Distributions
News and Editorials
No Pidgin for Slackers
The Slackware current changelog has been a busy place in recent weeks, with the usual stream of upgraded packages, bug fixes and so on. What was less usual was this note in the entry for May 11, when Patrick discovered this text on the Pidgin (formerly GAIM) website.
"We have no developers using Slack, and furthermore, several of us
actively dislike that distribution for its history of broken installs,
as well as for its non-existant package management. You cannot create
true packages for Slack."
Here's Patrick's response from the changelog entry:
Well, I'm somewhat shocked by this, having never (to my knowledge) done
anything to any of the former GAIM or Pidgin developers to make them
mad at me, Slackware, or anyone on the Slackware team. I guess if
they feel it's not possible to make a "true" Pidgin package for
Slackware, there's no point in continuing to try. Having put out 7
security advisories on GAIM, I'm quite sure there will be less work
here if Pidgin is not included. The Pidgin package has been moved
to the "unsupported" directory. For the record, I do not actively
dislike Pidgin or any of their developers, but I do plan to use
Kopete from now on.
The statement on the Pidgin - Why Packages Exist page has since been modified and now reads:
We have no developers using Slackware, and we do not support it, due to a
history of problems which are caused or made unnecessarily difficult to
solve by the fact that its package system does not support automatic
dependency resolution. We also recommend that users do not attempt to
compile Pidgin from source on Slackware, but instead use the packages
provided by the Slackware team. If you insist on trying this out
yourself, the only advice we can give you is to ask for help in
##slackware on irc.freenode.org, or on the Slackware mailing lists.
The original text was still available on Google cache at the time this article was written.
So now the Pidgin team suggests using packages provided by Slackware, but Slackware will not be providing any Pidgin packages. It seems Slackers will be looking elsewhere for their Instant Messaging needs.
New Releases
BLAG 60001 Released
BLAG 60001 is the first update to the Fedora Core 6 based BLAG 60k series. "This is just a "roll up" of recent package updates, including an update from the 2.6.18 kernel to 2.6.20. The base package set remains the same. Over 200 updated packages are included. This release is primarily done so people who download the ISO don't have to then download a bunch of package updates."
openSUSE 10.3 Alpha4 available
The fourth alpha release leading to openSUSE 10.3 is out. It adds the YaST "meta packages handler," TeX Live, the first bits of pre-KDE4, OpenOffice.org 2.2, a 2.6.21 kernel, and more.OpenVZ Virtualization Software Available On Live CD
The OpenVZ project has announced the availability of its operating system server virtualization software as a modified version of the Knoppix 5.1.1 bootable Live CD so that users can test drive the OpenVZ software without changes to their computer or installing anything on their hard disk.rPath Linux 1.0.6 available for x86 and x86_64
rPath Linux has released updated images for rPath Linux 1. "The new images incorporate updates to the installation process and all package updates released as of May 11, 2007. In particular, the installation images and installed system now include a 2.6.19.7 Linux kernel, enabling installation on more recent hardware not supported by previous installation media. (Linux kernels for Xen support are 2.6.16.29 in this release.) New to 1.0.6 are x86_64 VMware and Xen images, as well as x86 and x86_64 ESX images."
Distribution News
Bits from Debian
Debian's Alioth server has been upgraded from Sarge to Etch. A few things have changed in the process.The call for bids has gone out for DebConf9. Bids should be submitted before the start of DebConf7 so that a venue can be chosen during DebConf7.
The first post-Etch Bug Squashing Party has been scheduled for May 17 - 20, 2007.
The mechanism that allows people to subscribe to bug reports was broken, but has now been fixed.
Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded - Details
The Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded project was launched last week at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Sevella, Spain. This week the project's wiki page has more details.Open Source Collaboration Leader Zimbra Now Available on Ubuntu Linux
Zimbra has announced the general availability of the Zimbra Collaboration Suite Network Edition for Ubuntu. "The Zimbra Collaboration Suite -- a premier, enterprise-grade email and collaboration solution -- now supports the wildly popular Ubuntu version 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support) from Canonical Ltd., an operating system designed to be the ideal platform for enterprises seeking better stability and longer guaranteed support horizons."
Distribution Newsletters
Fedora Weekly News Issue 87
The Fedora Weekly News for May 12, 2007 covers Fedora 7 -- what, when, and why, Fedora 7 Deep Freeze/GA release schedule change, Post-merge howto and FAQ, Red Hat Summit, Liberations fonts from Red Hat, and much more.Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for May 7, 2007 covers the release of Gentoo Linux 2007.0, information about recent coreutils changes, and several other topics.Ubuntu Weekly News: Issue #40
The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter May 12, 2007 covers the long awaited stable release of Ubuntu Studio, the new Ubuntu Central American LoCo Team, the growing media coverage on Ubuntu (both press and blogs), the amazing work done by the MOTU Team, and more.DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 202
The DistroWatch Weekly for May 14, 2007 is out. "The intensive development period before the upcoming release of Fedora 7 has been marked by several release updates and further complimented by news from Red Hat Summit in San Diego last week. Will this be the most impressive Fedora release ever? Chances are that it will be indeed. In other news, the openSUSE community launches a software portal, Daniel Robbins comments on the latest Gentoo Linux, Patrick Volkerding drops Pidgin (formerly GAIM) after finding an anti-Slackware comment on the project's developer page, and several distributions, including openSUSE, SabayonLinux, sidux and Skolelinux, announce updated release schedules. In the feature story of the week, your DistroWatch editor describes what can happen when the most important piece of computer hardware suddenly decides to stop working."
Newsletters and articles of interest
A Guide to Virtualization on Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring
Mandriva developer Adam Williamson has written a guide to virtualization on Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring. Click below for the full article.Rethinking the Linux Distribution (O'ReillyNet)
This O'ReillyNet tries to think outside the box when it comes to Linux distributions. "As I hope to demonstrate in this article, FOSS tools are the right technology to define the post-PC software era, and not merely as a backend platform for someone else's proprietary SaaS (Software as a Service) suite. Today's typical Linux distribution, however, follows a design that resembles a legacy Unix system with a Windows-style front end bolted on. This is a competitor to products such as Vista, which may actually be the last of its kind, even for Microsoft. It would be unfortunate indeed to suddenly find ourselves stuck with yesterday's business model."
HowtoForge tutorials
New HowtoForge articles:- The Perfect Desktop - Mandriva 2007 Spring Free
- Lintrack As A LAN Gateway And An OpenVPN Bridge
- Installing Ubuntu Studio 7.04 - Linux For The Creative
- Server Monitoring With munin And monit On Debian Etch
Distribution reviews
Gentoo Linux 2007.0 Review: First Impressions
Gentoo founder Daniel Robbins reviews the latest Gentoo release. "Overall, the install process was significantly improved using the installer. However, there was noticeable room for improvement - general lack of refinement and questionable choices made regarding what to include on the 600MB LiveCD. Also, the online documentation has grown to the point where it is cumbersome to navigate and disorienting to use. And those are my first impressions of 2007.0 :)"
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol
Next page:
Development>>