Gentoo Archives: gentoo-gwn

From: Ulrich Plate <plate@g.o>
To: gentoo-gwn@××××××××××××.org
Subject: [gentoo-gwn] Gentoo Weekly Newsletter 29 November 2004
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 00:19:58
Message-Id: 20041129005915.6dbbb542.plate@gentoo.org
1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
3 http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml
4 This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of 29 November 2004.
5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
6
7 ==============
8 1. Gentoo News
9 ==============
10
11 Genesi starts shipping PegasosPPC with Gentoo Linux preinstalled
12 ----------------------------------------------------------------
13
14 The Luxemburg-based company Genesi S.à.r.l.[1] has announced that sales of
15 their PegasosPPC Open Desktop Workstations (ODW) equipped with Gentoo
16 Linux 2004.3 will start this week. Just hours after ordering of the ODW
17 had become "quietly" available on the Freescale (i.e. the CPU
18 manufacturer's) website[2] on Thanksgiving Day, orders started pouring in,
19 says Bill Buck, Genesi's CEO. The units are to be shipped to South Korea
20 and will be the first to sport Gentoo Linux, on top of the previously
21 included Debian and Yellowdog.
22 1. http://www.genesi.lu
23 2.
24 https://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?nodeId=018rH3bTdG8653&code=PPCG40001
25
26 Figure 1.1: Fan-less assembled Pegasos II motherboard
27 http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20041129-odw.jpg
28
29 According to Genesi, the PowerPC-based ODW offers "an anchor for the whole
30 enterprise infrastructure." Optimized performance and lower price levels
31 are the prime objectives, offering a solution to collapse the IT
32 infrastructure into one family of scalable and upgradable hardware, and an
33 open-source operating system and application base. "We think there will be
34 a lot of interest in this concept, especially for national IT
35 infrastructures where a progressively developing software resource based
36 on GNU/Linux can significantly reduce the total cost of ownership," says
37 Bill Buck. He wants a low-foot-print, low-power 32bit PowerPC solution
38 "with a strong link to Gentoo and other non-commercial GNU/Linux
39 distributions as a foundation." Genesi and Freescale foster development on
40 their current Open Desktop Workstations, with the next hardware generation
41 being tuned to market: The PegasosPPCs donated last month to Gentoo Linux
42 and other developers are predominantly positioned as development machines,
43 but they can serve as thin clients, workstation, netcom devices, file
44 servers or clusters alike.
45
46 Figure 1.2: What's inside a Pegasos?
47 http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20041129-pegasos.jpg
48
49 Amidst MySQL servers and efforts at building Pegasos blade clusters,
50 Gentoo developer David Holm[3] and colleagues have been working on a
51 Linux/PPC-based network firewall and mail filter application running on
52 the Pegasos hardware. By utilising AltiVec to do parallel processing of
53 data they hope to increase the maximum throughput of both network packets
54 and e-mails. Developers at the Romanian subsidiary of Freescale[4] are
55 integrating their AltiVec enhanced VPN enciphering modules with this
56 product. The base system is built by using the Gentoo uclibc stages in
57 order to minimise the footprint so that it will fit on flash storage.
58 Parts of the code developed for this project will be released as (L)GPL,
59 the systems are scheduled to ship in early 2005.
60 3. dholm@g.o
61 4. http://www.freescale.com
62
63 Gentoo script repository
64 ------------------------
65
66 As the script-aided administration of Gentoo systems is clearly a very
67 useful concept, the idea of a central script repository had already been
68 formalized in an early Gentoo Linux Enhancement Proposal (GLEP)[5]. Lack
69 of manpower has prevented this from finishing yet, but Gentoo developer
70 Patrick Lauer now offers a provisional repository[6], awaiting integration
71 into the official collection when GLEP #15 is finally implemented. This
72 space is open to all users, not just official developers. For the time
73 being, if you want to contribute, send your script(s) with a short
74 description (and in case they are not in the public domain, some license
75 information attached to it) directly to Patrick[7].
76 5. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/glep/glep-0015.html
77 6. http://gentooexperimental.org/scripts/
78 7. patrick@g.o
79
80 News from the Gentoo translators projects
81 -----------------------------------------
82
83 With the announcement of the Japanese translator team[8] that their
84 version of the Gentoo Handbook for x86 now reflects all changes done for
85 the 2004.3 release, there are currently six alternative languages
86 available with a mostly or even completely up-to-date translation of the
87 English default handbook. While the German version had already been in
88 sync with the English documentation since the day of the release, Danish,
89 French, Spanish and traditional Chinese have been added over the course of
90 the last two weeks. Other languages are bound to follow, and you can speed
91 up things by helping the translation teams in your language: contact the
92 project leads listed here[9] if you would like to contribute your time.
93 8. http://www.gentoo.gr.jp/jpnews/main/20041128-GentooHandbook-x86.xml
94 9. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gdp/international.xml
95
96 ==============
97 2. Future zone
98 ==============
99
100 Shifting to 2.6 kernel as default
101 ---------------------------------
102
103 Traditionally, our installation documentation has instructed users to
104 install a Linux 2.4 kernel to power their Gentoo installation. Linux 2.4
105 is now in maintenance mode and has been superseded by Linux 2.6.
106
107 Linux 2.6, initially released at the end of 2003, is the result of years
108 of rapid development, providing many new features and improvements.
109 Notable changes include much improved desktop interactivity, multimedia
110 improvements such as new sound drivers (ALSA), improved hardware and
111 architecture support, additional security capabilities, improved
112 multi-processor (SMP) efficiency, and many other changes. Linux 2.6 is
113 still under constant development and has now reached a mature stage.
114
115 Gentoo Linux has always provided and semi-supported Linux 2.6 for an
116 option for users, and a few architectures have recently moved to making
117 this their recommended kernel (ppc, ppc64, amd64, ia64). For other
118 architectures such as x86, the default supported kernel is still Linux
119 2.4. For the 2005.0 release, the Gentoo kernel developers are working to
120 make Linux 2.6 the default kernel for all supported architectures upon
121 which 2.6 runs well. All new installations will run Linux 2.6, and at time
122 of release, existing 2.4 users will be encouraged to migrate.
123
124 Preparation for this switch has already begun. Our 2004.3 LiveCD, unlike
125 previous releases, runs the Linux 2.6 kernel internally by default, and
126 feedback from this has been very positive. Our Gentoo-supported Linux 2.6
127 package, gentoo-dev-sources, has been extended to be supported by as many
128 architectures as possible, whereas its 2.4 predecessor (gentoo-sources) is
129 really only aimed at x86 users. Thankfully, the process of migration from
130 Linux 2.4 to 2.6 is relatively simple, but documentation is in development
131 to highlight caveats in the migration[10].
132 10. http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/migration-to-2.6.xml
133
134 For the 2005.0 release, the 2.6-based gentoo-dev-sources package will be
135 merged into gentoo-sources. Other kernel packages will undergo similar
136 operations (e.g. development-sources merging into vanilla-sources), and
137 the 2.6 releases will be the default kernels under these package titles.
138 Linux 2.4 will still be supported, and will be selectable through an
139 alternative Portage profile. We have some more work to do beforehand, but
140 we will provide complete documentation when this change settles into place.
141
142 ==================
143 3. Gentoo security
144 ==================
145
146 X.Org, XFree86: libXpm vulnerabilities
147 --------------------------------------
148
149 libXpm contains several vulnerabilities that could lead to a Denial of
150 Service and arbitrary code execution.
151
152 For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[11]
153 11. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-28.xml
154
155 unarj: Long filenames buffer overflow and a path traversal vulnerability
156 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
157
158 unarj contains a buffer overflow and a directory traversal vulnerability.
159 This could lead to overwriting of arbitrary files or the execution of
160 arbitrary code.
161
162 For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[12]
163 12. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-29.xml
164
165 pdftohtml: Vulnerabilities in included Xpdf
166 -------------------------------------------
167
168 pdftohtml includes vulnerable Xpdf code to handle PDF files, making it
169 vulnerable to execution of arbitrary code upon converting a malicious PDF
170 file.
171
172 For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[13]
173 13. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-30.xml
174
175 ProZilla: Multiple vulnerabilities
176 ----------------------------------
177
178 ProZilla contains several buffer overflow vulnerabilities that can be
179 exploited by a malicious server to execute arbitrary code with the rights
180 of the user running ProZilla.
181
182 For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[14]
183 14. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-31.xml
184
185 phpBB: Remote command execution
186 -------------------------------
187
188 phpBB contains a vulnerability which allows a remote attacker to execute
189 arbitrary commands with the rights of the web server user.
190
191 For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[15]
192 15. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-32.xml
193
194 TWiki: Arbitrary command execution
195 ----------------------------------
196
197 A bug in the TWiki search function allows an attacker to execute arbitrary
198 commands with the permissions of the user running TWiki.
199
200 For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[16]
201 16. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-33.xml
202
203 Cyrus IMAP Server: Multiple remote vulnerabilities
204 --------------------------------------------------
205
206 The Cyrus IMAP Server contains multiple vulnerabilities which could lead
207 to remote execution of arbitrary code.
208
209 For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[17]
210 17. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-34.xml
211
212 phpWebSite: HTTP response splitting vulnerability
213 -------------------------------------------------
214
215 phpWebSite is vulnerable to possible HTTP response splitting attacks.
216
217 For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[18]
218 18. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-35.xml
219
220 phpMyAdmin: Multiple XSS vulnerabilities
221 ----------------------------------------
222
223 phpMyAdmin is vulnerable to cross-site scripting attacks.
224
225 For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[19]
226 19. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-36.xml
227
228 =========================
229 4. Heard in the community
230 =========================
231
232 Web forums
233 ----------
234
235 The udderly mysterious Larry the Cow
236
237 In preparation for the Italian G-Day (see our article[20] in last week's
238 GWN), Peach[21] has designed a few posters, and thought he'd share his
239 artwork with the community. Note that "If it moves, compile it" doesn't
240 become the official motto for Gentoo Linux just by repetition...
241 20.
242 21. http://forums.gentoo.org/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=15873
243
244 * Larry The Cow unveiled and Gentoo Posters[22]
245 22. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=257123
246
247 gentoo-user
248 -----------
249
250 Gentoo on low end systems
251
252 Gentoo is primarily installed on modern hardware because it demands CPU
253 power when doing most Portage operations. However, Gentoo's "only what you
254 need" approach is great for systems that only need a select set of
255 services running, or machines with meager hardware available. Check out
256 this quick thread for a few tips if you're planning on installing Gentoo
257 on an aging machine.
258
259 * Gentoo Tips for Lower End Systems?[23]
260 23. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/108696
261
262 Copying kernel config files
263
264 Here's a quick tip that we've mentioned before; but can be such a time
265 saver that it is worth bringing up every so often. When upgrading Linux
266 kernels, use the command stated in this thread to carry over the settings
267 from your previous kernel version.
268
269 * Q: Copying kernel config files[24]
270 24. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/108698
271
272 Thanksgiving shopping tips
273
274 For our readers in the U.S., what kind of holiday week would it be without
275 mentioning shopping the day after Thanksgiving? This sprawling thread
276 covered just about every old tip and advice in the book. A bit off topic,
277 but right on time. Enjoy!
278
279 * When to shop during thanksgiving?[25]
280 25. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/108703
281
282 gentoo-dev
283 ----------
284
285 Thanksgiving thanks given
286
287 With Thanksgiving just over and Christmas approaching, both users and
288 developers have expressed their gratitude for Gentoo's existence. In the
289 first thread, Christian Hoenig expresses his gratitude for being able to
290 run Gentoo for two years without reinstall, and just a few hours before,
291 Jeremy Huddleston[26] was all warm and mushy inside after eating his
292 Thanksgiving turkey, and just felt like writing a happy "thank you all!"
293 26. eradicator@g.o
294
295 * Big thanks for my 2nd anniversary, devs![27]
296 * thank you all![28]
297 27. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/23197
298 28. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/23184
299
300 Beeping nuisance
301
302 Roman Gaufman[29] writes: "Someone was bound to complain. I set xorg to
303 emerge and go to sleep. I fall asleep and it starts beeping! GRR! Doesnt
304 it bother anyone? -- under no circumstances do I want beeping." This
305 common "bug" has already been taken care of, but the documentation for
306 EBEEP_IGNORE is not yet publically available. Check the thread to see how
307 you can silence Portage if you have to!
308 29. hackeron@×××××.com
309
310 * Gentoo beeping at me?[30]
311 30. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/23109
312
313 =======================
314 5. Gentoo International
315 =======================
316
317 Turkey: New Gentoo website, GWN mailing list
318 --------------------------------------------
319
320 Gentoo Türkiye, the Turkish Gentoo User Group, has announced their
321 soon-to-be website[31], still very much under construction at the time of
322 this writing. According to admin Bahadır Kandemir (who is doubling as lead
323 GWN translator for Turkish), the team running the site is working on their
324 own XML content management system, and will go live as soon as possible.
325 More importantly, the revived Turkish GWN version can now be subscribed
326 to, via a brandnew mailing list "bulten@×××××××××.org" (bulten =
327 newsletter), operational only since last week. If you would like to
328 receive the Turkish GWN regularly (with a delay of just a few hours
329 compared to the English original), send an empty mail to
330 bulten-subscribe@×××××××××.org. Interestingly enough, Gentoo Türkiye's
331 website and mailing list are sponsored by a Moscow-based hosting company,
332 IQChoice.com[32]. In case you'd like to support their efforts, come and
333 meet the Turkish Gentoo user community where they usually hang out: in the
334 #turklug channel on irc.freenode.net.
335 31. http://www.gentoo-tr.org/
336 32. http://www.iqchoice.com
337
338 Poland: Bialystok EVDT conference
339 ---------------------------------
340
341 Last Saturday, 20 November 2004, a group of open-source amateurs using the
342 colorful label "Electric Vodka Developer Team" (EVDT) held a conference on
343 "Alternative platforms and operating systems"[33] in their home town
344 Bialystok, an all-day event hosted at the local Technical University.
345 Papers on the history of operating systems, on cluster, embedded, and real
346 time systems, and about the differences between x86 and PowerPC
347 architectures were being presented to about 80 participants. The PPC side
348 was further explored in talks about the Altivec units in PowerPC G4
349 processors and how to make use of them with the help of gcc, and in a
350 closing presentation about the PegasosPPC platform (see above) and its
351 native MorphOS system. Between the sessions and after the last one had
352 finished, visitors were able to see and touch some live hardware and
353 software. There were PowerPC (G3 and G4) with MorphOS on display, and x86
354 desktops with QNX, Slackware, Debian, and of course Gentoo Linux
355 installed. Everyone was free to check the differences between several
356 Linux flairs, alternative operating systems, and assorted hardware. Some
357 photos and a longer report from the event are available here[34] (polish
358 only).
359 33. http://szarik.rr.nu/evdt/alt04.html
360 34. http://szarik.rr.nu/evdt/alt04.html
361
362 Figure 5.1: Power of diversity: alternative platforms on display at the
363 conference
364 http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20041129-bialystok.jpg
365
366 Germany: Bowling for Gänsebein
367 -------------------------------
368
369 The notorious Ruhr region Gentooists are meeting on 10 December for a
370 friendly Christmas dinner party at the equally notorious Gasthof
371 Harlos[35] in Oberhausen. The menu is still being discussed, available
372 options include Gänsekeulen (goose legs) and Rinderrouladen (beef rolls).
373 After dinner the attendants and their ample supply of Glühwein (German
374 mulled wine) will retreat to the bowling alley. If you intend to join
375 them, post to this forum thread[36].
376 35. http://www.gasthof-harlos.de
377 36. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=1783926#1783926
378
379 ======================
380 6. Gentoo in the press
381 ======================
382
383 ZDNet UK (25 November 2004)
384 ---------------------------
385
386 In her article[37] published shortly after Gentoo Linux 2004.3 was made
387 available to the public, Ingrid Marson from ZDNet UK already reports about
388 the preparations for Gentoo's next release, 2005.0, due in February next
389 year. The article is mostly based on an interview with Gentoo release
390 engineer Chris Gianelloni[38] and points out a graphical installation and
391 the planned ability to run Gentoo Linux completely off the LiveCD.
392 37. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39175014,00.htm
393 38. wolf31o2@g.o
394
395 ===========
396 7. Bugzilla
397 ===========
398
399 Summary
400 -------
401
402 * Statistics
403 * Closed bug ranking
404 * New bug rankings
405
406 Statistics
407 ----------
408
409 The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[39]) to record and
410 track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the
411 development team. Between 14 November 2004 and 28 November 2004, activity
412 on the site has resulted in:
413 39. http://bugs.gentoo.org
414
415 * 1563 new bugs during this period
416 * 847 bugs closed or resolved during this period
417 * 47 previously closed bugs were reopened this period
418
419 Of the 7645 currently open bugs: 135 are labeled 'blocker', 248 are
420 labeled 'critical', and 562 are labeled 'major'.
421
422 Closed bug rankings
423 -------------------
424
425 The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period
426 are:
427
428 * AMD64 Porting Team[40], with 50 closed bugs[41]
429 * Xavier Neys[42], with 34 closed bugs[43]
430 * Gentoo Games[44], with 33 closed bugs[45]
431 * Mozilla Gentoo Team[46], with 29 closed bugs[47]
432 * ppc64 architecture team[48], with 27 closed bugs[49]
433 * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[50], with 27 closed bugs[51]
434 * Jeremy Huddleston[52], with 25 closed bugs[53]
435 * Gentoo Linux bug wranglers[54], with 23 closed bugs[55]
436 40. amd64@g.o
437 41.
438 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch$field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=amd64@g.o
439 42. neysx@g.o
440 43.
441 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=neysx@g.o
442 44. games@g.o
443 45.
444 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=games@g.o
445 46. mozilla@g.o
446 47.
447 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=mozilla@g.o
448 48. ppc64@g.o
449 49.
450 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=ppc64@g.o
451 50. gnome@g.o
452 51.
453 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=gnome@g.o
454 52. eradicator@g.o
455 53.
456 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=eradicator@g.o
457 54. bug-wranglers@g.o
458 55.
459 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=bug-wranglers@g.o
460
461 New bug rankings
462 ----------------
463
464 The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during
465 this period are:
466
467 * Gentoo's Team for Core System packages[56], with 32 new bugs[57]
468 * AMD64 Porting Team[58], with 28 new bugs[59]
469 * Gentoo X-windows packagers[60], with 23 new bugs[61]
470 * media-video herd[62], with 20 new bugs[63]
471 * Java team[64], with 20 new bugs[65]
472 * Portage team[66], with 15 new bugs[67]
473 * SpanKY[68], with 13 new bugs[69]
474 * netmon herd[70], with 13 new bugs[71]
475 56. base-system@g.o
476 57.
477 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=base-system@g.o
478 58. amd64@g.o
479 59.
480 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=amd64@g.o
481 60. x11@g.o
482 61.
483 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=x11@g.o
484 62. media-video@g.o
485 63.
486 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=media-video@g.o
487 64. java@g.o
488 65.
489 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=java@g.o
490 66. dev-portage@g.o
491 67.
492 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=dev-portage@g.o
493 68. vapier@g.o
494 69.
495 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=vapier@g.o
496 70. netmon@g.o
497 71.
498 http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=netmon@g.o
499
500 ==================
501 8. Tips and Tricks
502 ==================
503
504 Portage GUIs
505 ------------
506
507 Larry the Cow became just a bit frustrated with Portage and its textual
508 frontend. There used to be the legendary KPortage to sooth his craving for
509 a graphical user interface, but its development stalled, and it vanished
510 from the Portage tree a long time ago.
511
512 Then Larry tried guitoo and porthole. He was impressed. He found two
513 up-to-date Portage frontends with ongoing development. All of a sudden,
514 Larry the Cow was in control. And he liked it.
515
516 First off, Guitoo[72] is a KDE application offering most functions of
517 Portage, such as views of installed and generally available packages. It
518 helps you keep your system up to date, lets you view logs and keeps its
519 own queue for the installation of multiple packages. Very interesting and
520 rather more advanced than its predecessor KPortage it's equipped with a
521 systemtray ("kicker") application called Gentoo Watcher, which is pulling
522 in rss feeds from the Gentoo website, raking in all available information
523 on the latest packages and the Gentoo Linux Security Advisories (GLSA).
524 Using the watcher, pending security updates are just one click away as
525 they can be pushed to Guitoo for emerging.
526 72. http://guitoo.sf.net
527
528 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
529 | Code Listing 8.1: |
530 |Emerge |
531 Guitoo---------------------------------------------------------------------
532 ----
533 | |
534 |# echo "app-portage/guitoo ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords (if |
535 necessary)
536 |# emerge guitoo |
537 | |
538 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
539
540 And then there's Porthole[73]. GTK+-2 rather than Qt-based, it gives you
541 control over the basic Portage features, i.e. emerge, unmerge, sync and
542 update. While guitoo only gets the output of emerge --pretend to show you
543 the dependencies a package has, porthole can show you directly which
544 dependencies are met and which are not.
545 73. http://porthole.sf.net/
546
547 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
548 | Code Listing 8.2: |
549 |Emerge |
550 Porthole-------------------------------------------------------------------
551 ------
552 | |
553 |# echo "app-portage/porthole ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords (if |
554 necessary)
555 |# emerge porthole |
556 | |
557 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
558
559 Larry, being happy about having the tools in the first place, is rather
560 indifferent at this point as to which one is preferrable. He suggests you
561 try both, and decide for yourself. Choice to the user.
562
563 Figure 8.1: Screenshots of Porthole (left) and Guitoo (right, including
564 the watcher)
565 http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20041129-tnt.png
566
567 ===========================
568 9. Moves, adds, and changes
569 ===========================
570
571 Moves
572 -----
573
574 The following developers recently left the Gentoo team:
575
576 * None this week
577
578 Adds
579 ----
580
581 The following developers recently joined the Gentoo Linux team:
582
583 * Micheal Marineau (marineam) - Kernel patches
584
585 Changes
586 -------
587
588 The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux
589 project:
590
591 * None this week
592
593 =====================
594 10. Contribute to GWN
595 =====================
596
597 Interested in contributing to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter? Send us an
598 email[74].
599 74. gwn-feedback@g.o
600
601 ================
602 11. GWN feedback
603 ================
604
605 Please send us your feedback[75] and help make the GWN better.
606 75. gwn-feedback@g.o
607
608 ================================
609 12. GWN subscription information
610 ================================
611
612 To subscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to
613 gentoo-gwn-subscribe@g.o.
614
615 To unsubscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to
616 gentoo-gwn-unsubscribe@g.o from the email address you are
617 subscribed under.
618
619 ===================
620 13. Other languages
621 ===================
622
623 The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages:
624
625 * Danish[76]
626 * Dutch[77]
627 * English[78]
628 * German[79]
629 * French[80]
630 * Japanese[81]
631 * Italian[82]
632 * Polish[83]
633 * Portuguese (Brazil)[84]
634 * Portuguese (Portugal)[85]
635 * Russian[86]
636 * Spanish[87]
637 * Turkish[88]
638 76. http://www.gentoo.org/news/da/gwn/gwn.xml
639 77. http://www.gentoo.org/news/be/gwn/gwn.xml
640 78. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml
641 79. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml
642 80. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml
643 81. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml
644 82. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml
645 83. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml
646 84. http://www.gentoo.org/news/br/gwn/gwn.xml
647 85. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml
648 86. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml
649 87. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml
650 88. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml
651
652 Ulrich Plate <plate@g.o> - Editor
653 Rafał Ciszyński <r.ciszynski@××.pl> - Author
654 Brian Downey <bdowney@×××××××××××.net> - Author
655 Daniel Drake <dsd@g.o> - Author
656 Michael Imhof <tantive@g.o> - Author
657 Patrick Lauer <patrick@g.o> - Author
658
659 --
660 gentoo-gwn@g.o mailing list