As of August 4, 2004 IRIX® 6.5.25 is releasing with all new systems shipping from SGI worldwide manufacturing centers.

The IRIX 6.5.25 release continues the focus on stability, reliability, security and compatibility required in the IRIX 6.5.xx quarterly release process.

The IRIX 6.5.25 release delivers several software enhancements, extensions and improvements requested by our customers. Approximately 75 customer reported incidents are also resolved in this release.

The general distribution process is through the online ordering system. IRIX 6.5.25 images are also available for download off Supportfolio.

• SGI® 10-Gigabit Ethernet Network Adapter
  The IRIX 6.5.25 release supports the new SGI 10-Gigabit Ethernet network adapter. This board uses multimode fiber and is able to handle connections of up to 300m. For more information, see the SGI 10-Gigabit Ethernet Network Adapter User's Guide.

• Support for Secure RPC
  IRIX 6.5.25 includes support for user authentication and optional integrity protection and encryption of NFS traffic using RPCSEC_GSS authentication mechanism with Kerberos V5 backend has been added. For information on this feature, see the ONC3/NFS Administrator's Guide.

• CXFS™ is not supported with IRIX 6.5.25
  If you want to run CXFS, you cannot upgrade to IRIX 6.5.25. Latest supported release information is provided in the "Caveat and Release Note Updates"

• IRIX® support policy
  In accordance with the SGI software product life cycle management strategy announced in November 2000, SGI will announce support mode changes for various software products on a quarterly basis. To view customer letters containing support mode changes announced since November 2000, as well as the latest IRIX Support Policy documents, visit the IRIX Support Policy

• Changes to Support Mode Status
  The following workstations, graphics and scalable server systems have transitioned to retired support mode for the IRIX® 6.5.23 release. IRIX 6.5.23 and beyond do not support installation on these systems.

  • Challenge® S, Challenge® M, Challenge® DM, Challenge® L, Challenge® XL
  • Indigo®, Indigo2™, Indigo2™ Extreme, Indigo2 Impact™, Indy®
  • Power Challenge™, Power Indigo2™, Power Onyx™
  • Onyx®

  The following product has transitioned to retired support for the IRIX 6.5.23 release:

• Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) / Distributed File System (DFS) Contact your local sales representative to discuss options for replacement or upgrade products.

For those providers asking about quarterly recertification of applications, please take a moment and become acquainted with the application compatibility protections offered by IRIX® 6.5. This is a very powerful mandate that allows an application to be developed under IRIX 6.5.X and be run on any IRIX 6.5.Y, regardless of whether Y > X, Y == X, or Y < X.

The Mandate of Application Compatibility in SGI IRIX 6.5 is at URL: http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi/0650/bks/SGI_Developer/books/mandate_IRIX/sgi_html/pr01.html

Users are reminded to review the special "Caveats to Read Before You Upgrade" section of the online Welcome document. Visit the "Caveat and Release Note Updates" for any late-breaking information.

Installation

• Updated Inst program
  New installation features were used starting with IRIX® 6.5.21 that necessitate an updated version of the Inst program. If you plan to install using the miniroot, then you may do so by the usual method. However, if you plan to upgrade by 'live' install and are running IRIX® 6.5.19 or earlier, you must first install patch 5086.

IRIX® 6.5.26 is in development and is planned to release mid-November, 2004.