[ANN] Preview builds of 3.4 Beta 5 available

[thb]

Hi *,

for beta 5, we're now uploading builds to a public (but non-mirrored
- so don't spread news too widely!) place, as soon as they're
available. Grab them here:

http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/pre-releases/

If you've a bit of time, please give them a try & report *critical*
bugs not yet in bugzilla here, so we can incorporate them into the
release notes. Please note that it takes approximately 24 hours
to populate the mirrors, so that's about the time we have to collect
feedback.

Known issues so far:

+ The update from libreoffice-3.4.0betaX packages does not work on
  Linux. Please, remove the older beta packages before.

+ The linux packages can be installed in parallel with LO-3.3
  packages (fdo#36551). It required to rename the libreoffice3-*
  packages to libreoffice3.4-*. Also the desktop integration packages
  can be installed in parallel. It required to rename the wrapper from
  "libreoffice" to "libreoffice3.4"

+ The Debian packages use lower release number "5" instead of "103".
  The number "5" has been used for RPMs and Windows installer
  release numbers for a long time. It is bumped for each official
  build.

Currently, debs, rpms, and Mac packages are available, or currently
uploading. Win32 will take some more time, this platform is usually
slowest to build.

The list of fixed bugs in this release is here:

http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/pre-releases/src/bugfixes-libreoffice-3-4-release-3.3.99.5.log

So playing with the areas touched there also greatly appreciated -
and validation that those bugs are really fixed.

Thanks a lot for your help,

-- Thorsten

[italovignoli]

Hi, for this specific announcement I would like to do the following in term of communication:

- you announce the beta on these mailing lists, using the same text of the previous announcements

- at the same time, we announce the change of announcement strategy on the announce mailing list, using a text that I will produce tonight in order to be discussed during SC and ESC conference calls

- at the same time, I will blog on the TDF blog adding to the announce text a few graphics that will - hopefully - make some concept visually clear for everyone (also these are going to be ready tonight for discussion)

Ciao, Italo

[thb]

Italo Vignoli wrote:

- you announce the beta on these mailing lists, using the same text
of the previous announcements

- at the same time, we announce the change of announcement strategy
on the announce mailing list, using a text that I will produce
tonight in order to be discussed during SC and ESC conference calls

- at the same time, I will blog on the TDF blog adding to the
announce text a few graphics that will - hopefully - make some
concept visually clear for everyone (also these are going to be
ready tonight for discussion)

Yep, sounds good.

Cheers,

-- Thorsten