Debian Weekly News - February 28th, 2006
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Debian Weekly News
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2006/09/
Debian Weekly News - February 28th, 2006
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Welcome to this year's 9th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for the
Debian community. Lars Wirzenius [1]de-nominated himself from the
upcoming project leader election due to aspects and parts of the
project that he can't emotionally deal with. In a former [2]article
he already investigated the role of the project leader and came to the
conclusion that the important thing is to inspire and not to force.
1. http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2006/02/msg00637.html
2. http://liw.iki.fi/liw/log/2006-02.html#20060206b
Call for Votes for the GFDL Position Statement. Manoj Srivastava
[3]called for [4]votes on a General Resolution to address the Debian
project's position on the [5]GNU Free Documentation License. The
result of this vote will affect the way the Debian projects handles
documentation released under this particular license. The vote
distinguishes between works with and without invariant sections.
3. http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2006/02/msg00662.html
4. http://www.debian.org/vote/2006/vote_001
5. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
Implementing the Mirror Split. Anthony Towns [6]announced that
ftp.debian.org will soon stop including a number of architectures for
etch (testing) and sid (unstable). Since the total size of the archive
is currently 170 GB official mirrors don't have to include the entire
archive anymore. A special rsync module allows mirror admins to mirror
the entire archive if they like to, though.
6. http://lists.debian.org/debian-mirrors-announce/2006/02/msg00000.html
Debian Project Leader Election 2006. Manoj Srivastava [7]announced
the candidates for this year's project leader [8]election: Jeroen van
Wolffelaar, Ari Pollak, Steve McIntyre, Anthony Towns, Andreas
Schuldei, Jonathan Walther, and Bill Allombert. The platforms for
these candidates will be published as soon as they are available. Don
Armstrong and Thaddeus H. Black have agreed to be debate chairs.
7. http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2006/02/msg00665.html
8. http://www.debian.org/vote/2006/vote_002
Inclusion of the AMD64 Architecture. Anthony Towns [9]noted that
various changes have been made to create Packages files in unstable,
experimental and testing to support future amd64 uploads. In a couple
of weeks when the mirror split transition is over, the [10]amd64
autobuilder will get all packages rebuilt.
9. http://lists.debian.org/debian-amd64/2006/02/msg00382.html
10. http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/
Weekly Polls and Social Pressure. Raphaël Hertzog [11]proposed to run
weekly polls on various issues, including social problems, which could
be used as a basis for listmasters. Those polls should give a pretty
good overview of the current opinion inside the project. Alberto
Gonzalez Iniesta [12]opposed this idea and MJ Ray [13]considered this
a bad idea that will lead to improper decisions.
11. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2006/02/msg00065.html
12. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2006/02/msg00066.html
13. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2006/02/msg00075.html
Non-Maintainer Upload Policy. Mike Hommey [14]wondered if it is still
good practice to notify the maintainer before doing a non-maintainer
upload. Eric Dorland [15]quoted Andreas Barth and confirmed that
developers are still required to notify the maintainer via the [16]bug
tracking system before uploading.
14. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/01/msg01053.html
15. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/01/msg01056.html
16. http://www.debian.org/Bugs/
Essential Python Packages? Eric Cooper [17]noticed that
[18]python-minimal is installed as an essential package. Matthias
Klose [19]explained that this was done as preparation for a later
change in the package. Anthony Towns has [20]reverted this in the
meantime since it drags in most of the python distribution in Debian.
17. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/01/msg01114.html
18. http://packages.debian.org/python-minimal
19. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/01/msg01182.html
20. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/01/msg01119.html
Security Updates. You know the drill. Please make sure that you update
your systems if you have any of these packages installed.
* DSA 980: [21]tutos -- Multiple vulnerabilities.
* DSA 981: [22]bmv -- Arbitrary code execution.
* DSA 982: [23]gpdf -- Several vulnerabilities.
* DSA 983: [24]pdftohtml -- Several vulnerabilities.
21. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-980
22. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-981
23. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-982
24. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-983
New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the
unstable Debian archive [25]recently or contain important updates.
25. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main
* [26]autopkgtest -- Automatic as-installed testing for Debian
packages.
* [27]banshee-daap -- Audio Management and Playback application
(DAAP sharing plugin).
* [28]bdf2psf -- Font converter to generate console fonts from BDF
source fonts.
* [29]c3270 -- Curses program for telnet sessions to IBM mainframes.
* [30]checkgmail -- Alternative Gmail Notifier for Linux via Atom
feeds.
* [31]console-setup -- Setup the font and the keyboard on the
console.
* [32]dssi-utils -- Command-line utilities for sending commands to
DSSI plugins.
* [33]gdmap -- Tool to visualise disk-space.
* [34]gphotofs -- Filesystem to mount digital cameras.
* [35]gsynaptics -- Configuration tool for Synaptics touchpad driver
of X server.
* [36]gxineplugin -- Xine video player, GTK+/Gnome; launcher plugin
for Mozilla.
* [37]horde-sam -- Spam module for Horde Framework.
* [38]inputlirc -- Zeroconf LIRC daemon using input event devices.
* [39]itrans -- Converts romanised Indic texts to Latex, HTML &
Postscript.
* [40]kpicosim -- IDE and simulator for the Xilinx PicoBlaze-3.
* [41]kvpnc -- VPN clients frontend for KDE.
* [42]lastfm -- Audio player for last.fm personalised radio.
* [43]metacity-common -- Shared files of lightweight GTK2 based
Window Manager.
* [44]moto4lin -- File manager and seem editor for Motorola phones
(like C380/C650).
* [45]mpc123 -- Command-line Musepack audio player.
* [46]mpt-status -- Get RAID status out of mpt (and other) HW RAID
controllers.
* [47]nagios2 -- Host/service/network monitoring and management
system.
* [48]pfqueue -- Interactive console-based tool to control MTA
queues.
* [49]playground -- GNOME applet that lets you control basic
functions of audio players.
* [50]pr3287 -- IBM 3287 printer emulation for telnet sessions to
IBM mainframes.
* [51]s3270 -- Program for scripted telnet sessions to IBM
mainframes.
* [52]singularity -- Game where one becomes the singularity.
* [53]stgit -- Provide quilt functionality on top of git.
* [54]suspend2-userui -- User-space interfaces for software
suspend2.
* [55]sysconfig-hardware -- Hardware configuration.
* [56]tioga -- Ruby library for scientific graphs.
* [57]x3270 -- X11 program for telnet sessions to IBM mainframes.
* [58]xcftools -- Command-line tools for extracting data for XCF
files.
* [59]xulrunner -- XUL + XPCOM application runner.
* [60]yics -- Yahoo! Chess client for use with FICS interfaces.
26. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/autopkgtest
27. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/banshee-daap
28. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/bdf2psf
29. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/c3270
30. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/checkgmail
31. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/console-setup
32. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libdevel/dssi-utils
33. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/gdmap
34. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/gphotofs
35. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/gsynaptics
36. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/gxineplugin
37. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/horde-sam
38. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/inputlirc
39. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/itrans
40. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/kde/kpicosim
41. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/kde/kvpnc
42. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/lastfm
43. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/metacity-common
44. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/comm/moto4lin
45. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/mpc123
46. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/mpt-status
47. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/nagios2
48. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/pfqueue
49. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/gnome/playground
50. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/pr3287
51. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/s3270
52. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/singularity
53. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/stgit
54. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/suspend2-userui
55. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/sysconfig-hardware
56. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/tioga
57. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/x3270
58. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/xcftools
59. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/xulrunner
60. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/yics
Orphaned Packages. 26 packages were orphaned this week and require a
new maintainer. This makes a total of 239 orphaned packages. Many
thanks to the previous maintainers who contributed to the Free
Software community. Please see the [61]WNPP pages for the full list,
and please add a note to the bug report and retitle it to ITA: if you
plan to take over a package.
61. http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/
* [62]c-sig -- Signature tool for GNU Emacs. ([63]Bug#353621)
* [64]edb -- Database program for GNU Emacs. ([65]Bug#353629)
* [66]elisp-manual-ja -- Japanese version of Emacs Lisp Reference
Manual. ([67]Bug#353625)
* [68]emacs-lisp-intro-ja -- Japanese version of "Programming in
Emacs Lisp: An Introduction". ([69]Bug#353628)
* [70]emacs-manual-ja -- Japanese version of the GNU Emacs Manual.
([71]Bug#353624)
* [72]ftpmirror -- Mirroring directory hierarchy with FTP.
([73]Bug#353635)
* [74]gnome-ppp -- Modem Internet connection tool for GNOME.
([75]Bug#353397)
* [76]goobox -- CD player and ripper for GNOME. ([77]Bug#353398)
* [78]libsufary-ruby -- SUFARY module for Ruby 1.6. ([79]Bug#353632)
* [80]libxml-sablot-perl -- Encapsulation of the Sablotron XSL
processor. ([81]Bug#354500)
* [82]manued-el -- Minor mode for manued proofreading method.
([83]Bug#353620)
* [84]mimedecode -- Decodes transfer encoded text type mime
messages. ([85]Bug#354177)
* [86]mrt -- Multi-threaded Routing Toolkit (BGP4+/BGP/RIPng/RIP2).
([87]Bug#354497)
* [88]psys -- P-system emulation libraries for Chipmunk tools.
([89]Bug#354496)
* [90]rig -- Random identity generator. ([91]Bug#353394)
* [92]skk -- SKK Dictionary server. ([93]Bug#353627)
* [94]skktools -- SKK dictionary maintenance tools.
([95]Bug#353633)
* [96]spim -- MIPS R2000/R3000 emulator. ([97]Bug#354501)
* [98]src2tex -- Converter from source program files to TeX format
files. ([99]Bug#353619)
* [100]sufary -- Perl module for SUFARY. ([101]Bug#353626)
* [102]swingwt -- Swing/AWT API. ([103]Bug#354632)
* [104]trr19 -- Type training software on GNU Emacs.
([105]Bug#353623)
* [106]wap-wml-tools -- Wireless Markup Language development and
test tools. ([107]Bug#354502)
* [108]windows-el -- Window manager for GNU Emacs. ([109]Bug#353634)
* [110]xbatt -- Display battery status. ([111]Bug#353622)
* [112]xevil -- Violent side-scrolling game for X. ([113]Bug#353389)
62. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/c-sig
63. http://bugs.debian.org/353621
64. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/edb
65. http://bugs.debian.org/353629
66. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/doc/elisp-manual-ja
67. http://bugs.debian.org/353625
68. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/doc/emacs-lisp-intro-ja
69. http://bugs.debian.org/353628
70. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/doc/emacs-manual-ja
71. http://bugs.debian.org/353624
72. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/ftpmirror
73. http://bugs.debian.org/353635
74. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/gnome-ppp
75. http://bugs.debian.org/353397
76. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/gnome/goobox
77. http://bugs.debian.org/353398
78. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/interpreters/libsufary-ruby
79. http://bugs.debian.org/353632
80. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libxml-sablot-perl
81. http://bugs.debian.org/354500
82. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/manued-el
83. http://bugs.debian.org/353620
84. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/mimedecode
85. http://bugs.debian.org/354177
86. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/mrt
87. http://bugs.debian.org/354497
88. http://packages.debian.org//unstable/libs/libpsys1
89. http://bugs.debian.org/354496
90. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/rig
91. http://bugs.debian.org/353394
92. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/skk
93. http://bugs.debian.org/353627
94. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/skktools
95. http://bugs.debian.org/353633
96. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/electronics/spim
97. http://bugs.debian.org/354501
98. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/tex/src2tex
99. http://bugs.debian.org/353619
100. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/sufary
101. http://bugs.debian.org/353626
102. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libs/libswingwt0
103. http://bugs.debian.org/354632
104. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/trr19
105. http://bugs.debian.org/353623
106. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/wap-wml-tools
107. http://bugs.debian.org/354502
108. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/windows-el
109. http://bugs.debian.org/353634
110. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/xbatt
111. http://bugs.debian.org/353622
112. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/xevil
113. http://bugs.debian.org/353389
Want to continue reading DWN? Please help us create this newsletter.
We still need more volunteer writers who watch the Debian community
and report about what is going on. Please see the [114]contributing
page to find out how to help. We're looking forward to receiving your
mail at [115]dwn@debian.org.
114. http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/contributing
115. mailto:dwn@debian.org
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