Gentoo Archives: gentoo-gwn

From: Ulrich Plate <plate@g.o>
To: gentoo-gwn@l.g.o
Subject: [gentoo-gwn] Gentoo Weekly Newsletter 12 December 2005
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 03:54:54
Message-Id: 20051212041735.5fe88b4d.plate@gentoo.org
1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
3 http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml
4 This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of 12 December 2005.
5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
6
7 ==============
8 1. Gentoo news
9 ==============
10
11 Qt4 on its way into Portage
12 ---------------------------
13
14 Qt4 is starting to be marked unstable on various architectures, which
15 means that some people will start installing it on their systems. KDE
16 still uses Qt3, and due to SLOTting users will have both installed on
17 their system and it shouldn't be an issue. After installing Qt4, if users
18 note problems with installing ebuilds that may need Qt3 but instead find
19 Qt4, please file a bug report[1] and assign it to caleb@g.o to get
20 it fixed. The same goes for users who know of packages that use Qt4,
21 please assign your bugs to caleb@g.o, too, so we can start getting
22 some Qt4-related ebuilds into the tree.
23 1. http://bugs.gentoo.org
24
25 Alpha project status update
26 ---------------------------
27
28 The Gentoo Alpha project released a new status update[2] covering the
29 state of core system packages, mainly the kernel, gcc, and the C
30 libraries. Experimental ports under way include Java, modular X and
31 SELinux, and the future has the creation of an Alpha arch-tester team on
32 the agenda, a decision taken against the backdrop of very good experiences
33 the AMD64 team had with their architecture testers.
34 2. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/alpha/status/status-20051207.xml
35
36 GWN editorial guidelines and release process
37 --------------------------------------------
38
39 Answering popular demand, a new GWN guide[3] lists editorial guidelines,
40 best practices and many technical details of the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
41 production. Mainly intended for use of current and future Gentoo Weekly
42 Newsletter staff, it explains the scope and structure of the GWN's
43 individual chapters and how the GuideXML variant used in producing the GWN
44 works. It will serve as a tool for training new contributors to prepare
45 their articles using its XML syntax. As a reference to everyone interested
46 in joining the GWN team, it's being released in the hope that many new
47 authors find their way to contributing to Gentoo's weekly news source. If
48 you find the guide useful and would like to be part of the team, please
49 contact us via the gwn-feedback@g.o alias with a short description
50 of your areas of expertise or which sections you would like to write for.
51 3. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/pr/gwn-guide.xml
52
53 Gentoo Forums statistics graphs
54 -------------------------------
55
56 Gentoo developer Damien Krotkine[4] has collated statistical data from the
57 Gentoo Forums[5] to produce some interesting graphs[6]. The graphs show
58 the cumulative totals of users, topics and posts on the forums as well as
59 stats for each day since the forums were created.
60 4. dams@g.o
61 5. http://forums.gentoo.org
62 6. http://damz.net/gentoo_forums_stats/
63
64 Figure 1.1: Gentoo Forum statistics visualized: user growth
65 http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20051212_user.png
66
67 The data is gathered using a shell script and perl to extract the
68 information from the Forums' statistics page[7], run from a daily cronjob.
69 Older data was gathered by Forums administrator Tom Knight[8] using some
70 customized SQL queries. All the data is then passed through gnuplot to
71 produce the graphs. Despite the recent downturn, the Forums remain one of
72 the most important Linux resources on the Internet.
73 7. http://forums.gentoo.org/statistics.php
74 8. tomk@g.o
75
76 ==============
77 2. Future zone
78 ==============
79
80 New virtual package style increases Portage flexibility
81 -------------------------------------------------------
82
83 With GLEP 37[9], virtuals are actual packages (located in the virtual/
84 category) instead of being mentioned in the 'virtuals' file in profiles/.
85 This gives us more flexibility regarding their syntax. For example we can
86 now specify an order of preference for virtual providers instead of just a
87 single default versus everything else.
88 9. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/glep/glep-0037.html
89
90 The first adopter of GLEP 37 is the X team, with virtual/x11. Although
91 there were some temporary issues with switching to the new virtual type,
92 everything's resolved and seems to work quite well. This lets us only
93 allow xorg-x11-6.8.x to fulfill virtual/x11 and force modular X users to
94 have completely specified dependencies.
95
96 Modular X users will want to add a line to /etc/portage/profile/virtuals
97 until contributors port all the packages on their systems to modular X:
98
99 +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
100 | Code Listing 2.1: |
101 | Insert line for modular X |
102 +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
103 | |
104 |virtual/x11 x11-base/xorg-x11 |
105 | |
106 +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
107
108 Note: If you'd like to help with the porting efforts, see the modular X
109 porting HOWTO. But first, you'll need to convert your system to modular X.
110 Please file bugs only to the package maintainers with patches for modular
111 X dependencies, not to x11@g.o.
112
113 =========================
114 3. Heard in the community
115 =========================
116
117 gentoo-dev
118 ----------
119
120 Modular X update
121
122 Donnie Berkholz[10] gives a small update on the progress with the new
123 modular Xorg ebuilds. What's missing now is mostly a change in the
124 dependencies of packages - the simple DEPEND on xorg-x11 doesn't work
125 anymore with the modular ebuilds. Modular X users will want to add a line
126 to /etc/portage/profile/virtuals until contributors port all the packages
127 on their systems to modular X as seen in the "Future zone" article above.
128 10. spyderous@g.o
129
130 * Modular X update [11]
131 11. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/33838
132
133 Programs in need of new maintainers
134
135 As developers retire from Gentoo and priorities shift every now and then,
136 a package loses its maintainer, which becomes a problem when new bugs or
137 security-related problems are reported. This week saw an unusual amount of
138 packages in need of a new maintainer:
139
140 * Last rites for media-video/dvdrip [12]
141 * Looking for DirectFB maintainers [13]
142 * Looking for jack maintainers [14]
143 * Looking for a vile maintainer[15]
144 12. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/33821
145 13. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/33816
146 14. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/33815
147 15. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/33810
148
149 [GLEP] Manifest2 format
150
151 Marius Mauch[16] presents GLEP 44: "This GLEP proposes a new format for
152 the Portage Manifest and digest file system by unifying both filetypes
153 into one to improve functional and non-functional aspects of the Portage
154 Tree." In short this will offer an improved format for verifying all files
155 in the Portage Tree, including multiple hash formats. The new format will
156 be incompatible to older portage versions, so that a migration path needs
157 to be worked out to avoid breaking updates.
158 16. genone@g.o
159
160 * [GLEP] Manifest2 format [17]
161 17. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/33774
162
163 gentoo-alt
164 ----------
165
166 Gentoo OpenSolaris
167
168 On 4 November 2005 "Venky"[18] informed the Gentoo/ALT[19] community that
169 he has begun work on Gentoo OpenSolaris. To get him started the excellent
170 porting guide[20] written by Gentoo developer Diego Pettenò[21] proved to
171 be a valuable resource.
172 18. venky.tv@××××××.com
173 19. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/
174 20. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/port-start.xml
175 21. flameeyes@g.o
176
177 * Gentoo OpenSolaris[22]
178 22. http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=gentoo-alt&m=113367525819314&w=2
179
180 De-GNU-ification
181
182 In a recent discussion on the gentoo-alt mailing list, Flameeyes[23]
183 explained the two basic types of Gentoo/ALT projects: on the one hand
184 there are prefixed projects like Gentoo for Mac OS X and Gentoo/OpenBSD,
185 where it's impossible or unwise to mess with the provided userland,
186 whereas on the other hand there are non-prefixed ports like Gentoo/FreeBSD
187 and Gentoo/NetBSD. After this Diego goes on to tell us a little more about
188 the various ports and their specific needs, before explaining the GNU
189 tools Portage currently depends on. The rest of the thread saw the usual
190 lively discussion on the merits and feasability of these two approaches,
191 which as always lead to a rather heated, yet quite informative debate.
192 23. flameeyes@g.o
193
194 * My thoughts on prefixes and de-GNU-ification[24]
195 24. http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=gentoo-alt&m=113377200325601&w=2
196
197 gentoo-server
198 -------------
199
200 Gentoo-server project status and proposal
201
202 Ricardo Loureiro, known as RoadRunner in the Gentoo Forums where he
203 moderates the Portuguese section, triggered a discussion of his new
204 project to ease network administration and management. The thread also
205 contains helpful links on past code and methods:
206
207 * Gentoo-server project status and proposal[25]
208 25. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.server/3352
209
210 gentoo-user
211 -----------
212
213 64-bit transition thread
214
215 This thread looks at some of the basic questions regarding the advantages
216 of a 64-bit system over a 32-bit one. More concisely there are details on
217 getting various 32-bit apps usable on a 64-bit system. Check the
218 recommended document addressing a majority of these questions, too:
219
220 * 64 bit or not[26]
221 * Gentoo AMD64 FAQ[27]
222 26. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.amd64/5703
223 27. http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-amd64-faq.xml
224
225 =======================
226 4. Gentoo international
227 =======================
228
229 Germany: Gentoo Summer Camp 2006
230 --------------------------------
231
232 Figure 4.1: Gentoo Summer Camp 2006
233 http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20051212_gsc-logo.png
234
235 The second Gentoo Summer Camp 2006 in Germany is planned for 26 and 27
236 August 2006, probably to be held somewhere on the German North Sea coast,
237 with the exact venue to be decided upon soon. Organizer Slick, one of the
238 German Gentoo Forum moderators, expects between 30 and 40 campers to
239 participate in the event, with at least a few of them arriving a week
240 early to spend an entire Gentoo vacation at the site. Themed T-shirts and
241 windbreakers featuring the GSC logo will be made available soon, along
242 with a registration site for early bookers. Participation will set you
243 back 10 Euros per night and person, including cold beverages and roasted
244 marshmallows. For a glimpse of what the first summer camp looked like,
245 check the photo collection[28] (in file review.tar.bz2).
246 28. http://www.gentoo.de/pub/summer-camp/2005
247
248 ======================
249 5. Gentoo in the press
250 ======================
251
252 Linuxhardware.org (6 December 2005)
253 -----------------------------------
254
255 Right on time before people have done all their Christmas shopping, Gentoo
256 developer Kristopher Kersey (Augustus)[29] has published the third and
257 last part[30] of his series on the "Ultimate Linux Workstation" that he
258 designed using all the latest and greatest parts to be found in the wild.
259 He's spent his money reasonably well on a dual Opteron 2.8GHz system with
260 plenty of RAM, fast disks, water-cooling and high-performance graphics to
261 impress in the benchmarking he includes in his article. Needless to say,
262 Augustus went for Gentoo Linux as the operating system for his ultimate
263 workstation (and the alternative "budget system"). Well, what else would
264 you want under the tree...
265 29. augustus@g.o
266 30. http://www.linuxhardware.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/06/2138210
267
268 Netcraft (5 December 2005)
269 --------------------------
270
271 Gentoo has passed the mark of 100,000 servers worldwide visibly running
272 Gentoo Linux, according to the December survey at Netcraft[31]. With
273 Gentoo's success and the even steeper raise in Debian-driven systems,
274 non-commercial Linuces including CentOS and Fedora are growing faster than
275 their commercial counterparts.
276 31.
277 http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2005/12/05/strong_growth_for_debian.html
278
279 Frappr.com (December 2005)
280 --------------------------
281
282 Unlike all other maps of Gentoo users that have been established so far,
283 this new one[32] over at Frappr (short for "Friends Mapper") isn't
284 regionally limited. Wherever on the planet you happen to live, you can pin
285 your location onto a global map that already carries hundreds of other
286 Gentoo users. Lacking particularly in the Asian and African department so
287 far, it's certainly fun to add yourself to the growing number of pins --
288 and even more fun to find others using this tool.
289 32. http://www.frappr.com/gentoo
290
291 =========================
292 6. Gentoo developer moves
293 =========================
294
295 Moves
296 -----
297
298 The following developers recently left the Gentoo project:
299
300 * None this week
301
302 Adds
303 ----
304
305 The following developers recently joined the Gentoo project:
306
307 * Sandro Bonazzola (Sanchan) - Embedded
308 * Joshua Jackson (tsunam) - x86
309
310 Changes
311 -------
312
313 The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo project:
314
315 * None this week
316
317 ==================
318 7. Gentoo Security
319 ==================
320
321 Perl: Format string errors can lead to code execution
322 -----------------------------------------------------
323
324 A fix is available for Perl to mitigate the effects of format string
325 programming errors, that could otherwise be exploited to execute arbitrary
326 code.
327
328 For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[33]
329 33. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200512-01.xml
330
331 QDBM, ImageMagick, GDAL: RUNPATH issues
332 ---------------------------------------
333
334 Multiple packages suffer from RUNPATH issues that may allow users in the
335 "portage" group to escalate privileges.
336
337 For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[34]
338 34. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200511-02.xml
339
340 phpMyAdmin: Multiple vulnerabilities
341 ------------------------------------
342
343 Multiple flaws in phpMyAdmin may lead to several XSS issues and local and
344 remote file inclusion vulnerabilities.
345
346 For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[35]
347 35. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200512-03.xml
348
349 ===========
350 8. Bugzilla
351 ===========
352
353 Statistics
354 ----------
355
356 The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[36]) to record and
357 track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the
358 development team. Between 04 December 2005 and 11 December 2005, activity
359 on the site has resulted in:
360 36. http://bugs.gentoo.org
361
362 * 740 new bugs during this period
363 * 373 bugs closed or resolved during this period
364 * 29 previously closed bugs were reopened this period
365
366 Of the 9124 currently open bugs: 96 are labeled 'blocker', 195 are labeled
367 'critical', and 542 are labeled 'major'.
368
369 Closed bug rankings
370 -------------------
371
372 The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period
373 are:
374
375 * Java team[37], with 22 closed bugs[38]
376 * Greg Kroah-Hartman[39], with 17 closed bugs[40]
377 * Gentoo KDE team[41], with 12 closed bugs[42]
378 * Gentoo Developer Relations Team[43], with 12 closed bugs[44]
379 * Gentoo's Team for Core System packages[45], with 12 closed bugs[46]
380 * AMD64 Porting Team[47], with 11 closed bugs[48]
381 * Gentoo X-windows packagers[49], with 10 closed bugs[50]
382 * AMD64 Testing Team[51], with 10 closed bugs[52]
383 37. java@g.o
384 38.
385 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=java@g.o
386 39. gregkh@g.o
387 40.
388 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=gregkh@g.o
389 41. kde@g.o
390 42.
391 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=kde@g.o
392 43. devrel@g.o
393 44.
394 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=devrel@g.o
395 45. base-system@g.o
396 46.
397 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=base-system@g.o
398 47. amd64@g.o
399 48.
400 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=amd64@g.o
401 49. x11@g.o
402 50.
403 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=x11@g.o
404 51. amd64-test@g.o
405 52.
406 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=amd64-test@g.o
407
408 New bug rankings
409 ----------------
410
411 The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during
412 this period are:
413
414 * Default Assignee for New Packages[53], with 30 new bugs[54]
415 * Default Assignee for Orphaned Packages[55], with 15 new bugs[56]
416 * X11 External Driver Maintainers[57], with 12 new bugs[58]
417 * Mozilla Gentoo Team[59], with 11 new bugs[60]
418 * Gentoo Sound Team[61], with 8 new bugs[62]
419 * Gentoo KDE team[63], with 8 new bugs[64]
420 * Saleem A.[65], with 7 new bugs[66]
421 * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[67], with 6 new bugs[68]
422 53. maintainer-wanted@g.o
423 54.
424 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&assigned_to=maintainer-wanted@g.o
425 55. maintainer-needed@g.o
426 56.
427 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&assigned_to=maintainer-needed@g.o
428 57. x11-drivers@g.o
429 58.
430 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&assigned_to=x11-drivers@g.o
431 59. mozilla@g.o
432 60.
433 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&assigned_to=mozilla@g.o
434 61. sound@g.o
435 62.
436 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&assigned_to=sound@g.o
437 63. kde@g.o
438 64.
439 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&assigned_to=kde@g.o
440 65. compnerd@g.o
441 66.
442 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&assigned_to=compnerd@g.o
443 67. gnome@g.o
444 68.
445 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-12-04&chfieldto=2005-12-11&assigned_to=gnome@g.o
446
447 ===============
448 9. GWN feedback
449 ===============
450
451 Please send us your feedback[69] and help make the GWN better.
452 69. gwn-feedback@g.o
453
454 ================================
455 10. GWN subscription information
456 ================================
457
458 To subscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to
459 gentoo-gwn+subscribe@g.o.
460
461 To unsubscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to
462 gentoo-gwn+unsubscribe@g.o from the email address you are
463 subscribed under.
464
465 ===================
466 11. Other languages
467 ===================
468
469 The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages:
470
471 * Danish[70]
472 * Dutch[71]
473 * English[72]
474 * German[73]
475 * French[74]
476 * Korean[75]
477 * Japanese[76]
478 * Italian[77]
479 * Polish[78]
480 * Portuguese (Brazil)[79]
481 * Portuguese (Portugal)[80]
482 * Russian[81]
483 * Spanish[82]
484 * Turkish[83]
485 70. http://www.gentoo.org/news/da/gwn/gwn.xml
486 71. http://www.gentoo.org/news/nl/gwn/gwn.xml
487 72. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml
488 73. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml
489 74. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml
490 75. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ko/gwn/gwn.xml
491 76. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml
492 77. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml
493 78. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml
494 79. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt_br/gwn/gwn.xml
495 80. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml
496 81. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml
497 82. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml
498 83. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml
499
500 Ulrich Plate <plate@g.o> - Editor
501 Donnie Berkholz <spyderous@g.o> - Author
502 Tom Knight <tomk@g.o> - Author
503 Michael Kohl <citizen428@g.o> - Author
504 Patrick Lauer <patrick@g.o> - Author
505 Caleb Tennis <caleb@g.o> - Author
506 Chris White <chriswhite@g.o> - Author
507
508 --
509 gentoo-gwn@g.o mailing list