Debian Project News - May 18th, 2010
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The Debian Project http://www.debian.org/
Debian Project News debian-publicity@lists.debian.org
May 18th, 2010 http://debian.org/News/project/2010/03/
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Welcome to this year's third issue of DPN, the newsletter for the Debian
community. Topics covered in this issue include:
* DebConf10 update
* Squeeze freeze
* Debian-Ubuntu relationship
* Debian installation media and non-free firmware
* ... and much more.
DebConf10 update
----------------
Deadlines are looming for DebConf10 - some have already passed. For
example, the last day to submit a BoF (Birds of a Feather) talk has come
and gone. There is still lots you can do for DebConf10 however including
volunteering time, lending equipment, and even donating money. Sponsors
and donors are needed to help defray the costs of holding DebConf10 as
Raphael Geissert wrote on his blog [6].
6 : http://my.opera.com/atomo64/blog/2010/05/04/debconf10-needs-your-help
Joey Hess also blogged about DebConf10 [7] saying "Let us get you to
DebConf -- I promise you won't regret it!" There is still time (you have
until the 15th of May) to contact Joey about this year's special funding
to get you to DebConf10.
7 : http://kitenet.net/~joey/blog/entry/Sponsoring_non-regulars_for_DebConf10/
Squeeze freeze
--------------
Adam Barratt and the release team sent out an update on the status of
transitions, Release Critical bugs and a Timeline of the Squeeze freeze.
In short, we have a way to go before Squeeze is frozen and it is
difficult for the release team to estimate when Squeeze will get frozen.
Adam writes "In order to help us keep a clearer picture of which changes
still need to occur before we can freeze, we will be introducing a
'transition freeze' before the end of this month. If you have not yet
discussed your transition with the Release Team, please ensure that you
have done so before May 21st."
The release team is already working on some transitions now, like Qt4
and gnome-desktop, which are finished. The KDE team is working on KDE
4.4 with the goal of having as up-to-date and stable version of the KDE
suite as is possible. To quote Adam: "We're also close to completing the
evince / totem-pl-parser transition, which means we're well on the way
to have GNOME 2.30 in Squeeze."
"Even though the descending slope of theRC bug graph [8] is pretty
impressive [2], we still have about 400 RC bugs in Squeeze. Some of them
are waiting for packages to transition from unstable to testing, but
there's still a large number which need working on. On this every DD can
help out by NMUing packages which are currently affected by RC bugs.
Please remember that releasing is a collective effort and it is not
enough to just have your own packages RC-bug free (although it's a good
start) to be able to release. So, if you can help, please choose an RC
bug [9], fix it :-) and NMU it, possibly to the DELAYED queue so that
the maintainer can react if needed."
8 : http://bugs.debian.org/release-critical/
9 : http://bugs.debian.org/release-critical/debian/all.html
Debian-Ubuntu relationship
--------------------------
Being invited to the recent Ubuntu Developer Summit, Debian Project
Leader Stefano Zacchiroli gathered feedback [10] and examples about the
relationship between the two projects. Most interesting where of course
success stories, "epic fails" and requests from the Debian Project at
large to the Ubuntu community. Later he posted a link to his slided [11]
(a video is also available [12]) also containing some figures, e.g. that
roughly 75% of all packages in Ubuntu are taken without further patches
directly from Debian. Stefano later posted a summary of his talk [13]
and the feedback he got.
10 : http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2010/05/msg00083.html
11 : http://upsilon.cc/~zack/stuff/debian-uds-m.pdf
12 : http://blip.tv/file/3622104
13 : http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2010/05/msg00084.html
Debian installation media and non-free firmware
-----------------------------------------------
With Debian's Kernel Team moving firmware files (binary data needed for
some hardware like network interface cards) in separate packages in
Debian's non-free section, Kurt Roeckx wondered [14], if that approach
could lead to usage problems especially during installation and if these
files should be added to the installation media. Several people pointed
out, that the debian installation system already supports loading
firmware [15] from a separate installation media, e.g. a USB stick. That
however would still be to complicate for many users or use cases (e.g.
remote installation). In the end Steve Langasek proposed [16] to offer
normal installation media without non-free firmware files and an easy to
use tool, which would add the distributable non-free firmware files to
the installation media image.
14 : http://lists.debian.org/20100505162955.GA17250@roeckx.be
15 : http://www.debian.org/releases/lenny/i386/ch06s04.html
16 : http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2010/05/msg00081.html
Other news
----------
The 22nd issue of the miscellaneous news for developers [17] has been
released and covers the following topics:
17 : http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2010/05/msg00006.html
* LWN subscriptions
* ubuntudiff.debian.net
* TXT records on debian.net
* Debian Sysadmin Team seeks for help
* Receive Ubuntu bugs by mail via PTS
mips* porter Andreas Barth gave a status update [18] about the mips and
mipsel ports [19]. While the situation for mipsel have been improved
dramatically, the situation for mips remains unchanged [20].
18 : http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2010/05/msg00005.html
19 : http://www.debian.org/ports/mips/
20 : http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2010/04/msg00010.html
Debian System Administrator Martin Zobel-Helas announced [21] a new
version of the "Debian Machine Usage Policies" becoming effective on
July 04th, 2010. The DMUP basically covers what Debian Developers may
or may not do with their accounts on debian.org hardware. The change was
necessary to clarify responsibilities between the Debian System
Administrators and the Debian Account Managers.
21 : http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2010/05/msg00001.html
Debian New Maintainer Frontdesk Member Enrico Zini reminded [22]
Developers on how to properly advocate applicants for the new maintainer
process. While advocation message don't need to be cumbersome and long,
he highlights that only persons, who already have actively contributed
to Debian should be advocated.
22 : http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2010/05/msg00003.html
Debian System Administrator Peter Palfrader welcomed some volunteers for
maintaining porter chroot environments [23] on different architectures.
He also gave some guidelines on how developers should request
installation of packages in these chroot environments.
23 : http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2010/05/msg00002.html
Bdale Garbee bloged about sponsored LWN subscriptions [24] where HP [25]
sponsors the subscription fee to access LWN.net [26] for Debian
Developers and - just recently introduced - for Debian Maintainers. He
also noted, that currently 571 Debian Contributors use this service.
24 : http://www.gag.com/bdale/blog/posts/Debian_and_LWN.html
25 : http://www.hp.com/go/linux
26 : http://lwn.net/
Debian System Administrator Peter Palfrader asked [27] that all bug
reports concerning the removal of undistributable packages should also
be sent to the maintainers of the snapshot.debian.org [28] service.
27 : http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2010/05/msg00004.html
28 : http://snapshot.debian.org/
Sune Vuorela, member of the KDE package maintenance team, wondered if
distribution specific tools [29] are missing for Debian.
29 : http://pusling.com/blog/?p=163
Martin Michlmayr announced the availability of a Debian 5.0 [30] "Lenny"
installation system for Marvell's Kirkwood based systems like
the SheevaPlug [31] or the QNAP TS-11x/TS-21x [32].
30 : http://www.cyrius.com/journal/debian/kirkwood/lenny-installer
31 : http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/
32 : http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/qnap/
Jan Dittberner added [33] links to UbuntuDiff, piuparts and patch
tracker to the Debian Developer Portfolio Service [34].
33 : http://www.dittberner.info/en/content/small-update-debian-developer-portfolio-service
34 : http://ddportfolio.debian.net/
Stefano Zacchiroli co-authored a paper introducing the The Ultimate
Debian Database [35] a collection of several data sources to scientists
doing data mining on software repositories.
35 : http://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2010/05/UDD_-_consolidating_bazaar_metadata_for_QA_and_data_mining/
New Developers and Maintainers
------------------------------
9 applicants have been accepted [36] as Debian Developers and 6
applicants have been [37] accepted [38] as Debian Maintainer since the
previous issue of the Debian Project News. Please welcome Deepak
Tripathi, Daniel Nurmi, Paul Gevers, Thomas Goirand, Pino Toscano, Johan
Euphrosine, Kanru Chen, Mikhail Gusarov, Obey Arthur Liu, Thierry
Soloniaina Randrianiriana, Ritesh Sarraf, Tommi Vainikainen, Thomas
Weber, Hideki Yamane and Serafeim Zanikolas into our project!
36 : http://lists.debian.org/E1OBGLq-0004Fc-16@merkel.debian.org
37 : http://lists.debian.org/E1OE0zH-0008Py-VZ@ries.debian.org
38 : http://lists.debian.org/E1ODk88-0001Je-3Q@ries.debian.org
Release-critical bugs statistics for the upcoming release
---------------------------------------------------------
According to the unofficial RC-bugs count [39], the upcoming release,
Debian 6.0 "Squeeze", is currently affected by 370 release critical
bugs. 72 of them have already been fixed in Debian's "unstable" branch.
Of the remaining 298 release critical bugs, 37 already have a patch
(which might need testing) and 20 are marked as pending.
39 : http://bts.turmzimmer.net/details.php
Ignoring these bugs as well as release critical bugs for packages in
contrib or non-free, 180 release critical bugs remain to be solved for
the release to happen.
Important Debian Security Advisories
------------------------------------
Debian's Security Team recently released advisories for these packages
(among others): mediawiki [40], iscsitarget [41], vlc [42], mplayer [43]
and phpgroupware [44]. Please read them carefully and take the proper
measures.
40 : http://www.debian.org/security/2010/dsa-2041
41 : http://www.debian.org/security/2010/dsa-2042
42 : http://www.debian.org/security/2010/dsa-2043
43 : http://www.debian.org/security/2010/dsa-2044
44 : http://www.debian.org/security/2010/dsa-2046
Please note that these are a selection of the more important security
advisories of the last weeks. If you need to be kept up to date about
security advisories released by the Debian Security Team, please
subscribe to the security mailing list [45] for announcements.
45 : http://lists.debian.org/debian-security-announce/
New and noteworthy packages
---------------------------
The following packages were added to the unstable Debian archive
recently (among others [46]):
46 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/newpkg
* akonadiconsole -- the Management and Debugging Console for Akonadi [47]
* asciio -- dynamically create ASCII charts and graphs with GTK+2 [48]
* astk -- Code_Aster build/control system and front-end -- Tcl client [49]
* blogilo -- blogging client based on the KDE Platform [50]
* cantor -- interface for mathematical applications [51]
* chordii -- Text file (chordpro format) to music sheet converter [52]
* chromium-browser -- Chromium browser [53]
* cmospwd -- decrypt BIOS passwords from CMOS [54]
* coffeescript -- interpreter and compiler for the CoffeeScript language [55]
* dh-autoreconf -- debhelper add-on to call autoreconf and clean up after the build [56]
* ditaa -- convert ASCII diagrams into proper bitmap graphics [57]
* ecm -- prepares CD image files so they compress better [58]
* eiskaltdcpp -- EiskaltDC++ is graphical client for Direct Connect [59]
* emerillon -- map viewer for the GNOME desktop [60]
* etsf-io -- Binary tools to check, merge and read ETSF files [61]
* fso-specs -- freesmartphone.org DBus XML specification & documentation [62]
* gnome-color-manager -- Color management integration for the Gnome desktop environment [63]
* gnome-icon-theme-extras -- GNOME Desktop icon theme (additional icons) [64]
* google-mock -- Google's framework for writing and using C++ mock classes [65]
* granatier -- Bomberman clone [66]
* iputils-clockdiff -- Measure the time difference between networked computers [67]
* jbig2dec -- JBIG2 decoder library - tools [68]
* jedit -- A plugin-based editor for programmers [69]
* kbluetooth -- KDE Bluetooth Framework [70]
* kde-config-cddb -- KDE CDDB Retrieval configuration [71]
* kde-config-cron -- program scheduler frontend [72]
* kde-config-phonon-xine -- advanced Phonon Xine configuration [73]
* kde-l10n-cavalencia -- Southern Catalan (Valencian) (ca@valencia) files for KDE [74]
* kde-l10n-eo -- Esperanto (eo) localization files for KDE [75]
* kde-l10n-id -- Indonesian (id) localization files for KDE [76]
* kde-l10n-si -- Sinhala (si) localization files for KDE [77]
* kdelibs5-plugins -- core plugins for KDE Applications [78]
* kdevelop-l10n-cavalencia -- Southern Catalan (Valencian) (ca@valencia) files for the KDevelop IDE [79]
* kdevelop-l10n-da -- Danish (da) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [80]
* kdevelop-l10n-de -- German (de) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [81]
* kdevelop-l10n-engb -- British English (en_GB) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [82]
* kdevelop-l10n-es -- Spanish (es) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [83]
* kdevelop-l10n-et -- Estonian (et) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [84]
* kdevelop-l10n-fr -- French (fr) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [85]
* kdevelop-l10n-gl -- Galician (gl) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [86]
* kdevelop-l10n-it -- Italian (it) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [87]
* kdevelop-l10n-nds -- Low Saxon (nds) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [88]
* kdevelop-l10n-ptbr -- Brazilian Portugese (pt_BR) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [89]
* kdevelop-l10n-pt -- Portugese (pt) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [90]
* kdevelop-l10n-sv -- Swedish (sv) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [91]
* kdevelop-l10n-tr -- Turkish (tr) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [92]
* kdevelop-l10n-uk -- Ukrainian (uk) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [93]
* kdevelop-l10n-zhcn -- Chinese Simplified (zh_CN) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [94]
* kdevelop-l10n-zhtw -- Chinese Traditional (zh_TW) localization files for the KDevelop IDE [95]
* kdoctools -- various tools for accessing application documentation [96]
* kigo -- Open-source implementation of the popular Go game [97]
* llvm-2.7 -- Low-Level Virtual Machine (LLVM) [98]
* mailavenger -- Highly configurable, MTA-independent SMTP filter server [99]
* marble-plugins -- plugins for Marble [100]
* mongodb-clients -- An object/document-oriented database (client apps) [101]
* mongodb-server -- An object/document-oriented database (server package) [102]
* ojs -- Journal management and publishing system [103]
* olpc-kbdshim -- OLPC XO keyboard support daemon [104]
* olpc-powerd -- OLPC XO power management support daemon [105]
* opticalraytracer -- A virtual lens design workshop [106]
* php-textile -- PHP parser for the Textile markup [107]
* plasma-desktop -- The KDE Plasma workspace for desktop and laptop computers [108]
* plasma-netbook -- The KDE Plasma workspace for netbook computers [109]
* ploader -- Application to upload your pictures to your Piwigo gallery [110]
* posterazor -- splits an image into multiple sheets for assembly into a poster [111]
* psi-plus-icons -- Icons for Psi+ [112]
* psi-plus-skins -- Skins for Psi+ [113]
* python-django-countries -- provides a country field for Django models [114]
* python-django-djblets -- Re-usable components for Django projects [115]
* python-django-markupfield -- custom Django field for easy use of markup in text fields [116]
* python-flask -- micro web framework based on Werkzeug, Jinja2 and good intentions [117]
* python-nids -- Python binding for libnids (aka pynids) [118]
* python-prctl -- Python interface to the prctl() syscall [119]
* python-prctl -- Python interface to the prctl() syscall [120]
* python-xklavier -- Python binding for libxklavier, a X Keyboard Extension API [121]
* rabbitvcs-cli -- Command line interface for RabbitVCS [122]
* rabbitvcs-gedit -- Gedit extension for RabbitVCS [123]
* rabbitvcs-nautilus -- Nautilus extension for RabbitVCS [124]
* rocs -- graph theory IDE [125]
* shiboken -- CPython bindings generator for C++ libraries [126]
* skrooge -- personal finance manager for KDE [127]
* sylph-searcher -- Full-text search program for Sylpheed or MH folders [128]
* tempest-for-eliza -- demostrate electromagnetic emissions from computer systems [129]
* torque-client -- command line interface to Torque server [130]
* torque-client-x11 -- GUI for torque clients [131]
* torque-scheduler -- scheduler part of Torque [132]
* torque-server -- PBS-derived batch processing server [133]
* totem-plugin-arte -- A totem plugin to watch streams from arte.tv [134]
* trac-icalviewplugin -- Provides iCalendar feeds for ticket queries [135]
* vala-dbus-binding-tool -- Vala binding-generator for xml introspection files [136]
* vowpal-wabbit -- fast and scalable online learning algorithm [137]
* xul-ext-monkeysphere -- Iceweasel/Firefox extension for using Monkeysphere on the web [138]
* yorick-mira -- optical intreferometry image reconstruction within Yorick [139]
47 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/akonadiconsole
48 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/asciio
49 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/astk
50 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/blogilo
51 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/cantor
52 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/chordii
53 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/chromium-browser
54 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/cmospwd
55 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/coffeescript
56 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/dh-autoreconf
57 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/ditaa
58 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/ecm
59 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/eiskaltdcpp
60 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/emerillon
61 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/etsf-io
62 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/fso-specs
63 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/gnome-color-manager
64 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/gnome-icon-theme-extras
65 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/google-mock
66 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/granatier
67 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/iputils-clockdiff
68 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/jbig2dec
69 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/jedit
70 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kbluetooth
71 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kde-config-cddb
72 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kde-config-cron
73 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kde-config-phonon-xine
74 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kde-l10n-cavalencia
75 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kde-l10n-eo
76 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kde-l10n-id
77 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kde-l10n-si
78 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdelibs5-plugins
79 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-cavalencia
80 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-da
81 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-de
82 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-engb
83 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-es
84 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-et
85 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-fr
86 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-gl
87 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-it
88 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-nds
89 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-ptbr
90 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-pt
91 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-sv
92 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-tr
93 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-uk
94 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-zhcn
95 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdevelop-l10n-zhtw
96 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kdoctools
97 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/kigo
98 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/llvm-2.7
99 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/mailavenger
100 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/marble-plugins
101 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/mongodb-clients
102 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/mongodb-server
103 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/ojs
104 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/olpc-kbdshim
105 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/olpc-powerd
106 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/opticalraytracer
107 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/php-textile
108 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/plasma-desktop
109 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/plasma-netbook
110 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/ploader
111 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/posterazor
112 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/psi-plus-icons
113 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/psi-plus-skins
114 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/python-django-countries
115 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/python-django-djblets
116 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/python-django-markupfield
117 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/python-flask
118 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/python-nids
119 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/python-prctl
120 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/python-prctl
121 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/python-xklavier
122 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/rabbitvcs-cli
123 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/rabbitvcs-gedit
124 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/rabbitvcs-nautilus
125 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/rocs
126 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/shiboken
127 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/skrooge
128 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/sylph-searcher
129 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/tempest-for-eliza
130 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/torque-client
131 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/torque-client-x11
132 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/torque-scheduler
133 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/torque-server
134 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/totem-plugin-arte
135 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/trac-icalviewplugin
136 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/vala-dbus-binding-tool
137 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/vowpal-wabbit
138 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/xul-ext-monkeysphere
139 : http://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/yorick-mira
Work-needing packages
---------------------
Currently 607 packages are orphaned and 120 packages are up for
adoption. Please take a look at the recent [140] reports [141] to see
if there are packages you are interested in or view the complete list of
packages which need your help [142].
140 : http://lists.debian.org/E1OCilA-0001ft-ME@merkel.debian.org
141 : http://lists.debian.org/E1OABQP-0004Lu-Nq@merkel.debian.org
142 : http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/help_requested
Want to continue reading DPN?
-----------------------------
Please help us create this newsletter. We still need more volunteer
writers to watch the Debian community and report about what is going on.
Please see the contributing page [143] to find out how to help. We're
looking forward to receiving your mail at
debian-publicity@lists.debian.org [144].
143 : http://wiki.debian.org/ProjectNews/HowToContribute
144 : mailto:debian-publicity@lists.debian.org
This issue of Debian Project News was edited by Jeremiah C. Foster and
Alexander Reichle-Schmehl [145].
145 : mailto:debian-publicity@lists.debian.org
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