[gentoo-gwn] Gentoo Weekly Newsletter -- Volume 2, Issue 44

[Yuji Carlos Kosugi]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml
This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of November 3rd, 2003.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
==============
1. Gentoo News
==============
  
Summary
-------
  
 * Embedded Gentoo seeking interested developers 
    
Embedded Gentoo seeking interested developers
---------------------------------------------
  
A group of Gentoo developers comprising Chris PeBenito[1], Arun Thomas[2], 
Ned Ludd[3], and Abhishek Amit[4] are looking for people interested in 
helping get Embedded Gentoo restarted. They've restarted the 
#gentoo-embedded channel and a proposal has been submitted, but some 
planning needs to be done before any projects are started. Send one of 
them an email if you want to help out, or post to the thread[5] on 
gentoo-dev if you have any ideas. 

 1. pebenito@g.o
 2. sindian@g.o
 3. solar@g.o
 4. andrd@g.o
 5. http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/13444
    
=================================
2. Featured Developer of the Week
=================================
  
Patrick Kursawe
 
Figure 2.1: Patrick Kursawe
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20031103_phosphan.jpg
 
This week's featured developer is Patrick Kursawe[6] (phosphan), a 
frequent contributer and maintainer of ebuilds. When he has time, he also 
provides general bug-squashing services in the sci (scientific) and video 
herds. 

 6. phosphan@g.o
 
Patrick grew up in Essen, Germany and now lives, works and goes to school 
in Bochum. He works for the Computing Centre of the Ruhr-Universit辰t 
Bochum, where he is currently a doctoral candidate in Analytical 
Chemistry. In fact, Patrick is scheduled to complete his studies in 
December, which accounts for his lack of significant time to devote to 
Gentoo just at the moment. He lives with his companion-in-life Natalia and 
enjoys the aquatic pursuits of canoeing, sailing, scuba diving and 
snorkeling. On land, he is an avid reader and fan of standard and latin 
dancing, as well as studying Aikido. He reflects that, despite being a 
professional and hobbyist user, "there's more to life than computers, even 
if they're running Gentoo Linux". 
 
The saga of Patrick's elevation to developer status is entirely documented 
in Bug 17019[7], and was summarized by him with the observation that 
"after a half a dozen or so ebuilds stuffed into bugzilla they maybe 
thought it was less trouble if they gave me CVS access". Patrick first 
tried Gentoo on a test server after reading about the distro in the spring 
of 2002, and within a few months he had converted four other computers to 
Gentoo, saving only a lonely SuSE box to serve a reference platform. This 
was a fairly substantial shift for someone who had been a dedicated SuSE 
user for the five years previous, and reflects his thoughts on Gentoo: "if 
you don't think one size fits all, you should give it a try." 

 7. http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=17019
 
Patrick is a Windowmaker user, and lists as his favorite applications (in 
no particular order): mutt, vim, knews, mozilla, apache, kvoctrain, cups, 
perl and gcc. When asked what application he first launches on startup, 
Patrick responded "init". The author declines to comment on the sort of 
sense of humour that represents. 
   
==================
3. Gentoo Security
==================
   
Gentoo Security is on hiatus this week.
    
=========================
4. Heard in the Community
=========================
  
Web Forums
----------
  
Gentoo-related Jobs Forum Created
 
It's not as if the other forum categories had been crumbling under the 
onslaught of job advertisements recently, but the Forum administrators, 
anticipating the future popularity of this particular type of postings, 
have now set up a forum for job offers directly related to Gentoo Linux. 
If you have jobs for developers in the field of Gentoo Linux available, do 
post a short message to this forum (after a good, long look at its very 
specific guidelines):
 
 * Gentoo Related Jobs Forum[8] 
 * Guidelines (Read before posting)[9] 
 8. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewforum.php?f=42
 9. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=100684
 
Centrino WLAN Chip Support in Linux
 
One of the main reasons for people staying away from laptops and notebooks 
using Intel's Centrino technology used to be the lack of Linux support for 
the wireless LAN mini-PCI card included in that platform. While Intel 
seems to be indifferent about it, Linuxant[10] (of Linmodem fame) has 
released commercial NDIS-driver wrappers for this and other hardware 
drivers in the open so that Linux users can actually benefit from the 
hardware features they bought with their portable PC, by using the Windows 
drivers inside their Linux configurations. Check this thread for a 
discussion of both Linuxant's and Intel's attitudes, and user experiences 
with Linuxant's drivers:

 10. http://www.linuxant.com
 
 * centrino/intel wlan works using linuxant driverloader![11] 
 * Linuxant driverloader website[12] 
 11. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=100314
 12. http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader
 
Desktops and Windows
 
While the first KDE 3.2 beta ebuilds are continuing to blossom on the 
portage tree, other leaner and meaner window managers do have their 
followers, especially among Gentooists traditionally fond of things with a 
small memory footprint. Flavour of the week seems to be XFCE4, but unlike 
most Linux support mailing lists that carefully avoid this type of 
discussion for fear of (f)lame wars, one of the strengths of a web-based 
forum is that people can explore and compare the virtues of window 
managers and desktop environments without getting scolded for cluttering 
bandwidth. Check some threads on current trends in making X look good:
 
 * KDE 3.2 now in Portage[13] 
 * Between a WM and a DE[14] 
 * Made the Switch to XFCE4[15] 
 * The F? Virtual Window Manager[16] 
 * Openbox3[17] 
 13. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=621911#621911
 14. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=101644
 15. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=101305
 16. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=80517
 17. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=71887
    
gentoo-user
-----------
  
IDE Performance Tweaks 
 
In the never ending quest of squeezing every last bit of performance out 
of your IDE disks,  here [18] are some more settings to try on your Gentoo 
box. 

 18. 
http://news.gmane.org/onethread.php?group=gmane.linux.gentoo.user&root=%3C1
067523465.2894.9.camel%40laptop.themains.homenet%3E
    
gentoo-dev
----------
  
Locking a user out.
 
A problem with locking a user out of system with usermod commands is that 
often they can still log in using ssh etc. Have a look at this[19] post 
for some potential remedies for this ailment. 

 19. http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/13415
    
=======================
5. Gentoo International
=======================
  
Russian Forum In Spe Looking for Moderators
 
The Gentoo Forums are busy looking for one or more Russian speakers to 
take on the responsibilities of moderating the new Russian forum in the 
works. The current global moderators are unable to watch over even the 
first few days of a new forum in a language none of them speaks all that 
well, which is why it'll only be created after someone managing it from 
the inside is found. Go to this thread[20] to announce your intentions.

 20. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=69987
   
================
6. Portage Watch
================
  
Portage Watch is on hiatus this week.
   
===========
7. Bugzilla
===========
  
Summary
-------
  
 * Statistics 
 * Closed Bug Ranking 
 * New Bug Rankings 
    
Statistics
----------
  
The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[21]) to record and 
track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the 
development team. Between 24 October 2003 and 30 October 2003, activity on 
the site has resulted in: 

 21. http://bugs.gentoo.org
 
 * 425 new bugs during this period 
 * 289 bugs closed or resolved during this period 
 * 7 previously closed bugs were reopened this period 
 
Of the 3925 currently open bugs: 89 are labeled 'blocker', 188 are labeled 
'critical', and 311 are labeled 'major'. 
    
Closed Bug Rankings
-------------------
  
The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period 
are: 
 
 * AMD64 Porting Team[22], with 25 closed bugs[23]  
 * Gentoo Games[24], with 16 closed bugs[25]  
 * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[26], with 15 closed bugs[27]  
 * Martin Schlemmer[28], with 15 closed bugs[29]  
 * Gentoo Sound Team[30], with 11 closed bugs[31]  
 22. amd64@g.o
 23. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2003-10-24&chfieldto=2003-10-30&resolution=FIX
ED&assigned_to=amd64@g.o
 24. games@g.o
 25. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2003-10-24&chfieldto=2003-10-30&resolution=FIX
ED&assigned_to=games@g.o
 26. gnome@g.o
 27. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2003-10-24&chfieldto=2003-10-30&resolution=FIX
ED&assigned_to=gnome@g.o
 28. azarah@g.o
 29. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2003-10-24&chfieldto=2003-10-30&resolution=FIX
ED&assigned_to=azarah@g.o
 30. sound@g.o
 31. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2003-10-24&chfieldto=2003-10-30&resolution=FIX
ED&assigned_to=sound@g.o
    
New Bug Rankings
----------------
  
The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during 
this period are: 
 
 * GCC Porting Team[32], with 15 new bugs[33]  
 * Gentoo Sound Team[34], with 13 new bugs[35]  
 * Gentoo X-Windows Packagers[36], with 11 new bugs[37]  
 * Martin Schlemmer[38], with 8 new bugs[39]  
 * Python Gentoo Team[40], with 7 new bugs[41]  
 * Mozilla Gentoo Team[42], with 7 new bugs[43]  
 32. gcc-porting@g.o
 33. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2003-10-24&chfieldto=2003-10
-30&assigned_to=gcc-porting@g.o
 34. sound@g.o
 35. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2003-10-24&chfieldto=2003-10
-30&assigned_to=sound@g.o
 36. xfree@g.o
 37. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2003-10-24&chfieldto=2003-10
-30&assigned_to=xfree@g.o
 38. azarah@g.o
 39. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2003-10-24&chfieldto=2003-10
-30&assigned_to=azarah@g.o
 40. python@g.o
 41. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2003-10-24&chfieldto=2003-10
-30&assigned_to=python@g.o
 42. mozilla@g.o
 43. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2003-10-24&chfieldto=2003-10
-30&assigned_to=mozilla@g.o
    
==================
8. Tips and Tricks
==================
  
Scheduling with "at"
 
This week's tip shows you how to schedule events in Gentoo Linux with the 
at command. While cron is the more common scheduling utility in Gentoo 
Linux, at is useful for scheduling one-time events, or simply setting a 
task to run at some date/time in the future. 
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Code Listing 8.1:                                                       |
| Getting at                                                              |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                         |
|# emerge sys-apps/at                                                     |
|                                                                         |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Now that at is installed, the daemon must be started so that scheduled 
jobs can be run. 
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Code Listing 8.2:                                                       |
| Starting atd                                                            |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                         |
|# /etc/init.d/atd start                                                  |
| * Starting atd...                                                [ ok ] |
|                                                                         |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Now you can start using at. 
 
Note:  For security you may need to edit /etc/at/at.allow and 
/etc/at/at.deny. See the manpage for more information on securing at. 
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Code Listing 8.3:                                                       |
| Using at                                                                |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                         |
|Set XMMS to play wakeup.ogg at 6am tomorrow morning                      |
|% at 6am tomorrow                                                        |
|at> xmms ~/music/wakeup.ogg                                              |
|at> <Ctrl-D>                                                             |
|job 6 at 2003-10-31 06:00                                                |
|                                                                         |
|At 11:30 pm today, start an install of mozilla                           |
|% at 11:30 pm today                                                      |
|at> emerge update mozilla                                                |
|at> <Ctrl-D>                                                             |
|job 7 at 2003-10-30 23:30                                                |
|                                                                         |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Now there are two jobs scheduled which will be run 'at' the specified 
times. To view a list of jobs you've scheduled, use atq. If you decide you 
don't want a job to run, you can can use the atrm command. 
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Code Listing 8.4:                                                       |
| Removing a previously scheduled job                                     |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                         |
|Remove the 'emerge' job we scheduled for 11:30pm                         |
|% atq                                                                    |
|6       2003-10-31 06:00 a david                                         |
|7       2003-10-30 23:30 a david                                         |
|% atrm 7                                                                 |
|% atq                                                                    |
|6       2003-10-31 06:00 a david                                         |
|                                                                         |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
For more information use man 1 at. 
   
==========================
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:
 
 * Jeremy Martin-Sheperd (jbms) -- emacs 
 * James Harlow (hythloday) -- script repository 
 * kloeri -- python 
    
Changes
-------
  
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux 
project.
 
 * none this week 
    
=====================
10. Contribute to GWN
=====================
  
Interested in contributing to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter? Send us an 
email[44].

 44. gwn-feedback@g.o
   
================
11. GWN Feedback
================
  
Please send us your feedback[45] and help make the GWN better.

 45. gwn-feedback@g.o
   
================================
12. GWN Subscription Information
================================
  
To subscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to 
gentoo-gwn-subscribe@g.o.
 
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===================
13. Other Languages
===================
  
The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages:
 
 * Dutch[46] 
 * English[47] 
 * German[48] 
 * French[49] 
 * Japanese[50] 
 * Italian[51] 
 * Polish[52] 
 * Portuguese (Brazil)[53] 
 * Portuguese (Portugal)[54] 
 * Russian[55] 
 * Spanish[56] 
 * Turkish[57] 
 46. http://www.gentoo.org/news/be/gwn/gwn.xml
 47. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml
 48. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml
 49. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml
 50. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml
 51. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml
 52. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml
 53. http://www.gentoo.org/news/br/gwn/gwn.xml
 54. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml
 55. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml
 56. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml
 57. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml
  
Yuji Carlos Kosugi <carlos@g.o> - Editor
AJ Armstrong <aja@×××××××××××××.com> - Contributor
Brian Downey <bdowney@×××××××××××.net> - Contributor
Cal Evans <cal@××××××××.com> - Contributor
Chris Gavin <gubbs@××××.org> - Contributor
Luke Giuliani <cold_flame@×××××.com> - Contributor
Shawn Jonnet <shawn.jonnet@×××××××.net> - Contributor
Michael Kohl <citizen428@g.o> - Contributor
Kurt Lieber <klieber@g.o> - Contributor
Rafael Cordones Marcos <rcm@×××××××.net> - Contributor
David Narayan <david@×××××××.net> - Contributor
Gerald J Normandin Jr. <gerrynjr@g.o> - Contributor
Ulrich Plate <plate@g.o> - Contributor
Mathy Vanvoorden <matje@×××××××.be> - Dutch 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
Christian Apolloni <bsolar@×××××××.ch> - Italian Translation
Stefano Lucidi <stefano.lucidi@×××××××××××××.org> - Italian Translation
Yoshiaki Hagihara <hagi@×××.com> - Japanese Translation
Katsuyuki Konno <katuyuki@××××××××.jp> - Japanese Translation
Yuji Carlos Kosugi <carlos@g.o> - Japanese Translation
Yasunori Fukudome <yasunori@××××××××××××××××.uk> - Japanese Translation
Takashi Ota <088@××××××××××.jp> - Japanese Translation
Radoslaw Janeczko <sototh@×××.pl> - Polish Translation
Lukasz Strzygowski <lucass.home@××.pl> - Polish Translation
Michal Drobek <veng@××.pl> - Polish Translation
Adam Lyjak <apo@××××××××××××××××××××.pl> - Polish Translation
Krzysztof Klimonda <cthulhu@×××××××××.net> - Polish Translation
Atila "Jedi" Bohlke Vasconcelos <bohlke@×××××××××.br> - Portuguese 
(Brazil) Translation
Eduardo Belloti <dudu@××××××××.net> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation
Jo達o Rafael Moraes Nicola <joaoraf@×××××××××.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) 
Translation
Marcelo Gon巽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辿 Costa <jose_costa@×××××××.pt> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation
Luis Medina <metalgodin@×××××××××.org> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation
Ricardo Loureiro <rjlouro@×××××××.org> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation
Sergey Galkin <gals_home@××××.ru> - Russian Translator
Sergey Kuleshov <svyatogor@g.o> - Russian Translator
Alex Spirin <asp13@××××.ru> - Russian Translator
Dmitry Suzdalev <dimsuz@××××.ru> - Russian Translator
Anton Vorovatov <mazurous@××××.ru> - Russian Translator
Denis Zaletov <dzaletov@×××××××.ru> - Russian Translator
Lanark <lanark@××××××××××.ar> - Spanish Translation
Fernando J. Pereda <ferdy@××××××.org> - Spanish Translation
Lluis Peinado Cifuentes <lpeinado@×××.edu> - Spanish Translation
Zephryn Xirdal T <ZEPHRYNXIRDAL@××××××××××.net> - Spanish Translation
Guillermo Juarez <katossi@××××××××××××××××.es> - Spanish Translation
Jes炭s Garc鱈a Crespo <correo@××××××.com> - Spanish Translation
Carlos Castillo <carlos@×××××××××××××.com> - Spanish Translation
Julio Castillo <julio@×××××××××××××.com> - Spanish Translation
Sergio G坦mez <s3r@××××××××××××.ar> - 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