Distributions

Looking forward to Fedora 10

The Fedora 10 alpha release is now available. At this point, the next Fedora release (due at the end of October) should be mostly feature-complete, though the project reserves the right to continue development work through the beta release (currently planned for August 19). So this seems like a good opportunity to have a look at some of the features which can be expected in Fedora 10.

Rawhide users, who are well known for their masochistic tendencies, are already running the 2.6.27-rc kernels. Given that 2.6.27 should come out in the early part of October, chances are good that this is the kernel version which will come standard with Fedora 10. So Fedora users will be among the first to get enhanced webcam support, UBIFS, ftrace, multiqueue networking, and more.

Improved webcam support is an explicit goal for Fedora 10 in general. The kernel upgrade will help a lot in that regard, but Fedora is taking aim at another longstanding problem: quite a few video applications still use the Video4Linux1 API, despite the fact that said API has been deprecated for years. To help improve this situation, Hans de Goede has been working on another long-missing piece: a user-space library to make the Video4Linux2 API easier for applications to use. It will handle things like format conversions, which, by policy, are not allowed in the kernel; it also does better impedance matching between the V4L1 and V4L2 interfaces. The end result of this work will be better-working webcams for Fedora users - and for everybody else.

A similar objective for Fedora 10 is better support for remote controls. The LIRC remote control package has always been a some-assembly-required affair; Fedora developers are trying to improve this situation and get remote controls to just work.

"Just works," alas, is not a phrase which has been heard often enough around the PulseAudio sound server. The upcoming Fedora release will have a seriously rewritten PulseAudio; the biggest change is a shift to timer-based audio scheduling instead of the older interrupt-driven technique. The promised result will be glitch-free audio; those who are curious about the details of how this will work can find them on this page. PulseAudio is getting better.

Another big change, of course, is the shift to RPM 4.6 - the first real update to the RPM package manager in many years. Being fully aware of the consequences of a failed RPM upgrade, the Fedora developers are proceeding with great caution. The on-disk format will not be changed anytime soon, and newer RPM features are not, yet, being used in Fedora; that means that they can revert back to the older RPM if need be without leaving systems stranded. After some early glitches, RPM 4.6 would appear to be working fairly well, though, so this upgrade will probably stick.

Beyond that, Fedora users can expect a long list of new goodies. NetworkManager now has a feature allowing the sharing of network connections via wireless. There are plans to provide much-improved support of the Haskell programming language, though that project appears to be moving slowly. And there is an interesting new security audit tool intended to look for security problems and signs of intrusions. Your editor would have loved to try out this tool, but, as of this writing, the version in Rawhide appears to be lacking some fundamental features - like being able to start up successfully. Stay tuned.

One thing that apparently will not be in Fedora 10, despite the occasional user request, is KDE 3.5. Some KDE users are not, yet, happy with the state of development of KDE 4 and would like to have their old, familiar desktop back. This note from Fedora leader Paul Frields explains why KDE 3.5 will not be returning to Fedora. In summary: Fedora exists to push the leading edge, QT3 is no longer maintained, and shipping KDE 4 helps that platform improve more quickly. So KDE 3.5 will not be coming back - unless somebody else goes to the trouble of packaging and maintaining it.

All told, there is a lot of work going into this distribution release. The best way to really see what's going on - and to help the process - is, of course, to try out the alpha release and report any problems which result. After making good backups, of course.

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New Releases

Fedora 10 Alpha released

The first Fedora 10 alpha release is now available. "In an ongoing effort to prevent premature kitten death, the Fedora Project is ecstatic to present the availability of Fedora 10 (Cambridge) Alpha. Test now, make it better now, keep Cambridge on schedule, and protect the kittens in the future." See the release notes and the the Fedora 10 feature list for more information.

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Distribution News

Debian GNU/Linux

Bits from the Debian Eee PC team, summer 2008

A report from the Debian Eee PC team looks at the support for various models of the Eee, as well as progress towards free drivers for the wireless hardware. "Nick Kossifidis has submitted patches on linux-wireless supporting the Eee models currently supported only by the non-free madwifi in ath5k. This means we'll soon realize our goal of a completely DFSG free system for the earliest models of the Eee. By 2.6.27, or at the latest 2.6.28, these models will be supported. Then we will see about making a patch to support whichever kernel makes it into Lenny." Click below for the full report.

Update: A correction about the driver status has been issued.

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Fedora

Production-Ready Fedora 3.0 Fits With the Web (HatCheck Newsletter)

HatCheck Newsletter covers the release of Fedora Commons 3.0. "Today Fedora Commons released version 3.0 of the popular Fedora software that completes all general release features. Dan Davis, Chief Software Architect, Fedora Commons, explained, “We are pleased to offer a Fedora 3.0 that is a foundational step towards a model-driven content architecture.” He went on to say, “Users will find it simpler to maintain and operate their repositories with version 3.0—it’s more scalable and fits better into the Web.”"

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Updated Fedora Privacy Policy

An updated version of the Fedora Privacy Policy has been published. "Previously, Fedora was using the generic Red Hat Privacy Policy, which did not make sense for a number of reasons. Fedora now has its own Privacy Policy at: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal/PrivacyPolicy I would encourage everyone to read the new Privacy Policy. This policy went through a public review process on the fedora-advisory-board mailing list, and was approved by the Fedora Board on August 5th, 2008. This new policy defines that more of your "Personal Information" is public by default. This will make things much easier for the daily workings of Fedora, however, if you wish for this "Publicly Available Personal Information" to be kept private, it is possible to do so in the Fedora Account System."

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux

What's next in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (part 2) (Red Hat Magazine)

Here's the second half of Red Hat Magazine's look at features to be found in future RHEL releases. "One of the most requested features since the release of Enterprise Linux 5 is encrypted device support. We support encrypted devices via a technology called LUKS. LUKS, implemented on top of the existing device-mapper cryptography code, standardizes the partition header for the automatic detection of encrypted devices. It also allows for multiple passphrases to decrypt the device. For example, if I insert an encrypted USB stick, the encrypted device is detected via HAL, the GNOME file manager prompts me for the passphrase, and LUKS unlocks the device-which is then mounted and ready to use."

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Ubuntu family

Java related changes in intrepid

The Ubuntu team has sent out a report concerning Java changes in the upcoming Intrepid Ibex release. "Recently Openjdk6 was promoted to main; with today's upload of java-common, OpenJDK6 is the default java runtime / development kit in main, on all architectures..."

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Distribution Newsletters

Debian Project News - August 4th, 2008

The August 4, 2008 edition of the Debian Project News has been published. "Some of the topics covered in this issue include: "Lenny" frozen, Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 updated to include support for newer hardware, Schedule for 8th annual Debian Conference announced, Debian Days around the world ... and much more."

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Fedora Weekly News Issue 137

The August 4, 2008 edition of the Fedora Weekly News has been published. "We are pleased to present a new beat on Virtualization issues and developments brought to you by beat writer Dale Bewley. In Developments we report on "How Maintainers Can Help Reduce XULRunner Breakage". In Announcements we reveal the Fedora 10 codename. In Artwork we examine "The Blue Color of Fedora". In Security Advisories, another new beat authored by David Nalley we run through the week's important updates. We are also saddened to announce the departure of Thomas Chung from the editorial chair, but heartened to be working as a new editorial team consisting of Pascal Calarco, Oisin Feeley and Huzaifa Sidhpurwala."

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openSUSE Weekly News, Issue 33

Issue #33 of the openSUSE Weekly News has been published. "In this week's issue: * KDE 4.1 Released With openSUSE Packages and Live CD * Help Create the Artwork for openSUSE 11.1 * Reminder: openSUSE Day at LinuxWorld Expo * Banshee 1.2 Released"

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Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #102

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter for August 3, 2008 is online. "In this issue we cover: QA to Launchpad Liaison, MOTU news, New Ubuntu Members, Ubuntu Screencasts, Ubuntu Global Bug Jam, New in Intrepid Ibex, Launchpad 2.0, Ubuntu-UK podcast #11, Linux pre-installs at 3%, Steve Stalcup interview, Server Team summary, and much, much more!"

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DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 264

The DistroWatch Weekly for August 4, 2008 is out. "Things slowed back down this week, but there has been some interesting news. The Debconf8 schedule has been posted, CNET published an interview with Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst, and Foxconn has posted an update to the BIOS that made so much news week before last. I test drove the latest release from Parsix GNU/Linux. In Reviewed Last Week FOSSwire examined Pardus 2008 and several sites tested Linux ultraportables."

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Distribution meetings

DebConf

The schedule for DebConf8 has been announced. "Note that this schedule only shows events for which we surely know the speakers are actually attending the conference."

A location is being sought for DebConf10. "We currently do not have any (formally) proposed locations, so everyone who wants to run a Debian Conference and thinks they can stand months of work - read on. :)"

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openSUSE HelpingHands: Next Event-Banshee

The next openSUSE Helping Hands IRC discussion will be held on Friday, August 8 at 14:30 UTC. "Each week, the openSUSE Helping Hands project introduces a new topic in IRC where users can come to learn about a particular application or service and directly ask questions about that application. This week, HelpingHands is proud host Banshee-Presented by the Banshee Development Team led by Aaron Bockover."

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Newsletters and articles of interest

Freespire moves back to Debian

Xandros, which recently acquired Linspire, has announced that the "Freespire" distribution will drop its Ubuntu base and move back to Debian. "We will have a leading edge code base while preserving our commitment to Debian, stability, Windows interoperability, and ease of use. This commitment allows us to meet the needs of a wide range of users, from open source enthusiasts to demanding enterprise clients. In addition, we are intensifying our commitment to the Freespire open source community, which will now help to drive both the Freespire and Xandros products."

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Page editor: Forrest Cook
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