[gentoo-gwn] Gentoo Weekly Newsletter 16 January 2006

[Ulrich Plate]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml
This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of 16 January 2005.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
==============
1. Gentoo news
==============
  
New USE defaults in the making
------------------------------
  
For some packages portage has auto-use entries, which means that unless 
you explicitly override a USE flag it will be enabled after emerging a 
package and disabled after unmerging it. Example: after "emerge sqlite" 
the sqlite flag will show up as enabled in "emerge info" and "emerge -vp" 
of something that has sqlite in iuse unless you have "-sqlite" or "-*" in 
USE in make.conf. If you unmerge sqlite the USE flag will show up as 
disabled again (unless you have sqlite in USE in make.conf of course). 
 
This has caused some annoyances as USE flags tend to "randomly" jump when 
a new package triggers auto-use (either because you emerged or unmerged it 
or because the package.use file in the tree was edited). Many bugs have 
been filed, the general consensus is to phase out auto-use. 
 
The change will happen in one of the next Portage 2.1 releases - it is in 
the tree and marked ~ARCH on almost all arches. "Stable" users will stay 
unaffected for some time since Portage 2.0.x will not change its 
behaviour, but upgrades can and will change USE flags. If you just 
upgraded to a portage 2.1 release you will probably want to look at the 
"emerge -DuvpN world" output and add flags that you want to keep enabled 
to make.conf if they show up as "-foo*". 
    
Baselayout changes
------------------
  
The Gentoo baselayout team is pleased to release baselayout-1.12.0_pre14 
to the eagerly awaiting public. Here's a summary of the major changes 
since 1.11: 
 
 * Network backgrounding support from wpa_supplicant, ifplugd and netplug 
with service dependency restart -- Typically ifplugd is used to monitor 
ethernet cable being in/out and start/stop the network service 
accordingly, along with the services depending on that network service. 
The problem was that when ifplugd re-started the network service it didn't 
restart the services it stopped! Now ifplugd and netplug support have been 
merged into baselayout, we have more direct control and can remember which 
services were stopped by the network service so we can re-start them. 
wpa_supplicant can now do this too.  
 * Separate network configuration per interface -- Each interface is now 
able to have its own resolv.conf and default route. We also prioritize 
wired over wireless and merge resolv.confs together. This works great for 
roaming laptop users.  
 * Interactive startup -- Do you have a service that causes serious issues 
when booting? You should not, but if you do then you can now choose to 
start, skip, continue or drop to shell for each service interactively. 
Using generic stty and shell calls we do this in a non-blocking way 
without the need for a daemon.  
 * Parallel startup/shutdown improvements -- Parallel startup and shutdown 
didn't really do what it claimed to in previous releases, but now it's 
very parallel and much faster than before. Which leads us onto ....  
 * Improved service dependency ordering (albeit slower) -- Thanks to 
parallel startup, we found that our service ordering was totally wrong. So 
we had to re-write it entirely. So far it's in its fourth re-write using a 
topological sort written in bash and has been doing a very good job for 
around three months now so we think we've finally cracked it.  
 * Service daemon status checks -- Services that launch daemons via 
start-stop-daemon now ensure that they really start instead of start - 
become daemon - die due to invalid config fooling rc into thinking they 
have started. Also, if you check a service status we check if the daemon 
is still running or not. If not then we stop the service and dependencies. 
We also really stop the service, which fixes an issue where you start 
cups, re-emerge cups and then it cannot stop or restart.  
    
Gentoo PPC meeting defines roadmap for 2006.0 and beyond
--------------------------------------------------------
  
The PPC developers spent three hours on Sunday night to discuss what lies 
ahead of them. The 2006.0 release for PowerPCs will include generic stages 
1, 2 and 3, specific stage3 tarballs for G3 and G4, both a minimal and a 
complete install CD, plus GRP packages on a separate CD image. All 2006.0 
profiles, generic and optimized, will include NPTL support. 
 
The PPC team will tackle some of the open bugs when another PPC bugday 
will focus the efforts of developers and users. If you'd like to 
participate in weeding out some of the undergrowth, tune into #gentoo-ppc 
on irc.freenode.net next Saturday, 21 January 14:00 UTC. Before starting a 
recruitment campaign for new develpers, the team is currently evaluating 
who among the 21 listed PPC devs is currently active or de-facto retired. 
Along with boosting the activity level within the team, they're also 
planning to enhance communication with other architectures and users by 
starting a mark-up of their blog posts and sending heads-up to the GWN 
team on a regular basis. 
    
AMD 64 project update
---------------------
  
Major highlights from the Gentoo Linux for AMD64 activities have been 
included in a status report published by the Gentoo AMD64 project last 
week. As the hardware has become more affordable, 2005 saw the user base 
grow a lot, and the number of developers didn't stand back: The AMD64 team 
started with nine developers at the beginning of 2005, and currently 
counts 32 active developers, plus 16 "arch testers", i.e. power users 
putting the development under close scrutiny and filing bug reports. The 
"arch testers" concept works so well that the idea has gained popularity 
with other architectures who are now considering setting up tester teams 
of their own. See the entire report[1] for more accomplishments of the 
AMD64 team. 
 1. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/amd64/status/status_20060110.xml
    
=========================
2. Heard in the community
=========================
  
Web forums
----------
  
New toolchain on SPARC
 
The Gentoo SPARC developers are getting ready for the 2006.0 release. 
Gustavo Zacarias[2] has marked a new gcc (3.4.5) and glibc plus 2.6.11 
kernel headers stable. The change will not affect those still using the 
old 2005.1 profile, but as this upgrade demands users to re-emerge their 
entire system, you may want to check the thread for useful information 
before you get bitten by anything that didn't go as planned: 
 2. gustavoz@g.o
 
 * New stable toolchain stuff on SPARC, read before using![3] 
 3. https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-419845.html
    
=======================
3. Gentoo international
=======================
  
USA: Gentoo classes at MIT
--------------------------
  
Gentoo developer Rajiv Manglani[4] will again hold two evening seminars 
about Gentoo Linux for students of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology in Boston, MA. The first one (tomorrow, Tuesday) will give an 
introduction to Gentoo, while the follow-up course on Thursday will 
provide a more detailled look at Portage and the creation of ebuilds. If 
you would like to attend one or both meetings, please contact 
sipb-iap-gentoo@×××.edu today! 
 4. rajiv@g.o
 
 * Introduction to Gentoo Linux: Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 20:00-22:00, 
MIT Building 2, room 105  
 * Advanced Gentoo Linux:Thursday, 19 January 2006, 20:00-22:00, same 
location 
 
Note: Check the announcement at the MIT website for more details and 
instructions how to get to the venue on campus.
    
USA: Utah Gentoo user group
---------------------------
  
Steve Dibb[5] is the founder of a group of Gentoo users in Utah. Located 
in West Jordan, he's recently set up a website[6] that uses "a vanilla 
install of Geeklog" to provide state-wide support and articles about 
Gentoo (first entry is a review of Damien Krotkine's[7] flagedit tool), 
and serves as a starting point for future activities like meetings and 
installfests. "Utah is actually a cool place for all the Linux support 
going around," says Steve, which orginally made him worry a bit: "I had 
sent out an e-mail[8] a few months earlier to see if there was any 
interest, and to my surprise there was quite a positive response to the 
idea, despite that fact that there are already a lot of local Linux, Unix 
or other FOSS groups and mailing lists in the state." The one-month-old 
Gentoo Utah group now counts eleven members, all of whom use Gentoo in 
both production and private environments. On top of the website Steve is 
hosting a mailing list where "we don't get flamed for using Gentoo like we 
would on the other local mailing lists" and which benefits from being 
small and local: "The list gives us a chance to discuss Gentoo, without 
being flooded from a larger userbase." 
 5. sdibb@×××××.com
 6. http://utah-gentoo.org
 7. dams@×××××.org
 8. http://uphpu.org/pipermail/uphpu/2005-October/004078.html
    
======================
4. Gentoo in the press
======================
  
Allround PC (9 January 2006, in German)
---------------------------------------
  
Building a home theater PC (HTPC) with Gentoo Linux is a typical example 
of the benefits obtained from setting up only a minimal installation. It's 
been done several times before, of course, but this step-by-step 
description[9] of the process provides a concise overview of which 
hardware to use, where to configure which modules, how to integrate remote 
controls and more. As some of the elements used are not yet part of the 
official Portage tree, the article also points to the gentoo.de 
overlay[10] that contains additional VDR plugins needed for the HTPC 
setup. 
 9. http://www.allround-pc.com/index.php?reviews/06009/bericht.htm
 10. http://www.gentoo.de/main/de/downloads.xml
    
Distrowatch (9 January 2006)
----------------------------
  
Ladislav Bodnar from Distrowatch picked up a piece of Gentoo 
documentation, the new Gentoo Linux LiveUSB Howto[11] that "has now become 
part of the project's official documentation," and which he finds[12] 
"particularly useful for installing Gentoo Linux on a modern laptop with 
no CD-ROM drive." 
 11. http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/liveusb.xml
 12. http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20060109#1
    
Linuxdevices.com (11 January 2006)
----------------------------------
  
An article about a Linux robot site[13] that launched a user-controllable 
robot appeared on the pages of the embedded online magazine 
Linuxdevices.com last week. 
 13. http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS4842769131.html
    
=========================
5. Gentoo developer moves
=========================
  
Moves
-----
  
The following developers recently left the Gentoo project: 
 
 * None this week 
    
Adds
----
  
The following developers recently joined the Gentoo project: 
 
 * Martin Ehmsen (ehmsen) - TeX 
 * Michal Kurgan (moloh) - Polish GWN lead translator 
    
Changes
-------
  
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo project:
 
 * None this week 
    
==================
6. Gentoo Security
==================
   
mod_auth_pgsql: Multiple format string vulnerabilities
------------------------------------------------------
  
Format string vulnerabilities in mod_auth_pgsql may lead to the execution 
of arbitrary code. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[14] 
 14. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200601-05.xml
    
xine-lib, FFmpeg: Heap-based buffer overflow
--------------------------------------------
  
xine-lib and FFmpeg are vulnerable to a buffer overflow that may be 
exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary code. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[15] 
 15. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200601-06.xml
    
Blender: Heap-based buffer overflow
-----------------------------------
  
Blender is vulnerable to a buffer overflow that may be exploited by 
attackers to execute arbitrary code. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[16] 
 16. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200601-08.xml
    
Wine: Windows Metafile SETABORTPROC vulnerability
-------------------------------------------------
  
There is a flaw in Wine in the handling of Windows Metafiles (WMF) files, 
which could possibly result in the execution of arbitrary code. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[17] 
 17. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200601-09.xml
     
===========
7. Bugzilla
===========
  
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 08 January 2006 and 15 January 2006, activity on 
the site has resulted in: 
 18. http://bugs.gentoo.org
 
 * 799 new bugs during this period 
 * 447 bugs closed or resolved during this period 
 * 37 previously closed bugs were reopened this period 
 
Of the 9083 currently open bugs: 77 are labeled 'blocker', 176 are labeled 
'critical', and 489 are labeled 'major'. 
    
Closed bug rankings
-------------------
  
The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period 
are: 
 
 * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[19], with 29 closed bugs[20]  
 * AMD64 Porting Team[21], with 22 closed bugs[22]  
 * Printing Team[23], with 17 closed bugs[24]  
 * PPC Porters[25], with 15 closed bugs[26]  
 * Gentoo Games[27], with 14 closed bugs[28]  
 * Perl Devs @ Gentoo[29], with 11 closed bugs[30]  
 * Daniel Black[31], with 10 closed bugs[32]  
 * SpanKY[33], with 9 closed bugs[34]  
 19. gnome@g.o
 20. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=gnome@g.o
 21. amd64@g.o
 22. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=amd64@g.o
 23. printing@g.o
 24. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=printing@g.o
 25. ppc@g.o
 26. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=ppc@g.o
 27. games@g.o
 28. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=games@g.o
 29. perl@g.o
 30. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=perl@g.o
 31. dragonheart@g.o
 32. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=dragonheart@g.o
 33. vapier@g.o
 34. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=vapier@g.o
    
New bug rankings
----------------
  
The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during 
this period are: 
 
 * Default Assignee for New Packages[35], with 49 new bugs[36]  
 * Default Assignee for Orphaned Packages[37], with 12 new bugs[38]  
 * Mozilla Gentoo Team[39], with 10 new bugs[40]  
 * AMD64 Porting Team[41], with 10 new bugs[42]  
 * Gentoo Games[43], with 8 new bugs[44]  
 * Gentoo Security[45], with 7 new bugs[46]  
 * Luis Medinas[47], with 7 new bugs[48]  
 * Gentoo KDE team[49], with 7 new bugs[50]  
 35. maintainer-wanted@g.o
 36. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&assigned_to=maintainer-wanted@g.o
 37. maintainer-needed@g.o
 38. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&assigned_to=maintainer-needed@g.o
 39. mozilla@g.o
 40. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&assigned_to=mozilla@g.o
 41. amd64@g.o
 42. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&assigned_to=amd64@g.o
 43. games@g.o
 44. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&assigned_to=games@g.o
 45. security@g.o
 46. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&assigned_to=security@g.o
 47. metalgod@g.o
 48. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&assigned_to=metalgod@g.o
 49. kde@g.o
 50. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2006-01-08&chfieldto=2006-01-15&assigned_to=kde@g.o
    
===============
8. GWN feedback
===============
   
Please send us your feedback[51] and help make the GWN better. 
 51. gwn-feedback@g.o
    
===============================
9. GWN subscription information
===============================
   
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gentoo-gwn+subscribe@g.o. 
 
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===================
10. Other languages
===================
   
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 * Portuguese (Portugal)[62]  
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 * Spanish[64]  
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 52. http://www.gentoo.org/news/da/gwn/gwn.xml
 53. http://www.gentoo.org/news/nl/gwn/gwn.xml
 54. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml
 55. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml
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 58. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml
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 60. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml
 61. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt_br/gwn/gwn.xml
 62. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml
 63. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml
 64. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml
 65. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml
   
Ulrich Plate <plate@g.o> - Editor
Roy Marples <uberlord@g.o> - Author
Marien Zwart <marienz@g.o> - Author
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