Debian Weekly News - October 22nd, 2002
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Debian Weekly News
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2002/41/
Debian Weekly News - October 22nd, 2002
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Welcome to this year's 41st issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for
the Debian community. This week we are pleased to include items by
Matt Black, Andre Lehovich and Tollef Fog Heen. We noticed that the
NASA finished their [1]FlightLinux project which uses a real-time
variation of the Linux Kernel for onboard spacecraft use. If you are
pondering what to do in winter or spring, what about [2]skiing with
other geeks?
1. http://flightlinux.gsfc.nasa.gov/
2. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/pipermail/debian-uk/2002-October/001285.html
Help with Internationalisation Support. Michael Bramer [3]asked for
help with modifying APT for better support of translated packages
descriptions. The plan is to let apt-get download one or more files
containing the translation and display a translated description
instead of the English version if a translated description was found
accompanyied with a valid MD5 checksum of the English.
3. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0210/msg00619.html
How do you want to help Debian today? Josselin Mouette [4]started a
public [5]todo list for Debian tasks. This page tries to keep track
of which tasks and groups in the project need help. It is already full
of good ideas from Martin Schulze and Raphaël Hertzog. Many of the
listed tasks require skilled people, but some are accessible to a new
developer or even an average user.
4. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce-0210/msg00009.html
5. http://www.debian.org/devel/todo/
Spanish Website Translation reaches 1000 Pages. Rubén Porras informed
us about the current [6]status of the Spanish translation for
[7]www.debian.org. Last week the Spanish translation team has
translated the 1000th webpage. The only language which has more
translated pages is Swedish, which is maintained by a single person.
If you would like to help improve the Debian website, please see the
[8]website helping and [9]Debian International pages.
6. http://www.debian.org/devel/website/stats/
7. http://www.debian.org/
8. http://www.debian.org/devel/website/
9. http://www.debian.org/international/
Solving Disputes between Developers. Ian Jackson released [10]draft
guidelines for solving disputes between developers. This is a joint
recommendation of the technical committee, the project leader and the
bug tracking system administrators. Ian addressed the problem, that
some disputes (in connection with the technical committee) are getting
quite dysfunctional.
10. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project-0210/msg00060.html
First International Free Software Trophies. We were informed about the
first [11]Free Software Trophies. If your are a developer, an
organization, or a company and have developed a new piece of Free
Software you can take part by registering the software in one of [12]6
categories. Registration is open until February 15th 2003. Two Debian
developers already registered the [13]DebianEdu effort and
[14]Tuxfamily.
11. http://www.tropheesdulibre.org/main.php?lang=en
12. http://www.tropheesdulibre.org/main.php?p=2&lang=en
13. http://wiki.debian.net/DebianEdu
14. http://www.tuxfamily.org/
BTS SpamProtected. Adam Heath [15]reported that he enabled
SpamAssassin filtering for all mail sent to the bug tracking system
(BTS). Procmail and SpamAssassin have recently been installed into
owner@bugs mail, were he monitored their progress and hit rate. This
should help against unattended bug closing by unsolicited commercial
email (UCE).
15. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce-0210/msg00010.html
UW Mail Packages with Encryption Support. Jaldhar Vyas [16]noted that
the latest version of the IMAP and POP daemons from the University of
Washington IMAP package (upstream version 2002RC7) will have SSL/TLS
support, since there is [17]cryptographic software in Debian's main
archive. Following the upstream practice which is based on an IESG
recommendation, plaintext logins will be disabled on non-SSL/TLS
connections.
16. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce-0210/msg00011.html
17. http://www.debian.org/legal/cryptoinmain
Statistics about Debian on the Desktop. A survey on
[18]Desktoplinux.com is currently asking "Which Linux distribution(s)
do you use (or plan to use) on your desktop computer system?" With
over 4900 votes cast, Debian is placed fourth (at 8.9%) behind
Mandrake (28.2%), Red Hat (12.2%) and SuSE (11.9%). This looks
slightly better than in [19]previous surveys.
18. http://www.desktoplinux.com/cgi-bin/survey/survey.cgi?view=results&id=10292001114910
19. http://www.desktoplinux.com/cgi-bin/survey/survey.cgi?view=archive&id=10292001114910
Status of KDE3. There seems to be a lot of confusion about Debian and
KDE3 which may be a result of not having a standard and consistent
location to store the packages. Therefore Mark Purcell [20]proposed
that the Debian KDE3 maintainers use the experimental distribution for
the coordination of Debian packages for KDE3. Ralph Nolden from KDE,
however, would rather [21]collect everything about KDE and Debian on a
debian.kde.org website and host official KDE3 builds on ftp.kde.org.
20. http://lists.debian.org/debian-kde-0210/msg00242.html
21. http://lists.debian.org/debian-kde-0210/msg00243.html
Update on the Debian Mini-Conf. It was [22]announced this week that
Sun Microsystems will sponsor one delegate from each Australian state
to attend the [23]Linux Conference in Perth, Australia next year.
Users may be aware that a [24]Debian Mini-Conf is being held on two
days prior to the main conference. More than 50 participants are
registered for the Mini-Conf and Debian Project Leader, Bdale Garbee,
will be amongst the speakers.
22. http://www.linux.conf.au/media/2002-10-16-rdp-announce.txt
23. http://www.linux.conf.au/
24. http://www.debconf.org/lca2003/
Avoiding trojaned Debian Packages. Clemens Fruhwirth [25]released an
unofficial Debian package that implements a cron-based daily security
check by using a modified version of Anthony Towns' [26]apt-check-sigs
script to ensure the authenticity of Debian packages. In subsequent
discussion Jan Niehusmann [27]noted that the most feasible approach to
protect users against trojaned packages would be to integrate these
tools into the Debian system and change policy to make package
signatures mandatory.
25. http://lists.debian.org/debian-security-0210/msg00312.html
26. http://people.debian.org/~ajt/apt-check-sigs
27. http://lists.debian.org/debian-security-0210/msg00336.html
Automatically built Sarge CDs. Santiago Garcia Mantinan [28]informed
us that sarge CDs will be built automatically every Friday night
(GMT). He warns that these images are only for testing purposes and
whilst they will serve to upgrade a woody system to sarge, they may
not do much else. Images for the i386 architecture are bootable with
debian-installer for users to test. All other architectures require
help from porters. The images can be downloaded from [29]here using
[30]jigdo version 0.6.8 or later.
28. http://lists.debian.org/debian-cd-0210/msg00098.html
29. http://gluck.debian.org/debian-cd/testing/
30. http://www.debian.org/CD/jigdo-cd/
Two Reviews of Debian 3.0. Recently, two reviews of Debian 3.0 were
released. Debian Planet published a critical user [31]review that
identified many shortcomings of the installation process, along with
specific suggestions of how to improve things in future versions. The
second [32]review from Linuxwatch also complained about the installer.
It seems that reviewers only install a distribution, they don't seem
to use or upgrade it.
31. http://www.debianplanet.org/node.php?id=831
32. http://linuxwatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=7
Award to Debian-based Distribution for Norwegian Schools.
[33]Skolelinux is a Norwegian distribution targetting schools in
Norway that recently got a [34]prize from the Norwegian Unix User
Group and the [35]College of Oslo. They awarded the work on the
user-friendly and well-translated distribution. Skolelinux is based
upon Debian 3.0 with several updated and packages and uses an
installer based on the new debian-installer framework.
33. http://www.skolelinux.no/
34. http://www.nuug.no/prisen/
35. http://www.hio.no/
Using the GRUB Bootloader with Debian. Linux Orbit recently published
the [36]GRUB in Debian HOWTO explaining how GNU/Linux users on i386
machines can switch their bootloader from LILO to GRUB. If you plan to
run GNU/Hurd, you'll need the GRUB bootloader. Another benefit of
using GRUB is that it doesn't have to be reinstalled into the master
boot record (MBR) every time the kernel changes.
36. http://www.linuxorbit.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=539
Cyrus IMAPd 2.1.9 for Debian stable. Henrique de Moraes Holschuh
[37]reported that he has backported packages for Cyrus IMAPd 2.1.9
from Debian unstable (sid) to Debian stable (woody). These are
production-quality [38]packages and Henrique also backported packages
Cyrus IMAPd depends on.
37. http://lists.debian.org/debian-user-0210/msg03731.html
38. http://people.debian.org/~hmh/packages/woody/
Debian at Practical Linux in Giessen/Germany. Alexander Schmehl sent a
[39]report about [40]Practical Linux that took place last week in
Giessen, Germany. He staffed a Debian booth alone and held a talk
about Debian, introducing the Debian project and the advantages of the
Debian distribution.
39. http://lists.debian.org/debian-events-eu-0210/msg00019.html
40. http://www.debian.org/events/2002/1019-plgiessen
Virtual Package Dependencies. Branden Robinson [41]pointed out that a
dependency to a pure virtual package (i.e. a package name that doesn't
refer to a binary package with the same name) should always be done
with an OR-relation that lists the real package first and uses the
virtual package as an alternative. Accordingly, the [42]policy states
that you should list the real package as an alternative before the
virtual one.
41. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0210/msg00841.html
42. http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-relationships.html#s-virtual
Debian Installer Status. Tollef Fog Heen sent in another [43]status
report about the debian-installer. Most importantly, Bastian Blank has
booted the installer on S/390 and begun fixing problems related to
that port. The debian-cd team has been busy with integrating
debian-installer into their build scripts, and work is progressing
well.
43. http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot-0210/msg00263.html
Building Packages with Emacs. Junichi Uekawa [44]hacked together an
[45]Emacs mode for running debuild, debc, and debi etc. The mode may
be added to the [46]dpkg-dev-el or [47]emacs-goodies-el (or even
devscripts-el) packages. Roland Mas, confused by these many
possibilities, however, will toss a coin and see which package name
comes out.
44. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0210/msg01000.html
45. http://www.netfort.gr.jp/~dancer/software/downloads/devscripts-el-0.0.20021016.tar.gz
46. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/dpkg-dev-el.html
47. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/editors/emacs-goodies-el.html
TrueType Font Quality degraded. Tom Badran [48]mentioned that the
latest freetype library in unstable seems to be compiled differently
since TrueType font quality has degraded quite dramatically. Krzysztof
Krzyzaniak [49]discovered that this is a feature and not a bug. Roger
So finally [50]explained that Apple holds several patents on the
hinting instructions used in TrueType (interpreted by the bytecode
interpreter), and enabling it may require a license from Apple.
48. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0210/msg01014.html
49. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0210/msg01083.html
50. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0210/msg01134.html
New Bison more picky about Input. Fumitoshi Ukai [51]warned about the
new [52]bison package (version >= 1.50). The new version seems to be
much pickier about its input files than former versions. Fumitoshi
listed the most common [53]problems and if this is an input problem,
the input files should be corrected.
51. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0210/msg01049.html
52. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/bison.html
53. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0210/msg01162.html
Automake 1.4 to be renamed to Automake1.4. In order to provide a
consistent naming scheme, Eric Dorland [54]intends to rename the
automake package to automake1.4. Branden Robinson [55]suggested that
autoconf should become a virtual package, provided by the various
autoconf packages, even though any package that build-depends on it
needs to build-depend on a proper real package as well.
54. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0210/msg01174.html
55. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0210/msg01203.html
GNU LibC 2.3 uncovered. Jeff Bailey recently [56]uploaded a new
upstream version of glibc. The changelog lists many improvements in
the Debian package and upstream has changed a lot as well. Most
prominently a new threads package is included. Several sudden problems
(like dpkg not running or Apache not starting anymore) were assumed to
be a glibc problem instead, so take care.
56. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-changes-0210/msg01370.html
New PHPGroupware for Woody. Luca De Vitis [57]asked for assistance
with new versions of the [58]phpgroupware package which he has
packaged for woody. Please test these packages and report any problems
to [59]Luca De Vitis.
57. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0210/msg01266.html
58. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/phpgroupware.html
59. mailto:luca@debian.org
Security Updates. You know the drill. Please make sure that you update
your systems if you have any of these packages installed.
* [60]gv -- Buffer overflow.
* [61]PAM -- Serious security violation.
* [62]Heimdal -- Remote command execution.
* [63]gnome-gv -- Buffer overflow.
* [64]NIS -- Information leak.
* [65]mod_ssl -- Cross site scripting.
60. http://www.debian.org/security/2002/dsa-176
61. http://www.debian.org/security/2002/dsa-177
62. http://www.debian.org/security/2002/dsa-178
63. http://www.debian.org/security/2002/dsa-179
64. http://www.debian.org/security/2002/dsa-180
65. http://www.debian.org/security/2002/dsa-181
New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the
Debian archive recently or contain important updates.
* [66]clamav-daemon -- Powerful anti-virus scanner daemon.
* [67]cyphesis-cpp -- World Forge game server.
* [68]echolot -- Pinger for anonymous remailers such as Mixmaster.
* [69]kcdlabel -- CD cover creator for KDE.
* [70]ltt-tracer -- Linux Trace Toolkit - tracing tools.
* [71]mobilemesh -- Mobile adhoc networking.
* [72]pterm -- PuTTY terminal emulator.
* [73]rfb -- VNC Server for X11 - exports current display!.
* [74]xmonobut -- A simple X11 application that modifys mouse button
mapping.
66. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/clamav-daemon.html
67. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/cyphesis-cpp.html
68. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/echolot.html
69. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/kcdlabel.html
70. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/ltt-tracer.html
71. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/mobilemesh.html
72. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/pterm.html
73. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/rfb.html
74. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/xmonobut.html
Orphaned Packages. 4 packages were orphaned this week and require a
new maintainer. This makes a total of 136 orphaned packages. Many
thanks to the previous maintainers who contributed to the Free
Software community. Please see the [75]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.
75. http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/
* [76]gnome-objc -- Objective-C bindings for GTK/GNOME
([77]Bug#165642)
* [78]htmlheadline -- Automatically fetch news headlines.
([79]Bug#164988)
* [80]memopanel -- Memo on the GNOME panel. ([81]Bug#164990)
* [82]wpac-applet -- Wallpaper auto changer for GNOME.
([83]Bug#164987)
76. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/libobgnome-dev.html
77. http://bugs.debian.org/165642
78. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/htmlheadline.html
79. http://bugs.debian.org/164988
80. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/memopanel.html
81. http://bugs.debian.org/164990
82. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/wpac-applet.html
83. http://bugs.debian.org/164987
Want to continue reading DWN? Please help us create this newsletter.
Currently, it's mostly a one-man show, which is anticipated to fail in
the long term. We urgently need volunteer writers who prepare items.
Please see the [84]contributing page to find out how to help. We're
looking forward to receiving your mail at [85]dwn@debian.org.
84. http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/contributing
85. mailto:dwn@debian.org
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