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Debian Installer Bookworm RC 1 release

April 3rd, 2023

The Debian Installer team is pleased to announce the first release candidate of the installer for Debian 12 Bookworm.

Improvements in this release

• debian-cd:
  • Use hard links instead of symlinks for firmware packages (#1031696).
  • Delete loadlin support entirely.
• debian-installer:
  • Refresh help screen with minimum disk size for installation and better documentation links (#1033193).
• debian-installer-utils:
  • Include xterm terminfo entry on all architectures, fixing nano issues in the graphical installer (#1026027).
• grub-installer:
  • Basic heuristic for force-efi-extra-removable question.
  • Add question for running grub-install with --no-nvram, using similar logic.
• hw-detect:
  • Deduplicate the list of requested firmware files, not just the list of requesting modules (#1031631).
  • Implement microcode support when /proc/cpuinfo contains a vendor_id field, with one of the following values (#1029804):
    • Install amd64-microcode on AuthenticAMD.
    • Install intel-microcode on GenuineIntel.
    • Enable non-free-firmware accordingly.
    • Perform installation via finish-install, making sure apt-setup has been configured, and using apt-install for dependency resolution.
  • Optimize firmware package installation: process dpkg triggers once, after all packages have been installed, leading to a single update-initramfs call.
  • Fix condition around mountmedia calls (#1032377).
  • Fix files removal for non-accepted firmware packages (#1032377).
  • Add a special case for the mhi module (#1032140), using holders information (e.g. ath11k_pci and qrtr_mhi for some Atheros wireless cards).
  • Fix dmesg timestamp management.
  • Fix package name extraction when removing a firmware package (e.g. it failed to install because it was corrupted).
  • Build /var/log/firmware-summary as a 3-column summary of firmware (and microcode) packages getting installed (#1029849).
  • Fix removal of temporary files in /target after installing firmware packages (#1033035).
  • Determine the package name by using the Package field instead of trusting the filename when installing firmware packages (#1033035).
  • Make sure not to include the possible -n option when setting the IFACES variables in check-missing-firmware (#1033035).
• installation-report:
  • Store firmware information in /var/log/installer/firmware-summary (#1033325). See the 2.87 changelog entry for details.
  • Include firmware-summary in installation reports.
• localechooser:
  • Remove AN from country list; move CW to Caribbean region.

Hardware support changes

• debian-installer:
  • Enable sound modules and speakup on arm64 gtk images.
• linux:
  • Fix reloading mt7921e module after deploying firmware files (#1029116).
  • Add michael_mic to crypto-modules, for ath11k and others (#1032140).
  • Add qrtr_mhi to nic-wireless, for ath11k (#1032140).
  • Add DRM ast driver to fb-modules on ppc64el (#990016).
  • Add sound and speakup udebs on arm64 and armhf (#1031289).

Localization status

• 78 languages are supported in this release.
• Full translation for 41 of them.

Known issues in this release

See the errata for details and a full list of known issues.

Feedback for this release

We need your help to find bugs and further improve the installer, so please try it. Installer CDs, other media and everything else you will need are available at our web site.

Thanks

The Debian Installer team thanks everybody who has contributed to this release.