* [gentoo-gwn] Gentoo Weekly Newsletter 17 October 2005
@ 2005-10-17 22:55 Ulrich Plate
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From: Ulrich Plate @ 2005-10-17 22:55 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-gwn
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml
This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of 17 October 2005.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
==============
1. Gentoo news
==============
New USE flag editor released
----------------------------
Damien Krotkine[1] has added a new command line interface tool called
flagedit to his growing collection of configuration editors[2]. On top of
everything profuse does with its choice of three GUIs, the new flag editor
also edits /etc/portage/package.keywords, thus offering a simple way to
add a platform not yet supported to a package you'd like to test:
1. dams@gentoo.org
2. http://www.damz.net/gentoo/
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Code Listing 1.1: |
| Adding package.keywords |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
|# flagedit net-im/amsn -- +~ppc +~x86 |
| |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Besides keywords, flagedit lets you edit the USE flags of /etc/make.conf,
as well as those in the /etc/portage/package.use file, either for a
particular ebuild, or for the whole system. And of course, a backup of
each modified file lets you roll back easily.
Subforums introduction at Gentoo Forums
---------------------------------------
Subforums are a feature that had been requested by users for quite a long
time. While the general policy on the Gentoo Forums was to use vanilla
phpBB[3], the administrators have recently adopted a more open attitude
towards patches and modifications. The most recent consequence is the
arrival of a subforums modification, mainly written by forums
administrator Tom Knight[4]. Before using it on the production system some
testing was done on forum administrator Christian Hartmann's[5] test
server[6] which is usually not available to the general public. The test
server is still open and the forums team would greatly appreciate some
more feedback and testing before using the subforums on the main server.
Please see this thread[7] for more information.
3. http://www.phpbb.com/
4. tomk@gentoo.org
5. ian@gentoo.org
6. http://fgo.iansview.com
7. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-391659.html
=========================
2. Heard in the community
=========================
Web forums
----------
MySQL 4.1 to be stabilized
The forum admins predict some fallout from the MySQL version 4.1 that's
being moved up to the stable tree these days. As the upgrade has the
potential for being a bumpy one, a sticky thread in the Forums tries to
prevent users from falling prey to it:
* Stabilisation of dev-db/mysql-4.1.14[8]
8. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-392443.html
OpenVPN and TAP
OpenVPN[9], a VPN application that offers remote access, site-to-site
VPNs, WiFi security and other VPN accessories is made into a How-To for
those who wish to use TAP instead of TUN by user cchee[10]:
9. http://openvpn.net
10. http://forums.gentoo.org/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=25884
* OpenVPN 2.0 TAP mini-HOWTO (linux 2 wifi-linux, wifi-xp)[11]
11. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-233080.html
gentoo-dev
----------
Handling multiple compatible tools
Sometimes there's more than one tool to do the job. For example, bsdtar
and GNU tar are mostly compatible. Diego Pettenò[12] asks if there is an
easy way for the user to select between such tools.
12. flameeyes@gentoo.org
* Handling multiple compatible tools [13]
13. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/32099
End of lifecycle for unmaintained packages
The media-video ebuilds are getting cleaned up these days, and a few
unmaintained applications will most likely be removed soon: avifile, vcr,
zphoto, drip, divx4linux, and quicktime4linux
* last rites for a few apps [14]
14. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/32112
People needed for net-p2p
Developer Marcin Kryczek[15] is on the lookout for new developers in the
net-p2p herd, especially those with Java experience.
15. mkay@gentoo.org
* net-p2p needs more developers[16]
16. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/32036
Portage: where forward?
Developers Jason Stubbs[17] and Brian Harring[18] talk about where they
are up to with portage and what they feel the road ahead should be.
17. jstubbs@gentoo.org
18. ferringb@gentoo.org
* The road ahead...[19]
19. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.portage.devel/1140
Vim 6.4 beta tester wanted
Ciaran McCreesh[20] is looking for people to test out the new
vim-6.4_beta:
20. ciaranm@gentoo.org
* vim-6.4_beta tester[21]
21. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/32024
=======================
3. Gentoo international
=======================
USA: Professional support for Gentoo
------------------------------------
Los-Angeles-based GenUX[22] is in its final days of a trial offer for
professional services to Gentoo users. From today until the end of the
year, GenUX will be offering support incidents at 25 percent of their
original charge, and the second hour of desktop support free for anyone
who purchases professional services until the end of the year. CEO Joseph
Cohen also announced that GenUX will be donating a portion of the funds
collected from support to the Gentoo Foundation! The company already
sponsors the project and has Gentoo developers Deedra Waters[23], Jeremy
Huddleston[24] and Homer Parker[25] on their pay roll.
22. http://www.gen-ux.com
23. dmwaters@gentoo.org
24. eradicator@gentoo.org
25. hparker@gentoo.org
Switzerland: Installfest in Aargau featuring Gentoo
---------------------------------------------------
The LUG-AG[26] in Aargau is organizing an installation party for
interested users, this coming Friday, 21 October, at the premises of the
Aargauischer Computer Club Brugg[27]. The announcement[28] speaks of
Debian as the LUG-AG's usual Linux flavor of choice, but "if you want to
do something different like installing Gentoo or FreeBSD", they're
apparently friendly enough to allow for that, too. You may want to bring
your own installation media, just to be on the safe side...
26. http://www.lug-ag.ch/
27. http://www.accb-brugg.ch/
28. http://www.symlink.ch/article.pl?sid=05/10/11/0755208
======================
4. Gentoo in the press
======================
Newsforge (14 October 2005)
---------------------------
An article in Newsforge[29] reports that a "New national center to assist
governments with open-source applications" has been created at GOSCON
2005[30] in Portland, Oregon, hosted by Gentoo-supporter OSL[31]. Like
other prospective partners in the new venture called "National Center for
Open Source Policy and Research" (NCOSPR[32]), OSL's associate director
Scott Kveton, too, is "not sure what they'll be doing" yet, but the same
people now actively supporting Gentoo inside the OSL will be able to make
the new center benefit from their experience with open-source development.
29. http://trends.newsforge.com/trends/05/10/14/1446204.shtml?tid=138
30. http://www.goscon.org/
31. http://osuosl.org/
32. http://www.ncospr.org/
Hardware Upgrade (14 October 2005, in Italian)
----------------------------------------------
"Build a home server with Gentoo[33]" is the title of a tutorial by Andrea
Raviola[34] published on an Italian website dedicated to hardware for
personal computing that's been around since 1997 already. The Gentoo
installation goes on "a bit of recovered material", i.e. recombined scraps
that end up making a rock-solid server for all-purpose use at home.
33. http://www.hwupgrade.it/articoli/software/1360/
34. andrea.raviola@hwupgrade.it
==================
5. Tips and tricks
==================
Tune your filesystem
--------------------
ext2/3 are the main filesystems for a large amount of users but what a lot
of people don't know is that you can get almost Reiser4 speed out of it
without any of the instability they'd associated with Reiser4. One of the
great features of ext2/3 is the ability to tune it by adjusting various
parameters.
Let's take some precautions, first of all by finding out if some of those
parameter are already enabled, by running
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Code Listing 5.1: |
| Check partition first |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
|# tune2fs -l /dev/hdXX |
| |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
(replacing XX with your drive and partition your ext2/3 filesystem resides
in). If you don't see tune2fs in the list then we can enable it, and just
in case you do see 'dir_index' in 'Filesystem features' then you have
either enabled it already or it was automatically enabled for you.
You are going to need a Gentoo LiveCD because changing perameters on
mounted filesystems can cause problems, so in the interest of safety we
are booting off the CD. At the start phase the Gentoo install system is
booted into what's called a "ramdisk" which is where the files needed are
put into RAM to be used. mke2fs, tune2fs and other parts of the e2fsprogs
package will be present at this stage.
Now let's turn on the feature with
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Code Listing 5.2: |
| Tune the filesystem |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
|# tune2fs -O dir_index /dev/hdXX |
| |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Do a filesystem check with
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Code Listing 5.3: |
| Filesystem check |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
|# e2fsck -D /dev/hdXX |
| |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Do that on any ext2 or ext3 partition and then reboot. You should notice
the difference straight away.
===========================
6. 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:
* None this week
Changes
-------
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux
project:
* None this week
==================
7. Gentoo Security
==================
uw-imap: Remote buffer overflow
-------------------------------
uw-imap is vulnerable to remote overflow of a buffer in the IMAP server
leading to execution of arbitrary code.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[35]
35. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200510-10.xml
OpenSSL: SSL 2.0 protocol rollback
----------------------------------
When using a specific option, OpenSSL can be forced to fallback to the
less secure SSL 2.0 protocol.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[36]
36. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200510-11.xml
KOffice, KWord: RTF import buffer overflow
------------------------------------------
KOffice and KWord are vulnerable to a buffer overflow in the RTF importer,
potentially resulting in the execution of arbitrary code.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[37]
37. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200510-12.xml
SPE: Insecure file permissions
------------------------------
SPE files are installed with world-writeable permissions, potentially
leading to privilege escalation.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[38]
38. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200510-13.xml
===========
8. Bugzilla
===========
Summary
-------
* Statistics
* Closed bug ranking
* New bug rankings
Statistics
----------
The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[39]) to record and
track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the
development team. Between 09 October 2005 and 16 October 2005, activity on
the site has resulted in:
39. http://bugs.gentoo.org
* 849 new bugs during this period
* 431 bugs closed or resolved during this period
* 17 previously closed bugs were reopened this period
Of the 8607 currently open bugs: 106 are labeled 'blocker', 183 are
labeled 'critical', and 545 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[40], with 26 closed bugs[41]
* Stefano Rossi[42], with 20 closed bugs[43]
* Roy Marples[44], with 19 closed bugs[45]
* Lukasz Damentko[46], with 17 closed bugs[47]
* AMD64 Testing Team[48], with 17 closed bugs[49]
* PPC Porters[50], with 16 closed bugs[51]
* Netmon Herd[52], with 15 closed bugs[53]
* Gentoo Games[54], with 13 closed bugs[55]
40. gnome@gentoo.org
41.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=gnome@gentoo.org
42. so@gentoo.org
43.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=so@gentoo.org
44. uberlord@gentoo.org
45.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=uberlord@gentoo.org
46. rane@gentoo.org
47.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=rane@gentoo.org
48. amd64-test@gentoo.org
49.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=amd64-test@gentoo.org
50. ppc@gentoo.org
51.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=ppc@gentoo.org
52. netmon@gentoo.org
53.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=netmon@gentoo.org
54. games@gentoo.org
55.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=games@gentoo.org
New bug rankings
----------------
The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during
this period are:
* Default Assignee for New Packages[56], with 60 new bugs[57]
* Default Assignee for Orphaned Packages[58], with 15 new bugs[59]
* AMD64 Testing Team[60], with 12 new bugs[61]
* Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[62], with 11 new bugs[63]
* Project Gentopia[64], with 9 new bugs[65]
* Portage Utilities Team[66], with 8 new bugs[67]
* Gentoo Kernel Bug Wranglers and Kernel Maintainers[68], with 8 new
bugs[69]
* Java team[70], with 8 new bugs[71]
56. maintainer-wanted@gentoo.org
57.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&assigned_to=maintainer-wanted@gentoo.org
58. maintainer-needed@gentoo.org
59.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&assigned_to=maintainer-needed@gentoo.org
60. amd64-test@gentoo.org
61.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&assigned_to=amd64-test@gentoo.org
62. gnome@gentoo.org
63.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&assigned_to=gnome@gentoo.org
64. gentopia@gentoo.org
65.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&assigned_to=gentopia@gentoo.org
66. tools-portage@gentoo.org
67.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&assigned_to=tools-portage@gentoo.org
68. kernel@gentoo.org
69.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&assigned_to=kernel@gentoo.org
70. java@gentoo.org
71.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2005-10-09&chfieldto=2005-10-16&assigned_to=java@gentoo.org
===============
9. GWN feedback
===============
Please send us your feedback[72] and help make the GWN better.
72. gwn-feedback@gentoo.org
================================
10. GWN subscription information
================================
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gentoo-gwn+subscribe@gentoo.org.
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===================
11. Other languages
===================
The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages:
* Danish[73]
* Dutch[74]
* English[75]
* German[76]
* French[77]
* Japanese[78]
* Italian[79]
* Polish[80]
* Portuguese (Brazil)[81]
* Portuguese (Portugal)[82]
* Russian[83]
* Spanish[84]
* Turkish[85]
73. http://www.gentoo.org/news/da/gwn/gwn.xml
74. http://www.gentoo.org/news/nl/gwn/gwn.xml
75. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml
76. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml
77. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml
78. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml
79. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml
80. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml
81. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt_br/gwn/gwn.xml
82. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml
83. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml
84. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml
85. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml
Ulrich Plate <plate@gentoo.org> - Editor
Wernfried Haas <amne@gentoo.org> - Author
Patrick Lauer <patrick@gentoo.org> - Author
David Nielsen <david@lovesunix.net> - Author
George Prowse <cokehabit@gmail.com> - Author
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