Weekly Edition
Return to the Distributions page| Weekly edition | Kernel | Security | Distributions | Search |
| Archives | Calendar | Subscribe | Write for LWN | LWN.net FAQ |
Gentoo Weekly Newsletter - Volume 2, Issue 46
| From: | Yuji Carlos Kosugi <carlos-AT-gentoo.org> | |
| To: | gentoo-gwn-AT-gentoo.org | |
| Subject: | [gentoo-gwn] Gentoo Weekly Newsletter - Volume 2, Issue 46 | |
| Date: | Mon, 17 Nov 2003 10:18:42 -0500 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gentoo Weekly Newsletter http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of November 17th, 2003. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============== 1. Gentoo News ============== Summary ------- * packages.gentoo.org now live * Porting "sandbox" to BSD libc packages.gentoo.org now live ---------------------------- We're proud to announce that packages.gentoo.org[1] is now up, replacing the old online package database with a new one featuring many improvements: 1. http://packages.gentoo.org * a searchable interface * a chronology of new packages * more information about each package, including the most recent changelog entries * an easy way to tell which packages are masked on various architectures Porting "sandbox" to BSD libc ----------------------------- The Gentoo-BSD subproject is seeking an individual who would be interested in porting Portage's sandbox code so that it works on the *BSDs as well as on linux. In principle this task should be fairly straightforward, as one just needs to replace the linux-specific system calls with their *BSD equivalents--anybody who has ever had a course using W. Richard Stevens' classic "Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment" text (or a more modern equivalent) would be more than qualified. Moreover, a successful port would also use GNU autotools to identify the requisite system calls using the normal "configure" script. Anybody interested should e-mail his or her intent and qualifications to Grant Goodyear[2]. 2. g2boojum@gentoo.org ================================= 2. Featured Developer of the Week ================================= Luke-Jr This week's featured developer is somewhat more mysterious than most, having declined to provide either a photograph or an IRS-compatible name. We even have to guess at a pronoun, but the fact that Luke-Jr[3] is a Computer Science student at Tunxis Community College[4] indicates that it is likely he is a resident of Connecticut in the U.S. In Gentoo's virtual community, Luke-Jr works to bring "Gentoo to every computer user" by working on tools like a newbie-friendly graphical installer. He may also end up taking over KPortage[5], unless some other willing soul appears. He is currently working on developing BitTorrent[6] based tools for distributing things like LiveCDs and stages. 3. luke-jr@gentoo.org 4. http://tunxis.commnet.edu/ 5. http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/kportage/ 6. http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/ Luke-Jr has been using Linux since Red Hat 5.2 and later switched to a packageless manual compile system. He moved to Gentoo over a year ago when he began to feel the pain of keeping his system up-to-date. After spending some considerable time at the Gentoo booth at LinuxWorld Expo in January of 2003, he began to consider forking Gentoo to create a more newbie-friendly version. Upon discovering that the existing Gentoo developers had no objection to adding those tools to the existing distro, he began working as a Gentoo developer. Luke-Jr has a fair bit of experience in Open Source development. He was a primary developer on the Open Direct Connect[7] file sharing program as well as working on the Kye[8] puzzle game (which he plans to port to QT), MOO extensions and Tasogare[9], a multiplayer online RPG engine. He was particularly pleased with $phone, a MOO extension that allowed users to call virtual phone numbers on other MOOs, and the accomplishment of rewriting the Kye engine. Nevertheless, he considers Gentoo his "primary job", describing it as "the best operating system that currently exists". 7. http://sourceforge.net/projects/odc/ 8. http://sourceforge.net/projects/kye/ 9. http://sourceforge.net/projects/tasogare/ Luke-Jr is a KDE[10] user, largely because of the window manager, Konqueror, Kontact, Konsole and the Kicker (although he would consider dropping the last if someone would port the OSX taskbar). His favorite applications include Qt Designer[11], Mozilla Composer[12] and Psi[13]. 10. http://www.kde.org 11. http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt/designer.html 12. http://www.mozilla.org/ 13. http://psi.affinix.com Luke-Jr's favorite quote comes is one of Richard Stallman's comments on proprietary software: "It was useless for a community." In that vein, he made a plea for people to shift away from obsolete or closed IM protocols toward the open and standardized Jabber/XMPP. He also points out that he has made the hex time [14] display from his screenshot[15] available with emerge khexclock. 14. http://www.intuitor.com/hex/hexclock.html 15. http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/shots.xml ================== 3. Gentoo Security ================== GLSAs ----- Note: There were no new security announcements this week. New Security Bug Reports ------------------------ The following new security bugs were posted this week: * sys-libs/glibc[16] 16. http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=33383 ========================= 4. Heard in the Community ========================= gentoo-user ----------- Moving /usr/portage Eventually, everyone seems to run low on disk space. One Gentoo list member was curious if it was possible to move /usr/portage to some place else to free some up. The short answer is "yes"; the question resulted in a cool thread with many useful `mount' tricks. Read on [17] here. 17. http://news.gmane.org/onethread.php?group=gmane.linux.gentoo.user&root=%3C2 00311141624.35482.nbensa%40gmx.net%3E gentoo-dev ---------- Gentoo Documentation. Now, like so many other things about gentoo, the Gentoo Documentation Project (GDP) has a home page[18]. Have a look here[19] for the details about the project.. 18. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gdp 19. http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/13776 Losing Ebuilds (a.k.a. the joys of openssl-0.9.7!) Have a look at this[20] problem around old computers doing security updates, and running into trouble when the older ebuilds for a certain package have been deleted from the tree as older versions. 20. http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/13691 ======================= 5. Gentoo International ======================= Gentoo International is on hiatus this week. ================ 6. Portage Watch ================ Portage Watch is on hiatus this week. =========== 7. Bugzilla =========== Summary ------- * Statistics * Closed Bug Ranking * New Bug Rankings Statistics ---------- The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[21]) to record and track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the development team. Between 08 November 2003 and 14 November 2003, activity on the site has resulted in: 21. http://bugs.gentoo.org * 0 new bugs during this period * 261 bugs closed or resolved during this period * 7 previously closed bugs were reopened this period Of the 4149 currently open bugs: 104 are labeled 'blocker', 191 are labeled 'critical', and 323 are labeled 'major'. Closed Bug Rankings ------------------- The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period are: * Portage Team[22], with 18 closed bugs[23] * Gentoo KDE Team[24], with 16 closed bugs[25] * Gentoo Games[26], with 15 closed bugs[27] * AMD64 Porting Team[28], with 12 closed bugs[29] 22. dev-portage@gentoo.org 23. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2003-11-08&chfieldto=2003-11-14&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=dev-portage@gentoo.org 24. kde@gentoo.org 25. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2003-11-08&chfieldto=2003-11-14&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=kde@gentoo.org 26. games@gentoo.org 27. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2003-11-08&chfieldto=2003-11-14&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=games@gentoo.org 28. amd64@gentoo.org 29. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2003-11-08&chfieldto=2003-11-14&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=amd64@gentoo.org New Bug Rankings ---------------- The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during this period are: * Media-GFX Herd[30], with 19 new bugs[31] * Desktop Miscellaneous Team[32], with 16 new bugs[33] * Gentoo KDE Team[34], with 13 new bugs[35] * Martin Schlemmer[36], with 12 new bugs[37] * Gentoo Sound Team[38], with 11 new bugs[39] 30. graphics@gentoo.org 31. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2003-11-08&chfieldto=2003-11 -14&assigned_to=graphics@gentoo.org 32. desktop-misc@gentoo.org 33. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2003-11-08&chfieldto=2003-11 -14&assigned_to=desktop-misc@gentoo.org 34. kde@gentoo.org 35. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2003-11-08&chfieldto=2003-11 -14&assigned_to=kde@gentoo.org 36. azarah@gentoo.org 37. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2003-11-08&chfieldto=2003-11 -14&assigned_to=azarah@gentoo.org 38. sound@gentoo.org 39. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2003-11-08&chfieldto=2003-11 -14&assigned_to=sound@gentoo.org ================== 8. Tips and Tricks ================== Using the file command This week's tip demonstrates the use of the file command. This command has been in UNIX since at least 1973 but is often overlooked. However, it's an extremely useful command for classifying files. The file command is provided by the package sys-apps/file, so if you don't already have it installed, you'll need to type emerge file. Chances are you've already got it on your system though. To use file simply type file filename and you'll see information about the filename you passed in. Simple right? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Code Listing 8.1: | | Using file | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |% file css current.xml tips-20031117.xml tips-20031117.html screenlog.0 | |css: directory | |current.xml: symbolic link to `tips-20031117.xml' | |tips-20031117.xml: ASCII English text | |tips-20031117.html: UTF-8 Unicode HTML document text with very long lines| |screenlog.0: ASCII English text, with CRLF, CR line terminators, | |with escape sequences, with overstriking | | | |//You can also use file to look at shell scripts | |% file bin/fix bin/update_dat.sh | |bin/fix: a /usr/bin/perl -w script text executable | |bin/update_dat.sh: a /bin/sh script text executable | | | |//Or you can check binary files | |% file /bin/cp | |/bin/cp: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), for | |GNU/Linux 2.4.1, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped | | | |//As the last example, you can use it on 'core' files | |% file core | |core: ELF 32-bit LSB core file Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), SVR4-style,| |SVR4-style, from 'a.out' | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This should get you started but there are many other uses of file, see the man page (man 1 file) for more information. ========================== 9. Moves, Adds and Changes ========================== Moves ----- The following developers recently left the Gentoo team: * none this week Adds ---- The following developers recently joined the Gentoo Linux team: * Andrea Luzzardi (scox) - sandbox and kernel Changes ------- The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux project. * none this week ===================== 10. Contribute to GWN ===================== Interested in contributing to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter? Send us an email[40]. 40. gwn-feedback@gentoo.org ================ 11. GWN Feedback ================ Please send us your feedback[41] and help make the GWN better. 41. gwn-feedback@gentoo.org ================================ 12. GWN Subscription Information ================================ To subscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to gentoo-gwn-subscribe@gentoo.org. To unsubscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to gentoo-gwn-unsubscribe@gentoo.org from the email address you are subscribed under. =================== 13. Other Languages =================== The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages: * Dutch[42] * English[43] * German[44] * French[45] * Japanese[46] * Italian[47] * Polish[48] * Portuguese (Brazil)[49] * Portuguese (Portugal)[50] * Russian[51] * Spanish[52] * Turkish[53] 42. http://www.gentoo.org/news/be/gwn/gwn.xml 43. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml 44. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml 45. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml 46. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml 47. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml 48. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml 49. http://www.gentoo.org/news/br/gwn/gwn.xml 50. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml 51. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml 52. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml 53. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml Yuji Carlos Kosugi <carlos@gentoo.org> - Editor AJ Armstrong <aja@clanarmstrong.com> - Contributor Brian Downey <bdowney@briandowney.net> - Contributor Cal Evans <cal@calevans.com> - Contributor Chris Gavin <gubbs@fudo.org> - Contributor Luke Giuliani <cold_flame@email.com> - Contributor Shawn Jonnet <shawn.jonnet@verizon.net> - Contributor Michael Kohl <citizen428@gentoo.org> - Contributor Kurt Lieber <klieber@gentoo.org> - Contributor Rafael Cordones Marcos <rcm@sasaska.net> - Contributor David Narayan <david@phrixus.net> - Contributor Gerald J Normandin Jr. <gerrynjr@gentoo.org> - Contributor Ulrich Plate <plate@gentoo.org> - Contributor Mathy Vanvoorden <matje@lanzone.be> - Dutch Translation Hendrik Eeckhaut <Hendrik.Eeckhaut@UGent.be> - Dutch Translation Jorn Eilander <sephiroth@quicknet.nl> - Dutch Translation Bernard Kerckenaere <bernieke@bernieke.com> - Dutch Translation Peter ter Borg <peter@daborg.nl> - Dutch Translation Jochen Maes <linux@sejo.be> - Dutch Translation Roderick Goessen <rgoessen@home.nl> - Dutch Translation Gerard van den Berg <gerard@steelo.net> - Dutch Translation Matthieu Montaudouin <mat@frheaven.com> - French Translation Xavier Neys <neysx@gentoo.org> - French Translation Martin Prieto <riverdale@linuxmail.org> - French Translation Antoine Raillon <cabec2@pegase.net> - French Translation Sebastien Cevey <seb@cine7.net> - French Translation Jean-Christophe Choisy <mabouya@petitefleure.org> - French Translation Thomas Raschbacher <lordvan@gentoo.org> - German Translation Steffen Lassahn <madeagle@gentoo.org> - German Translation Matthias F. Brandstetter <haim@gentoo.org> - German Translation Lukas Domagala <Cyrik@gentoo.org> - German Translation Tobias Scherbaum <dertobi123@gentoo.org> - German Translation Daniel Gerholdt <Sputnik1969@gentoo.org> - German Translation Marc Herren <dj-submerge@gentoo.org> - German Translation Tobias Matzat <SirSeoman@gentoo.org> - German Translation Marco Mascherpa <mush@monrif.net> - Italian Translation Claudio Merloni <paper@tiscali.it> - Italian Translation Christian Apolloni <bsolar@bluewin.ch> - Italian Translation Stefano Lucidi <stefano.lucidi@gentoo-italia.org> - Italian Translation Yoshiaki Hagihara <hagi@p1d.com> - Japanese Translation Katsuyuki Konno <katuyuki@siva.ddo.jp> - Japanese Translation Yuji Carlos Kosugi <carlos@gentoo.org> - Japanese Translation Yasunori Fukudome <yasunori@mail.portland.co.uk> - Japanese Translation Takashi Ota <088@t.email.ne.jp> - Japanese Translation Radoslaw Janeczko <sototh@gts.pl> - Polish Translation Lukasz Strzygowski <lucass.home@pf.pl> - Polish Translation Michal Drobek <veng@wp.pl> - Polish Translation Adam Lyjak <apo@cyberpunk.net.pulawy.pl> - Polish Translation Krzysztof Klimonda <cthulhu@emusearch.net> - Polish Translation Atila "Jedi" Bohlke Vasconcelos <bohlke@inf.ufrgs.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Eduardo Belloti <dudu@datavibe.net> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Jo達o Rafael Moraes Nicola <joaoraf@rudah.com.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Marcelo Gon巽alves de Azambuja <mgazambuja@terra.com.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Otavio Rodolfo Piske <angusy@gentoobr.org> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Pablo N. Hess -- NatuNobilis <natunobilis@gentoobr.org> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Pedro de Medeiros <pzilla@yawl.com.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Ventura Barbeiro <venturasbarbeiro@ig.com.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Bruno Ferreira <blueroom@digitalmente.net> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation Gustavo Felisberto <humpback@felisberto.net> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation Jos辿 Costa <jose_costa@netcabo.pt> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation Luis Medina <metalgodin@linuxmail.org> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation Ricardo Loureiro <rjlouro@rjlouro.org> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation Sergey Galkin <gals_home@list.ru> - Russian Translator Sergey Kuleshov <svyatogor@gentoo.org> - Russian Translator Alex Spirin <asp13@mail.ru> - Russian Translator Dmitry Suzdalev <dimsuz@mail.ru> - Russian Translator Anton Vorovatov <mazurous@mail.ru> - Russian Translator Denis Zaletov <dzaletov@rambler.ru> - Russian Translator Lanark <lanark@lanark.com.ar> - Spanish Translation Fernando J. Pereda <ferdy@ferdyx.org> - Spanish Translation Lluis Peinado Cifuentes <lpeinado@uoc.edu> - Spanish Translation Zephryn Xirdal T <ZEPHRYNXIRDAL@telefonica.net> - Spanish Translation Guillermo Juarez <katossi@usuarios.retecal.es> - Spanish Translation Jes炭s Garc鱈a Crespo <correo@sevein.com> - Spanish Translation Carlos Castillo <carlos@castillobueno.com> - Spanish Translation Julio Castillo <julio@castillobueno.com> - Spanish Translation Sergio G坦mez <s3r@fibertel.com.ar> - Spanish Translation Aycan Irican <aycan@core.gen.tr> - Turkish Translation Bugra Cakir <bugra@myrealbox.com> - Turkish Translation Cagil Seker <cagils@biznet.com.tr> - Turkish Translation Emre Kazdagli <emre@core.gen.tr> - Turkish Translation Evrim Ulu <evrim@core.gen.tr> - Turkish Translation Gursel Kaynak <gurcell@core.gen.tr> - Turkish Translation
(Log in to post comments)