Debian Weekly News - June 20th, 2006
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Debian Weekly News
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2006/25/
Debian Weekly News - June 20th, 2006
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Welcome to this year's 25th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for
the Debian community. Matt Brown [1]created a couple of wrapper
scripts around sbuild and debarchiver to automatically build uploaded
packages. Isaac Clerencia [2]reported that the [3]Zaragoza City Hall
has deployed a thin-client solution based on Debian in six elderly
centres.
1. http://www.mattb.net.nz/blog/2005/10/26/lightweight-debian-archive-scripts/
2. http://people.warp.es/~isaac/blog/index.php/debian-kde-deployment-for-elderly-people-32
3. http://www.zaragoza.es/
Homepage Location in Package Description. Kai Hendry [4]pointed out
that the way URLs are listed in package descriptions is a hack which
in practice commonly defers from the Developer's [5]reference.
Margarita Manterola [6]suggested to first patch dpkg with a Homepage
field in order to address this problem in policy. Raphaël Hertzog
finally recommended this meta field should be incorporated in a Web
application of a [7]collaborative repository of meta information for
packages.
4. http://lists.debian.org/debian-policy/2006/06/msg00037.html
5. http://www.debian.org/doc/developers-reference/ch-best-pkging-practices.en.html#s-bpp-upstream-info
6. http://lists.debian.org/debian-policy/2006/06/msg00038.html
7. http://wiki.debian.org/CRMI
Debian Community Conference Italy. Marco Bertorello [8]announced the
Debian community [9]conference to take place on the 16th and 17th
September in Venice, Italy. This conference is organised by the
Italian Debian community and aims at users, developers, translators
and all those who love Debian.
8. http://lists.debian.org/debian-events-eu/2006/06/msg00010.html
9. http://italiandebconf.debianizzati.org/index.php/English_Info
On compressing PDF Files. Yaroslav Halchenk [10]noticed that about
half of the PDF files distributed with Debian [11]unstable are
compressed into .pdf.gz files and cannot easily be read by commonly
used PDF readers. According to [12]policy large documents need to be
compressed, but PDF files are already compressed inside. Compressing
the remaining PDF files with [13]gzip will only save about 50 MB while
not compressing the compressed PDF files would cost about 150 MB of
space.
10. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/05/msg01434.html
11. http://www.debian.org/releases/unstable/
12. http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-docs#s12.3
13. http://packages.debian.org/gzip
Debian Mentors Site relaunched. Christoph Haas [14]announced the
relaunch of the [15]mentors service that is dedicated to help package
maintainers who are not yet Debian developers get their packages
uploaded into Debian by sponsors. The new site has an improved web
interface and several new features that are supposed to help bring
package maintainers and sponsors together.
14. http://lists.debian.org/debian-mentors/2006/06/msg00355.html
15. http://mentors.debian.net/
Executing System-V Style Init Script. Lars Wirzenius [16]noted that a
lot of packages still don't make use of invoke-rc.d in their
maintainer scripts. This is required by [17]policy 3.7.2 and a
[18]lintian check should be in place already. According to the
[19]list of release-critical issues for [20]etch these packages
violate policy but this bug is not release-critical.
16. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/05/msg01746.html
17. http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-opersys#s9.3.3.2
18. http://packages.debian.org/lintian
19. http://release.debian.org/etch_rc_policy.txt
20. http://www.debian.org/releases/etch/
Hardly used orphaned Packages. Nathanael Nerode [21]created a list of
packages that are orphaned and have less than 20 [22]recorded
installations. These are candidates for removal as they have less than
one installation in 500. He wondered if somebody would object filing
removal requests since they clutter the archive and use the Debian
infrastructure but nobody cares to maintain them. Bas Zoetekouw
[23]argued that even if only a few people use these packages, they are
in use and should probably be kept if they're don't have
release-critical bug reports.
21. http://lists.debian.org/debian-qa/2006/06/msg00043.html
22. http://popcon.debian.org/
23. http://lists.debian.org/debian-qa/2006/06/msg00044.html
Debian Day at FroOSCon. Joey [24]announced that the Debian project
organises a one-day conference during [25]FrOSCon in Sankt Augustin,
Germany, where it also maintains a booth. The [26]conference will take
place on Saturday, June 24th and aims at users and people interested
in the structure of Debian.
24. http://lists.debian.org/debian-events-eu/2006/06/msg00011.html
25. http://www.debian.org/events/2006/0624-froscon
26. http://wiki.snow-crash.org/FrosCon06
Security Updates. You know the drill. Please make sure that you update
your systems if you have any of these packages installed.
* DSA 1096: [27]webcalendar -- Arbitrary code execution.
* DSA 1097: [28]Linux 2.4.27 -- Several vulnerabilities.
* DSA 1098: [29]horde3 -- Cross-site scripting.
* DSA 1099: [30]horde2 -- Cross-site scripting.
* DSA 1100: [31]wv2 -- Integer overflow.
27. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1096
28. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1097
29. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1098
30. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1099
31. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1100
New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the
unstable Debian archive [32]recently or contain important updates.
32. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main
* [33]acpi-support -- Collection of useful events for ACPI.
* [34]advancecomp -- Collection of recompression utilities.
* [35]airport-utils -- Configuration and management utilities for
Apple AirPort base stations.
* [36]bsc -- Graphical file manager with two panels.
* [37]buoh -- Online comic-strip reader for GNOME.
* [38]cobex -- Connector for mobile devices.
* [39]cpulimit -- Limits the CPU usage of a process.
* [40]digitools -- Set of tools to control ASUS Digimatrix embedded
hardware.
* [41]dvipost -- Post processor for DVI files supporting change
bars.
* [42]ekiga -- H.323 and SIP compatible VOIP client.
* [43]flumotion -- Fluendo Streaming Server - manager, worker and
admin.
* [44]remote-tty -- Multiuser "tip"/"cu" replacement with logging.
* [45]systemtap -- Instrumentation system for Linux 2.6.
* [46]texlive-latex3 -- TeX Live: Experiment LaTeX3 packages.
* [47]tinyscheme -- Very small scheme implementation.
* [48]unpaper -- Post-processing tool for scanned pages.
* [49]vim-sisu -- SiSU vim syntax highlighter and folds.
* [50]xtlf -- Single user (single node) version of tlf.
33. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/acpi-support
34. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/advancecomp
35. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/airport-utils
36. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/bsc
37. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/gnome/buoh
38. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/comm/cobex
39. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/cpulimit
40. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/digitools
41. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/tex/dvipost
42. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/gnome/ekiga
43. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/flumotion
44. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/remote-tty
45. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/systemtap
46. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/tex/texlive-latex3
47. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/interpreters/tinyscheme
48. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/unpaper
49. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/vim-sisu
50. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/hamradio/xtlf
Orphaned Packages. 27 packages were orphaned this week and require a
new maintainer. This makes a total of 311 orphaned packages. Many
thanks to the previous maintainers who contributed to the Free
Software community. Please see the [51]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. To find out which orphaned packages are
installed on your system the wnpp-alert program from devscripts may be
helpful.
51. http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/
* [52]aleph -- Aleph programming language - Emacs mode.
([53]Bug#374120)
* [54]apt-listbugs -- Lists critical bugs before each apt
installation. ([55]Bug#374104)
* [56]asiya24-vfont -- Japanese Maru Gothic font in Zeit's Syotai
Club format. ([57]Bug#374105)
* [58]autounit -- Development files for C unit testing framework.
([59]Bug#374124)
* [60]celestia -- Real-time visual space simulation (KDE frontend).
([61]Bug#374534)
* [62]cvsreport -- Extract activity reports from a CVS repository.
([63]Bug#373928)
* [64]dcd -- Command-line CD player. ([65]Bug#374127)
* [66]debnest -- Nested Build System of Debian Source Package.
([67]Bug#374106)
* [68]debpartial -- Debian Packages/Sources file partition tool.
([69]Bug#374107)
* [70]ecos -- Deeply embedded operating system. ([71]Bug#374108)
* [72]feedparser -- Universal Feed Parser for Python.
([73]Bug#374499)
* [74]fidogate -- Gateway between FidoNet and Internet.
([75]Bug#374520)
* [76]gnurobots -- Program a robot to explore a world.
([77]Bug#374125)
* [78]gst-python -- GStreamer Python bindings (0.8).
([79]Bug#374500)
* [80]gst0.10-python -- GStreamer Python bindings (0.10).
([81]Bug#374501)
* [82]libintl-gettext-ruby -- Gettext wrapper for Ruby 1.6.
([83]Bug#374109)
* [84]libipc-shareable-perl -- Access IPC shared memory segments
through Perl. ([85]Bug#374121)
* [86]libmail-verp-perl -- Variable Envelope Return Paths (VERP)
address encoder/decoder. ([87]Bug#374030)
* [88]lphdisk -- Prepares hibernation partition for Phoenix
NoteBIOS. ([89]Bug#374110)
* [90]mt-st -- Linux SCSI tape driver aware magnetic tape control
(aka. mt). ([91]Bug#374122)
* [92]phpreports -- XML-based report generator for PHP.
([93]Bug#374425)
* [94]trueprint -- Pretty printing of source code.
([95]Bug#374128)
* [96]ultrapossum -- UltraPossum startTLS support module.
([97]Bug#374111)
* [98]ultrapossum-slapd -- UltraPossum plugin to use slapd
optimized for UltraPossum. ([99]Bug#374112)
* [100]vflib2 -- Vector Font Library for Japanese Character Code.
([101]Bug#374113)
* [102]yank -- Yet another notekeeper. ([103]Bug#374129)
* [104]zmailer -- Mailer for Extreme Performance Demands.
([105]Bug#373908)
52. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/interpreters/aleph
53. http://bugs.debian.org/374120
54. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/apt-listbugs
55. http://bugs.debian.org/374104
56. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/asiya24-vfont
57. http://bugs.debian.org/374105
58. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libs/libautounit2
59. http://bugs.debian.org/374124
60. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/kde/celestia
61. http://bugs.debian.org/374534
62. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/cvsreport
63. http://bugs.debian.org/373928
64. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/dcd
65. http://bugs.debian.org/374127
66. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/debnest
67. http://bugs.debian.org/374106
68. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/debpartial
69. http://bugs.debian.org/374107
70. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/ecos
71. http://bugs.debian.org/374108
72. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/python/python-feedparser
73. http://bugs.debian.org/374499
74. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/fidogate
75. http://bugs.debian.org/374520
76. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/gnurobots
77. http://bugs.debian.org/374125
78. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/python/python-gst
79. http://bugs.debian.org/374500
80. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/python/python-gst0.10
81. http://bugs.debian.org/374501
82. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/interpreters/libintl-gettext-ruby
83. http://bugs.debian.org/374109
84. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libipc-shareable-perl
85. http://bugs.debian.org/374121
86. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libmail-verp-perl
87. http://bugs.debian.org/374030
88. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/lphdisk
89. http://bugs.debian.org/374110
90. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/mt-st
91. http://bugs.debian.org/374122
92. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/phpreports
93. http://bugs.debian.org/374425
94. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/trueprint
95. http://bugs.debian.org/374128
96. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/ultrapossum
97. http://bugs.debian.org/374111
98. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/ultrapossum-slapd
99. http://bugs.debian.org/374112
100. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libs/vflib2
101. http://bugs.debian.org/374113
102. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/gnome/yank
103. http://bugs.debian.org/374129
104. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/zmailer
105. http://bugs.debian.org/373908
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 [106]contributing
page to find out how to help. We're looking forward to receiving your
mail at [107]dwn@debian.org.
106. http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/contributing
107. mailto:dwn@debian.org
This issue of Debian Weekly News was edited by Kai Hendry,
Sebastian Feltel, Christoph Haas and Martin 'Joey' Schulze.
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