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Debian + Dunc-Tank.org = dissent

Last week's announcement of Dunc-Tank.org set off flame wars and controversy on Debian mailing lists including a rash of general resolutions and a post from the Project Secretary on the procedure for proposing and sponsoring General resolutions. It even had Linux-Watching wondering, 'Is Debian is dying?'.

The Dunc-Tank.org is described as "fund-raising experiment" with the initial goal of raising funds to pay Debian release managers Steve Langasek and Andreas Barth to work full time on the Debian Etch release, for a period of one month each. This project is independent of the Debian Project, however the Dunc board is made up of prominent Debian Developers including current Debian Project Leader Anthony Towns and his assistant DPL Steve McIntyre.

Therein comes the controversy. If the DPL is involved, doesn't that make it a Debian Project? Can the DPL remain objective and unbiased while working on Debian and an organization. Should Debian Developers be paid to do work on Debian?

The goal is to release Etch on schedule, which is December 4, 2006. The Debian Project and the Dunc-Tank share that goal. People will argue about how that should be achieved, but there's general agreement on the goal. If independent companies share that goal and want to help out in some fashion their assistance should be appreciated. The DPL should ensure that any help accepted from independent companies does not somehow compromise Debian. If the DPL is also the CEO of the independent company that is offering its assistance, there could be a conflict of interest. In this case Anthony has started an organization that he hopes will be able to help Debian. Dunc-Tank is an experiment which may or may not be effective. If Etch is released on schedule and Dunc-Tank helps with that goal, then every one should be can be happy about achieving that goal. If it fails Dunc-Tank won't have much of a future.

Should Debian Developers, who are all volunteers, ever be paid to work on Debian? In fact many Debian Developers have found gainful employment that allows them to work on Debian as part of their job. Companies who use Debian internally or have based their products on Debian, such as HP, Canonical, Progeny, etc., employ Debian Developers and expect them to work on Debian during company time. For the most part DDs who find such employment are encouraged, applauded, and occasionally envied, but are generally not accused of having a conflict of interest. If the release managers don't have to worry about making a living while devoting their time to the Etch release it just might help Etch go out on time.

In spite of the resolution calling for the recall of Anthony Towns as DPL, it would seem that Anthony has a fair amount of support from the developers. Anthony has offered to step down if that's what people really want, but having him step down at this point won't help Etch release on time and it may ensure that the release is hopelessly delayed.

The recall proposal would require two weeks of discussion followed by another two weeks of voting. If the resolution passed another project leader election would start immediately with nine weeks of nominating, campaigning and voting. Could Etch still be released on time with that going on? Maybe, I think most DDs would rather concentrate on the release. If Dunc-Tank proves an absysmal failure then there will still be time to oust Anthony before his term as DPL is over.

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New Releases

BLAG50002 Released

BLAG50002 (mendoza) has been released. BLAG Linux and GNU is a 100% Free Software distribution, the 50000 series is based on Fedora Core 5. BLAG is a single-cd with everything desktop users "expect" from a desktop, plus a collection of nice server apps. Click below for download information.

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Release of Cross-LFS 1.0.0

The Cross Linux From Scratch development team has announced the final release of CLFS-1.0.0, code-name "Bender". "This release features Glibc 2.4, GCC 4.1.1, Binutils 2.17, and supports the x86, x86-64, sparc, powerpc, ppc64, mips, mips64, and alpha, including multilib on those arch's that support it. Cross-building is also supported, even from non-Linux host systems such as Solaris, *BSD, and OS X."

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FreeBSD 6.2-BETA1 Available

The first beta for FreeBSD 6.2 has been announced. "If the release cycle goes as planned it is the first of two BETAs, which will be followed by two Release Candidates (RCs) and then the final release. If events warrant as the release cycle progresses we'll adjust the plans so there might be more test builds than we are currently planning for."

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Mandriva Linux 2007 announced

Mandriva has announced Mandriva Linux 2007. "This new version of the operating system was designed to be an even better fit for the needs and expectations all users, from the beginner to the SOHO user.The key innovation of Mandriva Linux 2007 is the spectacular AIGLX and Xgl 3D-accelerated desktop. Mandriva is the only distribution to provide both technologies, making it compatible with the widest range of hardware; a special tool features auto-detection of the best 3D solution for your hardware. Mandriva is particularly happy to have achieved this major breakthrough in desktop appearance."

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Distribution News

Debian announcements

Christian Aichinger introduces a plan to get rid of unnecessary package dependencies. "[U]nnecessary dependencies cause lots of problems, as they make transitions bigger then they need to be. The root cause are unnecessary libraries on the linker commandline, which get stored in the resulting binary and which dpkg-shlibdeps happily turns into inter-package dependencies."

The results for the Constitutional General Resolution concerning the handlings of assets has been approved. "At the end of voting, with 344 Ballots resulting in 266 votes from 266 developers, "Constitutional Amendment General Resolution: Handling assets for the project" has carried the day."

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Fedora announcements

A new Fedora mailing list has been announced, for the discussion of SE Linux. "The list is for users and developers posting bug reports, avc messages, support questions & answers, patches etc."

The release notes for Fedora Core 6 are now frozen. "Content will be unfrozen following the XML conversion and release to the Translation Project. At that time, you may again make changes to the wiki, but these changes will *NOT* be in the ISO or FC6 final release."

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NetBSD Bugathon: Not quite dead

NetBSD is scheduling a Bugathon for October 7-8, 2006. "Keep in mind it'll be a great time to discuss live about features you want to see, stuff that you'd like changed, problems you're seeing, etc., or even your own set of "pet PRs" you'd *finally* like to see resolved!" (Thanks to Daniel de Kok)

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Ubuntu announcements

The edgy beta freeze is now officially in effect. Certain fixes will still be accepted, particularly those concerning the CD build process or the CD environment.

The first implementation of the "Provide debug symbols for all packages" specification has been announced. "A while ago I wrote the package 'pkg-create-dbgsym' which automatically creates -dbgsym .ddebs (debug symbol debs) at package build. This package has been installed in the edgy buildd chroots for quite some time."

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New Distributions

Linux XP Desktop project debuts English version (DesktopLinux)

DesktopLinux introduces the first English edition of Linux XP Desktop. "Linux XP Desktop 2006, a Russian-language Linux distribution that mimics Windows XP, on Sept. 21 introduced its first English-language version. The Russia-based project claims that its distribution provides "extensive" compatibility with Windows XP, including an XP-like theme and icons, plus the ability to run thousands of Windows applications."

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WENDYX

WENDYX hails from Chile. It's a Knoppix-based distribution for the desktop with Open Office, Kolourpaint, Gimp, Gaim, Kaffeine, Xmms, K3b, Firefox, Thunderbird, and much more. Version 1.0 was released September 22, 2006. (Thanks to Enrique Herrera Noya)

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Distribution Newsletters

Debian Weekly News

The Debian Weekly News for September 26, 2006 covers a bug squashing party in Utrecht, The Netherlands, Filibustering General Resolutions, City of Munich migrates to Debian, Debian experiments with funding, the DWN author experiments with spending less time on Debian, and several other topics.

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Ubuntu Weekly News #15

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter for the week of September 17 - 23, 2006 is out. "This issue is all about Scott James Remnant. If you see a sentence without his name, report it as a typo. You may notice the occasional word about someone or something other than Scott or Upstart, such as the LTSP Hackfest, rest assured that these are probably known typos, but feel free to report them anyway."

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DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 170

The DistroWatch Weekly for September 25, 2006 is out. "With Mandriva Linux 2007 and Slackware Linux 11.0 expected any time now, and Ubuntu 6.10 beta also scheduled for release later this week, the next few days are likely to provide enough excitement to keep all "distro watchers" busy with brand new products. But will Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 "etch" be on time too? A highly controversial way of making that happen has stirred the Debian developer community to the point that some of them are calling for the removal of the project's elected leader! In other news, we report about a new init system for Fedora Core, a graphical Xgl/Compiz configuration tool for openSUSE, and a new distribution designed for those who just can't leave their previous desktop interface behind. A "First Look" section featuring SabayonLinux 3.0 is then followed by several statistical reports indicating that your interest in DistroWatch and open source operating systems have been increasing at a rather phenomenal rate."

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Package updates

Fedora updates

Updates for Fedora Core 5: audit (update and bug fixes), ImageMagick (fix ImageMagick-perl), sane-backends (clean up), tetex (bug fix and clean up), evolution-connector (bug fixes), samba (upgrade to 3.0.23c), guile (bug fixes).

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rPath updates

Updates for rPath Linux 1: conary, conary-build, conary-repository (Conary 1.0.32 maintenance release).

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Slackware updates

Slackware remains at Slackware 11.0 rc5 with many bug fixes going on in the current branch. The change log has the details.

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Ubuntu updates

Updates for Ubuntu 6.06 LTS: flashplugin-nonfree_7.0.68~ubuntu2~dapper1.

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Newsletters and articles of interest

Desktop Linux distributions -- from A to Z (DesktopLinux)

DesktopLinux takes a quick look at some easy to use Linux desktop distributions. "There are hundreds of Linux distributions. This handy reference guide includes the ones we think are especially interesting for desktop Linux users -- from Arch Linux to Zenwalk -- and we plan to update the list on an ongoing basis."

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Kubuntu 6.06 LTS Installation with Screenshots (Debian Admin)

Debian Admin has a how-to article covering the installation of Kubuntu. "Kubuntu is a user friendly operating system based on KDE, the K Desktop Environment. With a predictable 6 month release cycle and part of the Ubuntu project, Kubuntu is the GNU/Linux distribution for everyone."

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Distribution reviews

Free Agent: The Latest Free Linux (PC World)

PC World reviews the Freespire distribution. "But unfortunately, nothing in the Freespire package will entice me to abandon Ubuntu Linux--nor do I find anything in Freespire that will make it rise above Fedora or openSUSE in the scrum of free Linuxes. Nothing about Freespire 1.0 is particularly deficient (and as far as I could tell, nothing major is broken), but it has a lot of growing to do before it truly sets itself apart from its competition."

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