[gentoo-gwn] Gentoo Weekly Newsletter 16 October 2006

[Chris Gianelloni]

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Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml
This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of 16 October 2006.
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==============
1. Gentoo news
==============
  
New Java system marked stable
-----------------------------
  
With great pleasure, the Gentoo/Java team[1] wishes to announce that the 
new Java system has been marked stable on all architectures with a 
supported Java implementation (amd64, ia64, ppc, ppc64, and x86). This 
represents the culmination of over a year of development and is a giant 
step forward for Java on Gentoo. 

 1. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/java
 
In case you have missed the previous announcements, here is a brief 
summary of the new Java system: 
 
 * Ability to switch the current VM on the fly 
 * Changes to the user and system VM take effect immediately and are not 
tied to the shell environment, which means you no longer have to run 
env-update followed by source /etc/profile when you switch the system VM 
 * New concept of a "build VM", which is used to emerge packages, and is 
configured independently of the system VM 
 * For each version of Java, ie 1.4, 1.5, etc, the build VM can be 
configured as to which vendor and version of a VM to use 
 * The VM at emerge time will be switched on the fly according to its 
configuration, as well as the dependency of the package. For example, some 
packages won't compile with 1.5. In these cases, a 1.4 VM will be used at 
build time 
 * Java 1.5 has now been marked stable. 
 * Configuration of VM and browser plugin using eselect 
 * We will be prepared for Java 1.6 when it is released this December 
 
Updated user documentation can be found at 
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/java.xml 
 
Documentation about upgrading to the new system can be found at 
http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/java/java-upgrade.xml 
    
KDE 3.5.5 released
------------------
  
The Gentoo KDE team[2] would like to announce the release and unmasking of 
KDE 3.5.5 in the tree. The biggest change for Gentoo's KDE users will be 
the deprecation of net-im/kopete in favor of kde-base/kopete, which is now 
only released with mainline KDE. 

 2. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/desktop/kde
    
=========================
2. Heard in the community
=========================
     
gentoo-user
-----------
  
Where is aislerot?
 
Darren Kirby had misplaced his favorite GNOME time waster, the solitaire 
application aislerot. He had installed the gnome-games package, but the 
aislerot binary was absent. 
 
Michael Sullivan to the rescue. Sullivan pointed out that the guile USE 
flag needed to be enabled. kirby recompiled and reported problem solved. 
 
 * http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/172009 
     
gentoo-dev
----------
  
GLEP: RESTRICT=interactive
 
In theory, ebuilds should not require interactions from users during the 
compilation process. In the real world, interaction may be needed as is 
the case of a game where the CD may need to be inserted. 
 
Marius Mauch intends to submit a GLEP adding a RESTRICT="interactive" 
option to portage to indicate interaction-required ebuilds. Users would be 
warned that interaction may be needed during compilation so they would not 
include the offending package in unattended overnight compilation 
sessions. 
 
The draft GLEP can be found at 
http://dev.gentoo.org/~genone/docs/interactive-restrict-glep.html 
 
Commenters noted that all other restricted flags were in the form 
"RESTRICT=Thing_You_Don't_Want". Sentiment seemed to be running in favor 
of a "RESTRICT=unattended" syntax which would parallel the other RESTRICT 
flags. 
 
 * http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/43195 
 
Is it time for bash 3?
 
Donnie Berkholz had received a patch to the mesa ebuild which used some of 
the new features in bash3. Instead of having dependencies at the ebuild 
level, Berkholz thought that a minimum version of bash should be added to 
the list of applications required by the base gentoo profile. Since bash 3 
had been required by baselayout for over two years, it was likely most 
users had it and the change would be a non-issue for almost all. The 
change would make the better bash 3 feature set available for all ebuilds. 
 
Marius Mauch and Vlastimil Babka noted that for users who had not made the 
change, the inclusion of bash 3 in system would not help. Mauch proposed a 
number of either bruteforce or complex solutions to the issue. Further, 
Babka noted that the Mac OS X may still use bash 2.59. 
 
Berkholz stated he was implementation agnostic and just wanted the change 
made. Mike Frysinger stated that the last time he tried to use a bash 2 
system portage fell apart entirely anyway, and that therefore the simple 
change to the base profile was preferable. 
 
 * http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/43174 
     
gentoo-embedded
---------------
  
NSLU2 as a DNS server
 
wireless writes in to gentoo-embedded wondering if it would be possible to 
turn a Linksys NSLU2[3] into a lightweight DNS server. He worries that 
only having 32MB of RAM may make this goal impossible and wonders if there 
are ways to increase its RAM capacity or if there was another embedded 
device with more capability. However, many on gentoo-embedded, unhampered 
by so called "limitations," suggested trying dnsmasq as a lightweight 
alternative to other larger DNS solutions. 

 3. http://www.nslu2-linux.org
 
 * http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.embedded/1107 
     
gentoo-security
---------------
  
Securing dhcpcd (client)
 
7v5w7go9ub0o writes into gentoo-security with worries about the security 
of running dhcpcd as root on his laptop at hotspots. There was talk about 
patching dhcpcd (similar to a patch that already exists in other 
distributions for dhcpd) to be able to drop privileges, and about using 
alternatives to dhcpcd that already have this functionality. 
 
 * http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.security/2911 
    
======================
3. Gentoo in the press
======================
  
SearchOpenSource.com (11 Oct 2006)
----------------------------------
  
Author Patrick Green discusses 64-bit blade servers and running Linux on 
them. He recommends buyers to ensure that they have a proper match of 
hardware and software before undertaking such a challenge. Green goes on 
to discuss various Linux distributions and their various caveats. He 
explains the primary differences in support options between commercial and 
community-based distributions. His take on Gentoo? 
 
"Well, Gentoo is not for the faint of heart when it comes to installation 
and configuration; but once it is set up, Gentoo's Portage and Emerge make 
your life pretty trouble-free. Pain on the front end for an easy ride? 
Sweet!" 
 
We would have to agree, Patrick. 
 
 * http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid39_gci1222912,00.html 
    
=========================
4. Gentoo developer moves
=========================
  
Moves
-----
  
The following developers recently left the Gentoo project: 
 
 * Thierry Carrez (Koon) 
 * Gerald J. Normandin Jr. (gerrynjr) 
 * D.M.D. Ljungmark (Spider) 
    
Adds
----
  
The following developers recently joined the Gentoo project: 
 
 * David Shakaryan (omp) desktop-misc/commonbox 
 * Alexis Ballier (aballier) media-sound/media-video 
    
Changes
-------
  
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo project: 
 
 * none this week 
    
============================
5. Upcoming package removals
============================
   
This is a list of packages that have been announced to be removed in the 
future. The package removals come from many locations, including the 
Treecleaners[4] and various developers. 

 4. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/qa/treecleaners
    
Last Rites:
-----------
  
 Package: Removal date: Contact:  sys-fs/ocfs-tools 09 Nov 06 Donnie 
Berkholz[5]  net-im/kopete* 12 Nov 06 Diego Pettenò[6]  
net-im/universalkopete 14 Nov 06 Alec Warner[7]  app-admin/sus 14 Nov 06 
Christian Heim[8]  app-admin/linup 14 Nov 06 Christian Heim[9]  
media-libs/gltt 14 Nov 06 Christian Heim[10]  media-radio/xastir 14 Nov 06 
Christian Heim[11]  app-misc/gpsdrive 14 Nov 06 Christian Heim[12]  

 5. dberkholz@g.o
 6. flameeyes@g.o
 7. antarus@g.o
 8. phreak@g.o
 9. phreak@g.o
 10. phreak@g.o
 11. phreak@g.o
 12. phreak@g.o
 
*Kopete remains part of kde-base; only the net-im ebuild will be deleted. 
    
===========
6. Bugzilla
===========
  
Summary
-------
  
 * Statistics 
 * Closed bug ranking 
 * New bug rankings 
    
Statistics
----------
  
The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[13]) to record and 
track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the 
development team. Between 08 October 2006 and 15 October 2006, activity on 
the site has resulted in: 

 5. http://bugs.gentoo.org
 
 * 978 new bugs during this period 
 * 535 bugs closed or resolved during this period 
 * 44 previously closed bugs were reopened this period 
 * 149 closed as NEEDINFO/WONTFIX/CANTFIX/INVALID/UPSTREAM during this 
period 
 * 156 bugs marked as duplicates during this period 
 
Of the 11099 currently open bugs: 35 are labeled 'blocker', 122 are 
labeled 'critical', and 503 are labeled 'major'. 
    
Closed bug rankings
-------------------
  
The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period 
are: 
 
 * Desktop Misc. Team[14], with 26 closed bugs[15]  
 * Gentoo Games[16], with 25 closed bugs[17]  
 * AMD64 Project[18], with 22 closed bugs[19]  
 * Netmon Herd[20], with 20 closed bugs[21]  
 * CJK Team[22], with 20 closed bugs[23]  
 * Gentoo KDE team[24], with 19 closed bugs[25]  
 * Portage team[26], with 19 closed bugs[27]  
 * Java team[28], with 16 closed bugs[29]  
 14. desktop-misc@g.o
 15. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=desktop-misc@g.o
 16. games@g.o
 17. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=games@g.o
 18. amd64@g.o
 19. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=amd64@g.o
 20. netmon@g.o
 21. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=netmon@g.o
 22. cjk@g.o
 23. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=cjk@g.o
 24. kde@g.o
 25. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=kde@g.o
 26. dev-portage@g.o
 27. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=dev-portage@g.o
 28. java@g.o
 29. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=java@g.o

    
New bug rankings
----------------
  
The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during 
this period are: 
 
 * Default Assignee for New Packages[30], with 33 new bugs[31]  
 * Default Assignee for Orphaned Packages[32], with 22 new bugs[33]  
 * Gentoo's Team for Core System packages[34], with 12 new bugs[35]  
 * Python Gentoo Team[36], with 8 new bugs[37]  
 * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[38], with 8 new bugs[39]  
 * Robin Johnson[40], with 6 new bugs[41]  
 * Gentoo KDE team[42], with 6 new bugs[43]  
 * Gentoo Games[44], with 6 new bugs[45]  
 30. maintainer-wanted@g.o
 31. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&assigned_to=maintainer-wanted@g.o
 32. maintainer-needed@g.o
 33. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&assigned_to=maintainer-needed@g.o
 34. base-system@g.o
 35. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&assigned_to=base-system@g.o
 36. python@g.o
 37. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&assigned_to=python@g.o
 38. gnome@g.o
 39. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&assigned_to=gnome@g.o
 40. robbat2@g.o
 41. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&assigned_to=robbat2@g.o
 42. kde@g.o
 43. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&assigned_to=kde@g.o
 44. games@g.o
 45. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-10-08&chfieldto=2006-10-15&assigned_to=games@g.o

    
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 38. gwn-feedback@g.o
    
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Ulrich Plate <plate@g.o> - Editor
Josh Nichols <nichoj@g.o> - Author
Chris Atkinson <thirtyyearswar@××××××××××.com> - Author
Kyle Bishop <phnix@××××××××.net> - Author
Chris Gianelloni <wolf31o2@g.o> - Author



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