LWN Weekly Edition
Front pageSecurity
Kernel development
Distributions
Development
Linux in the news
Announcements
->One big page
This page
Previous weekFollowing week
Sponsored link
Serve your customers, not your servers, with VERIO Linux VPS. Full-access test-drive here.
| Weekly edition | Kernel | Security | Distributions | Search |
| Archives | Calendar | Subscribe | Write for LWN | LWN.net FAQ |
Distributions
News and Editorials
Codecs cause Fedora pain
When an article titled Codec Buddy in Fedora 8 was posted to LWN earlier this week it generated quite a bit comment... 33 comments posted as of this writing. The LWN thread caused another long string of comments, this time on the Fedora advisory board mailing list, in which proprietary software is compared to heroin. Seth Vidal says in the initial posting: "I don't care about needles and I don't want to ween the addicts off."Codecs remain a sticky issue because they are patent encumbered. Windows users are used to paying for an operating system, and often codec licensing is included in the cost. When they download an MP3 file they expect it to play. On Linux systems in the United States, and anywhere else that recognizes the codec patents, MP3s don't play and it makes users very grumpy.
Codec Buddy attempts to educate Fedora users about the patent encumbered nature of codecs and then allows the user to pay for license through Fluendo, a company located in Barcelona, Spain. According to a Fluendo press release: "The Fluendo codecs plug directly into the popular and widely used GStreamer multimedia framework available on all the major GNU/Linux and Solaris systems. Users of GNU/Linux and Solaris operating systems have previously lacked solutions which enabled them to license and use popular media formats such as Windows Media, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 in accordance with the laws of their country. Through Fluendo's agreements with Microsoft and MPEG LA such a solution is now available."
The Fedora advisory board has since been updated with some relevant conclusions. Support for current iPod devices can be provided by Fedora - getting around Apple's obfuscation is not seen as a DMCA violation. The rules on linking to encumbered software have also been loosened: "This means that we can put a page up on the fedoraproject.org wiki, which carefully explains that there is an optional addon repository called Livna, which contains packages that for a variety of reasons, are not included in the normal Fedora repositories. We should not specify these reasons, and if someone asserted their patents against something in Livna, we would need to take the page down."
Multimedia is important to providing a popular desktop. For many users it is the most important part of the desktop. A Linux desktop will not become wildly popular until it becomes easy to share music and videos with friends. Education is great, teaching people about the values of freedom with respect to software is a worthy goal. Not everyone wants to learn that lesson, especially when they already have gigabytes of music in MP3 format.
Your editor has over 100 gigabytes of music in flac format (thanks to LWN editor Forrest Cook) and 0 MP3s. Unfortunately there aren't many devices that will play flac files. Salespeople in stores that sell iPods and the like have no idea what a flac is, and don't care in my experience. There's a long road ahead until free formats are more popular than the formats that are currently more readily available.
New Releases
Fedora 8 release candidate 3
The third Fedora 8 release candidate is out. "Unless something goes terribly wrong, these will be the same bits that will go to the mirrors for the final Fedora 8 release." So this would be a good time for anybody who is interested in Fedora 8 to do some testing. (See the Fedora 8 tour for a preview of what's in this release).
Fedora Electronic Lab - Livecd F8 RC 3
Following closely on the heels of the main F8 RC 3 release is the Fedora Electronic Lab spin.
Max Spevack's Fedora 8 pre-release announcement
Fedora leader Max Spevack has sent out a "personal Fedora 8 release announcement," meant to tide Fedora users over until the bits become available. "Fedora 7 and Fedora 8 need to be thought of together in that context -- the community's goals and priorities being paramount. The overarching goal for both of these releases has been in the realm of custom spins."
Fedora Unity releases updated Fedora 7 Re-Spins
The Fedora Unity project has announced the release of new ISO Re-Spins (DVD and CD Sets) of Fedora 7. These Re-Spin ISOs are based on Fedora 7 and all updates released as of October 30, 2007. "The ISO images are available for i386 and x86_64 architectures via jigdo starting Wednesday, November 7th, 2007. We have included CD Image sets for those in the Fedora community that do not have DVD drives or burners available."
OpenBSD 4.2 released
OpenBSD 4.2 has been released. "We dedicate this release to the memory of long-time developer Jun-ichiro 'itojun' Itoh Hagino, who focused his life on IPv6 deployment for everyone. Without his BSD and IETF participation, IPv6 would not be where it is today." There's a lot of new stuff in this release, click below for details.
The OpenSolaris Developer Preview
Sun's "Project Indiana" has announced the release of the first "OpenSolaris Developer Preview." "This is an x86-based LiveCD install image, containing some new and emerging OpenSolaris technologies. This may result in instabilities that lead to system panics or data corruption." Note that this release is governed by the non-free OpenSolaris Binary License, even though it contains a fair amount of GPL-licensed code. Celebration in the Solaris community seems to be tempered by a massive flame war over Sun's decision to use the "OpenSolaris" name, which, it seems, is seen as eclipsing all other Solaris-based distributions.
openSUSE 10.3 Live version available
Live versions of openSUSE 10.3 are available as GNOME or KDE Live CDs. Both contain the same software as the 1 CD installation versions from launch time - just as live system.
Launchpad 1.1.10 released!
Launchpad, the development platform for Ubuntu and its siblings, is now at version 1.1.10. Some of the highlights in this release include: faster translations imports, new badges in branch listings, create FAQs from solved as well as open questions, and much more.
Distribution News
Debian GNU/Linux
Bits from the DPL: DSA and a few other things
Sam Hocevar has an update from the office of the Debian Project Leader. Topics include a new member of the DSA team, Nexenta (a Debian/OpenSolaris distribution), and conferences.
Fedora
Fedora Core 6 End of Life
Here's a reminder to Fedora users: Fedora Core 6 will reach its end of life for updates on Friday, December 7, 2007.
Severe X breakage heads up
There are plans to rebase the X server to a git master beginning Monday (November 12). Fedora rawhide users may experience significant breakage of various drivers and other problems. This could be a good time to just enjoy Fedora 8 for a week or so. Click below for details.
The unabated development of Fedora Linux (linux-noob)
The linux-noob.com site has been tracking Fedora developement since the beginning of Fedora. The site has recently been updated to include Fedora 8 (Werewolf). "Well by now you are hopefully either downloading Werewolf or using it. The dust has hardly settled on the release of WereWolf and even so, Fedora's development is continuing with tremendous force, the plans, seeds and ideas for Fedora 9 (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/9/FeatureList) are already being put in place."
Other distributions
Trustix Secure Linux EOL announced
On the Trustix Secure Linux home page is this announcement: "Comodo regrets to announce that it will discontinue all distribution, updates and direct support for Trustix Secure Linux effective December 31, 2007. The user support forum at www.trustix.org/forum will continue to remain online throughout 2008."
GNU-Darwin: Apple's Darwin-9 source code release
The GNU-Darwin project has announced the release of Darwin-9 source code on the Apple website. Apple's OS X is built with Darwin's BSD-based kernel. "I noticed that no binary release is planned, probably due to Apple's unwillingness to release the binary drivers to the Darwin community at this time. The reasons for this are left as an exercise for the user."
Distribution Newsletters
Fedora Weekly News Issue 108
Fedora Weekly News #108 is out. Articles in this issue include "Fedora 8 Release is on its Way Out", "Fedora Core 6 End of Life", "Upgrading from Rawhide to Final Release", "Fedora struggles with harm reduction via CodecBuddy", and more. Click below for the issue.
Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for October 15, 2007 has a Planet and Forums summary, Apache Tips and Tricks, and several other topics.
Ubuntu Weekly News: Issue #64
The 64th issue of Ubuntu Weekly News is out with a report from the Ubuntu Developer Summit, information about Mythbuntu (Ubuntu MythTV distribution) for Gutsy, FOSSCamp, and more. Click below to read it.
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 227
The DistroWatch Weekly for November 5, 2007 is out. "An excellent week for open source software enthusiasts as it finally brought the first public preview of the OpenSolaris-based Indiana, a new operating system trying to take over our desktops. Will it succeed? Although the release was marred by controversies and heated discussions on the project's mailing list, the first reviews indicate that Indiana is on the right track. In other news, a new distribution called gOS gets bundled with a US$199 Linux computer, Mandriva's François Bancilhon writes an angry open letter to Microsoft, Debian introduces a new KDE4 live CD, Fedora prepares for a big release day, and Kubuntu developers ponder the future of the project. Finally, don't miss the featured article which looks at the recently released Ubuntu Studio 7.10."
Miscellaneous Articles
The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu Studio 7.10 (HowtoForge)
HowtoForge explains the process of installing Ubuntu Studio 7.10. "This document describes how to set up an Ubuntu Studio 7.10 desktop. The result is a fast, secure and extendable system with focus on multimedia creation - the real-time (RT) kernel is installed by default. It provides all you need for daily work and entertainment."
Interviews
Codec Buddy in Fedora 8
Fedora 8 will ship with Codec Buddy, a simple click-through GUI for enabling playback of various kinds of media. This article looks at Codec Buddy and features an interview with Thomas Vander Stichele and Bastien Nocera. "B: The main reason why codeina/Codec Buddy works is Fluendo's backing. Their offering of the MP3 plugin for free (as in beer) means that we were going to be able to offer that critical feature to our users. Without that free codec, I don't think that the project would have taken off the ground."
Puffy's Marathon: What's New in OpenBSD 4.2 (O'ReillyNet)
O'ReillyNet reviews OpenBSD 4.2. "OpenBSD is famous for its focus on security. Today, November 1st, the team is proud to announce Release 4.2. Even though security is still there, this release comes with some amazing performance improvements: basic benchmarks showed PF being twice as fast, a rewrite of the TLB shootdown code for i386 and amd64 cut the time to do a full package build by 20 percent (mostly because all the forks in configure scripts have become much cheaper), and the improved frequency scaling on MP systems can help save nearly 20 percent of battery power."
Distribution reviews
Kubuntu Gutsy (Canllaith.org)
Jes Hall (aka canllaith) takes a look at Kubuntu 7.10. "I do enjoy the Kubuntu development cycle. Just as I'm starting to feel that my stable, long-configured system is starting to get a little blase, the new version is just around the corner. I eagerly upgraded to Kubuntu Gutsy when it was released on my faithful Vaio TX. Gutsy has been released for a few weeks now, so consider these not my first impressions but my opinion formed over 2 solid weeks of using Kubuntu as my main operating system at work." (Found at KDE.News)
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol
Next page: Development>>