[gentoo-gwn] Gentoo Weekly Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 30

[Yuji Kosugi]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml
This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of July 26th, 2004.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
==============
1. Gentoo News
==============
  
net-www being retired
---------------------
  
During the week starting 2nd August 2004, we will be moving *all* of the 
packages currently in net-www to new homes in the Portage tree. net-www 
has outgrown its original purpose, and the new categories that we are 
adding will make it much easier for users to find the packages they want. 
 
The full list of packages can be found here[1]. Portage will automatically 
upgrade any packages you have installed the next time you run emerge -u. 
However, you will manually need to fix any entries in 
/etc/portage/package.* to refer to the new categories. 

 1. http://dev.gentoo.org/~stuart/www-split.txt
    
Volunteers required: UK Meeting Organising Committee
----------------------------------------------------
  
The Gentoo Linux Project are looking for volunteers who would be willing 
to organise a meeting in Manchester for UK-based Gentoo developers and 
users for September or early October. We're looking for people who can 
spare the time to: 
 
 * organise a venue and internet access 
 * organise accomodation for those travelling from afar 
 * organise talks, events, publicity, etc etc 
 * anything else that you can think of 
 
Please contact Stuart Herbert[2] if you'd like to help out, and let him 
know who you are and what you can do to help make this meeting happen. 
Stuart can't organise this himself, so if you're in the UK and want to see 
something like this happen, now is the time to lend a hand. 

 2. stuart@g.o
    
==================
2. Projects Update
==================
   
Portage
 
The net-www category in the portage tree is being retired. Packages 
currently residing there have been moved to newer, more descriptive 
categories. Updates should occur automatically when emerging, although 
users will need to edit their /etc/portage/* files if they cite the 
category. 
 
Devrel
 
The Developer Relations team have released an updated Gentoo Developer 
Handbook[3] outlining standards and policies for developers. 

 3. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/devrel/handbook/handbook.xml
 
Infrastructure
 
Most of the infrastructure developers will be attending Linux World 
Expo[4] next week in San Francisco. Interested Gentoo users are invited to 
stop by the booth to meet some of the team. 

 4. http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/live/12/events/12SFO04A
 
Releng
 
The Release Engineering team is pleased to announce that the 2004.2 LiveCD 
will be available, on schedule, on July 26th (the date of publication for 
this article). 
 
Tools
 
The tenshi[5] log-monitoring program (formerly known as wasabi) has a new 
version 0.3 release. This project was originally developed by members of 
the infrastructure team to provide for structured monitors and alerts for 
server log files. 

 5. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/infrastructure/tenshi/index.xml
    
==================
3. Gentoo Security
==================
  
Unreal Tournament 2003/2004: Buffer overflow in 'secure' queries
----------------------------------------------------------------
  
Game servers based on the Unreal engine are vulnerable to remote code 
execution through malformed 'secure' queries. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[6] 

 6. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-14.xml
    
Opera: Multiple spoofing vulnerabilities
----------------------------------------
  
Opera contains three vulnerabilities, allowing an attacker to impersonate 
legitimate websites with URI obfuscation or to spoof websites with frame 
injection. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[7] 

 7. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-15.xml
    
Linux Kernel: Multiple DoS and permission vulnerabilities
---------------------------------------------------------
  
Multiple permission vulnerabilities have been found in the Linux kernel, 
allowing an attacker to change the group IDs of files mounted on a remote 
filesystem (CAN-2004-0497), as well as an issue in 2.6 series kernels 
which allows /proc permissions to be bypassed. A context sharing 
vulnerability in vserver-sources is also handled by this advisory as well 
as CAN-2004-0447, CAN-2004-0496 and CAN-2004-0565. Patched, or updated 
versions of these kernels have been released and details are included 
along with this advisory. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[8] 

 8. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-16.xml
    
l2tpd: Buffer overflow
----------------------
  
A buffer overflow in l2tpd could lead to remote code execution. It is not 
known whether this bug is exploitable. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[9] 

 9. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-17.xml
    
mod_ssl: Format string vulnerability
------------------------------------
  
A bug in mod_ssl may allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code 
when Apache is configured to use mod_ssl and mod_proxy. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[10] 

 10. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-18.xml
    
=================================
4. Featured Developer of the Week
=================================
   
Stephen Becker
 
Figure 4.1: Stephen Becker
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20040726_geoman.jpg
 
Our featured developer for this week is Stephen Becker[11] (geoman), one 
of the developers for Gentoo's port to the MIPS[12] architecture, focusing 
on X11 and Desktop packages. His primary duties are testing ebuilds for 
that architecture, and setting their keywords accordingly. In particular, 
he works on ensuring that the various Gnome packages emerge and run 
properly for MIPS machines. He also pays particular attention to several 
multimedia and sound applications. 

 11. geoman@g.o
 12. http://www.linux-mips.org/index.html
 
Stephen has been a Linux user since 1997, commencing with the venerable 
Slackware. In 2001, he began experimenting with source-based 
distributions, especially the Sorcerer[13] distribution. When that effort 
ran into trouble and began to fragment, he shifted to Gentoo and has been 
there ever since. Not long after Gentoo released the MIPS port, Stephen 
had it up and running on his SGI Indy, and began to experiment with 
getting accelerated X up and running. Despite claims that "kumba put 
something in [his] drink", Stephen was invited to become a Gentoo 
developer after his work patching ebuilds and comments became known to the 
other alternative architecture developers. Stephen characterizes Gentoo as 
making "Linux very usable and fun at the same time". 

 13. http://sorcerer.wox.org/
 
Stephen has a "whole room dedicated to computers", the set of which 
includes what he styles a "franken-puter": a frame for which he 
periodically scavenges parts for upgrades. Its current incarnation is as a 
Celeron 600 firewall/gateway/server (as well as a few other uses). Behind 
that sentry is his LAN, which includes his wife's Duron 1.6 GHz, his 
AthlonXP 1.53 GHz and a Pentium 233 relegated for duty as a DOS games 
platform. More esoteric nodes on the LAN include an SGI O2, a Sun Ultra 1, 
and two SGI Indys. One of the Indys serves as an mp3/esound server for his 
stereo system. 
 
Stephen enjoys building model cars and planes, and has recently dabbled in 
radio-control. He is an avid sports fan, both as spectator and player, 
rooting for the various St. Louis professional teams and playing 
basketball as well as mountain biking. He completed a Masters in Geology 
at the University of Missouri at Rolla, and is currently a Doctoral 
candidate at Virginia Tech, still studying Geology. His Masters' work 
focused on characterizing fluid flow events in Irish metallic ore 
deposits, and he is currently researching high-pressure (10's of thousands 
of PSI) fluid inclusions in quartz crystals. His intent is to apply this 
research to studying natural fluid incursions in ore deposits using laser 
probes and mass spectrometry. He lives in Blacksburg, Virginia with his 
wife of just over a year, Kris. They are expecting their first child in 
November. 
    
=========================
5. Heard in the Community
=========================
  
Web Forums
----------
  
Flashing BIOS with Gentoo
 
Generally, motherboard manufacturers provide upgrades the their product's 
BIOSes with an MSDOS-executable flashing utility as well as a binary image 
of the new BIOS. Gentoo users are usually out of luck when it comes to 
using these tools, or are they? 
 
 * Upgrading BIOS?[14]
 14. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=201514

    
gentoo-user
-----------
  
Process and port ownership?
 
A common question on Linux is how to find what process owns an open TCP 
port. Check this thread[15] for a variety of answers! 

 15. 
http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=2lcY3-2J5-11
%40gated-at.bofh.it&prev=/groups%3Fdq%3D%26num%3D25%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%
3DUTF-8%26group%3Dlinux.gentoo.user%26start%3D50
 
KDE Screen Blanking
 
Here's[16] some quick tips on using DPMS (conserve monitor power) in both 
KDE and directly with X. 

 16. 
http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=2kO9n-1wz-13
%40gated-at.bofh.it&prev=/groups%3Fdq%3D%26num%3D25%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%
3DUTF-8%26group%3Dlinux.gentoo.user%26start%3D100
 
Long Bootstraps
 
Do you have an older computer that takes a long time to bootstrap? Check 
out this thread[17] and you might feel a bit better! 

 17. 
http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=2kynO-7qy-1%
40gated-at.bofh.it&prev=/groups%3Fdq%3D%26num%3D25%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3
DUTF-8%26group%3Dlinux.gentoo.user%26start%3D125
    
=======================
6. Gentoo International
=======================
   
Gentoo International is on hiatus this week. 
    
===========
7. Bugzilla
===========
  
Summary
-------
  
 * Statistics 
 * Closed Bug Ranking 
 * New Bug Rankings 
    
Statistics
----------
  
The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[18]) to record and 
track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the 
development team. Between 17 July 2004 and 23 July 2004, activity on the 
site has resulted in: 

 18. http://bugs.gentoo.org
 
 * 655 new bugs during this period 
 * 429 bugs closed or resolved during this period 
 * 10 previously closed bugs were reopened this period 
 
Of the 6858 currently open bugs: 134 are labeled 'blocker', 188 are 
labeled 'critical', and 542 are labeled 'major'. 
    
Closed Bug Rankings
-------------------
  
The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period 
are: 
 
 * PPC64 Architecture Team[19], with 49 closed bugs[20]  
 * AMD64 Porting Team[21], with 38 closed bugs[22]  
 * Michele Noberasco[23], with 23 closed bugs[24]  
 * Gentoo X-windows Packagers[25], with 20 closed bugs[26]  
 * Gentoo Games[27], with 19 closed bugs[28]  
 19. ppc64@g.o
 20. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-07-17&chfieldto=2004-07-23&resolution=FIX
ED&assigned_to=ppc64@g.o
 21. amd64@g.o
 22. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-07-17&chfieldto=2004-07-23&resolution=FIX
ED&assigned_to=amd64@g.o
 23. s4t4n@g.o
 24. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-07-17&chfieldto=2004-07-23&resolution=FIX
ED&assigned_to=s4t4n@g.o
 25. xfree@g.o
 26. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-07-17&chfieldto=2004-07-23&resolution=FIX
ED&assigned_to=xfree@g.o
 27. games@g.o
 28. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-07-17&chfieldto=2004-07-23&resolution=FIX
ED&assigned_to=games@g.o

    
New Bug Rankings
----------------
  
The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during 
this period are: 
 
 * AMD64 Porting Team[29], with 28 new bugs[30]  
 * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[31], with 22 new bugs[32]  
 * OSX Porters[33], with 11 new bugs[34]  
 * Gentoo X-windows Packagers[35], with 10 new bugs[36]  
 * Gentoo Genkernel Maintainers[37], with 9 new bugs[38]  
 29. amd64@g.o
 30. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-07-17&chfieldto=2004-07
-23&assigned_to=amd64@g.o
 31. gnome@g.o
 32. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-07-17&chfieldto=2004-07
-23&assigned_to=gnome@g.o
 33. osx@g.o
 34. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-07-17&chfieldto=2004-07
-23&assigned_to=osx@g.o
 35. xfree@g.o
 36. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-07-17&chfieldto=2004-07
-23&assigned_to=xfree@g.o
 37. genkernel@g.o
 38. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-07-17&chfieldto=2004-07
-23&assigned_to=genkernel@g.o
    
==================
8. Tips and Tricks
==================
   
Tips and Tricks is on hiatus this week.
    
===========================
9. Moves, Adds, and Changes
===========================
  
Moves
-----
  
The following developers recently left the Gentoo team:
 
 * None this week 
    
Adds
----
  
The following developers recently joined the Gentoo Linux team:
 
 * Erik Swanson (erik_swanson) - Gentoo/MacOS 
 * Alexander Plank (alexander) - Gentoo/MacOS 
 * Maurice van der Pot (griffon26) - Coda 
    
Changes
-------
  
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux 
project:
 
 * None this week 
    
=====================
10. Contribute to GWN
=====================
   
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 39. gwn-feedback@g.o
    
================
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================
   
Please send us your feedback[40] and help make the GWN better.

 40. gwn-feedback@g.o
    
================================
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================================
   
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===================
13. Other Languages
===================
   
The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages:
 
 * Danish[41] 
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 41. http://www.gentoo.org/news/da/gwn/gwn.xml
 42. http://www.gentoo.org/news/be/gwn/gwn.xml
 43. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml
 44. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml
 45. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml
 46. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml
 47. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml
 48. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml
 49. http://www.gentoo.org/news/br/gwn/gwn.xml
 50. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml
 51. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml
 52. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml
 53. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml

Yuji Carlos Kosugi <carlos@g.o> - Editor
AJ Armstrong <aja@g.o> - Contributor
Brian Downey <bdowney@×××××××××××.net> - Contributor
Kurt Lieber <klieber@g.o> - Contributor
David Narayan <david@×××××××.net> - Contributor
Ulrich Plate <plate@g.o> - Contributor
Sven Vermeulen <swift@g.o> - Contributor
Simon Holm Thagersen <simon@××××××.net> - Danish Translation
Jesper Brodersen <broeman@g.o> - Danish Translation
Arne Mejlholm <aaby@g.o> - Danish Translation
Hendrik Eeckhaut <Hendrik.Eeckhaut@×××××.be> - Dutch Translation
Jorn Eilander <sephiroth@××××××××.nl> - Dutch Translation
Bernard Kerckenaere <bernieke@××××××××.com> - Dutch Translation
Peter ter Borg <peter@××××××.nl> - Dutch Translation
Jochen Maes <linux@××××.be> - Dutch Translation
Roderick Goessen <rgoessen@××××.nl> - Dutch Translation
Gerard van den Berg <gerard@××××××.net> - Dutch Translation
Matthieu Montaudouin <mat@××××××××.com> - French Translation
Xavier Neys <neysx@g.o> - French Translation
Martin Prieto <riverdale@×××××××××.org> - French Translation
Antoine Raillon <cabec2@××××××.net> - French Translation
Sebastien Cevey <seb@×××××.net> - French Translation
Jean-Christophe Choisy <mabouya@××××××××××××.org> - French Translation
Thomas Raschbacher <lordvan@g.o> - German Translation
Steffen Lassahn <madeagle@g.o> - German Translation
Matthias F. Brandstetter <haim@g.o> - German Translation
Lukas Domagala <Cyrik@g.o> - German Translation
Tobias Scherbaum <dertobi123@g.o> - German Translation
Daniel Gerholdt <Sputnik1969@g.o> - German Translation
Marc Herren <dj-submerge@g.o> - German Translation
Tobias Matzat <SirSeoman@g.o> - German Translation
Marco Mascherpa <mush@××××××.net> - Italian Translation
Claudio Merloni <paper@×××××××.it> - Italian Translation
Stefano Lucidi <stefano.lucidi@×××××××××××××.org> - Italian Translation
Katuyuki Konno <katuyuki@××××××××.jp> - Japanese Translation
Hiroyuki Takeda <hiro@××××××××××××××.jp> - Japanese Translation
Masato Hatakeyama <hatake@×××××××××××.jp> - Japanese Translation
Shigehiro Idani <datam@×××××××.jp> - Japanese Translation
Masayoshi Nakamura <masayang@×××××××××.com> - Japanese Translation
Tomoyuki Sakurai <web-gentoo-doc-jp@××××××××××××.nu> - Japanese Translation
Lukasz Strzygowski <lucass@××××××.pl> - Polish Translation
Karol Goralski <gooroo@××××××.pl> - Polish Translation
Atila "Jedi" Bohlke Vasconcelos <bohlke@×××××××××.br> - Portuguese 
(Brazil) Translation
Eduardo Belloti <dudu@××××××××.net> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation
Jo??o Rafael Moraes Nicola <joaoraf@×××××××××.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) 
Translation
Marcelo Gon??alves de Azambuja <mgazambuja@×××××××××.br> - Portuguese 
(Brazil) Translation
Otavio Rodolfo Piske <angusy@××××××××.org> - Portuguese (Brazil) 
Translation
Pablo N. Hess -- NatuNobilis <natunobilis@××××××××.org> - Portuguese 
(Brazil) Translation
Pedro de Medeiros <pzilla@××××××××.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation
Ventura Barbeiro <venturasbarbeiro@××××××.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) 
Translation
Bruno Ferreira <blueroom@××××××××××××.net> - Portuguese (Portugal) 
Translation
Gustavo Felisberto <humpback@××××××××××.net> - Portuguese (Portugal) 
Translation
Jos?? Costa <jose_costa@×××××××.pt> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation
Luis Medina <metalgodin@×××××××××.org> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation
Ricardo Loureiro <rjlouro@×××××××.org> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation
Aleksandr Martyncev <amncorp@××.ru> - Russian Translator
Sergey Galkin <gals_home@××××.ru> - Russian Translator
Sergey Kuleshov <svyatogor@g.o> - Russian Translator
Alex Spirin <asp13@××××.ru> - Russian Translator
Denis Zaletov <dzaletov@×××××××.ru> - Russian Translator
Guillermo Juarez <guillermo.juarez@××××××××××.es> - Spanish Translation
Fernando J. Pereda <ferdy@××××××.org> - Spanish Translation
Juan Diego Guti??rrez Gallardo <andy@××××××.com> - Spanish Translation
Nicolas Silva <nsilva@××××××.edu> - Spanish Translation
Aycan Irican <aycan@××××××××.tr> - Turkish Translation
Bugra Cakir <bugra@×××××××××.com> - Turkish Translation
Cagil Seker <cagils@××××××××××.tr> - Turkish Translation
Emre Kazdagli <emre@××××××××.tr> - Turkish Translation
Evrim Ulu <evrim@××××××××.tr> - Turkish Translation
Gursel Kaynak <gurcell@××××××××.tr> - Turkish Translation