Debian Weekly News - November 22nd, 2005
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Debian Weekly News
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2005/47/
Debian Weekly News - November 22nd, 2005
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Welcome to this year's 47th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for
the Debian community. Nathanael Nerode [1]observed that the new C++
libraries are not transitioning to testing due to a rash of dependent
uploads and has requested that maintainers hold off from uploading
dependent packages that will contribute to the clog. Guillem Jover
[2]proposed to [3]split dependency lines in the source control files
for improved readability. Andreas Tille [4]reported about a free
[5]Live CD aiming at children.
1. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg01131.html
2. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg01195.html
3. http://bugs.debian.org/90989
4. http://lists.debian.org/debian-jr/2005/11/msg00003.html
5. http://www.klixxa.de/
Standard C++ Library Modification. Matthias Klose [6]announced that
the memory allocator in the standard C++ library will be changed which
requires several packages to be rebuilt for which he has appended a
list. The library will be updated by new versions of the [7]gcc-3.4
and [8]gcc-4.0 packages. Maintainers may have to [9]rename the
binary packages to reflect the new dependency.
6. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/11/msg00010.html
7. http://packages.debian.org/gcc-3.4
8. http://packages.debian.org/gcc-4.0
9. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/07/msg00001.html
Declassification of private Mails. Anthony Towns [10]proposed a
general resolution to open the archives of the debian-private list to
the public after three years. A declassification team should be
delegated to extract financial information about individuals and mails
of no historical relevance. Authors and recipients should be given a
period to comment on the publication.
10. http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2005/11/msg00001.html
Project Leader Delegations. Branden Robinson released a [11]document
explaining how project leader delegations work. The [12]constitution
suggests that there may be other powers which the project leader may
not directly wield, and which they must delegate instead. If a
particular decision is delegated, the project leader cannot take back
responsibility for the decision personally, but can re-delegate it to
someone else.
11. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/11/msg00009.html
12. http://www.debian.org/devel/constitution
Debtags Package Search. Enrico Zini [13]announced an experimental
search engine for Debian packages on the basis of [14]debtags
information. The [15]search starts with a normal text search, and then
continues with categories. Since it is a prototype the engine is
currently slow.
13. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/11/msg00011.html
14. http://debtags.alioth.debian.org/
15. http://debtags.alioth.debian.org/packagebrowser/faq-search.html
LCA05: Call for Presentations. Matthew Palmer [16]called for
presentations for the upcoming small [17]Debian conference at the 23rd
and 24th of January 2006 prior to the [18]Linux Conference Australia.
The topic should be related to Debian and could be a normal
presentation, discussion, tutorial or a story of grand success.
16. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/11/msg00013.html
17. http://miniconf5.debconf.org/
18. http://linux.conf.au/
Automated Testing for Packages. Ian Jackson [19]proposed an interface
for packages to describe included tests that can be run automatically.
This should help find regressions in more recent versions of packages.
The format shall be RFC822-style again and describe limitations or
side effects as well.
19. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2005/11/msg00072.html
Debian Developer's Packages Overview. Christoph Berg [20]announced new
features for the [21]packages overview page. Arbitrary packages can be
added to the page, the system can be configured to display additional
user-defined sections, recently uploaded version are displayed and
data from the [22]popularity contest is included as well.
20. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/11/msg00015.html
21. http://qa.debian.org/developer.php
22. http://popcon.debian.org/
No uncompressed Packages Files anymore. Ian Bruce [23]noticed that the
Debian package archive doesn't provide uncompressed Packages files
anymore. Jörg Jaspert [24]explained that this change was [25]announced
three years ago already. Goswin Brederlow [26]added that [27]apt from
experimental is able to use the recently provided differential files.
23. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg00993.html
24. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg01082.html
25. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2002/08/msg00008.html
26. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg00998.html
27. http://packages.debian.org/apt
Automatic File Updates in Alioth. Frank Küster [28]wondered how files
on [29]Alioth could be kept up-to-date with the Subversion
[30]repository and already proposed to use a post-hook. Enrico Zini
[31]explained his way of updating the web pages by using a mail
trigger and an anonymous checkout area.
28. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg01014.html
29. http://alioth.debian.org/
30. http://svn.debian.org/
31. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg01017.html
Descriptions for Dummy and Meta Packages. Enrico Zini [32]asked for
consistent descriptions for meta and dummy packages so that they
aren't tagged wrongly and future package managers can handle them
properly. A metapackage is used to pull in other packages. On the
contrary, a dummy package is used for smooth upgrades of packages and
can safely removed afterwards.
32. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg01154.html
PHP License Status.. Jeremy Bouse [33]asked for clarification
regarding the [34]PHP licenses as to whether or not they qualify as
free since many PEAR packages use them. Steve Langasek [35]explained
that the licenses itself are considered free but not suitable for
anything which is not PHP.
33. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/10/msg00124.html
34. http://www.php.net/license/3_0.txt
35. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/10/msg00125.html
Security Updates. You know the drill. Please make sure that you update
your systems if you have any of these packages installed.
* DSA 898: [36]phpgroupware -- Several vulnerabilities.
* DSA 899: [37]egroupware -- Several vulnerabilities.
* DSA 900: [38]fetchmail -- Potential information leak.
* DSA 901: [39]gnump3d -- Several vulnerabilities.
* DSA 902: [40]xmail -- Arbitrary code execution.
* DSA 903: [41]unzip -- Unauthorised permissions modification.
* DSA 904: [42]netpbm-free -- Arbitrary code execution.
* DSA 905: [43]mantis -- Several vulnerabilities.
* DSA 906: [44]sylpheed -- Arbitrary code execution.
36. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-898
37. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-899
38. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-900
39. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-901
40. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-902
41. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-903
42. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-904
43. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-905
44. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-906
New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the
unstable Debian archive [45]recently or contain important updates.
45. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main
* [46]eidviewer -- Application to read out information from the
Belgian electronic ID card.
* [47]festlex-ifd -- Italian support for Festival.
* [48]octave2.9 -- GNU Octave language for numerical computations
(2.9 branch).
* [49]paredit-el -- Minor Emacs mode for structurally editing Lisp
code.
* [50]php5-mapscript -- Module for php5-cgi to use mapserver.
* [51]qa-assistant -- Checklist assistant.
* [52]slang-cfitsio -- Read and write FITS files from S-Lang.
* [53]trackballs-dbg -- Debugging symbols for Trackballs.
* [54]wavpack -- Audio codec (lossy and lossless) - encoder and
decoder.
* [55]xtrace -- Trace communication between X client and server.
* [56]zpkg -- Build software distributions based on the Python
distutils package.
46. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/eidviewer
47. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/festlex-ifd
48. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/math/octave2.9
49. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/editors/paredit-el
50. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/php5-mapscript
51. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/gnome/qa-assistant
52. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/interpreters/slang-cfitsio
53. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/trackballs-dbg
54. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/wavpack
55. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/xtrace
56. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/python/zpkg
Orphaned Packages. 1 package was orphaned this week and requires a new
maintainer. This makes a total of 201 orphaned packages. Many thanks
to the previous maintainers who contributed to the Free Software
community. Please see the [57]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.
57. http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/
* [58]epos -- Text-to-speech system. ([59]Bug#340053)
58. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/epos
59. http://bugs.debian.org/340053
Removed Packages. 35 packages have been [60]removed from the Debian
archive during the past week:
60. http://ftp-master.debian.org/removals.txt
* libcap2 -- Support for POSIX.1e capabilities
[61]Bug#242810: Request of QA, no interest, libcap1 exists
* jslaunch -- Joystick button shell command execution/shutdown tool
[62]Bug#252152: Request of QA, no interest
* bbconf -- Blackbox configuration utility
[63]Bug#259581: Request of QA, dead upstream
* int-fiction-installer -- Installer for interactive fiction games
from the if-archive.
[64]Bug#260719: Request of QA, no interest
* mmm-mode -- Multiple Major Mode for Emacs
[65]Bug#274137: Request of QA, no interest
* aggregate -- CIDR network aggregation and filtering
[66]Bug#290264: Request of Maintainer, name-conflict with isc's
aggregate, not used much
* xt-sdf2 -- Programmers tools for manipulating SDF2 formalism
[67]Bug#300569: Request of QA, orphaned, no interest
* xt-aterm -- Data type (Tree) for exchange in distributed
applications
[68]Bug#300570: Request of QA, orphaned, no interest
* xt-toolbuslib -- C Libraries needed to connect to the ToolBus
[69]Bug#300571: Request of QA, orphaned, no interest
* xt-toolbus -- Software architecture for distributed applications
[70]Bug#300572: Request of QA, orphaned, no interest
* python-slang -- Python bindings for S-LANG
[71]Bug#314994: Request of QA, orphaned, uninstallable, no
upstream activity
* woody -- Hierarchic text editor
[72]Bug#314996: Request of QA, orphaned, uninstallable, no
upstream activity
* tuxracer -- Dummy transition package
[73]Bug#322069: Request of maintainer, obsolete dummy package
* bonobo-activation -- GNOME Bonobo support binaries (dummy package)
[74]Bug#330677: Request of maintainer, deprecated
* heaplayers -- High-performance memory allocators
[75]Bug#332536: Request of QA, orphaned, RC buggy, no interest
* irssi-snapshot -- The irssi IRC client (Development version)
[76]Bug#336475: Request of QA, outdated, older than regular
packages
* linuxsampler -- Realtime audio sampler
[77]Bug#336568: Request of maintainer, Legal issues
* libs11n -- Powerful, extensible C++ serialisation framework
[78]Bug#336660: Request of maintainer, obsolete
* wdg-html-reference -- WDGs HTML 3.2, HTML 4, and CSS references
[79]Bug#337035: Request of maintainer, non-free
* gccchecker -- Memory access debugger for C language development
[80]Bug#337558: Request of maintainer, dead upstream;
functionality superseded by valgrind
* ec-fonts-mftraced -- EC PostScript Type1 renderings and TFMs of
the EC variants
[81]Bug#337890: Request of maintainer, has never been part of a
stable release; obsoleted by lilypond 2.6
* gnome-cpufreq-applet -- CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor applet for
GNOME
[82]Bug#338338: Request of maintainer, superseded by gnome-applets
>= 2.10
* db4.1 -- Berkeley v4.1 Database Utilities
[83]Bug#338354: Request of maintainer, superseded by db4.3
* libant1.6-java -- Java based build tool like make -- library
[84]Bug#338654: Request of maintainer, superseded by ant
* licq-plugin-jonsgtk -- Graphical user interface plug-in for Licq
using GTK+
[85]Bug#338890: Request of maintainer, dead upstream; alternatives
available
* libsapdbc7.5.01-java -- JDBC interface to the MaxDB database
system
[86]Bug#338893: Request of maintainer, superseded by
libsapdbc-java
* tix8.1 -- Tix library for Tk, version 8.1 -- runtime package
[87]Bug#338894: Request of maintainer, superseded by tix
* gnumach1 -- GNU version of the Mach microkernel version 1.
[88]Bug#339916: Request of maintainer, superseded by gnumach
* python2.X-libplot -- Python wrapper for GNU libplot
[89]Bug#335524: Request of maintainer, dead upstream, superseded
by python2.X-biggles
* gnome-pkgview -- Display the version of your GNOME 2 desktop
[90]Bug#332917: Request of Maintainer, Obsolete
* zope -- Open Source web application server
[91]Bug#335488: Request of maintainer, superseded by zope2.7,
zope2.8 and zope3
* pts-tetex-cm-super -- TeX font package with CM (EC) in Type1 in
T1, T2*, TS1, X2 enc
[92]Bug#338629: Request of maintainer, superseded by cm-super
* lsh -- Baby shell for novices with DOS compatible commands
[93]Bug#338763: Request of maintainer, buggy, dead upstream,
namespace conflict
* osh -- Operator's Shell
[94]Bug#338764: Request of maintainer, RC-buggy
* (lib)inti-* -- integrated C++ foundation classes for GTK+
development
[95]Bug#334991: Request of maintainer, superseded by gfccore and
gfcui
61. http://bugs.debian.org/242810
62. http://bugs.debian.org/252152
63. http://bugs.debian.org/259581
64. http://bugs.debian.org/260719
65. http://bugs.debian.org/274137
66. http://bugs.debian.org/290264
67. http://bugs.debian.org/300569
68. http://bugs.debian.org/300570
69. http://bugs.debian.org/300571
70. http://bugs.debian.org/300572
71. http://bugs.debian.org/314994
72. http://bugs.debian.org/314996
73. http://bugs.debian.org/322069
74. http://bugs.debian.org/330677
75. http://bugs.debian.org/332536
76. http://bugs.debian.org/336475
77. http://bugs.debian.org/336568
78. http://bugs.debian.org/336660
79. http://bugs.debian.org/337035
80. http://bugs.debian.org/337558
81. http://bugs.debian.org/337890
82. http://bugs.debian.org/338338
83. http://bugs.debian.org/338354
84. http://bugs.debian.org/338654
85. http://bugs.debian.org/338890
86. http://bugs.debian.org/338893
87. http://bugs.debian.org/338894
88. http://bugs.debian.org/339916
89. http://bugs.debian.org/335524
90. http://bugs.debian.org/332917
91. http://bugs.debian.org/335488
92. http://bugs.debian.org/338629
93. http://bugs.debian.org/338763
94. http://bugs.debian.org/338764
95. http://bugs.debian.org/334991
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 [96]contributing
page to find out how to help. We're looking forward to receiving your
mail at [97]dwn@debian.org.
96. http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/contributing
97. mailto:dwn@debian.org
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