Development
The Linux Libertine Open Fonts Project
The Libertine Open Fonts Project, which first showed up on LWN in May, 2006, is an open source font project. The project's leader is Philipp H. Poll. The Libertine project description states:
Letters and fonts have two charakteristics: On the one hand they are basic elements of communication and fundament of our culture, on the other hand they are cultural goods and artcraft.
You are able to see just the first aspect, but when it comes to software youll see copyrights and patents even on the most elementary fonts. Therefore we want to give you a free alternative: This is why we founded the Libertine Open Fonts Project.
![[Libertine Logo]](https://static.lwn.net/images/ns/libertinelogo.png)
The Libertine license information states:
Our fonts are free in the sense of the GPL and OFL. In a nutshell: Changing the font is allowed as long as the derivative work is published under the same license again. Pedantics keep claiming that the embedded use of GPL-fonts in i.e. PDFs requires the free publication of the PDF as well. This, of course, is absolute nonsense, because - to our opinion - the font is not significantly changed by the embedding. To abolish the conflict some members of the FSF have written an addition to the license: the so called Font Exception. Our fonts GPL contains this font exception (since version 2.7). Since version 2.1.9 LinuxLibertine is also licensed under the OFL, which will clarify usability-conflicts.
The Libertine font files are available as both TTF (TrueType) and
OTF (OpenType) fonts. The Linux-compatible
LaTeX typesetting system
supports the Libertine fonts. See the Libertine
LaTeX document [PDF] for usage and installation instructions.
![[Libertine LaTeX Tux]](https://static.lwn.net/images/ns/libertinetux.png){kind=small}
Libertine includes a wide variety of
Font Styles. Numerous languages are supported, and many special
characters are available.
For a look at some of the LaTeX accessible font characters, see the
glyph list document [PDF].
Version 2.7.9 of the Libertine font project was recently announced. This release adds hinting, which allows the fonts to be used with Microsoft Word. Other changes include improved kern pairs for better typography, some minor tweaks and some bug fixes.
The libertine fonts are available for download here. The fonts come in a standard .tgz file which includes all of the font collections as both .ttf and .otf files. The Fontforge source files are also available. Fontforge is an open-source outline font editor.
System Applications
Backup Software
Areca Backup: 5.5.4 released (SourceForge)
Version 5.5.4 of Areca Backup has been announced, it includes a fix for a recovery bug. "Areca Backup is a file backup tool written in java. It supports data compression & encryption, incremental backup, file history explorer and many other features."
Clusters and Grids
release 2.1.3 of Linux-HA is now available
Stable release 2.1.3 of the Linux-HA cluster management software has been announced. "It includes some new manageability features, and a few new and improved resource agents and STONITH plugins, and nearly 400 bug fixes and lesser enhancements."
Database Software
Postgres Weekly News
The December 23, 2007 edition of the Postgres Weekly News is online with the latest PostgreSQL DBMS articles and resources.Postgres Weekly News
The December 30, 2007 edition of the Postgres Weekly News is online with the latest PostgreSQL DBMS articles and resources.
Security
Release of iptables 1.4.0 final
Version 1.4.0 final of iptables has been announced. "This is the first final release of the new iptables branch 1.4. This release contains lots of bugfixes and improvements for the previous release candidate which strongly improves IPv6 support. Please, upgrade!"
Web Site Development
Zenoss Core 2.1.2 Available (SourceForge)
Version 2.1.2 of Zenoss Core has been announced, it includes numerous bug fixes. "Zenoss Core is an enterprise network and systems management application written in Python/Zope. Zenoss provides an integrated product for monitoring availability, performance, events and configuration across layers and across platforms."
Desktop Applications
Audio Applications
Aqualung 0.9beta9 released
Version 0.9beta9 of the Aqualung music player has been announced. "This is a major release bringing significant new functionality and many important fixes. All users are encouraged to upgrade."
QjackCtl 0.3.2 released
Version 0.3.2 of QjackCtl, a GUI control panel for the JACK Audio Connection Kit, is out with a long list of new capabilities.Traverso 0.42.0 announced
Version 0.42.0 of Traverso is out with new features and bug fixes. "Traverso is a GPL licensed, cross platform program for recording and mixing music, speech, and sounds on the computer".
Business Applications
OpenXava: 2.2.4 released (SourceForge)
Version 2.2.4 of OpenXava has been announced, it includes new features and bug fixes. "OpenXava is a framework to develop Java Enterprise/J2EE applications rapidly and easily. It's based in business component concept. Feature rich and flexible since it's used for years to create business applications with Java."
Desktop Environments
GNOME 2.21.4 released
Version 2.21.4 of the GNOME desktop has been announced. "This is the third release of the GNOME 2.21.x series, heading towards the stable GNOME 2.22.x release."
GARNOME 2.21.4 announced
Version 2.21.4 of GARNOME, the bleeding edge GNOME distribution, is out. "This release includes all of GNOME 2.21.4 plus a whole bunch of updates and fixes that were released after the GNOME freeze date."
GNOME Software Announcements
The following new GNOME software has been announced this week:- Alarm Clock Applet 0.1 (initial release)
- Beagle 0.3.2 (new features, bug fixes and translation work)
- cheese 0.3.0 (new features, bug fixes and translation work)
- GLib 2.15.0 (new features, bug fixes and translation work)
- glibmm 2.15.0 (new features and bug fixes)
- gnome-control-center 2.21.4 (new features, bug fixes and translation work)
- gnome-mag 0.15.0 (bug fixes and translation work)
- Gnome Specimen 0.4 (new features, bug fixes and translation work)
- gvfs 0.1.0, eel and nautilus 2.21.1 (new features)
- metacity 2.21.5 (new features and bug fixes)
- pypoppler 0.6.2 (new features and bug fixes)
- Rhythmbox 0.11.4 (new features, bug fixes and translation work)
- Tinymail pre-release 0.0.6 (new features and bug fixes)
KDE Commit-Digest (KDE.News)
The December 16, 2007 edition of the KDE Commit-Digest has been announced. The content summary says: "A Sonnet-based spellcheck runner, and icons on the desktop in Plasma. Continued work revamping KBugBuster, more work towards KDevelop 4. GetHotNewStuff support for downloading maps in Marble. Image and audio dockers in Parley. The start of Glimpse, a new scanning application based on libksane. The beginnings of a generic resource display framework for NEPOMUK..."
KDE Commit-Digest (KDE.News)
The December 23, 2007 edition of the KDE Commit-Digest has been announced. The content summary says: "Trolltech-sponsored development continues on Phonon backends. Support for saving to remote URL's in Gwenview. A "Now Playing" data engine and applet, and the train clock returns in Plasma. "Switch Tabs on Hover" can now be disabled, and other refinements in Kickoff for KDE 4.0. Work on a debugger (with a SpeedCrunch-inspired interface) for KHTML. Work to support the most recent release of the Flash (version 9) multimedia plugin in Konqueror. SOCKS support in KTorrent. Device handling fixes in KPilot..."
KDE Software Announcements
The following new KDE software has been announced this week:- Amarok ices script 0.1 (initial release)
- amaroK Web Collection 1.0.3 (code optimization)
- amaroK Web Collection 1.0.4 (bug fixes)
- amaroK Web Collection V xmms x1.0.4 (bug fixes)
- Avi 2 iPod / PSP (mp4) 2.0 (new features and bug fixes)
- Avi 2 iPod / PSP (mp4) 2.1 (new features)
- cueIt .05 (initial release)
- cueIt .06 (unspecified)
- digiKam 0.9.3 (new features)
- FALF Player 1.0/1.1dev (new features and bug fixes)
- indywiki 0.9.6 (bug fixes)
- Kaffeine Screenshot to Kopete Avatar 1.01B (unspecified)
- KAlarm 1.4.21 / 1.9.9 beta2 (new features and bug fixes)
- Kalva 0.8.90 (new features)
- KGraphViewer and KGraphEditor 1.0.4 and 1.99.1 (new features and bug fixes)
- Kim 0.9.5 (new feature)
- kipi-plugins 0.1.5 rc1 (new features and bug fixes)
- KleanSweep 0.2.9 (initial release)
- Kraft 0.23 (bug fixes)
- KTorrent 3.0beta1 (new features)
- kvpnc 0.9.0 (new features and bug fixes)
- libkdcraw 0.1.3 (new features and new camera support)
- Manslide v1.9.1 (unspecified)
- MountISO 0.9.2 (new features, bug fixes and translation work)
- MountISO 0.9.3 (bug fixes and translation work)
- MountISO 0.9.3.1 (translation work)
- Qosmic 1.2 (new features and bug fixes)
- ScroogLyrics 0.5.1 (bug fixes)
- ScroogLyrics 0.7.2 (bug fix)
- Snippits 0.5.1 (bug fixes and documentation work)
- Xbox Live Gamercard Plasmoid 0.1 (initial release)
Xorg Software Announcements
The following new Xorg software has been announced this week:- xf86-video-ati 6.7.197 (new features and bug fixes)
- xf86-video-radeonhd 1.1.0 (new features and bug fixes)
Encryption Software
GnuPG 1.4.8 released
Stable version 1.4.8 of GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) has been announced. "Note that this version is from the GnuPG-1 series and thus smaller than those from the GnuPG-2 series, easier to build and also better portable. In contrast to GnuPG-2 (e.g version 2.0.8) it comes with no support for S/MIME or other tools useful for desktop environments. Fortunately you may install both versions alongside on the same system without any conflict."
GnuPG 2.0.8 released
Version 2.0.8 of GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) has been announced, it includes new features and bug fixes.
Graphics
Uniconvertor 1.1.0 released
Version 1.1.0 of UniConvertor, a multi-platform vector graphics translator, has been released. This version improves memory usage.
Medical Applications
GNUmed 0.2.8.0 released (LinuxMedNews)
Version 0.2.8.0 of the GNUmed medical record system has been announced. Changes include: "A report generator to visualize query results with gnuplot has been added. Exception handling has been improved. The Snellen Chart has been reactivated. KVK handling has officially been included. More hooks and an improved example hook script were added. Demographics handling has been extended to now really support multiple names, addresses, comm channels, and external IDs..."
OpenClinica 2.2 Provides Enhanced Features for Popular Open Source Electronic Data Capture Software (LinuxMedNews)
LinuxMedNews notes the release of OpenClinica 2.2. "Akaza Research announces a new production release of the OpenClinica clinical research software designed for electronic data capture and clinical data management. This new release provides a long list of enhancements across numerous areas of the software."
Music Applications
AZR3-JACK released
The initial release of AZR3-JACK has been announced. "This JACK program is a port of the free VST plugin AZR-3. It is a tonewheel organ with drawbars, distortion and rotating speakers. The original was written by Rumpelrausch Täips."
Qsynth 0.3.2 (unstable-qt4) is out
Version 0.3.2 of Qsynth has been announced, it adds new capabilities and bug fixes. "Yes, it's about time. Much as the long due FluidSynth 1.0.8 release, really "Its about funky time!". Time also for season greetings and some gift exchange."
Rosegarden 1.6.1 released
Version 1.6.1 of Rosegarden, an audio and MIDI sequencer and musical notation editor, has been announced. "This is a bug fix release, fixing a couple of significant bugs in the recent 1.6.0 feature release. Users are advised to upgrade forthwith."
Office Suites
OpenOffice.org Newsletter
The December, 2007 edition of the OpenOffice.org Newsletter is out with the latest OO.o office suite articles and events.
PDA Software
SynCE: vdccm 0.10.1 released (SourceForge)
Version 0.10.1 of vdccm, part of SynCE, has been announced. "The purpose of the SynCE project is to provide a means of communication with a Windows CE or Pocket PC device from a computer running Linux, *BSD or other unices. vdccm 0.10.1 has been released. This is a point release mainly to fix a security vulnerability that was presented to us by Core Security Technologies."
Science
Q3C: 1.4.1 was released (SourceForge)
Version 1.4.1 of Q3C has been announced. "Q3C means QuadTree Cube. This is the plugin for PostgreSQL to work with large astronomical catalogues (or just the catalogues of objects on the sphere). It allows you to do easily the cone searches, polygonal searches on the sphere and fast cross-matches."
Web Browsers
Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 2 Released (MozillaZine)
MozillaZine has further coverage of the recently released Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 2 web browser. "The second beta of the next major Firefox version offers around 900 bug fixes over Beta 1, including several feature enhancements and fixes to improve speed, stability, security and memory usage. Perhaps the most striking change is the redesigned Location Bar autocomplete menu, which now highlights which parts of the page title and/or URL match the entered text. The Downloads window has also been improved".
Mozilla Links Newsletter
The December 20, 2007 edition of the Mozilla Links Newsletter is online, take a look for the latest news about the Mozilla browser and related projects.Mozilla Links Newsletter
The December 27, 2007 edition of the Mozilla Links Newsletter is online, take a look for the latest news about the Mozilla browser and related projects.
Miscellaneous
OpenKM announces version 1.2
Version 1.2 of OpenKM has been announced. "Openkm is a open source document management system licenced on GNU GPL V2 based on java technologies ( Jboss, Jackrabbit, Lucene, GWT- Google Web Toolkit ) useful for any enterprises intented to organize and share documents."
A New Year, a New Zimbra (MontanaLinux.org)
Scott Dowdle's blog looks at the recently released Zimbra 5.0 messaging and collaboration suite. "Zimbra Collaboration Suite 5.0 GA came out today or was it yesterday / last year? After reading the release notes(PDF) and doing a complete backup, I upgraded both my work and personal Zimbra servers. I have been using Zimbra for as my work and personal email server for... oh... something close to two years now. Over that time there have been a number of upgrades and they have always gone smoothly." The new version has not yet been announced on the official Zimbra site.
Languages and Tools
Caml
Caml Weekly News
The January 1, 2008 edition of the Caml Weekly News is out with new articles about the Caml language.
Perl
A Perl 6 status update
Remember Perl 6? Here is a status update by Patrick Michaud on the development of this new language. "Even though the new implementation is only a couple of weeks old, we already see huge gains in the quality and extensibility of the compiler, and in the ability for others to participate in its development. Because the current implementation is so new, I'm reluctant to hazard a guess as to an anticipated pace of development going forward, other than to say it should be much faster than what has been. I do tend to think that we'll be reaching the 'workable implementation' stage in a matter of weeks instead of months or years."
Python
Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links
The December 28, 2007 edition of the Python-URL! is online with a new collection of Python article links.Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links
The December 31, 2007 edition of the Python-URL! is online with a new collection of Python article links.
Tcl/Tk
Tcl/Tk 8.5 released
Version 8.5 of Tcl/Tk has been announced. "This is the first stable release of Tcl/Tk 8.5."
Tcl-URL! - weekly Tcl news and links
The December 31, 2007 edition of the Tcl-URL! is online with new Tcl/Tk articles and resources.
Version Control
qgit-2.1 and qgit-1.5.8 announced
Two new versions of qgit have been announced. "Stable qgit-1.5.8 has only maintenance fixes, not a lot indeed, it happens to be already very stable. New stuff is in qgit-2.1".
ugit: the pythonic git gui
A new release of ugit is out with lots of new features. "ugit, the pyqt-based git gui, has been taking shape as of late. First off, I'd like to thank everyone that replied with suggestions and criticism. This list is extremely helpful with regards to providing honest software critiques."
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