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--------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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Gentoo Weekly Newsletter |
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http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml |
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This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of May 3rd, 2004. |
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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|
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============== |
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1. Gentoo News |
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============== |
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|
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Gentoo Linux Chief Architect Daniel Robbins retires |
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--------------------------------------------------- |
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|
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(this article was contributed by developer Grant Goodyear[1]) |
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|
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1. g2boojum@g.o |
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|
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Unless you have been living under a rock you already know that this week |
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Daniel Robbins resigned from as Gentoo Linux Chief Architect. Gentoo will |
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be continuing on as a newly created Not-for-Profit organization, but |
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before Daniel moves on for good I would like to take a bit of time to |
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acknowledge some of drobbins' many, many accomplishments during his |
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stewardship of Gentoo. |
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|
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Figure 1.1: Gentoo site in May 2001 |
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20040503_gentoo-site.jpg |
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|
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Daniel Robbins got his start in Linux distribution developing as a |
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developer with Stampede Linux before leaving to found Enoch Linux, which |
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later became Gentoo Linux. (You can read some of the history of this |
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period in drobbins' "Making the Distribution"[2] series). I'm not sure |
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exactly when Gentoo was born, but checking the wayback machine[3] one can |
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find an archived Gentoo website from July 2000. It is interesting to note |
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that although Gentoo did (and probably still does) contain some elements |
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from Stampede, it can't really be considered a fork because Gentoo was |
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pretty much created from scratch. |
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|
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2. http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/articles.xml |
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3. http://tinyurl.com/2hgrn |
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|
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I joined Gentoo Linux sometime in early 2001. At that time Gentoo was |
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still pretty much in its infancy, but it was usable. There were only a |
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dozen or so developers, all packages had to be installed using the ebuild |
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command because emerge had not yet been written, and the online bugs |
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database was the gentoo-dev mailing list. Even at that early stage, |
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however, one could see many of drobbins' design decisions that have |
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carried on to present-day Gentoo. The use of source-based packages meant |
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that the familiar (especially at that time) RPM dependency nightmare of |
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not having precisely the right library version installed would go away. |
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The decision to eschew *BSD's make-based ports system in favor of one |
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based on bash and python made package creation almost ridiculously simple, |
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which meant that anybody could contribute a reasonable ebuild. The |
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flexibility inherent to configure scripts was encoded as USE variables. |
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Flexibility, in fact, had become a guiding principle underlying Gentoo, |
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which explains why the Gentoo base system is deliberately minimal, and |
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customizable before installation. Indeed, one strong difference between |
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the *BSD ports system and Gentoo's portage is the fact that Gentoo makes |
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no distinction between the core system and the ports/packages. Gentoo was |
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remarkably short-handed in the early days, so all Gentoo-specific tools |
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were designed to be scriptable (which is why ebuild and emerge, unlike |
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Debian's dselect, do not ask questions of the user). Drobbins had thus |
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invented the "metadistribution". He did have some very talented help, |
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including Achim Gottinger who was an ebuild-writing machine, but it seems |
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to have been mainly Daniel's vision that created and maintained these |
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design decisions. |
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|
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Besides serving as Gentoo visionary, drobbins also did a lot of darn hard |
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work on the the distribution. Until the last year or so Daniel was the |
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lead, and sometimes only, portage developer. Not only did drobbins design |
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the current www.gentoo.org[4] website, but he also wrote the underlying |
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guide xml[5] along with an xsl tranform to process it. Drobbins, along |
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with Azarah, created the necessary support for Gentoo to be the first |
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distribution to use devfs by default. (Incidentally, thanks to Azarah's |
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hard work Gentoo was also the first distribution to have complete support |
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for udev.) A collaboration between drobbins and Azarah led to Gentoo being |
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the first (only?) distribution to use need-based init scripts instead of |
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the more common numbered system-V scripts. (I have vague recollections of |
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drobbins and Azarah spending a notable amount of time discussing how to |
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implement the new dependency-based init scripts, but I don't remember who |
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actually initiated the project.) Drobbins and zhen designed and |
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implemented catalyst[6], the new Gentoo stage and livecd creation script. |
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In his copious spare time drobbins wrote or modified a substantial number |
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of the ebuilds in the portage tree. I'm sure that I'm missing quite a host |
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of accomplishments, but suffice it to say that he's been a rather busy |
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guy. |
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|
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4. http://www.gentoo.org/ |
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5. http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/xml-guide.xml |
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6. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/releng/catalyst/index.xml |
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|
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Aside from all of the technical stuff, drobbins also presided over the |
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expansion of Gentoo from a handful of developers and tens of users to the |
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current distribution of hundreds of developers and untold thousands of |
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users, much of which seemed to happen virtually overnight. So Daniel |
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Robbins became a manager. No longer was it sufficient to manage simply by |
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hanging out in #gentoo-dev on irc.freenode.net. He now had to think |
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strategically, and organize teams of people to work on projects. Most of |
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all he had to delegate, while learning to manage fractious developers. It |
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was not an easy transition, and Gentoo has had its share of high-profile |
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developer clashes and defections, but Gentoo now has a set of organized |
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top-level projects, with people to lead them, and a new Not-for-Profit on |
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the horizon. Along the way drobbins grew into his new role quite |
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impressively. |
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|
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Now Daniel Robbins has decided that it is time to move on to something |
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new. I, personally, am sad to see him go, but I understand the need. |
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Daniel, I have learned an astounding amount from you over the last several |
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years; thank you very much. Best wishes, and please do keep in touch! |
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|
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10th BugDay a big success |
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------------------------- |
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|
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(this article was contributed by developer Bryan Ostergaard[7]) |
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|
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7. kloeri@g.o |
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|
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Saturday May 1st, saw the tenth BugDay. Once again it was a big success |
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with many users as well as developers testing and fixing bugs. I'm not |
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sure if it's an all time high but I like to report that during the BugDay |
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timeframe more than 220 bugs was closed in bugzilla. |
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|
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I also asked one user to join the team of developers and spotted a few |
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other potential developers. |
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|
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Finally I'd like to thank all BugDay participants for making this such a |
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great event - this wouldn't be possible without a strong and thriving |
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community. |
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|
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================== |
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2. Gentoo Security |
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================== |
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|
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Multiple Vulnerabilities in ssmtp |
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--------------------------------- |
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|
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There are multiple format string vulnerabilities in the SSMTP package, |
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which may allow an attacker to run arbitrary code with ssmtp's privileges |
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(potentially root). |
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|
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For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[8] |
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|
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8. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200404-18.xml |
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|
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Buffer overflows and format string vulnerabilities in LCDproc |
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------------------------------------------------------------- |
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|
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Multiple remote vulnerabilities have been found in the LCDd server, |
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allowing execution of arbitrary code with the rights of the LCDd user. |
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|
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For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[9] |
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|
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9. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200404-19.xml |
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|
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Multiple vulnerabilities in xine |
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-------------------------------- |
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|
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Several vulnerabilities have been found in xine-ui and xine-lib, |
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potentially allowing an attacker to overwrite files with the rights of the |
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user. |
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|
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For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[10] |
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|
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10. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200404-20.xml |
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|
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Multiple Vulnerabilities in Samba |
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--------------------------------- |
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|
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There is a bug in smbfs which may allow local users to gain root via a |
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setuid file on a mounted Samba share. Also, there is a tmpfile symlink |
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vulnerability in the smbprint script distributed with Samba. |
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|
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For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[11] |
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|
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11. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200404-21.xml |
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|
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========================= |
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3. Heard in the Community |
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========================= |
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|
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Web Forums |
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---------- |
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|
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Farewell to drobbins |
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|
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In a wave of sympathy washing over the Forum upon the news of Daniel |
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Robbins' departure from the Gentoo project, the Forum community has been |
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busy to say goodbye, and raking together the funds for sort of a |
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going-away present, by donating to cover some of the losses drobbins has |
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made over time: |
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|
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* Daniel Robbins leaves Gentoo. Donation time![12] |
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12. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=166143 |
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|
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Running Faketoo... |
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|
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If their Forum postcount had anything to do with how guruesque people are, |
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Josh Glover[13] wouldn't score too high. Fortunately, numbers aren't all |
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that counts. Last week, Josh volunteered instructions for running Gentoo |
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instances in a chroot jail - a Faketoo installation, in a manner of |
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speaking - for development purposes, and provoked a lively discussion of |
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his method's vices and virtues. See his Captain's log, a script to enter |
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the jail, and the debate in the Documentation, Tips & Tricks forum: |
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|
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13. http://forums.gentoo.org/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=4836 |
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|
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* Faketoo[14] |
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14. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=166358 |
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|
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gentoo-user |
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----------- |
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|
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Best Filesystem for Servers |
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|
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EXT3, ReiserFS, XFS? Which is the best for servers? Read this thread[15] |
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to get some opinions of Gentoo users in the know. |
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|
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15. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/77373 |
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|
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SSH Tunneling for Newbies |
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|
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SSH is truly the Sysadmin's Swiss army knife. In this thread[16] learn how |
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to tunnel[17] any other network protocol (such as Windows RDP, or X) |
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securely through SSH. |
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|
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16. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/77064 |
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17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunneling |
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|
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Daniel Robbins Feedback |
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|
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As it was announced earlier[18] this week, Daniel has decided move on to |
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new aspirations. Some warm kudos and thanks[19] were given on the |
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gentoo-user list after the news broke. |
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|
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18. http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/26/2259211&tid=190 |
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19. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/77128 |
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|
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======================= |
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4. Gentoo International |
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======================= |
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|
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Italy: Strong Gentoo Involvement at Webbit 04 |
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|
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Webbit [20] is a three-day convention providing technological knowledge, |
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with a focus on small and medium sized companies, and public |
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administrations. This year's Webbit is going to be held in Padova from 6 |
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to 8 May, and is centered around Open Source development, with the |
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activists of the notorious Gechi (Gentoo Channel Italia[21] who are going |
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to present Gentoo Linux[22] quite impressively no less than five times, |
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with speeches on: |
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|
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20. http://www.w04.it |
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21. http://www.gechi.org |
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22. http://www.webb.it/article/articleview/1350 |
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|
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* Introduction to Gentoo Linux[23] |
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* Gentoo Linux: Centralized administration for multiple installations[24] |
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* Samba Backup Server for Linux and Windows Networks[25] |
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* Using Linux and Open Source in the enterprise[26] |
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* GIMP 2.0 : introducing professinal creativity[27] |
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23. http://www.w04.it/event/eventview/3167/ |
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24. http://www.w04.it/event/eventview/3119/ |
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25. http://www.w04.it/event/eventview/3263/ |
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26. http://www.w04.it/event/eventview/3445/ |
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27. http://www.w04.it/event/eventview/3274/ |
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|
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================== |
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5. Tips and Tricks |
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================== |
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|
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Tips and Tricks is on hiatus this week. |
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|
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=========================== |
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6. Moves, Adds, and Changes |
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=========================== |
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|
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Moves |
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----- |
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|
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The following developers recently left the Gentoo team: |
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|
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* Daniel Robbins (drobbins) - Chief Architect |
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* Rob Holland (tigger) |
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|
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Adds |
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---- |
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|
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The following developers recently joined the Gentoo Linux team: |
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|
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* None this week |
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|
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Changes |
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------- |
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|
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The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux |
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project: |
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|
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* None this week |
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|
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==================== |
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7. Contribute to GWN |
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==================== |
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|
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Interested in contributing to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter? Send us an |
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email[28]. |
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|
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28. gwn-feedback@g.o |
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|
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=============== |
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8. GWN Feedback |
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=============== |
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|
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Please send us your feedback[29] and help make the GWN better. |
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|
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29. gwn-feedback@g.o |
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|
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=============================== |
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9. GWN Subscription Information |
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=============================== |
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|
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To subscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to |
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gentoo-gwn-subscribe@g.o. |
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|
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To unsubscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to |
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gentoo-gwn-unsubscribe@g.o from the email address you are |
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subscribed under. |
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|
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=================== |
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10. Other Languages |
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=================== |
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|
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The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages: |
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|
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* Danish[30] |
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* Dutch[31] |
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* English[32] |
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* German[33] |
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* French[34] |
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* Japanese[35] |
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* Italian[36] |
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* Polish[37] |
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* Portuguese (Brazil)[38] |
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* Portuguese (Portugal)[39] |
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* Russian[40] |
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* Spanish[41] |
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* Turkish[42] |
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30. http://www.gentoo.org/news/da/gwn/gwn.xml |
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31. http://www.gentoo.org/news/be/gwn/gwn.xml |
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32. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml |
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33. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml |
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34. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml |
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35. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml |
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36. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml |
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37. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml |
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38. http://www.gentoo.org/news/br/gwn/gwn.xml |
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39. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml |
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40. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml |
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41. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml |
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42. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml |
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|
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|
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Yuji Carlos Kosugi <carlos@g.o> - Editor |
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AJ Armstrong <aja@×××××××××××××.com> - Contributor |
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Brian Downey <bdowney@×××××××××××.net> - Contributor |
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Grant Goodyear <g2boojum@g.o> - Contributor |
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Stuart Herbert <stuart@g.o> - Contributor |
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Kurt Lieber <klieber@g.o> - Contributor |
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David Narayan <david@×××××××.net> - Contributor |
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Bryan Ostergaard <kloeri@g.o> - Contributor |
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Ulrich Plate <plate@g.o> - Contributor |
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Simon Holm Thagersen <simon@××××××.net> - Danish Translation |
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Jesper Brodersen <broeman@g.o> - Danish Translation |
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Arne Mejlholm <aaby@g.o> - Danish Translation |
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Hendrik Eeckhaut <Hendrik.Eeckhaut@×××××.be> - Dutch Translation |
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Jorn Eilander <sephiroth@××××××××.nl> - Dutch Translation |
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Bernard Kerckenaere <bernieke@××××××××.com> - Dutch Translation |
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Peter ter Borg <peter@××××××.nl> - Dutch Translation |
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Jochen Maes <linux@××××.be> - Dutch Translation |
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Roderick Goessen <rgoessen@××××.nl> - Dutch Translation |
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Gerard van den Berg <gerard@××××××.net> - Dutch Translation |
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Matthieu Montaudouin <mat@××××××××.com> - French Translation |
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Xavier Neys <neysx@g.o> - French Translation |
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Martin Prieto <riverdale@×××××××××.org> - French Translation |
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Antoine Raillon <cabec2@××××××.net> - French Translation |
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Sebastien Cevey <seb@×××××.net> - French Translation |
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Jean-Christophe Choisy <mabouya@××××××××××××.org> - French Translation |
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Thomas Raschbacher <lordvan@g.o> - German Translation |
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Steffen Lassahn <madeagle@g.o> - German Translation |
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Matthias F. Brandstetter <haim@g.o> - German Translation |
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Lukas Domagala <Cyrik@g.o> - German Translation |
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Tobias Scherbaum <dertobi123@g.o> - German Translation |
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Daniel Gerholdt <Sputnik1969@g.o> - German Translation |
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Marc Herren <dj-submerge@g.o> - German Translation |
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Tobias Matzat <SirSeoman@g.o> - German Translation |
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Marco Mascherpa <mush@××××××.net> - Italian Translation |
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Claudio Merloni <paper@×××××××.it> - Italian Translation |
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Stefano Lucidi <stefano.lucidi@×××××××××××××.org> - Italian Translation |
397 |
Katuyuki Konno <katuyuki@××××××××.jp> - Japanese Translation |
398 |
Hiroyuki Takeda <hiro@××××××××××××××.jp> - Japanese Translation |
399 |
Masato Hatakeyama <hatake@×××××××××××.jp> - Japanese Translation |
400 |
Masayoshi Nakamura <masayang@×××××××××.com> - Japanese Translation |
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Yasunori Fukudome <yasunori@××××××××××××××××.uk> - Japanese Translation |
402 |
Tomoyuki Sakurai <web-gentoo-doc-jp@××××××××××××.nu> - Japanese Translation |
403 |
Lukasz Strzygowski <lucass@××××××.pl> - Polish Translation |
404 |
Karol Goralski <gooroo@××××××.pl> - Polish Translation |
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Atila "Jedi" Bohlke Vasconcelos <bohlke@×××××××××.br> - Portuguese |
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(Brazil) Translation |
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Eduardo Belloti <dudu@××××××××.net> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation |
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Jo??o Rafael Moraes Nicola <joaoraf@×××××××××.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) |
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Translation |
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Marcelo Gon??alves de Azambuja <mgazambuja@×××××××××.br> - Portuguese |
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(Brazil) Translation |
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Otavio Rodolfo Piske <angusy@××××××××.org> - Portuguese (Brazil) |
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Translation |
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Pablo N. Hess -- NatuNobilis <natunobilis@××××××××.org> - Portuguese |
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(Brazil) Translation |
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Pedro de Medeiros <pzilla@××××××××.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation |
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Ventura Barbeiro <venturasbarbeiro@××××××.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) |
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Translation |
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Bruno Ferreira <blueroom@××××××××××××.net> - Portuguese (Portugal) |
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Translation |
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Gustavo Felisberto <humpback@××××××××××.net> - Portuguese (Portugal) |
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Translation |
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Jos?? Costa <jose_costa@×××××××.pt> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation |
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Luis Medina <metalgodin@×××××××××.org> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation |
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Ricardo Loureiro <rjlouro@×××××××.org> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation |
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Aleksandr Martyncev <amncorp@××.ru> - Russian Translator |
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Sergey Galkin <gals_home@××××.ru> - Russian Translator |
428 |
Sergey Kuleshov <svyatogor@g.o> - Russian Translator |
429 |
Alex Spirin <asp13@××××.ru> - Russian Translator |
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Denis Zaletov <dzaletov@×××××××.ru> - Russian Translator |
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Lanark <lanark@××××××××××.ar> - Spanish Translation |
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Fernando J. Pereda <ferdy@××××××.org> - Spanish Translation |
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Lluis Peinado Cifuentes <lpeinado@×××.edu> - Spanish Translation |
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Zephryn Xirdal T <ZEPHRYNXIRDAL@××××××××××.net> - Spanish Translation |
435 |
Guillermo Juarez <katossi@××××××××××××××××.es> - Spanish Translation |
436 |
Jes??s Garc??a Crespo <correo@××××××.com> - Spanish Translation |
437 |
Carlos Castillo <carlos@×××××××××××××.com> - Spanish Translation |
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Julio Castillo <julio@×××××××××××××.com> - Spanish Translation |
439 |
Sergio G??mez <s3r@××××××××××××.ar> - Spanish Translation |
440 |
Aycan Irican <aycan@××××××××.tr> - Turkish Translation |
441 |
Bugra Cakir <bugra@×××××××××.com> - Turkish Translation |
442 |
Cagil Seker <cagils@××××××××××.tr> - Turkish Translation |
443 |
Emre Kazdagli <emre@××××××××.tr> - Turkish Translation |
444 |
Evrim Ulu <evrim@××××××××.tr> - Turkish Translation |
445 |
Gursel Kaynak <gurcell@××××××××.tr> - Turkish Translation |