Debian Weekly News - December 14th, 2004
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Debian Weekly News
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2004/49/
Debian Weekly News - December 14th, 2004
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Welcome to this year's 49th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for
the Debian community. Bruce Byfield released a short [1]introduction
into apt-get on [2]NewsForge. Again, developers were [3]advised to
close bugs automatically with a changelog entry only in connection
with a proper description. Jason Boxman wrote a [4]guideline for
using Exim 4 and Courier IMAP on a Debian system.
1. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/12/02/1710208
2. http://www.newsforge.com/
3. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/12/msg00907.html
4. http://trekweb.com/~jasonb/articles/exim4_courier/
Constructive Critique of Debian. In a guest [5]editorial on
[6]DesktopLinux Binh Nguyen noted some key design attributes of
Debian that make it one of the strongest and most versatile GNU/Linux
distributions. He also observed certain weaknesses and argued that a
few simple improvements and a more welcoming attitude to new users
would significantly improve Debian. He concluded that Debian is a
competent and robust distribution, but with a few critical flaws that
have led perception of it being an elitist distribution.
5. http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT7588639943.html
6. http://www.desktoplinux.com/
Geek Feminists in Debian. Bruce Byfield [7]reported about the
[8]Debian women sub-project and its beginnings. One of Debian women's
main roles is to help women become Debian developers, partly by being
supportive and encouraging, but also by demystifying the process.
Debian women has created a friendly place for learning more about
Debian and has drawn out many women to talk about their experiences
and ambitions.
7. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/12/03/173216
8. http://women.alioth.debian.org/
Multi-Head Computing.[9]OPENSense Solutions [10]announced the
availability of Groovix, a Debian-based multi-user computer. Up to
three sets of monitor, keyboard, mouse and speaker are attached to a
single AMD Athlon based computer. The [11]system consists of Debian
GNU/Linux with KDE as desktop environment. The vendor stresses that
they can't support other configurations, but, apt-get install gnome is
not that hard to type.
9. http://www.opensensesolutions.com/products.html
10. http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/12/emw187925.htm
11. http://opensensesolutions.com/software.html
Advertising on the Debian Website. Martin Michlmayr [12]forwarded an
inquiry to place advertising on the Debian website. Stephen Frost
would [13]welcome the potential revenue stream. However, [14]several
[15]developers [16]didn't [17]like the idea and Alexander Schmehl even
[18]gave an example for content-driven advertising: if you search for
the terms "Debian" and "Linux", you'll get an advertisement telling
you the "true facts" about open source.
12. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2004/12/msg00028.html
13. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2004/12/msg00039.html
14. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2004/12/msg00034.html
15. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2004/12/msg00046.html
16. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2004/12/msg00053.html
17. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2004/12/msg00068.html
18. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2004/12/msg00072.html
Support for SVG Icons. Jay Treacy [19]wondered how [20]SVG (Scalable
Vector Graphics) icons are supposed to be handled in the Debian
system. Josselin Mouette [21]explained that all of GTK+ already
supports them and where they are usually put on the filesystem. Bill
Allombert [22]added that the menu manual only talks about XPM icons.
19. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/12/msg00869.html
20. http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/
21. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/12/msg00886.html
22. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/12/msg00910.html
Ongoing dpkg Development. In a reply to an [23]intent to package by
Martin F. Krafft, Adam Heath [24]revealed future plans for the
dpkg-deb utility. In such a modular design editing Debian package
without the need to install them would become an easy task. It would
also support [25]excluding entire directory hierarchies, such as
/usr/share/doc.
23. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/12/msg00842.html
24. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/12/msg01099.html
25. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/12/msg01247.html
GNU/Linux Core Consortium. Bruce Perens [26]explained that the
GNU/Linux Core Consortium (LCC) is what he originally proposed to do
as the [27]LSB and would like to have Debian's involvement. The main
technical effect that he sees would be that the names of some dynamic
libraries would change, which was [28]not [29]appreciated. The LCC
[30]aims to complement the LSB by agreeing on a single solutions for
grey cases in the LSB.
26. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/12/msg00912.html
27. http://www.linuxbase.org/
28. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/12/msg00915.html
29. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/12/msg00940.html
30. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/12/msg00975.html
GNOME Transition into Sarge finished. Jordi Mallach [31]reported that
[32]gconf-editor was the last component of GNOME 2.8 that was pending
to enter testing, which is done already. Earlier he [33]reported that
this has been the smoothest transition to testing since GNOME 2.0.
Additionally, a new version of Evolution with all release-critical
bugs fixed has been uploaded.
31. http://oskuro.net/blog/freesoftware/gnome-2.8-sarge-2004-12-13-15-07
32. http://packages.debian.org/gconf-editor
33. http://oskuro.net/blog/freesoftware/gnome-2.8-sarge-2004-12-03-18-19
Supporting Free Java. Arnaud Vandyck [34]asked other Java developer to
test their programs with a free runtime and report the results. He
started a [35]page where he will document results of running projects
with a free Java virtual machine. His own [36]remarks contain
experiences with a project that makes heavy use of threads.
34. http://www.livejournal.com/users/avdyk/9097.html
35. http://java.debian.net/index.php/DebianSupportsFreeJava
36. http://people.debian.org/~avdyk/freejava/
Security Updates. You know the drill. Please make sure that you update
your systems if you have any of these packages installed.
* DSA 606: [37]nfs-utils -- Denial of service.
* DSA 607: [38]XFree86 -- Several vulnerabilities.
* DSA 608: [39]zgv -- Arbitrary code execution.
* DSA 609: [40]atari800 -- Local root exploit.
37. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-606
38. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-607
39. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-608
40. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-609
New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the
unstable Debian archive [41]recently or contain important updates.
41. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main
* [42]bld-postfix -- Black List Daemon, automatically build
blacklists.
* [43]courier-filter-perl -- Purely Perl-based mail filter framework
for the Courier MTA.
* [44]guile-simplesql -- SQL library for Guile.
* [45]l2tpns -- Layer 2 tunnelling protocol network server (LNS).
* [46]lemon -- The Lemon Parser Generator.
* [47]lockout -- Self-imposed discipline and productivity enforcer.
* [48]mathpartir -- LaTeX macros for typesetting inference rules.
* [49]muscle -- Multiple alignment program of protein sequences.
* [50]neutrino -- GNOME shell for managing your Creative Labs Nomad
Jukebox.
* [51]noiz2sa -- Abstract arcade shooter.
* [52]omnievents -- Implementation of the CORBA Event Service.
* [53]polygen -- Generate random sentences according to a grammar
definition.
* [54]rawdog -- RSS aggregator without delusions of grandeur.
* [55]sqlite3 -- Command line interface for SQLite 3.
* [56]varkon -- CAD system with parametric modelling.
* [57]webcalendar -- PHP-based multi-user calendar.
* [58]xmms-kde -- MP3 player integrated into the KDE panel.
42. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/bld-postfix
43. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/courier-filter-perl
44. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/guile-simplesql
45. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/l2tpns
46. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/lemon
47. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/lockout
48. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/tex/mathpartir
49. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/science/muscle
50. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/gnome/neutrino
51. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/noiz2sa
52. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/omnievents
53. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/polygen
54. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/rawdog
55. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/sqlite3
56. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/varkon
57. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/webcalendar
58. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/xmms-kde
Orphaned Packages. 4 packages were orphaned this week and require a
new maintainer. This makes a total of 226 orphaned packages. Many
thanks to the previous maintainers who contributed to the Free
Software community. Please see the [59]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.
59. http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/
* [60]bbtime -- Time tool for the blackbox window manager.
([61]Bug#285161)
* [62]display-dhammapada -- Displays verses from the Dhammapada.
([63]Bug#285159)
* [64]obexftp -- File Transfer to Flex.Memory on Siemens GSM
Mobiles. ([65]Bug#284654)
* [66]ttf-thryomanes -- Unicode font covering Latin, Greek, Cyrillic
and IPA. ([67]Bug#285162)
60. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/bbtime
61. http://bugs.debian.org/285161
62. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/display-dhammapada
63. http://bugs.debian.org/285159
64. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/comm/obexftp
65. http://bugs.debian.org/284654
66. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/ttf-thryomanes
67. http://bugs.debian.org/285162
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 [68]contributing
page to find out how to help. We're looking forward to receiving your
mail at [69]dwn@debian.org.
68. http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/contributing
69. mailto:dwn@debian.org
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