of a backup copy of the file /etc/masterboot.
This particular custom verify error occurred because
/etc/masterboot was sometimes updated by means other than
custom and custom subsequently may have created a
backup copy of the modified /etc/masterboot file when
installing certain patches.
(ID: 535528:1)
- Guest_conf does not set keyboard, console keyboard mapping, and video font permanently --
Fixed a bug in the initial configuration script guest_conf
so that keyboard and related settings are made permanent.
(ID: 535695:2)
- Patchck doesn't work properly with custom packages that are loaded but not installed --
Custom allows packages to be loaded on the system, but not actually
installed. The patch management tool patchck has been enhanced to work
properly with such packages.
(ID: 535485:1)
- patchck now bundled with OpenServer 5.0.7V --
The latest version of the patch management tool patchck is included in
OpenServer 5.0.7V. Patchck was previously available only from the SCO
download page.
(ID: 535424:1)
- guest_conf aborts network configuration if given invalid input --
The initial configuration script guest_conf now detects
and recovers from invalid input during network configuration.
(ID: 535469:1)
- Keyboard selected during one run of guest_conf should become default on the next run --
The keyboard selected during one run of guest_conf will now be the
default that guest_conf offers the next time it runs.
Previously, guest_conf always offered "US English" as
the default keyboard selection.
(ID: 535601:1)
Operating System
- Allow multiple processors without a license --
OpenServer 5.0.7V no longer requires any processor licenses in
order to run with multiple processors.
(ID: 534688:3)
- Don't shut down system for expired or unregistered license --
Changed system behavior to restrict services, rather than shut down, on
expiration of a duration license or failure to register a license in a timely
manner.
(ID: 535606:3)
- Display license expiration dates in international format --
License expiration dates are now displayed in international YYYY-MM-DD format.
(ID: 535401:1)
- Applying licenses in wrong order loses a year that's been paid for --
Added check for prerequisite OSR507V license before allowing renewal
license to be installed.
(ID: 535484:1)
- System appears unlicensed for several hours after installation --
Fixed a problem in the way license start times were computed that could
cause a system to appear unlicensed for several hours after installation
even if a valid license was entered.
(ID: 535488:1)
- Some licensing-related messages should be displayed as SEVERE instead of WARNING --
Licensing message severities changed as requested.
(ID: 535585:1)
SCOAdmin
- Allow reinstallation of OSR507V duration licenses --
Allow a previously removed duration license to be reinstalled. After
reinstallation, the license expiration date will be the earlier of (1) the
original end date and (2) the reinstallation date plus the duration of the
license.
(ID: 535496:1)
Other Fixes
- Update reglock string to include duration license expiration date --
Duration license end date is now passed back to the SCO registration
server during registration, in order to enable the server to send e-mail
reminders automatically when the license is about to expire.
(ID: 535582:2)
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