First release candidate of Debian 7.0 Installer

The Debian project has announced the first release candidate of the Debian Installer for Debian 7.0 Wheezy. Changes mainly affect the installer's EFI and UEFI support; for example, the developers have introduced a uniform look for menu items to ensure that the installer's appearance is as consistent as possible regardless of the boot method used. Various hardware drivers have also been added to the installation system.

However, a number of bugs must be resolved before the final release: for example, it is already known that the Debian Installer has problems with implementing the Grub bootloader when started from a USB flash drive. Further isolated problems with booting the installer appear to exist on computers with UEFI firmware – as a workaround, the developers currently recommend using the UEFI Legacy Mode (Compatibility Support Module, CSM).

Meanwhile, the Debian team has made steady progress with the completion of Debian 7.0 Wheezy, and the number of release-critical bugs has now dropped below the 200 mark – 300 bugs are considered a good time for freezing a release. From that point, it usually takes about six months before a final release arrives. Since the developers already began to freeze Debian Wheezy in mid-2012, despite a high number of release-critical bugs, Debian 7.0 Wheezy could potentially be ready in the first half of 2013. However, as usual with Debian, there is no concrete schedule. At least one further release candidate of the Debian Installer is scheduled to arrive before the final release.

(ehe)