Fedora Weekly News Issue 85
by Thomas Chung
= Fedora Weekly News Issue 85 =
Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 85[1] for the week of April 22nd
through April 28th, 2007. The latest issue can always be found here[2]
and RSS Feed can be found here[3].
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue85
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/LatestIssue
[3] http://feeds.feedburner.com/fwn
1. Fedora Weekly News Issue 85
1. Announcements
1. Announcing Fedora 7 Test 4 (6.93)
2. Making the Merge Happen
2. Planet Fedora
1. Red Hat Magazine OLPC Articles
2. Red Hat Summit Compilation
3. 0-Day Fedora Kernels
4. Fedora Article in LWN
3. Marketing
1. Red Hat's JBoss to Adopt Fedora Model
4. Developments Mon, April 23 - Sat, April 28 2007
1. Root Filesystem Encryption Patch
2. RPM Packaging Feedback Sought and Received
3. Wow, Presto Rocks!
4. Pidgin Epoch Removed, Rawhide Updates Need Manual Correction
5. How To Get Your Packages Sponsored And Reviewed
6. Fedora7-Test4 Announced
7. Repowars II: Add Some EPEL "repotag" Duct Tape?
8. Standard Naming Scheme For KDE Components
9. kdebase And lftp Cause Rawhide Update Problem
10. The Merge Is Upon Us!
5. Maintainers
1. libperl & perl in Fedora 7
2. Guidelines Update
3. Fedora 7 Development Freeze
4. The Name For Fedora 7?
6. Documentation
1. Release Notes Freeze
2. Media Handling in Pirut
3. Knowledge Base?
7. Translation
1. Release Note POT/PO Files
8. Infrastructure
1. Operating Procedures
2. Sponsored vs Volunteers
9. Artwork
1. The Open Pallete
2. Echo SVG Fixed
3. Linuxtag Germany
10. Security Week
1. Firefox 1.5 Support Extended
11. Security Advisories
1. Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories
2. Fedora Core 5 Security Advisories
12. Events and Meetings
1. Release Engineering Meeting: 2007-04-23
2. Packaging Committee Meeting: 2007-04-24
3. Ambassadors Meeting: 2007-04-26
4. French Ambassadors Meeting: 2007-04-29
5. Event Report: CarolinaCon 2007 - North Carolina, USA
6. Event Report: FLISOL 2007 - Santiago, Chile
7. Event Report: FLISOL 2007 - Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
13. Errata
1. Erratum #1
2. Erratum #2
14. Feedback
== Announcements ==
In this section, we cover announcements from various projects.
=== Announcing Fedora 7 Test 4 (6.93) ===
The Fedora Project is pleased to announce[1] the release of the fourth
and final test release of Fedora 7!
Test 4 is for beta users. This is the time when we MUST have full
community participation. Without this participation both hardware and
software functionality suffers. We need your help. Join us! This is
the final test release before the Fedora 7 release, which is scheduled
for May 24, 2007.
For further information see [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/7].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2007-April/msg00006....
=== Making the Merge Happen ===
JesseKeating announces in fedora-devel-list[1],
"Test4 is out, Final looms, must have merge!
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure/CoreExtrasMerge is the working
page for the merge status. I would like to get merged asap and shake out the
problems and get some builds done before the final freeze.
Please provide input!"
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01250.html
== Planet Fedora ==
In this secton, we cover a highlight of Planet Fedora - an aggregation
of blogs from world wide Fedora contributors.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Planet
=== Red Hat Magazine OLPC Articles ===
JohnPalmieri points out in hig blog[1],
"For the general audience who wish to find out more about the OLPC
project and the people working on it (or at least the ones in
Cambridge, MA), part 2 of the OLPC video blog[2] is now online.
For developers, part 2 of my Porting a PyGTK game to Sugar[3] series
is also up. The first lesson focused on the game itself. This lesson
shows the initial port."
[1] http://www.j5live.com/?p=361
[2] http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/04/25/inside-one-laptop-per-child-epis...
[3] http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/04/26/building-the-xo-porting-a-pygtk-...
=== Red Hat Summit Compilation ===
JefSpaleta points out in his blog[1],
"So I finally got around to poking at my digital music library and
playing with rhythmbox again after almost a year after my move. I
noticed the magnatune plugin and started poking at the available
content in the catalog. Some of its not bad, but some of it's not to
good. So instead of wasting my time hunting and pecking I decided to
do a quick search for compilations. And I found this: The Red Hat
Summit[2] Compilation[3]."
[1] http://jspaleta.livejournal.com/9346.html
[2] http://www.redhat.com/promo/summit/
[3] http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/magnacomp-redhat/
=== 0-Day Fedora Kernels ===
DaveJones points out in his blog[1],
"A few days ago I fixed up the script that grabbed the latest kernel I
built for Fedora and dumped it onto my people.redhat.com page. F7
users can now install the repo file[2] into /etc/yum.repos.d/ and have
it grab those fresh kernels as soon as they're built without having to
wait a whole day to get them from rawhide."
[1] http://kernelslacker.livejournal.com/77038.html
[2] http://people.redhat.com/davej/kernels/Fedora/fc7/kernel.repo
=== Fedora Article in LWN ===
RahulSundaram points out in his blog[1],
"LWN published a article titled Blaming Fedora[2] but really praising
it for a strong policy on Free software. The discussions in the
comments lead to me having a ongoing offlist very constructive
conversations with Brett Smith, licensing compliance engineer from FSF
on Fedora Free software analysis[3]. We are having good progress. I
will post updates when we reach major milestones."
[1] http://rahulsundaram.livejournal.com/11380.html
[2] http://lwn.net/Articles/230042/
[3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FreeSoftwareAnalysis
== Marketing ==
In this section, we cover Fedora Marketing Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing
=== Red Hat's JBoss to Adopt Fedora Model ===
RahulSundaram points out in fedora-marketing-list[1],
"The move would mean that JBoss[2] would deliver a Fedora-like community
edition of its core software that only looks forward. As with the Fedora
Linux project, no backward compatibility is guaranteed—Fedora is focused
on the future and new features."
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-April/msg00160...
[2] http://labs.jboss.com/
== Developments Mon, April 23 - Sat, April 28 2007 ==
In this section, we cover the problems/solutions,
people/personalities, and ups/downs of the endless discussions on
Fedora Developments.
http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
=== Root Filesystem Encryption Patch ===
ThomasSwan posted[1] details of how to achieve an encrypted root
filesystem on FC6 using LUKS[2]. Thomas was hoping to get his modified
mkinitrd script into F7-Test4, but it was pointed out that firstly,
F7t4 had already shipped[3] and secondly, that new features like this
were not appropriate anyway during a final freeze[4]. All responding
to Thomas made it clear that his contribution was not being rejected
and that they hoped to see it in F8.
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01217.html
[2] http://www.cygnetech.com/linux/howtos/root_filesystem_encryption.php
[3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01221.html
[4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01225.html
Thomas was happy enough with this and sought further feedback[5] on
how to avoid problems with keeping the modified mkinitrd in sync with
kernel updates.
[5] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01226.html
BrunoWolf III was less happy as he'd been hoping that these patches
(which had been around for a while) would make it into F7 which would
coincide with his need to upgrade some FC5 machines. He wondered[6]
who had to be bugged to make the patches actually get incorporated?
Thomas answered that he would be happy to assist Bruno patch F7 and
intended to set up a yum repository to aid others. FlorianLaRoche
pointed Bruno to the wiki, where information about this could be
shared but this didn't satisfy Bruno. Finally, BillNottingham was
drawn into the discussion and noted some problems[7] with the patches
which was why he had not yet rolled them in.
[6] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01227.html
[7] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01276.html
=== RPM Packaging Feedback Sought and Received ===
Kelly (lightsolphoenix) looked for advice on some KDE packages that
Kelly had produced[1]. TrondDanielsen suggested[2] that, as Kelly was
interested in being a maintainer of these packages for Fedora, it
would be a good idea to go through the official procedure[3].
RudolfKastl suggested that the SRPM packages would be useful, and
Kelly responded with those packages and the spec files.
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01202.html
[2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01208.html
[3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PackageMaintainers/Join
=== Wow, Presto Rocks! ===
Continuing the positive reactions to presto, RexDieter was excited[1]
by his experiences with it. Rex wondered how the tools to create
presto-enabled repositories were coming along and intoned the mantra
"release early, release often." RichardHughes was also interested in
these tools[2]. JonathanDieter pleaded end-of-term pressure and
pointed to the tools in an unfinished state[3]. MartinSourada noted
that he too saw huge savings in bandwidth (90%) for an update on
FC6[4] and encouraged the inclusion of presto for F8.
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01188.html
[2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01193.html
[3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01194.html
[4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01196.html
=== Pidgin Epoch Removed, Rawhide Updates Need Manual Correction ===
As a result of negotiations between AOL and the developers of Gaim[1],
the program has been renamed to "Pidgin". WarrenTogami noted that the
opportunity to remove the epoch had been missed with the original
Fedora Extras 7 package[2], and that this was now corrected and
rawhide users should manually fix the problem using:
su -c "yum remove libpurple"
su -c "yum install pidgin"
The issue arose later in a rawhide user error report[3], manifesting
as a missing "libpurple.so". "libpurple" is the renamed "libgaim".
Another user reported that he did not have this problem with rawhide,
but JoshBoyer was able to explain[4] that this was because he was not
using the latest epochless package (which yum would refuse to update).
TrondDanielsen also quickly provided a practical fix[5].
[1] http://www.pidgin.im/index.php?id=177
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01195.html
[3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01238.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01242.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01240.html
=== How To Get Your Packages Sponsored And Reviewed ===
A query from AntonKuznetsov opened up a discussion about the proper
way to submit software for review[1]. NigelJones posted links[2] to
the specific package that Anton was talking about ("Profugus", a
time-dependent automatic migrator of Xen kernels) and counselled
patience, noting that the review process was at least two weeks
usually and that Anton had only submitted the package ten days ago.
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01268.html
[2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01270.html
Nigel's informative email clarified an apparent confusion in the
original post about the role of volunteer "pre-reviewers", who note
problems with packages before they are formally reviewed by someone
that can act as a sponsor. ManuelWolfshant who had pre-reviewed the
package confirmed that this was the case[3].
[3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01272.html
PatriceDumas also suggested patience, and a part of his post that said
there are some reviews that are years old surprised RahulSundaram[4],
who felt that packages which had been in review for more than a few
months should have their reviews closed as they were clogging up the
process. Patrice argued that there was already a "stalled review"
policy for dealing with this, and along with NigelJones pointed out
several reasons for keeping such a review open. These included
maintaining a continuous body of information, ease of contact with
external upstream developers. JasonTibbits argued specifically
against Rahul's assertion that software older than six months was
probably obsoleted[5]. Jason also suggested that people should ping
the reviewers more often, then closed with a promise to start
reviewing again Real Soon Now (TM).
[4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01284.html
[5] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01307.html
RalfCorsepius provided an affirmative datapoint to Rahul's original
question. JasonTibbitts felt that these were very atypical
packages[6] and RexDieter thought that on occasion third-party
repositories could be a positive way of getting more feedback, but
Ralf didn't see that as true for his particular case[7] which failure
he attributed to deficiencies in the rpmbuild system, the guidelines
and the competence of "review monkeys"[8]. KevinKofler then proferred
some mutual aid to Ralf[8a] as Kevin now owns a package and can thus
perform review for those who don't need sponsors.
[6] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01308.html
[7] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01320.html
[8] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01286.html
[8a] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01338.html
JoséMatos pointed out that the merge of the Core and Extras
repositories might have filled up the queue[9] and that in general
things were working as they should be, and Anton posted thanks for all
the feedback and information that he'd obtained[10].
[9] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01283.html
[10] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01312.html
=== Fedora7-Test4 Announced ===
The final test of F7 was announced[1] by WillWoods on April 26th. The
torrents were temporarily delayed[2], but are now available. There
were several additions to the copious release notes:
1) AdamJackson pointed out[3] that users of integrated Intel graphics
chipsets would be using a new modesetting driver by default.
2) DavidWoodhouse made the hearts of PS3 owners beat a little
faster[4] by pointing out that F7 was the first Fedora to work out of
the box on their box.
3) KevinKofler caught a small error[5] that implied that KDE was not in the spin
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01252.html
[2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01265.html
[3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01258.html
[4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01263.html
[5] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01271.html
RahulSundaram was not impressed with the move to rename the
distribution as simply "Fedora". Following up on his questioning
about whether this had been discussed by marketing, JoshBoyer said it
had not been discussed on a public list, but on IRC[5a], and AxelThimm
provided[6] an example of how this could lead to confusion centered
around what was on the spin (on the DVD or multiple CDs) and what was
available on the network in addition to this. There were a couple of
suggestions, but no agreement (other than that naming sucks and that
there was much confusion)[7][8].
[5a] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01292.html
[6] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01325.html
[7] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01334.html
[8] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01342.html
=== Repowars II: Add Some EPEL "repotag" Duct Tape? ===
ThorstenLeemhuis moved a discussion from @fedora-maintainers in order
to reach a wider audience[1]. This discussion concerned the Extra
Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) repository[2] that aims to
provide a way for high-quality Fedora packages to be provided for RHEL
and related spinoffs such as CentOS and Scientific Linux. Repository
tags (repotags) are an optional addition to the name of a package,
which mainly served the purpose in pre-Extras days of providing
brand-recognition between the many excellent, competing repositories.
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01232.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL/
Thorsten led off with some personal observations, but wished to
concentrate on what seemed to him the most important thing: a
political problem whereby some would feel that EPEL had been
privileged over other "outside the fence" repositories which had to
use a repotag, while EPEL did not. Bearing all this in mind, Thorsten
was specifically soliciting discussion prior to any of the concerned
steering bodies voting[4] on his concrete proposals to solve the
problem. FernandoLopez-Lezcano was largely in agreement[5] with
Thorsten's scheme to use defines in the EPEL buildsystem to add a
repotag, while simultaneously leaving the Fedora buildsystem
undisturbed.
[3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/NamingGuidelines
[4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01305.html
[5] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01297.html
AxelThimm was also mainlu in agreement with the proposal[6], and
JefSpaleta provided one of his usual informative and thoughtful takes
on the situation[7], which characterized it as a general usability
problem, limited by the design of the current tools. Jef also roughly
outlined how package signatures /might/ be used to get around this in
the future, a proposal which drew some favourable comment from
Fernando.
[6] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01326.html
[7] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01266.html
=== Standard Naming Scheme For KDE Components ===
In further naming scheme news, Kelly (lightsolphoenix) wondered
whether the names of various KDE components should be patterned after
the GTK ones[1]. TomTromey wondered the same thing about emacs
dependent pieces and JonathanUnderwood explained that it depended on
whether they were solely for emacs, Xemacs, or could be used on
both[2].
RexDieter pointed Kelly to a draft packaging guideline for KDE[3], and
recommended following upstream in the meantime.
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01311.html
[2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01335.html
[3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01314.html
=== kdebase And lftp Cause Rawhide Update Problem ===
An attempt to update kdebase and lftp on rawhide left DavidHunter
seeking help[1] when everything he'd tried failed. Mark and JoshBoyer
both suggested a nodeps erasure of the current versions of the
packages[2] as an immediate practical workarounds.
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01235.html
[2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01237.html
JesseKeating acknowledged the workarounds, but wanted to get to the
bottom of the problem and asked for bugzilla reports, prompting
MichaelSchwendt to explain that these were the result of temporary
breakage in rawhide[3] due to known causes.
[3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01245.html
MamoruTasaka gave a reply specifically on the lftp problem[3a] and
RexDieter stepped in to help with the kdebase problem[3b], which
seemed to be to do with the OP mixing in packages from the kde-redhat
repository with Fedora's own kde package.
Jesse was still unhappy with this because it would not preserve an
upgrade path within rawhide (which is a desideratum according to
recent FESCo meetings). To this end he proposed an
Obsoletes/Provides, which neither PatriceDumas nor MichaelSchwendt
were enthusiastic about[4]. Michael's argument seemed to suggest that
there are several ways in which an upgrade path within rawhide are not
always be practical.
[3a] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01246.html
[3b] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01249.html
[4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01259.html
=== The Merge Is Upon Us! ===
Drawing our attention to the imminence of merging, JesseKeating asked
for input[1] on the plans to merge. After a query from HansdeGoede
about gstreamer plugins, MatthiasClasen posted a tracker bugzilla
entry[2] for items that would have to happen post-merge and freeze.
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01250.html
[2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01264.html
== Maintainers ==
In this section, we cover Fedora Maintainers, the group of people who
maintain the software packages in Fedora
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-maintainers
=== libperl & perl in Fedora 7 ===
Due to build issues, libperl.so was originally going to be moved[1]
from the perl package into its own sub-package; however, all has been
corrected in the Perl camp for rawhide users. Perl was multilib in
Fedora Core 6 due to Gaim, but Jesse Keating has "whitelisted" perl to
make it multilib again with Pidgin (Gaim) being in Extras.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00439.html
=== Guidelines Update ===
Clearing up the relationship between the packager and reviewer is an
update to the Packaging Guidelines[1]. It is the responsibility of the
reviewer to point out problems and it is the responsibility of the
packager to correct the problem, while it is a combined responsibility
to determine the severity. If the packager or reviewer feels a
particular package should be exempt from the Packaging Guidelines[2],
it must be brought to the attention of the Fedora Packaging Committee.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00484.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines
=== Fedora 7 Development Freeze ===
With Fedora 7 Test 4 now out the door, there is now a continual
development freeze[1] until the May 24 release. During this time, only
bug fixes will be accepted. Core packages must also be using the
f7-final tag.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00582.html
=== The Name For Fedora 7? ===
With Fedora 7 quickly approaching, Jesse Keating[1] is also seeking
Fedora maintainers to fill in the blank: Bordeaux -> Zod -> <blank>?
Zod is a <blank>, <blank> is a <blank>. Suggestions are to be run
through the legal queue and then voting takes place afterwards.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00587.html
== Documentation ==
In this section, we cover the Fedora Documentation Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject
=== Release Notes Freeze ===
The release notes wiki[1] is was temporarily frozen with the
information being ported over to CVS for translators to begin their
work, reports PaulFrields.[2] The wiki was unfrozen so notes can
continue to be added up to Fedora 7 release; these additional notes
are combined with the ISO-based release notes to be published as a
Web-only release[3].
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00154.html
[3] http://docs.fedoraproject.org/release-notes
=== Media Handling in Pirut ===
RahulSundaram announced that he is working on updating the Software
Management Guide[1] with the goal of releasing a new version for
Fedora 7[2]. If you are interested in helping, you can find more
details under the guide's working notes.[3]
[1] http://docs.fedoraproject.org/yum
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00174.html
[3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Drafts/SoftwareManagementGuide/Working...
There was also a request for help with documenting the support for
media in the development version of Pirut. Although this feature is
present, the required auto-configuration is not yet present in
Anaconda and so the documentation is needed before release. If anybody
is interested in helping with this send a post to the DocsProject
mailing list.[4]
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00173.html
=== Knowledge Base? ===
Following the report of a bug with a simple fix, the idea of a
knowledge base was briefly discussed. It is hoped that a knowledge
base would provide the ideal location for one-off bugs such as this,
which in turn might have the effect of making it easier for users to
contribute docs.[1]
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00187.html
== Translation ==
This section, we cover the news surrounding the Fedora Translation
(L10n) Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N
=== Release Note POT/PO Files ===
Release notes POT and PO files for Fedora 7 have been made available
for translation, announced PaulFrields [1]. He also mentioned in his
followup[2] the best ways to obtain the files.
Localization of Fedora 7 release notes by translators was ongoing
during the week, with the PO files due back to Fedora Documentation on
2 May[3].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00092.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00093.html
[3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Schedule#relnotes-schedule
== Infrastructure ==
In this section, we cover the Fedora Infrastructure Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure
=== Operating Procedures ===
As part of organizing Infrastructure, MikeMcGrath has been working on
some standard operating procedures (SOPs)[1] and has posted his work
thus far[2].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg...
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure/SOP/database?action=fullsear...
=== Sponsored vs Volunteers ===
A discussion started this week about tracking sponsored versus
volunteer contributions to Fedora, with sponsored meaning the
contribution was done as part of a for-pay work assignment by the
contributor. This thread was started by RahulSundaram, who was
interested in having these oft-requested statistics. The thread
expanded to discuss the ideal of tracking all contributions made to
Fedora, but it appears package maintainers are the first to be
tracked[2]. It was emphasized that the tracking is optional; a
contributor can opt not to supply this context of their contribution.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg...
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg...
== Artwork ==
In this section, we cover Fedora Artwork Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork
=== The Open Pallete ===
The second part of "The Open Pallete" - a series of articles in Red
Hat Magazine[1] about open source graphics tools - has been published.
This article is titled "Grungy Brushes", and discusses how to create
brushes in Inkscape that can then be used in The Gimp. It's a great
article and well worth a read for any budding (or experienced) open
artists out there! NicuBuculei has also written some follow up
articles which can be found linked from the original post.[2]
[1] http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/04/22/the-open-palette-creating-grungy...
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00132.html
=== Echo SVG Fixed ===
Following last week's discussions about the problems with the
echo-icon-theme's package size, a lot of work has occurred this week
and all the icons have now been fixed[1]. The fixed icons can be found
on a subpage of the Echo icon's wiki page[2]. It is unlikely that
these updated SVGs can be added to the echo-icon-theme package before
Fedora 7, however, as Fedora is now frozen for release.[3]
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00138.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/EchoIconTheme/Cleanup
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00139.html
=== Linuxtag Germany ===
GeroldKassube has requested help from the Fedora artwork team with a
brochure and a banner for Linuxtag Germany[1] - one of the larger open
source events in Europe with in excess of 10000 visitors throughout
the week. If you feel you could help, read the post and send your
reply to the Fedora Art list.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00126.html
== Security Week ==
In this section, we highlight the security stories from the week in Fedora.
=== Firefox 1.5 Support Extended ===
The biggest security story from last week was the news that the life
of Firefox 1.5 is being extended by upstream until mid-May[1].
The Mozilla project is planning to stop providing official updates for
the 1.5 Firefox branch. They of course want to put their development
effort into the 2.0 branch. The current plan for Red Hat and Fedora
is to roll security patches into the 1.5 branch. Several
distributions are going to work together to keep the 1.5 branch
maintained with security patches since there is great interest in
keeping 1.5 maintained for the immediate future. Chris Aillon
explains this in a blog posting, "Mozilla Corp. to work more closely
with Linux distributors"[2].
This action shows a huge strength of open source software and security
maintenance. When a closed source application is distributed, you
have to run whatever version the author wishes you to run. If an
application has the source available, and the will exists, a version
that no longer receives formal support can live on.
[1] http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=21543
[2] http://christopher.aillon.org/blog/dev/mozilla/20061204-linux-alliance.html
== Security Advisories ==
In this section, we cover Security Advisories from fedora-package-announce.
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-package-announce
=== Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories ===
* FEDORA-2007-475 : rdesktop-1.5.0-2.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-475
* FEDORA-2007-473 : avahi-0.6.16-4.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-473
* FEDORA-2007-471 : eclipse-3.2.2-2.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-471
* FEDORA-2007-469 : system-config-date-1.8.12-2.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-469
* FEDORA-2007-449 : policycoreutils-1.34.1-7.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-449
* FEDORA-2007-411 : xsane-0.994-2.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-411
* FEDORA-2007-466 : dovecot-1.0.0-3.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-466
* FEDORA-2007-438 : xterm-225-1.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-438
* FEDORA-2007-456 : httpd-2.2.4-1.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-456
* FEDORA-2007-465 : m4-1.4.8-2 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-465
=== Fedora Core 5 Security Advisories ===
* FEDORA-2007-448 : poppler-0.5.1-3.fc5 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC5/FEDORA-2007-448
== Events and Meetings ==
In this section, we cover event reports and meeting summaries from
various projects.
=== Release Engineering Meeting: 2007-04-23 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01214.html
=== Packaging Committee Meeting: 2007-04-24 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00507.html
=== Ambassadors Meeting: 2007-04-26 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg003...
=== French Ambassadors Meeting: 2007-04-29 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg003...
=== Event Report: CarolinaCon 2007 - North Carolina, USA ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg003...
=== Event Report: FLISOL 2007 - Santiago, Chile ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg003...
=== Event Report: FLISOL 2007 - Salvador, Bahia, Brazil ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg003...
== Errata ==
>From time to time, we issue an Errata to correct Fedora Weekly News[1]
published in previous week. We apologize for any confusion it may
cause. If you feel a news needs to be corrected, please submit an
"Errata Request" to Fedora News Team[2].
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject
=== Erratum #1 ===
In FWN Issue #84, in the section entitled "Mass Package Rebuilds -
Papering Over Cracks or Shaking the Tree?" we erroneously wrote:
"JohnPoelstra posted details of the Release Engineering Meeting.
ThorstenLeemhuis was against one of the decisions made in the meeting:
the rebuilding en masse of all packages at Test2 release time."
This should have read:
"JohnPoelstra posted details of the Release Engineering Meeting. These
included a note that a mass rebuild of all packages around, but no
later than test2 will be considered in the future. ThorstenLeemhuis
mentioned in a reply that he was against rebuilding en masse all
packages for each cycle."
=== Erratum #2 ===
In FWN #84, in the section entitled "Packaging Extensions for Mozilla
Applications: Security Implications" we misattributed an opinion to
VilleSkyttä:
"VilleSkyttä remembered a conversation from the past that suggested
there was some interest in packaging the extensions. He was
specifically interested in making it easier to obtain a 64-bit version
of enigmail."
This was in fact ThorstenLeemhuis, not VilleSkyttä.
== Feedback ==
This document is maintained by the Fedora News Team[1]. Please feel
free to contact us to give your feedback. If you'd like to contribute
to a future issue of the Fedora Weekly News, please see the Join[2]
page to find out how to help.
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join
--
Thomas Chung
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung
16 years, 1 month
Announcing Fedora 7 Test 4 (6.93)
by Will Woods
The Fedora Project is pleased to announce the release of the fourth and
final test release of Fedora 7!
Test 4 is for beta users. This is the time when we MUST have full
community participation. Without this participation both hardware and
software functionality suffers. We need your help. Join us!
Road Map And Release Schedule
=============================
This is the final test release before the final Fedora 7 release, which
is scheduled for May 24, 2007.
For further information see http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/7/
How to get it:
=============
DVD and network installation are available. We also offer three
different varieties of installable Live media - see "Live CD", below.
http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/
The recommended method of download is via BitTorrent from this site.
http://fedora.redhat.com/Download/mirrors.html
HTTP, FTP, and RSYNC downloads are available from Fedora Project mirrors
listed above. Note that not all mirrors may be synced at this time.
For those of you already running a pre-release version of Fedora 7, all
you need to do to upgrade to Test 4 is update your packages.
Release Notes:
=============
Testing focus
* Users of e1000 (Intel gigabit ethernet) devices should be on the
lookout for device lockups, although we believe this is fixed.
* The new wireless stack is working well but still needs testing.
In particular, iwlwifi (Intel 3945) has been troublesome in the
past but should be much better in this release.
* Upgrades from Fedora Core 6 (or older) should be tested, but
please
be careful - this is still a test release and we can't guarantee
everything will work as expected.
Important Warnings about the Test Release
* The 2.6.21 kernel uses new IDE drivers which use the same
'libata' subsystem as the SATA drivers. As a side-effect, IDE
devices previously named /dev/hdX will now be named /dev/sdX.
This may cause problems with anything that mentions devices by
name instead of by filesystem label. Anaconda should be able to
detect most of these problems and help you fix them.
General
* In previous test releases the default product was called
"Prime", but after feedback from Marketing and the community it
has been renamed simply "Fedora".
* Fedora 7 Test 4's primary product is a Desktop/Development
Workstation/Server distribution which closely matches the
contents of previous Fedora Core releases.
Live CD
* This test release includes three Live images: an i386 Desktop
Live CD, an x86_64 Desktop Live DVD, and an i386 KDE Live CD.
These Live CDs can be installed to disk using the graphical
Anaconda installer.
Desktop
* This test release features GNOME 2.18.
* The new Echo icon theme is no longer the default, although it is
still available from the repositories.
* KDE and Xfce, among several other packages, are included in the
development repositories, but not on the media. They can be
installed using the appropriate software management tools.
* Fast User Switching is now available via the
fast-user-switch-applet. See
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/FeatureFastUserSwitching
for more details.
* The internet messaging program called "Gaim" is now known as
"Pidgin". See http://pidgin.im/ for more info.
Performance
* System performance is generally slower in the test releases as
compared to the general release since we enable several options
that help with debugging.
* Yum / rpm performance should be better in this release than
previous Fedora 7 test releases.
System Level Changes
* Amanda Users who upgrade from older releases need to read the
amanda.conf and amanda-client.conf man pages to learn about the
the new syntax for calling amandad, as well as edit
the /etc/xinetd.d/amanda configuration file to follow the new
syntax.
* This release includes a kernel based on 2.6.21-rc7. Current
release information is tracked on the kernel release notes page:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/Kernel
Bug reporting and tracking:
==========================
The Release Engineering and QA teams keep track of bugs that are
considered release blockers. You can see that list here:
http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/showdependencytree.cgi?id=FC7Blocker
In addition, a list of non-blocker bugs that should be fixed for Fedora
7 if possible can be found here:
http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/showdependencytree.cgi?id=FC7Target
Please check these lists before reporting new bugs!
Bugs for this release should be reported against the Fedora Core
product, version 'devel'. You can use this convenient link to report
bugs:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/enter_bug.cgi?product=Fedora%
20Core&version=devel
About Fedora
============
Fedora is a set of projects sponsored by Red Hat and guided by the
contributors. These projects are developed by a large community of
people who strive to provide and maintain the very best in free, open
source software and standards. The central Fedora project is an
operating system and platform based on Linux that is always free for
anyone to use, modify, and distribute, now and forever.
You can help the Fedora Project community continue to improve Fedora if
you file bug reports and enhancement requests. Refer to
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugsAndFeatureRequests for more
information.
Thank you for your participation!
To find out more general information about Fedora, refer to the
following Web pages:
* Fedora Overview (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Overview)
* Fedora FAQ (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FAQ)
* Help and Support (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate)
* Participate in the Fedora Project
(http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/HelpWanted)
16 years, 1 month
Fedora Weekly News Issue 84
by Thomas Chung
= Fedora Weekly News Issue 84 =
Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 84[1] for the week of April 15th
through April 21st, 2007. The latest issue can always be found here[2]
and RSS Feed can be found here[3].
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue84
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/LatestIssue
[3] http://feeds.feedburner.com/fwn
[[TableOfContents]]
1. Fedora Weekly News Issue 84
1. Announcements
1. F7T4 and SATA/IDE Testing (This Means You!)
2. Multi-Lingual Release Announcement
3. firstname.lastname(a)fedoraproject.org is going away
2. Planet Fedora
1. The XO in the Real World
2. PIdgin hits Rawhide
3. Design a Linux logo for an Indy Racing Car
4. Volunteers Needed on Fedora Docs Project
3. Developments
1. Packaging Extensions for Mozilla Applications:
Security Implications
2. L10N Issue With system-sonfig-samba, Support or Bugreport?
3. Fedora 7 Release Notes Freeze: Going, going ...
4. Broken Dependencies in Fedora Extras. Mikmod To Be
Reverted. Packagers: Watch For Dlopens!
5. KDE LiveCD -- English Only, And Which parted GUI?
6. Mass Package Rebuilds - Papering Over Cracks or
Shaking the Tree?
7. Extras i386 Mock Rebuild -- Large Number of Failures
Due to Yum Bug
8. How To Deal With Binary Incompatibility Introduced
By Compiler Changes
9. The Great PERL Package Split
10. Add Option To Experiment With updates-testing To Firstboot?
4. Maintainers
1. How To Handle GPL Exceptions
2. Release Notes Freeze For Fedora 7
5. Documentation
1. FDSCo Meeting Minutes
2. Invite a Member
3. Default Home Page Links
4. Virtualization Guide
6. Translation
1. Entity Switchback
7. Infrastructure
1. Fedoraproject.org Email
8. Artwork
1. Echo SVGs
2. Default Test 4 Icon Theme
9. Security Week
1. Risk report: Two years of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
2. Macbook hacked at CanSecWest
10. Security Advisories
1. Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories
2. Fedora Core 5 Security Advisories
11. Events and Meetings
1. Release Engineering Meeting: 2007-04-16
2. Release Engineering Meeting: 2007-04-19
3. Packaging Committee Meeting: 2007-04-17
4. FESCo Meeting Summary for 2007-04-19
5. Event Report: ICT Week - PETRONAS University of
Technology (Malaysia)
6. Event Report: FISL 8.0 (Brazil)
12. Feedback
== Announcements ==
In this section, we cover announcements from various projects.
=== F7T4 and SATA/IDE Testing (This Means You!) ===
WillWoods announces in fedora-test-list[1] - This is your early
warning that F7 Test4 - the last of the pre-F7 test
releases[2] - is coming out NEXT WEEK.
IF YOU HAVE BEEN HAVING PROBLEMS WITH DISK DETECTION AND/OR OTHER
DISK-RELATED THINGS, please read this!
One of the biggest changes in F7 is the new IDE driver stack, which uses
libata (like the SATA drivers do). Not only are IDE hard drives now
called /dev/sdX, but they're using new and interesting code. This could
be (and has been) causing some problems relating to drive detection at
boot time and install time, especially with upgrades from FC6 and
earlier.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-test-list/2007-April/msg00289.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraTesting
=== Multi-Lingual Release Announcement ===
KarstenWade announces in fedora-marketing-list[1] - The time has come
to produce the final list of talking points[2] we want
covered in the F7 release.
By producing this list, we are enabling writers to write a
native-language, region-specific version of the Fedora 7 release
announcement.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-April/msg00093...
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Drafts/ReleaseAnnouncements/TalkingPoints
=== firstname.lastname(a)fedoraproject.org is going away ===
MikeMcGrath announces in fedora-announce-list[1] - Please note that in
one week (April 25th)
firstname.lastname(a)fedoraproject.org email addresses are going away.
These reasons are purely technical. People that need exceptions should
contact someone on the infrastructure team[2] or stop by #fedora-admin on
irc.freenode.net for consideration on a case by case basis.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2007-April/msg00004....
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure
== Planet Fedora ==
In this secton, we cover a highlight of Planet Fedora - an aggregation
of blogs from world wide Fedora contributors.
http://planet.fedoraproject.org/
=== The XO in the Real World ===
JohnPalmieri points out in his blog[1] - "The FISL congress is over
and it was great talking to the enormous amount of people who showed
interest in the XO learning laptop and the OLPC project[2]. It was
nice to see people's interest turn into large smiles by the time I was
done explaining the project and answering their questions. Many stayed
for fifteen minute or more and some even came back multiple times to
play around with the machines and ask more questions."
"The experience made the long hours working the booth worth it. It
also affirmed to me the real reasons I decided to work on the project
when given the chance to switch from Red Hat's desktop group."
[1] http://www.j5live.com/?p=357
[2] http://www.laptop.org/
=== PIdgin hits Rawhide ===
WarrenTogami points out in his blog[1] - "A pre-beta7 snapshot of
pidgin-2.0.0[2] is in FE7, and gaim is now removed from Core. This
gives us a small window for gaim-* plugin package maintainers to
rename the plugin packages, and for everyone to test that an upgrade
from gaim to pidgin goes smoothly for the core application and all
plugins."
"nautilus-sendto seemed to be the only package within Core with a dep
on gaim. I have rebuilt nautilus-sendto without that gaim dep for
now. We will be able to re-add it later only after the distributions
are merged, since pidgin is now in Extras. We have put pidgin
directly into Extras in order to avoid issues where it must build
against other packages in Extras like meanwhile-devel."
[1] http://wtogami.livejournal.com/16260.html
[2] http://www.pidgin.im/
=== Design a Linux logo for an Indy Racing Car ===
MairinDuffy points out in her blog[1] - "Thought you open source
artists out there might be interested: Tux 500 Logo Contest[2]"
[1] http://mihmo.livejournal.com/40576.html
[2] http://tux500.com/contest.php
=== Volunteers Needed on Fedora Docs Project ===
JohnBabich points out in his blog[1] - "I am reading with concern
regarding the great work that three individuals are doing on the
Fedora 7 Release Notes: Paul, Rahul and Karsten. They do a terrific
job with the result being best-in-class documentation[2] for each
release of Fedora Linux. They are three highly-committed people who
work behind-the-scenes to do a mostly thankless job."
"Therefore, I am appealing to the Fedora community (and beyond) to
contribute time and talent to help keep Fedora one of the best
community distros available."
[1] http://jmbuser.livejournal.com/1450.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Join
== Developments ==
In this section, we cover the problems/solutions,
people/personalities, and ups/downs of the endless discussions on
Fedora Developments.
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/
=== Packaging Extensions for Mozilla Applications: Security Implications ===
Firefox, Thunderbird, and other applications often have optional and
popular functional extensions available. The code for these does not
pass through the Fedora packaging process, and updating/removing them
is not recorded in the rpmdb, leading to external code (in the
applications with the most security problems [1]) being installed
without trace.
[1] http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/04/18/risk-report-two-years-of-red-hat...
VilleSkyttä remembered [2] a conversation from the past that suggested
there was some interest in packaging the extensions. He was
specifically interested in making it easier to obtain a 64-bit version
of enigmail. ChristopherAillon responded that the only way he could
see of doing it was a bit ugly [3], by querying RPM in %post and
requiring triggers. OwenTaylor had some opposite experience with
mugshot, which uses triggers but avoids the RPM queries; it might be
useful to anyone seeking to package Firefox extensions [4].
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00855.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00858.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00859.html
EnricoScholz wondered [4a] why Firefox was packaged in a way that
seemed inimical to an rpm-based system (using versioned directories in
/usr/lib). Christopher explained that this was because of a
non-stable ABI, and that Enrico's proposed alternatives seemed a bit
hackish [4b], but Enrico remained unconvinced based on his experience
with packaging 15 extensions for Firefox-1.5. OwenTaylor agreed with
Enrico that the packaging of Firefox seemed to have no advantage other
than for parallel installs of different versions [4c].
[4a] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00876.html
[4b] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00881.html
[4c] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00888.html
Owen was further of the opinion that actual binaries were profitably
packaged but that if it was just script (e.g. XUL or JavaScript), it
was best to leave the end-user to deal with it themselves.
Countering, EnricoScholz brought up the security angle [5] and also
the simplicity and ease of use that we've all grown accustomed to from
Fedora's repositories. ChristopherAillon introduced a distinction
between trust and security and referenced the recent Mozilla
Developer's Summit that discussed this issue, leading AndrewOverholt
to request further details to aid in a similar problem facing Eclipse
packagers [6].
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00868.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00873.html
This was an interesting discussion that could affect a large number of
projects. Extensibility through scripting is something that many
applications offer, and if there's an easy way to re-use other
people's code, then that will be taken by many end users regardless of
risks.
=== L10N Issue With system-sonfig-samba, Support or Bugreport? ===
In a pleasant and productive exchange, AlainPortal pointed out some
problems with the presence of two strings in a pot[1] file, leading to
a non-translatable interface for system-config-samba. His attempts to
get the attention of the maintainer prompted a gentle caution [2] from
GilboaDavara that @fedora-devel was not a support list and that it
would be better to file a bugzilla entry.
The developer, NilsPhillipsen, wasn't disturbed and didn't think that
he was being pestered for support [3] and encouraged a bugzilla entry.
[1] ''pot'' files are a standard, human-readable way of providing for
localization of string in software.
http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html#Files
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01088.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01101.html
=== Fedora 7 Release Notes Freeze: Going, going ... ===
KarstenWade announced [1] on Friday April 20th 2007 that there were
only 24 hours to get changes to the release notes incorporated into
the ISO. The good news is that the Web-based release notes can be
updated any time, so if you miss(ed) this deadline, then you can still
communicate essential information.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01125.html
For those of us that have suffered with weird Sony VAIO cdrom install
issues in the past, ChuckAnderson raised a very useful question [2]
about whether the current information in the release notes was useful
(after the move to libata).
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01128.html
AlanCox was worried that anyone that had one of these VAIOs (with
external CDROM) would not be able to install F7 and asked that if
anyone does have one, to do an "lspci -vxxxx" with the cardbus
controller inserted and to send it to him [3].
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01133.html
=== Broken Dependencies in Fedora Extras. Mikmod To Be Reverted.
Packagers: Watch For Dlopens! ===
The April 19th 2007 automatically generated report of broken
dependencies in Fedora Extras [1] revealed that an update of mikmod
was playing havoc with a lot of packages. HansdeGoede was one of the
maintainers of many of these and along with others argued that it was
far too late in the release cycle to introduce a change like this.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01047.html
JindrichNovy agreed, and while admitting to being the guilty party,
explained that mikmod was pretty stagnant and that the beta fork had
some worthwhile improvements [2]. He suggested making this change
after the release of F7.
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01110.html
DominikMierzejewski ('Rathann') was bitten [3] by the perl packaging
problems mentioned in this same FWN issue.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01060.html
After HansdeGoede suggested that the list might be incomplete,
MichaelSchwendt asserted that the tool that generates these reports
(repoclosure) was pretty smart. Hans didn't deny this but wondered if
it would miss some specific cases [4], such as a library being
explicitly loaded within code by dlopen, and thus avoiding rpm's
autodependency generation. Michael assented to this and said that it
was the responsibility of the packager to look out for this sort of
thing.
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01087.html
=== KDE LiveCD -- English Only, And Which parted GUI? ===
The KDE LiveCD team has been making great strides to showcase what
this highly polished desktop environment can bring to the Fedora user
experience[1].
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/FeatureFedoraKDE/KDELiveCD
SebastianVahl was concerned that this LiveCD is only available in
English and he proposed two directions in which localized versions
might be made available [2]. These boil down to either making a huge
DVD, or else to making a good tutorial so that users of other
languages can localize the CD for themselves. Comments are solicited.
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01034.html
A decision also needs to be made about whether to go with gparted or
qtparted[3]. According to CallumLerwick, GilboaDavra, and
FrankSchmitt, ntfs-formatted partitions can be resized with gparted
but not with qtparted[4] (which is seemingly unmaintained since 2004),
and that gparted is going into the LiveCD on that basis[5].
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01028.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01033.html
[5] http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=234082
=== Mass Package Rebuilds - Papering Over Cracks or Shaking the Tree? ===
JohnPoelstra posted details of the Release Engineering Meeting[1].
ThorstenLeemhuis was against one of the decisions made in the meeting:
the rebuilding en masse of all packages at Test2 release time. His
worries about the bandwidth impact versus the potential gains were
discussed with DaveJones [2], who wondered if those that could be
affected were likely to be running rawhide. Thorsten argued that
while they might not, they could still be affected if they simply
tried to upgrade from a stable release of Fedora N to Fedora N+1. A
brief exchange with AxelThimm unearthed the difficulty of obtaining
concrete historical data as to what extent Fedora was rebuilt in the
past, but the figures looked high.
1. https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00900.html
2. https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00904.html
In a separate branch of the same discussion, Axel came out very
strongly in favor of the rebuilds [3], asserting that in essence
avoiding rebuilds is just papering over the cracks and shifting bugs
from development to maintenance, and that it is better to identify
security and other problems and fix them prior to release.
3. https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00909.html
Following input from JakubJelinek [4], JesseKeating noted that
rebuilds should not be carried out merely to shake the tree and see
what falls out, but when there are specific problems expected due to
large changes in some critical components.
4. https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00942.html
=== Extras i386 Mock Rebuild -- Large Number of Failures Due to Yum Bug ===
MattDomsch posted the latest report on Dell's rebuilding of Extras
packages in mock[1]. As usual, this report contains details of how
many packages built/failed to build succesfully. MamoruTasaka noticed
that one of the reported failures actually built succesfully for
him[2].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00894.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00895.html
HansdeGoede and MarcinZajączkowski were also surprised to see their
names appear [3] and didn't think there was a reason for their
packages to break. JesseKeating noticed that the version of yum being
used by Matt was lacking a crucial bug fix and that many of the
failures were a result of that rather than a problem with the packages
themselves. The errors were false-negatives rather than
false-positives and Matt wasn't too concerned about having to rebuild
the tiny fraction compared to the thousands that had been succesfully
processed.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00950.html
=== How To Deal With Binary Incompatibility Introduced By Compiler Changes ===
As always, Fedora aggressively pursues the latest stable versions of
software, including essential components of the compiler toolchain.
PatriceDumas was worried about the potential for binary
incompatibility resulting from the introduction of gfortran as a
replacement for the aging g77[1]. AndrewHaley sought
clarification[2] of the problem that Patrice was trying to solve,
suggesting that using an "soname" was the usual way to track changes
in the Application Binary Interface (ABI) [2a]. Patrice argued that
this would lead to using a different soname version in Fedora than was
being used upstream [3].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00890.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00916.html
[2a] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_Binary_Interface
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00926.html
It seemed that there was some confusion and JakubJelinek helpfully
suggested[4] that what was at issue was not the binary compatibility
of essential compiler libraries, but rather the potential for creating
a namespace clash between sonames of other libraries that have been
built with different ABI versions of the compiler. This would make
user-compiled binaries made with older versions of the library fail to
link properly to the library, but it would not be possible to detect
the error because the soname would be the same. Jakub clarified that
what should be done is to talk to upstream for each library about a
name change.
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00935.html
LinusWallej, EmmanualSeymann, and AndrewHaley further clarified that
rebuilding all these user-compiled programs dependent on a library
with a non-stable ABI was The Fedora Way[5]. Linus also suggested
that getting the programs into Fedora if they were generally useful
would be a good idea[6] and observed that many vendors target RHEL
instead because they like the stability of the ABI whereas Fedora will
do (within reason) whatever is innovative. Patrice seemed happy with
the outcome, but also believed that more documentation about ABI
practices was required.
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00934.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00971.html
=== The Great PERL Package Split ===
In line with the principle of modularizing packages as much as
possible, RobinNorwood announced[1] the splitting of development
packages out of the main perl package. The current situation is that
each current perl package has a "BuildRequires:perl-devel" dependency.
This results in users being concerned and confused that they have a
"devel" package on their system when they did not request it.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00886.html
Robin outlined the two main ways of fixing this as discussed on
@fedora-perl-devel: 1) fix each package by removing the requires; 2)
fix each package and also split out 5, or so, other development
related packages and add them to the buildroots. Robin sought
feedback from maintainers on their preferred option.
Some early feedback from key project members indicated that such major
restructuring would be preferred after the release of F7. Robin,
while apologizing for the late timing, pointed out the benefits and
relatively low cost[2] as he saw it. MattDomsch wondered how
widespread the breakage would be and JasonLTibbitts and ChrisAdams
made some estimates, noting that it wasn't only every perl-<somename>
package, but at least 100 others[3]. MattMiller and others argued
that such breakage would quickly alert the package owner who could
then fix it easily. VilleSkyttä and RalfCorsepius raised problems
with this fix[4].
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00972.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00993.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01012.html
RalfCorsepius and ChrisAdams wondered [5] about the problem of a
package that was generated using autoconf, which would just leave any
optional perl dependencies out and build the package without failure,
but with reduced functionality. This was agreed to be a corner-case
that could be neglected.
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01016.html
JesseKeating and ChrisWeyl [6] were concerned with the problem of what
might be, in effect, a Fedora-centric redefinition of what could be
considered to be "core" PERL modules. Jesse's over-riding concern was
that anyone wanting to rebuild from shipped SRPMs should be able to do
so easily[7].
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01065.html
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00980.html
=== Add Option To Experiment With updates-testing To Firstboot? ===
Following up on a suggestion of DaveJones', ChrisBrown suggested that
firstboot be modified to ask users whether they wanted access to the
updates-testing packages[1]. WillWoods thought[2] that it would be
better to draw attention to, and inform users about, repoman. One of
the concerns that Chris sought to address is that updates-testing gets
little actual testing. LukeMacken and JackTanner discussed[3] the
problem of removing packages from update-testing that had failed
community QA; in passing, Luke noted that in future all non-security
updates would have to pass through testing, which might help to
revitalize it. Luke also drew attention to bodhi, which should make
pushing updates easier in the future.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01072.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01119.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01176.html
== Maintainers ==
In this section, we cover Fedora Maintainers, the group of people who
maintain the software packages in Fedora
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/
=== How To Handle GPL Exceptions ===
Starting off the week on the fedora-maintainers-list was a question
from a concerned Fedora package reviewer who was unsure how to handle
an exception clause in the GPL license[1]. Rahul Sundaram chimed in
saying that if the GPL exception restricts the license it may cause
problems, but if it's more lax then it should be fine.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00305.html
=== Release Notes Freeze For Fedora 7 ===
This week also marked the freeze for the ISO-based release notes.
Changes to the release notes now only affect the web-based release
notes as the process of converting the release notes from the Wiki to
XML has started[1].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00432.html
== Documentation ==
In this section, we cover the Fedora Documentation Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject
=== FDSCo Meeting Minutes ===
Both the log[1] and the summary[2] for the 2007-04-15 meeting are
available here:
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/date.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00101.html
The main topics included updates to the Desktop User Guide for Fedora
7, Fedora 7 Test 4 release notes, some more Google Summer of Code
thoughts and also some discussions about the Administration Guide.
=== Invite a Member ===
The new Fedora accounts system will have the ability for existing
members to invite friends, or others they think would be interested in
helping out with Fedora, to join the project. MikeMcGrath requested
ideas on the best phrasing for these e-mail invites[1]. PaulWFrields
replied with his suggestion of an appropriate message[2].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00104.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00105.html
=== Default Home Page Links ===
There was a proposal that it might be a good idea to include links to
some sites related to Free Culture, in a broader sense than software
alone, on the default Fedora 7 home page. The original proposal
suggested that sites such as Jamendo or Magnatune would be a
worthwhile addition[1]. Concerns were raised that this might transform
the home page in to an advertising medium, resulting in some users
losing faith in the standards of the home page[2]. Perhaps this is an
opportunity to define exactly what criteria are required for inclusion
in the homepage[3].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00114.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00129.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00135.html
=== Virtualization Guide ===
The Virtualization Guide needed updating for Fedora 7 to include
information on KVM[1], which was promptly addressed[2].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00133.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00147.html
== Translation ==
This section, we cover the news surrounding the Fedora Translation
(L10n) Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N
=== Entity Switchback ===
PaulFrields posted this message[1] which detailed the changes to
xml2po (now xml2po -e). He also mentioned that the number of fuzzy
entries appears to be fewer than initially thought.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00065.html
== Infrastructure ==
In this section, we cover Fedora Infrastructure Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure
=== Fedoraproject.org Email ===
MikeMcGrath made the email changes[1] discussed last week so that the
firstname.lastname(a)fedoraproject.org are no longer valid. The change
was made because of duplicity and processing problems.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg...
== Artwork ==
In this section, we cover Fedora Artwork Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork
=== Echo SVGs ===
MatthiasClasen reports that, while investigating the possibility of
including SVGs in the Echo package to improve coverage of smaller
icons, the size of the echo-icon-theme package increases to 70MB[1].
This lead to the discovery that some of the larger icons suffer from a
number of bloat problems revolving around jpeg thumbnails and excess
XML tags. A script was written that removes a lot of this bloat
reducing the size of some icons considerably: 416K to 18K in one
case.[2] There are still some problems with this script, resulting in
some icons not rendering correctly, but it is being worked on
constantly.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00064.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00065.html
=== Default Test 4 Icon Theme ===
As a result of the inclusion of Echo SVGs not being the quick-fix for
smaller size coverage that was hoped, MatthiasClasen proposed that
Bluecurve/Clearlooks may have to fall back to the default Fedora 7
icon theme[1]. This led to some discussion about possible alternative
icon themes for Fedora 7 and Mist appeared as a popular choice[2];
Mist has now been made the default icon theme for Fedora 7 Test 4[3].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00085.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00087.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00102.html
== Security Week ==
In this section, we highlight the security stories from the week in Fedora.
=== Risk report: Two years of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 ===
MarkCox wrote an interesting article looking at the last two years of
security flaws in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4[1]. The information in
this article is interesting to anyone who tracks open source security
flaws. There is not a lot of public analysis of open source security
flaws. The article does focus on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, but the
trends represented apply to any Linux distribution.
[1] http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/04/18/risk-report-two-years-of-red-hat...
=== Macbook hacked at CanSecWest ===
Apple's OS X is currently gaining attention in the security world[1].
Historically people have considered OS X to be very secure and mostly
virus and hack free. This is starting to change as researchers have
been paying attention to the Mac lately. Part of this is probably the
challenge it presents. Those of us in the Linux world have been
enjoying a similar situation. There is little fear of viruses, and as
long as one applies security updates, there isn't much fear of being
compromised.
[1] http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-6178131.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&su...
There are many people who will argue that the real reason for this is
that Linux is more secure by design. I believe it's a combination of
things. Historically Linux users have been a bit more savvy, this is
starting to change. In the past, the desktop was also very simple.
This too is changing. As Gnome and KDE gain functionality, they also
gain more security flaws. For example, the fact that the desktop will
display a thumbnail of many different file types gives an attacker a
doorway into a system. They of course need to convince a user into
downloading a file, but as we've seen from many viruses, this is not
as hard as it sounds. I hope that various technologies such as
SELinux and Exec-Shield will help keep most of the trash away, the
human factor cannot be fixed as easily. As long as people are willing
to open attachments, and visit random web sites, viruses will exist.
As a friend of mine used to say "We're OK until the toaster people
start using it." The "toaster people" are the normal people confused
by the knob on their toasters :)
== Security Advisories ==
In this section, we cover Security Advisories from fedora-package-announce.
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/
=== Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories ===
* FEDORA-2007-453: tcp_wrappers-7.6-40.3.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-453
* FEDORA-2007-436: coreutils-5.97-12.5.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-436
* FEDORA-2007-434: hplip-1.7.2-3.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-434
* FEDORA-2007-452: openoffice.org-2.0.4-5.5.22 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-452
* FEDORA-2007-451: scim-tables-0.5.7-2.1.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-451
* FEDORA-2007-442: selinux-policy-2.4.6-57.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-442
* FEDORA-2007-447: openoffice.org-2.0.4-5.5.21 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-447
* FEDORA-2007-428: yum-3.0.6-1.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-428
* FEDORA-2007-444: Fmc-4.6.1a-36.20070124cvs.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-444
* FEDORA-2007-415: php-5.1.6-3.5.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-415
* FEDORA-2007-440: [SECURITY] gstreamer-0.10.11-1.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-440
* FEDORA-2007-383: rhythmbox-0.9.8-2.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-383
* FEDORA-2007-410: tk2-2.10.8-3.fc6 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-410
=== Fedora Core 5 Security Advisories ===
* FEDORA-2007-455: [SECURITY] php-5.1.6-1.5 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC5/FEDORA-2007-455
* FEDORA-2007-454: tcp_wrappers-7.6-40.3.fc5 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC5/FEDORA-2007-454
* FEDORA-2007-414: [SECURITY] Image``Magick-6.2.5.4-4.2.1.fc5.8 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC5/FEDORA-2007-414
* FEDORA-2007-445: mc-4.6.1a-36.20070124cvs.fc5 -
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC5/FEDORA-2007-445
== Events and Meetings ==
In this section, we cover event reports and meeting summaries from
various projects.
=== Release Engineering Meeting: 2007-04-16 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-advisory-board/2007-April/msg00113...
=== Release Engineering Meeting: 2007-04-19 ===
* http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01092.html
=== Packaging Committee Meeting: 2007-04-17 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00338.html
=== FESCo Meeting Summary for 2007-04-19 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00448.html
=== Event Report: ICT Week - PETRONAS University of Technology (Malaysia) ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg002...
=== Event Report: FISL 8.0 (Brazil) ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg003...
== Feedback ==
This document is maintained by the Fedora News Team[1]. Please feel
free to contact us to give your feedback. If you'd like to contribute
to a future issue of the Fedora Weekly News, please see the Join[2]
page to find out how to help.
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join
--
Thomas Chung
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung
16 years, 1 month
firstname.lastname@fedoraproject.org is going away
by Mike McGrath
Please note that in one week (April 25th)
firstname.lastname(a)fedoraproject.org email addresses are going away.
These reasons are purely technical. People that need exceptions should
contact someone on the infrastructure team or stop by #fedora-admin on
irc.freenode.net for consideration on a case by case basis.
-Mike
16 years, 1 month
Fedora Weekly News Issue 83
by Thomas Chung
= Fedora Weekly News Issue 83 =
Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 83[1] for the week of April 8th
through April 14th, 2007. The latest issue can always be found
here[2].
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue83
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/LatestIssue
== Announcements ==
In this section, we cover announcements from various projects.
=== Fedora Wiki Accounts ===
MikeMcGrath announces in fedora-announce-list[1] - In response to our
wiki woes, we have decided to delete all wiki accounts that are not
watching any pages and are not in the EditGroup[2].
This will help speed page saves up because of the way moin iterates
over users to see who to notify. Those wishing to keep an account
should simply sign up again.
Please direct any questions to admin at fedoraproject.org
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2007-April/msg00002....
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EditGroup
=== Fedora-Extras-List going to be closed end of this week ===
ThorstenLeemhuis announces in fedora-extras-list[1] -
fedora-extras-list will thereby get closed soon, probably on Friday or
Saturday this week; no further posting will be possible here.
fedora-devel-list[2] will be the mailing that acts as the direct
successor for fedora-extras-list; all subscriber on this list that are
not yet on fedora-devel-list got invited there some minutes ago.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-extras-list/2007-April/msg00033.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
=== Fedora Development (2007-04-11) Live i386 image available ===
JeremyKatz announces in fedora-test-list[1] - I've put up a copy of a
live CD image[2] based on the current Fedora Development tree as of
today for those that are interested in some pre-test4 testing.
For package bugs, please file them against the specific package. For
more general bugs with the LiveCD, you can file them against the
LiveCD component for Fedora Core, version devel.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-test-list/2007-April/msg00214.html
[2] http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/torrents/rawhide-20070411-i386-live.torrent
== Planet Fedora ==
In this secton, we cover a highlight of Planet Fedora - a aggregation
of blogs from world wide Fedora contributors.
http://planet.fedoraproject.org/
=== Fedora's Pidgin Plan ===
WarrenTogami points out in his blog[1] - The Gaim project[2] signed a
trademark settlement with AOL, and will be changing their name to
Pidgin.
Upstream is planning on a pidgin-2.0.0-beta7. They are trying to
settle a pref migration blocker before cutting this beta release.
This beta7 will give Fedora critically important window, where we
must move quickly to prepare for the final 2.0.0 release. We must fix
all dependencies by fixing up and renaming the numerous gaim-* plugin
packages, and be sure the entire collection automatically upgrades
cleanly with yum. That should smoothen our upgrade into 2.0.0 that is
expected soon thereafter. When we are satisfied with the 2.0.0 final
+ all plugin packages in F7, we will do the same to FC6.
[1] http://wtogami.livejournal.com/16001.html
[2] http://www.pidgin.im/
=== Spread Open Media ===
NicuBuculei points out in his blog[1] - We, at the Open Clip Art
Library[2], together with Xiph.org[3] are hosting a contest for
creating a logo and maybe a mascot for Spread Open Media. All
submissions should be in SVG format and released as Public Domain, so
they cam become part of the Open Clip Art Library. The contest started
on 10 April 2007 and will end on 05 May 2007. Using those
contributions as a base, a lot of materials like banners, buttons,
badges, icons, fliers, t-shirts will be created.
[1] http://nicubunu.blogspot.com/2007/04/spread-open-media.html
[2] http://openclipart.org/
[3] http://www.xiph.org/
== Developments ==
In this section, we cover the problems/solutions,
people/personalities, and ups/downs of the endless discussions on
fedora-devel-list.
=== Bad gnome-user-share, Bad! ===
MattMiller noticed that ''gnome-user-share'' was trying out some new
tricks [1] and wanted it to stop. Specifically he questioned the
wisdom of a Gnome desktop environment needing to include httpd because
g-u-s is in the group and works by using WebDAV. JesseKeating pointed
him upstream and argued that it was safe because a user had to
consciously switch it on, to which JonCiesla agreed [2] "''+1. If
the nailgun is unplugged, in the box, and the nails are in a
separate box, why not ship them? Provide the functionality, but in a safe
manner. Is this not the current state?''". Further discussion led to
the idea [3] of breaking out the apache server config from the g-u-s
stuff. NicolasMailhot wondered why the gnome-daemon was not able to
just drop the right file into /etc/httpd/conf.d and OwenTaylor tried
to get to the root [4] of Matt's objections.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00414.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00417.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00431.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00448.html
=== Mgetty Still Maintained ? Or, How To Patch And Rebuild From Source RPMs ===
In a redirected question [1] from fedora-list, Don Russell wondered if
mgetty was under active maintenance. Don had opened a Bugzilla
report and noted that there were year-old updates available that
weren't packaged for FC6. Dragoran and Dexter helped him out with
obtaining the source code [2][3] so that he could build a fixed
version himself.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00301.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00348.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00383.html
=== Administrative Tools Emancipated From GTK+ Tyranny ===
An enquiry [1] from a potential new developer led to suggestions of
which projects might profitably be attempted. Noting his C/Qt
experience KevinKofler suggested [2] helping with KDE4 packaging.
OttoRey was led to wonder [3] whether there were clear mini-RFCs or
other specs for dependency checking. Vlad suggested [4] improving KDE
integration by writing KDE versions of the administrative tools, which
all have GTK+ frontends, but no KDE GUI frontends. RexDieter then
drew attention [5] to ``guidance`` which does much of Vlad's extensive
list. Rex was seeking [6] a co/maintainer for the package, which is
already in the review process. MattMiller observed [7] that an
important side-effect of rewriting the tools so that there's a
GUI-independent back-end will be that root-privileged operations will
also be taken out of the GUI front-end.
The issue was further discussed in a separate thread [8], with
DavidZeuthen enlarging [9] on Matt's point about privilege separation
and arguing cogently for people to take a look at PolicyKit instead of
just Qtifying apps which are currently GTK+ based. JaneDogalt
suggested [10] that a scriptable backend would be very welcome. Later
NicolasMailhot and RichardHughes discussed the implications [11] for
embedded systems and Richard mentioned the OHM project.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00318.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00322.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00640.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00321.html
[5] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=233603
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00325.html
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00358.html
[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00752.html
[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00760.html
[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00761.html
[11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00767.html
=== Readahead Lists Need an Update For Rawhide? ===
The prolific MarkG85 noted [1] that ``readahead`` was apparently not
in use for Firefox-2.x in rawhide and that it was very beneficial for
Firefox-1.5.x, also that it might be nice to add the default
gnome-panel applets. ZakKarel agreed [12] and said that he'd generate
updated readahead lists close to the freeze. Zak also pointed out the
useful readahead-collector tool [3] which allows the generation of
customized lists for a particular machine.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00340.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00596.html
[3] https://hosted.fedoraproject.org/projects/readahead
=== DELL firmware packaging Saga Continues. A Bug Gets Squished In
rpmUtils.updates.py ===
In today's episode we ask "Can YUM Upgrade ''noarch'' to a specific
''arch''?" Acting upon feedback previously received [1] MichaelEBrown
(Dell's maintainer of firmware packages) was [2] still seeking a
clean, approved way of packaging the firmware. It seemed from his
tests that Yum failed (in FC6) to update the firmware-addon-dell
packages that he had converted from being noarch. MichaelSchwendt
posted a [3] counter-example. Reports from TillMaas led MichaelEBrown
to investigate [4] whether this was specifically a problem in updating
from noarch -> x86_64 as the noarch -> i386 seemed to work. SethVidal
and MattMiller both tried to help, and later MichaelEBrown reported
[5] that an IRC conversation with Seth suggested that it was a bug in
rpmUtils.updates.py which only reared its head on multilib systems and
that there was a temporary work-around. Seth soon posted a patch to
the open bugzilla which MichaelEBrown confirmed as a fix [6].
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue82#head-e789a3701a1a299c6dc46feeae...
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00359.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00364.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00366.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00378.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00409.html
=== When Will iwlwifi Work? ===
A polite [1] enquiry from ThomasBaker noted that iwlwifi had been in
the kernel for a bit, didn't work and it would be good to know if
users should wait to test fixes, or just go and install the alternate
ipw3945 driver. AndyGreen found that it worked on a WPA network,
TomLondon found that it didn't [2] (and was testing with each fresh
Rawhide kernel and then installing ipw3945). JoshBoyer rebuffed [3]
the idea of using JohnLinville's custom kernels because the point was
to test rawhide. JohnLinville and others noted that unless people
actually try the linville packages then it will be difficult to
determine what works and should be propagated into rawhide as a fix.
John confirmed to RichardHughes that upstream would be getting an
iwlwifi fix from him soon [4].
After all this there was some confusion about what the "Linville test
kernels" were. Dragoran clarified the matter in a response [5] to
ThomasBaker, pointing out a bugzilla in which JohnLinville had rolled
up some patches written upstream after Dragoran had prodded them with
a pointy stick. The Linville page also describes these kernels as ''
Kernels available here are explicitly NOT official Red Hat kernels.
These kernels are for testing and/or experimentation. There is
absolutely no guarantee that any patches present in these kernels will
actually be made available either upstream or as part of any official
Red Hat kernel.'' However testing is of course appreciated and
obviously affects what goes into rawhide.
As a sidenote, EricMagaoay and Nicolas (kwizart) noted that the
firmware for zd1211rw_mac80211 seemed to work, was under review and
needed the wireless-tools package to be updated to stay in sync [6].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00505.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00507.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00510.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00579.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00514.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00553.html
=== Where are VirtualProvides Documented? ===
A question [1] about the difference in meaning between "Provides:MTA"
and "Provides:smtpdaemon" was posed by VilleSkyttä. The question
seemed to have been considered [2] deeply by ManuelWolfshant, as
maintainer of ssmtp, who along with PatriceDumas now believes [3] that
the problem is to do with mdadm having an incorrect requires.
JonathanUnderwood noted [4] that his proposals for TeX dealt with the
issue of virtual provides.
JesseKeating asked whether this in fact concerned the "alternatives"
system and Ville argued [5] that it did, but that was a rewording of
his original question. Ville and Patrice seemed to cohere on a
solution [6] which involved removing mta/MTA from the "Provides" (but
not touching the alternatives namespace) and using /bin/mail as a
"Requires", and sifting through packages which have a "Provides:
smtpdaemon" and fixing them.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00377.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00390.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00395.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00382.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00408.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00422.html
=== RFE: Mirror/server Do Not Remove Old Kernel From Updates ===
GilboaDavra posted an RFE inspired by a late-night / early-morning
tale of woe in which a completely cleaned yum cache and an "rpm -e"
left him with a dead machine. His suggestion [1] is that the last
five kernels should be left on mirrors so that people could revert if
necessary.
LeszekMatok was unsympathetic to what he perceived as a support
request for proprietary software (VMware), but Gilboa wasn't having
any of it [2]. TonyNelson thought that keeping older versions of the
kernel about was a good idea, prompting JesseKeating to ask for recent
sightings of the mythical beast Unlimited Storage [3]. Gilboa stuck
to his guns and brought specific figures into the picture [4] to show
that the last five '''released''' kernels for one architecture would
only consume 400MB. Interestingly, Jesse responded that post-merge
(once Koji is in use) these should be available [5]
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00401.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00420.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00427.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00451.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00453.html
=== Three Changes to Packaging Guidelines: 1. Binary Firmware; 2.
Post-Release Naming, 3; BuildRoot Prepping ===
1. TomCallaway (spot) posted a [1] that the License tag for
non-modifiable firmware should be changed. This led to a query as to
whether madwifi-ng could be included in Fedora. ThorstenLeemhuis
responded [2] with the conditional information that it would appear
not to be the case, as it was more like a static library than a
firmware. This interpretation was confirmed by JoshBoyer.
2. A [3] new definition of a "post release" package and specific
attention to non-numeric versions was posted. There was no
@fedora-devel discussion of this change.
3. An additional subsection now [4] prepping the buildroot properly.
TomLane thought it was a bug that each and every specfile had to do
this. In response [5] JesseKeating acknowleged that it was a bug but
thought there were many more important things upon which rpm
developers should work. MichaelSchroeder of SUSE had a helpful
suggestion [6].
Further discussion between TomCallaway, PanuMatilainen and others [7]
centered around the benefits of fixing the rpm bug, thus completely
breaking older RPM packages.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00465.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00484.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00466.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00467.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00490.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00492.html
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00629.html
=== Bugzilla Policy: Should FC4 Bug Filing Be Banned? ===
Some thought it was a joke [1], but MattMiller was deadly serious [2].
The problem is that there is no way to not receive reports still
automatically generated for FC4 (which should really be turned into
petfood). JesseKeating replied that there was a plan [3] to create a
new "product" which only got current (F7 and rawhide) bugs. It would
then be possible to only receive bug reports for that product.
MikeWiktowy worried [4] that this would only buy a year's grace,
leading Jesse to clarify that what he wanted was to see unsupported
releases in one product, and only the current release and development
in the new Fedora product.
MattMiller was also led to clarify (with tears almost audible in his
email) that people were still filing bugs against FC5 [5]. Matt was
then invited to join the FedoraQA meeting for further discussion [6].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00561.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00560.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00644.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00647.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00659.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00678.html
== Maintainers ==
In this section, we cover Fedora Maintainers.
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/
=== "FC6" in Fedora 7 ===
With FWN's inaugural coverage of the fedora-maintainers-list, we begin
with the presence of the "fc6" disttag in some Fedora 7 packages.
Rahul Sundaram had expressed concern[1] over this occurring and had
suggested rebuilding the packages to prevent this.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00132.html
=== Packaging Guideline Changes ===
The Fedora Packaging Committee had also approved a change to the
packaging guideline for the license tag and naming firmware packages
to <foo>-firmware. Other guidelines changes made over the past week
include those for post release naming, prepping buildroot for
%install, and UTF-8 filenames.
=== Fedora 7 Test 4 Freeze ===
Jesse Keating also reaffirmed that the Fedora 7 Test 4 freeze[1] will
start next Tuesday (April 17). The freeze for Test 4 also marks the
point at which only bug fixes should enter Fedora 7.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00275.html
== Documentation ==
In this section, we cover the Fedora Documentation Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject
=== Fedora 7 Desktop User Guide ===
JohnBabich has come forward and volunteered as the lead writer for the
Desktop User Guide in the build up to Fedora 7.[1]
Throughout the week there has been a lot of discussion about the
Desktop User Guide and the direction it should be taken in: the use of
screenshots[2]; making the document more task orientated and the best
layout to achieve this[3]; providing coverage of alternative desktop
environments and the best approach to achieve this[4].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00042.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00059.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00068.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00061.html
=== Common Snippets ===
As reported last week PaulFrields made a proposal of creating a system
that would allow for the quick translation of common snippets of
documents to many different languages using XML. KarstenWade replied
to this[1] and suggested that it might be nice if some more people
with good XML knowledge would get involved with this aspect of the
project. If you are interested in XML I'm sure you'll be made very
welcome by the documentation team!
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00054.html
== Translation ==
This section, we cover the news surrounding the Fedora Translation
(L10n) Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N
=== Release Notes Deadlines ===
PaulFrields sent a note[1] to the list announcing the deadline for
translations (2359 UTC 14 April 2007). The next and final POT update
is 21 April 2007 and the absolute deadline for translation of PO files
is 2359 UTC 2 May 2007.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00042.html
=== More on Entities ===
PaulFrields announced[1] the change back to "xml2po -e" unfortunately
this will require some extra translation work. Thanks to all the
translators for hanging in there with the recent changes, we do
appreciate it!!
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00043.html
== Infrastructure ==
In this section, we cover Fedora Infrastructure Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure
=== Email Addresses ===
MikeMcGrath revisited the email address issue[1] in which he pointed
out that problems have arisen with the current firstname.lastname
email address convention (sendmail and postfix can't handle some of
the characters). He proposed that email addresses are setup as the
persons account name and also suggested the removal of
firstname.lastname addresses. His proposal was agreed upon with the
allowal of firstname.lastname addressses in special cases.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg...
=== The Wiki ===
Ah, yes, the wiki. This week the wiki provided the team with some
challenges and no doubt Fedora users noticed the couple of website
outage and yum availability interruption. MikeMcGrath posted this
summary[1] of the weeks efforts, which included some Apache and Moin
reconfiguration. Thanks to everyone that pitched in and helped
throughout the week and to the Fedora users for being patient. (Fedora
currently has the largest implementation of Moin/Wiki so we, as always
we are on the bleeding edge!)
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00043.html
== Artwork ==
In this secton, we cover Fedora Artwork Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork
=== Fedora Underground Pilot ===
JohnBaer announced that, after previously considering starting a page
similar to Google's start page but with the emphasis on Fedora, he now
has a pilot design. The page hosts quick links to many Fedora related
websites, a customized Google search and links to other sites he
considers useful for Fedora users.
He hopes to spread the word and track the number of hits up to the
release of Fedora 7 when he will review the situation and consider
developing it further.[1]
[1] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00045.html]
=== Echo Icons ===
LuyaTshimbalanga has submitted some draft icons based on the keyboard
icon design discussed last week; these include a character map icon
and a keyboard-shortcuts icon[1]. As well as these two keyboard
related icons she also submitted new drafts of the Add/Remove
Applications icon.[2]
[1] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00050.html]
[2] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00056.html]
== Security Week in Review ==
In this section, we highlight the security from the week in Fedora.
=== In This Week ===
Remarkably little happened this week in the security universe. I wonder if
this is the result of the fabled Microsoft Patch Tuesday, and researchers not
wanting to lose attention to the pending flood of stories about all the
windows patches. The general idea behind this is that rather than release
updates when they're ready, Microsoft will hold them until the second Tuesday
of every month. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this, but in general
it doesn't work in the open source world. We generally have little control
over when many security updates are released. If an open source project wants
to release an update on a Sunday night, there is nothing stopping them from
doing that. This of course isn't ideal for most people, but it's one of the
many issues with the rather chaotic world of open source security updates.
=== Schneier on Security ===
This story from Bruce Schneier's blog made me immediately think of open
source: U.S. Government Contractor Injects Malicious Software into
Critical Military Computers [1].
This sort of thing probably happens more than anybody will ever admit, but
it's likely a lot harder to pull of when your development is conducted in an
open and transparent manner. It's also nearly impossible to prove in a closed
source system. Even if such a flaw is found in a closed source system, it
would not surprise me if many vendors would try to keep such information
hidden. It's certainly not in the best interest of a vendor to let news of a
back door go public.
[1] http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/04/us_government_c_1.html
=== Apache.org ===
On this note though, what do projects do to stay secure? Is there anything
preventing a disgruntled project member from causing harm (even if it is found
immediately)? Apache.org had a slightly similar experience with this some
time ago: Apache.Org compromise report, May 30th, 2001 [1]
They handled it about the best any project could.
[1] http://www.apache.org/info/20010519-hack.html
=== FreeRADIUS ===
A memory leak flaw in FreeRADIUS was found[1]. The flaw itself
isn't really noteworthy, but it does give me a good opportunity to note that
there is often a fine line separating old fashioned bugs and security flaws.
Many software applications contain memory leaks and it's usually not a big
deal. I don't suggest one should ignore a memory leak since it is a bug, but
not all memory leaks are security flaws either. However they are serious
problems with long running applications such as daemons. There are a number
of bugs that can be considered a security flaw given the right circumstances.
One of the jobs of the security team is to investigate these bugs and sort the
chaff from the wheat. Another favorite is a user assisted crash. If a remote
attacker can make something like FreeRADIUS crash, it's a security flaw. If a
remote attacker can make Firefox crash, we call it a "don't do that again"
bug.
[1] http://www.freeradius.org/security.html
=== Mark Cox ===
Mark Cox had a most interesting blog posting this week: Information
Sources[1]. Most people don't really worry about where security flaws come
from, but it is most interesting when you're on of the lucky people who have
to try to make sense of all this madness. It's nice to know this since we
know that it's worth the effort to maintain a healthy relationship with
upstream projects and various researchers. It is a goal of the Red Hat
Security Response Team to work with anyone who approaches us with a flaw. The
goal is to keep the users as safe as possible, which can occasionally make our
lives a bit painful when dealing with difficult projects and researchers, but
no doubt it's well worth it.
[1] http://www.awe.com/mark/blog/200704101400.html
== Security and Updates ==
In this section, we cover Security Advisories and Fedora Updates from
fedora-package-announce.
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/
=== Security Advisories ===
* FEDORA-2007-422: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
libXfont-1.2.8-1.fc5]
* FEDORA-2007-423: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
libXfont-1.2.8-1.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-424: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
xorg-x11-server-1.0.1-9.fc5.7]
* FEDORA-2007-425: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
xorg-x11-server-1.1.1-47.8.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-426: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
libX11-1.0.3-7.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-427: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
libX11-1.0.0-4.fc5]
* FEDORA-2007-433: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
kernel-2.6.20-1.2312.fc5]
* FEDORA-2007-432: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
kernel-2.6.20-1.2944.fc6]
=== Fedora Core 6 Updates ===
* FEDORA-2007-402: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
yum-3.0.5-2.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-418: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
samba-3.0.24-4.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-419: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
brltty-3.7.2-2.1.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-420: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
iputils-20070202-2.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-396: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
dhcp-3.0.5-4.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-340: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
system-config-printer-0.7.52.1-2.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-346: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
ghostscript-8.15.4-1.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-429: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
selinux-policy-2.4.6-54.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-437: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
iputils-20070202-3.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-431: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
lftp-3.5.9-0.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-377: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
subversion-1.4.3-2.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-439: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
tar-1.15.1-25.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-441: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
tetex-3.0-34.fc6]
=== Fedora Core 5 Updates ===
* FEDORA-2007-421: Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
samba-3.0.24-4.fc5]
== Events and Meetings ==
In this section, we cover event reports and meeting summaries from
various projects.
=== FESCo Meeting Summary: 2007-04-05 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00148.html
=== Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-04-10 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00242.html
=== Ambassadors Meeting Minutes 2007-04-12 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg002...
== Feedback ==
This document is maintained by the Fedora News Team[1]. Please feel
free to contact us to give your feedback. If you'd like to contribute
to a future issue of the Fedora Weekly News, please see the Join[2]
page to find out how to help.
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join
--
Thomas Chung
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung
16 years, 1 month
Wiki Accounts
by Mike McGrath
In response to our wiki woes, we have decided to delete all wiki
accounts that are not watching any pages and are not in the EditGroup.
This will help speed page saves up because of the way moin iterates over
users to see who to notify. Those wishing to keep an account should
simply sign up again.
Please direct any questions to admin at fedoraproject.org
-Mike
16 years, 1 month
Fedora Weekly News Issue 82
by Thomas Chung
= Fedora Weekly News Issue 82 =
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue82
Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 82 for the week of April 1st
through April 7th, 2007. The latest issue can always be found
[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/LatestIssue here].
== Announcements ==
In this section, we cover announcements from various projects.
=== Aurora SPARC Linux Build 2.98 (Beta 1 for 3.0) ===
TomCallaway announces in fedora-test-list[1] - The Aurora SPARC Linux
project[2] has released Build 2.98 which is a Sparc Linux Distribution
based on Fedora Core 6. This is a BETA release, for what will become
3.0.
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-test-list/2007-April/msg00047.html
[2] http://www.auroralinux.org/
=== Seeking reviewers for Summer of Code applications ===
PatrickBarnes announces in fedora-devel-list[1] - We've got nearly 40
applications, not counting those that have been marked as ineligible,
from potential Summer of Code[2] students. We must review these
applications and select which ones will be most valuable to the Fedora
Project and have a real chance of success.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00144.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SummerOfCode
=== Fedora Account System Changes ===
ToshioKuratomi announces in fedora-maintainers[1] - As discussed for
the past couple weeks here and within fedora infrastructure, we've
been working on a few related enhancements to the Fedora Account
system[2]. Today we enabled code that does two things:
* When you are approved for cvsextras, you are automatically
approved for fedorabugs.
* Since Red Hat legal has decided that Red Hat employees have the
equivalent of signing the CLA because of the terms of their
employment, we needed to restructure the cla_done group.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00072.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure/AccountSystem
== Developments ==
In this section, we covers the problems/solutions,
people/personalities, and ups/downs of the endless discussions on
fedora-devel-list.
=== Rawhide Report ===
The April 3rd rawhide report[1] contained a patch to add multilib
support for the alpha architecture, which led to the revelation that a
volunteer port of Fedora for HP's Alpha servers [2] exists. This
project, known as alphacore[3], is working to merge their changes with
upstream. Questions as to why a 64bit-only architecture would need
multilib support were answered[4] by DonDutile and JakubJelinek[5]
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00083.html
[2] These are probably known to most by their original name of DEC
Alpha, which then became Compaq, and then HP.
[3] http://alphacore.info/
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00097.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00098.html
=== Overview of Mirrors for Merged Core and Extras ===
JesseKeating called for feedback[1] on a restructuring of the mirrors.
Jesse suggested this
could happen as early as Monday 9th of April. In response to
RolandMcGrath's query, Jesse clarified that there would be a
transition period during which core/development and extras/development
would linger and become symlinks to the new linux/development.
AxelThimm and DennisGilmore had some suggestions[2] regarding the use
of rsync and avoiding relative
symlinks. DavidWoodhouse made a case[3] for making the change at the
start of the weekend so that DSL
bandwidth caps would not be as huge a problem for home mirrors.
ThorstenLeemhuis remembered a previous solution to which Jesse assented[4].
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00226.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00240.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00257.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00269.html
=== Google SoC Application Reviews ===
Forty, or so, projects were submitted to the Fedora Project, to be
considered for sponsorship to the Google Summer of Code (GSoC)
process. An urgent request[1] was submitted for more people to help
reviewing these submissions in only a couple of days.
GregDeKoenigsberg pointed out that it was pretty easy to do and much
needed.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00144.html
=== KDE Live CD ===
RexDieter and SebastianVahl continued to wrestle with the problem of
slimming down the available packages for a KDE-based LiveCD.
JeremyKatz[1] noted that some bloat was due to pirut requiring
gnome-session for /etc/xdg/autostart and he had solved this by
splitting the directory into the filesystem package. Sebastian and
Jeremy further wondered[2] whether images should be relesed more frequently as
torrents. RahulSundaram noted[3] that DavidZeuthen had already
suggested daily LiveCD releases
for both the Gnome and KDE LiveCDs.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00013.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00024.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00025.html
=== Presto Server Back Up. Interesting %doc Behaviour. Presto Now in
Extras! ===
Problems with the testserver for Presto due to a lack of diskspace[1]
were sorted out, problems with logging were resolved and JonathanDieter
noted[2] that packages with large amounts of documentation showed few
savings because rpm itself unsets the verify bit on %docs.
AhmedKamal introduced separate threads[3] for Presto-0.3.4's
rebuilding and deltarpm downloading processes, so that they could
occur in parallel. LeszekMatok provided a bugreport and a concrete
example[4] of why this was of value (on a slow machine with a fast
network).
In response to a query[5], on April 4th, JonathanDieter pointed out
that he hopes that
Presto will be ready for F7, but that it's really alpha right now for
FC6, has known issues with rawhide, and needs some more testers[6]. The
immediate goals[7] of the project have seen good progress.
By April 7th someone had waved a magic wand and Presto had evolved[8]
to version 0.3.7, had popped out of the Extras review process, and is
ready for more testing. Jonathan was clear in pointing out that users
should ensure their configuration should not point to the presto test
server, which is not part of Fedora Infrastructure. TillMaas and
RexDieter wondered whether the official Fedora repositories were
presto-enabled and if not what needed to happen. Jonathan replied[9]
that he needed to finish a tool for presto that was compatible with
the currently existing createrepo. Rex's post was responded[10] to by
MichaelSchwendt, who wondered about the fate of repoview vis-a-vis its
potential replacement PackageDB. ToshioKuratomi then gave[11] a brief
summary of the state of play of PackageDB as it pertains to
Koji.[12]
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00017.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00139.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00089.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00106.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00118.html
[6] https://hosted.fedoraproject.org/projects/presto
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00081.html
[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00167.html
[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00175.html
[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00194.html
[11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00225.html
[12] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure/KojiBuildSystem
=== Creating a Backtrace when GDB hangs X? ===
A short, but useful thread[1] opened by "dragoran" and answered by
MatthiasClasen and AdamJackson suggested ways of obtaining a backtrace
in a tricky situation.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00010.html
=== Removable Media Mounting Bug Due to SELinux? ===
ThomasJBaker reported[1] that since the updates of 3 April 2007 he
could not hotplug his iPod as usual. WillWoods quickly replied with a
known bugzilla entry, which Thomas then updated with the information
that `selinux=permissive` silenced the error.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00127.html
=== New Firewire Stack. Minor Bugfixing ===
F7 contains a new IEEE-1394/Firewire stack. JosephESacco noticed that
while his Epson 2450 Perfection scanner worked perfectly on either USB
or Firewire with FC6, it only worked with USB for FC7.
KristianHogsberg[1] identifed the problem as being due to a need to
propagate some special-case error handling from the old sbp2 (firewire
scsi) driver into the new stack.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00142.html
=== JBoss and Java Libre? ===
TimothySpaulding wondered whether there were Fedora packages of JBoss
being prepared. JBoss[1] is one of Red Hat's most significant recent
acquisitions. NicolasMailhot drove home the point[2] that packages
are needed that can be dropped into a yum repo, and that this
logically implied packaging a JVM. AndrewHaley disputed Nicolas'
contention[3] that a consensus existed among Red Hat java developers
that waiting for Sun to release Java 7 under GPLv3 (as promised) was
more efficient than making gcj feature complete.
Attention was drawn[4] by MarkWielaard to the need for clarity and
communication, and
more importantly to the ability of Fedora to take initiative
independently from Red Hat. He also pointed to the original plans for
a Libre Java for FC7. In another branch of the same discussion,
JesseKeating and RahulSundaram both pointed out that Sun's Java was
not Free enough (yet) for inclusion into Fedora.
Nicolas and JefSpaleta remained cautious, with Jef calling for Red
Hat's JBoss team to provide leadership and co-ordination of
volunteers, while SethVidal and others argued[5] that there was no
reason that this was not within the purview of the Fedora Project and
invited clarifying contrary opinions.
TomTromey posted a link to the good news[6] that much of JBoss is
working with gcj already and this
was confirmed[7] by MarkWielaard, whose post also echoed OliverFalk's concern
that rebuilding Sun's JVM for many platforms[8] will be "fun".
[1] http://jboss.org
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00254.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00303.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00307.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00313.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00293.html
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00306.html
[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00281.html
=== "buildsys-macros" To Be Provided ===
JesseKeating reported[1] that based on the feedback received, the
project would go ahead with adding macro definitions to the installed
system to ease building packages and that he had requested this of the
redhat-rpm-config maintainer.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00069.html
=== Rawhide-in-Mock Build Results ===
MattDomsch of Dell continues to supply the results of rebuilding
rawhide in mock. The April 2nd logs reveal:
* For Extras i386, 29 out of 2876 packages failed to build
(https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00048.html)
* For Extras x86_64, 54 out of 2876 failed to build
(https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00047.html)
* For Core i386, 36 out of 1154 failed to build
(https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00046.html)
* For Core x86_64, 37 out of 1153 failed to build
(https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00045.html)
=== Dell Firmware Arch/Noarch Debate Continues ===
Following on from last week's debate, MatthiasSaou noticed that he had
been bitten[1] by the same problem. MichaelSchwendt provided[2] a
solution and explained how the push-script was able to do the right
thing. MichaelEBrown argued that for Matthias' particular case
(firmware for the ipw2200) it would be appropriate[3] to cosnider it
as cross-platform code, if anything.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00039.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00043.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00066.html
=== Tcpreplay ===
BojanSmover proposed[1] including tcpreplay packages for FE/EPEL. The
tcpreplay application allows
the modification and replay of pcap formatted network traffic for
testing network devices. Interest was expressed, problems noted, and
a Package Review bugzilla entry[2] was opened.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00028.html
[2] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=234812
=== Where did FC7's New Init System Go? ===
Mark wondered[1] what had happened to a replacement for SysVInit? This
had been suggested for FC7 to decrease boot times. DavidZeuthen
responded[2] that fixing readahead was a more promising direction and
that the maintainer was hard at work on this. BernardoInnocenti
begged to differ, citing the
lack[3] of dynamism of readahead and SysVInit and his personal
experience with Ubuntu's Upstart and InitNG as datapoints.
DavidZeuthen and TomLane
argued[4] that while Upstart was promising it was no magic bullet.
RudolfKastl reported[5] that InitNG was working well for him and that the next
release would be LSB compatible. This led to a discussion of what
might be the political impact of adopting a different new init system
than Ubuntu or Debian. In any event, a lot of research has gone into
this problem and no replacement system has advanced far enough to make
the cut for Fedora 7.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00019.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00023.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00073.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00077.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00086.html
=== Temporary Pgadmin3 Maintainer Requested ===
GavinHenry posted a request[1] for a temporary (circa 3 weeks)
maintainer of the pgadmin3 package for FC7. DevrimGunduz picked up
the baton, and Gavin requested assistance in adding him as a
co-maintainer. WarrenTogami pointed out how this could be done[2] and
JonCisela[3] suggested a more formal method.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00109.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00146.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00134.html
=== JPGraph License Query Shows How To Remove A Package ===
AurelienBompard, package maintainer for JPGraph (an Object-Oriented
library in PHP for producing graphs), wondered[1] about its confusing
license. Further
discussion[2] involving JoshBoyer, RahulSundaram, and others led to a
decision to remove the package unless it could be clarified to be
free. In part the concerns are actuated by considering EPEL. The
full process[3] for removing packages was indicated by VilleSkytta. A
suggestion[4] by GianlucaSforna to follow Debian's lead in packaging an
older version was argued against by NicolasMailhot as it might mislead
developers into assuming that later versions would be supported.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00253.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00323.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00327.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00282.html
=== Fedora Extras Package Build Reports ===
On April 1st 2007 there were thirty-five packages
built and released for Fedora Core 6:
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00001.html
These packages included:
{{{
ClanLib-0.8.0-4.fc6
GeoIP-1.4.2-1.fc6
NEW SimGear-0.3.10-4.fc6
NEW audacious-plugins-nonfree-mp3-1.2.5-2.fc6
NEW audacious-plugins-nonfree-wma-1.1.2-7.fc6
azureus-2.5.0.4-2.fc6
bzr-gtk-0.14.0-1.fc6
cvs2cl-2.60-1.fc6
exaile-0.2.9-4.fc6
facter-1.3.7-1.fc6
NEW ffmpeg-0.4.9-0.35.20070204.fc6
git-1.5.0.6-1.fc6
NEW gstreamer-ffmpeg-0.10.2-3.fc6
jd-1.8.8-0.3.rc070330.fc6
NEW lame-3.97-5.fc6
NEW latexmk-3.08n-4.fc6
libmtp-0.1.5-1.fc6
libsexy-0.1.11-1.fc6
NEW madplay-0.15.2b-5.fc6
mecab-0.95-2.fc6
NEW mplayer-1.0-0.73.20070325svn.fc6
ntfs-3g-1.328-1.fc6
NEW nvidia-kmod-1.0.9755-2.2.6.20_1.2933.fc6
perl-Contextual-Return-v0.2.1-1.fc6
perl-Module-ScanDeps-0.73-1.fc6
perl-aliased-0.21-1.fc6
php-pear-Net-SMTP-1.2.10-1.fc6
php-pear-Net-Socket-1.0.7-1.fc6
puppet-0.22.3-1.fc6
qascade-0.1-7.fc6
qt4-4.2.3-7.fc6.1
tinyerp-4.0.3-1.fc6
tuxpuck-0.8.2-3.fc6
NEW vlc-0.8.6a-2.fc6
zabbix-1.1.7-1.fc6
}}}
Ten packages were built[1] for Fedora Extras Development according to
the Sunday 8 April 2007 report.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00350.html
=== HAL Multilib Packaging or "David Woodhouse made me do it"! ===
On April 5th, someone noted[1] that an update resulted in downloading
230 packages and finished with an error. It all seemed to be due to a
hal packaging problem. An early response[2] suggested that this was a
multilib problem and could be solved by removing the i386 version of
hal, which was confirmed by the poster. However, the underlying
problem is intricate.
DavidZeuthen was aware[3] of the problem (which already had a bugzilla
entry), and sought help in solving it.
Following input, from MichaelSchwendt and SethVidal, David wondered if
he should reverse[4] the separation of hal and hal-libs. This split
itself was the result of earlier attempts[5] to solve the hal multilib
problem. MichaelSchwendt made an argument[6] for using "obsoletes" to
force replacement with the appropriate architecture, and suggested
that this was broken in Fedora7 if it didn't work.
BillNottingham noted that Michael's theory
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00248.html
seemed] to be confirmed by looking at the CVS. Jesse
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00285.html
decided] to reproduce the problem in full to investigate it. The
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00310.html
result of this] led to differing conclusions from MichaelSchwendt and
JesseKeating.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00191.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00193.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00199.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00204.html
[5] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=231200
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00216.html
== Extras ==
In this section, we cover the world of interesting packages that are
comunity maintained and may not be part of standard Fedora
distribution ISO. These packages were formerly part of the Fedora
Extras set of packages:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PackageMaintainers
=== Audacious 1.3 In Extras ===
Audacious 1.3.0 was released back on March 2nd of this year but for
over a month[1] sitting in Fedora Extras has been version 1.2.1 of
this media player. Audacious 1.3.1 finally hit development testing
this week and by the time you're reading this, it's likely entered the
Fedora Core 6 Extras repository.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-extras-list/2007-April/msg00000.html
=== Extras Rawhide Rebuild in Mock Status ===
MattDomsch reported in again with i386 and x86_64 Rawhide mock status
2007-04-02 results[1]. Last week there were 65 x86_64 packages that
failed to build but this time around there are only 54. Likewise,
there have also been a drop for the i386 packages going from 34 to 29
package failures.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-extras-list/2007-April/msg00004.html
== Documentation ==
In this section, we cover the Fedora Documentation Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject
=== Summer of Code Mentors ===
It is expected that there are going to be three or four Google Summer of Code
projects running this year, which is too many for a single mentor -
making this your lucky chance! Not only do mentors have the pleasure
of making a project happen, they get a GSoC T-shirt, a chance at
other goodies, and the possibility of attending events like last
year's Mentors' Summit, where you can meet mentors from all over the
world at the famous Google Mountain View campus. Contact either
KarstenWade or PatrickBarnes if you are interested.[1]
[1] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00001.html]
=== Fedora Documentation Steering Committee Meeting ===
The meeting log[1] and summary[2] were posted to the Fedora-docs-list.
[1] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00002.html]
[2] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00003.html]
=== Fedora 7 Test 4 Release Notes Available to Translators ===
The POT for Fedora 7 Test 4 release notes is now available to
translators in the Fedora Docs CVS[1].
For instructions on how to translate Fedora documentation, refer to
the Translation Quick Start Guide[2]; make sure you apply for
'cvsl10n' access[3] to commit your translations. The deadline for PO
files is 2359 UTC April 14th 2007.
[1] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00014.html]
[2] [http://docs.fedoraproject.org/translation-quick-start-guide/en/sn_transla...]
[3] [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N/Join#join_cvsl10n]
=== New Targets In Makefile.common ===
New targets have been added to Makefile.common for use by translators
and repository managers. These targets, `make postat` and `make
postat-${LANG}`, give information on the current statistics for all
languages or a specific language.[1]
[1] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00029.html]
=== Common Snippets ===
It has been proposed that a proper strategy is needed for dealing with
''snippets'' - small pieces of XML that are common across many
documents (e.g. CVS instructions, legal notices, bug reporting
etc...). This could be achieved by converting all common snippets into
`gettext` form using one basic XML (en_US) and POT/PO to translate the
snippet.[1]
[1] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00037.html]
== Translation ==
In this section, we cover the news surrounding the Fedora Translation
(L10n) Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N
=== Entity Substitution ===
DimitrisGlezos sparked conversation with his request for comments in
this thread[1] about the Fedora Documentation Project's desire to
use XML entities in all documentation. The idea is
that commonly used words or XML snippets such as 'Fedora 7' and
'<application>Pirut</application> can be represented
as '&FED; &FEDVER;' and '&PIRUT;'. This allows for fewer keystrokes,
reduction in typos, consistency of usage, and so forth.
Objections were raised[2], with the main concern being that some languages need
to change a word to fit a localization need, such as in Polish, where
the word 'Fedora' may appear as 'Fedora, 'Fedory', and
'Fedorę'.
Some further discussion between quaid (KarstenWade) and stickster
(PaulWFrields) in IRC
(#fedora-docs) on 6-April-2007 lead to the possiblity of a per-locale
setting in the Makefile, which would allow a per-language choice to
use entities or not. This would ideally alleviate the objections/problems
raised.
Translation ease-of-use changes in the near future? We hope so....
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00009.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00015.html
=== FC7test4 POT Available ===
PaulFrields posted[1] that the Fedora Core 7 test 4 POT is now
available. As of 4-April-2007, POs were available in the following
languages: ca, cs, da, de, el, es, fi, fr, gu, hr, it, ja, ml, ms, nb,
nl, pa, pl, pt_BR, pt, ru, sr@Latn, sr, sv, ta, uk, zh_CN, and
zh_TW. The languages ca, cs, fi, gu, hr, ml, ms, nb, sr@Latn, ta, and
zh_TW still required common entity PO files.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00006.html
== Infrastructure ==
In this section, we cover Fedora Infrastructure Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure
=== Fedorapeople.org and planet.fedoraproject.org ===
SethVidal proposed in his a message to fedora-infrastructure-list[1]
that the existing fpserv.fedoraproject.org server be converted to
provide Fedora account holders with storage space for files and planet
code. His suggestion was widely accepted as a good idea and folks look
forward to seeing the changes. As part of this work, old and not used
services were removed from fpserv.fedoraproject.org.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg...
=== Wiki Performance Issues ===
The esteemed MikeMcGrath in his review of recent wiki performance
problems posted a solution[1]. The idea is to delete the unused wiki
accounts; there are nearly 10,000 wiki accounts, yet only 600 have
edit privileges. Mike has identified as subset of users who cannot
edit and are not watching any pages, and wants to delete them to speed
page processing. The idea was met with approval from list members,
with the addition of a couple of caveats[2] from KarstenWade.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg...
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg...
== Artwork ==
In this section, we cover Fedora Artwork Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork
=== Echo Icon Theme Development ===
There have been several new draft icons submitted to the list this week.
The initial draft of the new keyboard icon[1] was well received
although criticized for being too dark and a discussion arose about
localization issues surrounding the use of a QWERTY based icon. The
concerns were fixed through a series of drafts resulting in the final
draft, which is lighter and now uses a fictional key layout using the
"E" "H" "C" "O" characters[2].
[1] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00001.html]
[2] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00033.html]
Work continued on the gnome-devel icon[3], with the current iteration
being added to the Echo Development Wiki[4]. The "Go-up" and "Go-down"
icons have also been reworked and are planned to be used for future
software update icons[5].
[3] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00028.html]
[4] [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/EchoDevelopment]
[5] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00006.html]
Finally, drafts of a menu editor and Pirut icon were submitted[6]:
some concerns were voiced that the pen on the menu editor icon was
confusing, making it appear to represent a text editor rather than a
menu editor; regarding the Pirut icon, some people were worried that
it didn't represent the most common software installation source - the
Internet[7]. Changes have already been made to the menu editor
icon[8].
[6] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00010.html]
[7] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00014.html]
[8] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00036.html]
=== Echo Cursors ===
This week saw the announcement[1] of a gallery page[2] for Echo
cursors providing a detailed list, along with a place to display, all
the cursors needed for a complete theme. The naming specification[3]
is mostly complete but still needs more work done to it, which should
achieved as development progresses.
Anybody who has ideas for an Echo cursor theme is invited to add it to
a draft section on the wiki page to help drive creativity and get the
project moving forward[4].
[1] [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00043.html]
[2] [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/EchoCursors/Development]
[3] [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/EchoCursors/NamingSpec]
[4] [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/EchoCursors]
== Events and Meetings ==
In this section, we cover event reports and meeting minutes from
various projects.
=== Event Report: BarCamp Bangalore ===
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg000...
=== French Ambassadors Meeting: 2007-04-01 ===
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg001...
=== Packaging Committee Meeting: 2007-04-03 ===
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00074.html
== Security and Updates ==
In this section, we highlight the security updates from the week in Fedora.
''This week's report by JoshBressers''
=== Fedora Security Response Team ===
The Fedora Security Response Team[1] is slowly taking shape. The team is
responsible for all Fedora security updates in Fedora 7 and beyond.
Creating a security team is not a trivial task, and I believe it's best
done in an organic manner. Anytime anyone tries to create a process around
anything regarding security, it often ends up being overly complex. By
keeping things simple from the start and adding process as needed, it's
more likely the security team will be a success. If you have an interest
in helping the Fedora Security Response Team, more information can be found
here:
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Security/ResponseTeam
=== krb5 ===
The biggest update last week would have to be Kerberos[1]. There were
three flaws fixed, but the really scary one was a flaw in the MIT krb5
telnet daemon. The telnet daemon shipped in krb5 allows for encrypted
telnet sessions. As most people know, it is unwise and unsafe to use
unencrypted telnet to connect to a remote machine. The flaw could allow a
remote user to login as root, without a password. Anytime there is a
remote flaw such as this, it's rather scary given the potential for a worm
attack.
[1] http://web.mit.edu/Kerberos/advisories/
=== Security Advisories ===
* FEDORA-2007-408: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
krb5-1.5-21]
* FEDORA-2007-409: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
krb5-1.4.3-5.4]
* FEDORA-2007-394: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
openssh-4.3p2-19.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-395: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
openssh-4.3p2-4.12.fc5]
* FEDORA-2007-393: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
evolution-2.8.3-2.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-404: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
evolution-2.6.3-2.fc5]
* FEDORA-2007-413: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
ImageMagick-6.2.8.0-4.fc6]
=== Fedora Core 6 Updates ===
* FEDORA-2007-366: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
parted-1.8.2-2.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-397: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
systemtap-0.5.13-1.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-398: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
ElectricFence-2.2.2-22.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-399: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
psmisc-22.2-5.1]
* FEDORA-2007-400: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
gpm-1.20.1-82.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-405: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
procps-3.2.7-8.3.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-239: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
cups-1.2.10-3.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-403: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
perl-XML-Twig-3.29-1.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-412: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
squid-2.6.STABLE12-1.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-406: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
selinux-policy-2.4.6-49.fc6]
=== Fedora Core 5 Updates ===
* FEDORA-2007-401: Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-April/msg000...
gpm-1.20.1-82.fc5]
== Feedback ==
* This document is maintained by the
[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject Fedora News Team]. Please
feel free to contact us to give your feedback.
* If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Fedora Weekly
News, please see the [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join
Join] page to find out how to help.
--
Thomas Chung
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung
16 years, 1 month
Fedora Weekly News Issue 81
by Thomas Chung
= Fedora Weekly News Issue 81 =
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue81
Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 81 for the week of March 25th
through March 31st, 2007. The latest issue can always be found
[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/LatestIssue here].
== Announcements and Fedora Board ==
=== Fedora 7 Test 3 Announcement ===
The third of four test releases for Fedora 7 was announced by
JeremyKatz in [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2007-March/msg00003....
fedora-announce-list].
Fedora 7 Test 3 is packaged initially as a Desktop/Development
Workstation/Server implementation, called "Prime". This spin is
delivered in DVD ISO format only.
This test release includes an i386 ISO for a Desktop Live CD. This
Live CD features the ability to install to a hard disk using the same
graphical Anaconda installer as the non-live CD variant.
This test release also includes an x86_64 ISO for a Desktop Live
image. Due to size, this requires a DVD. As with the i386 Live
image, the ability to install to a hard disk is available.
This test release features a new i386 ISO for a KDE Live CD. Note
that as of this writing, this ISO is only available via bittorrent. It
should be available via the mirrors in the near future. (Editor's
Note: It's now available from
[http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/test/6.92/
Fedora Download Site] and
[http://rhold.fedoraproject.org/Download/mirrors.html Mirror Sites].)
=== Board Meeting: 2007-03-27 ===
MaxSpevack reports in
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-advisory-board/2007-March/msg00279...
fedora-advisory-board], the first 40 minutes of the meeting was spent
talking with Donald Fischer, Red Hat's VP of Online Services. One of
the things that was discussed is that Fedora 7 allows a group like
Donald's all the tools necessary to put together an "Experimental
Desktop" spin anytime they want, which can be really useful for
testing and getting their ideas into people's hands in a very
consumable way.
JeremyKatz indicated that LiveUSB keys are close to becoming a
reality. It is Jeremy's decision as to whether we can do a LiveUSB key
or just plain LiveCD for the [http://www.redhat.com/promo/summit/2007/
Red Hat Summit].
MaxSpevack summarized his recent conversation with ThorstenLeemhuis in
which they discussed the fact that the Fedora Board is inadvertantly
poaching some of the topics that are more appropriately discussed by
[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Development/SteeringCommittee FESCo].
== Developments ==
=== Presto Debut Shows Great Promise ===
Presto is a yum plugin that uses ''deltas'', or small changes, between
software packages to increase the speed users obtain updates.
AhmedKamal and Jonathan Dieter took the initiative to adopt and modify
an implementation originally developed within Red Hat and targetted
for Red Hat RHN web service. The yum plugin uses delta packages when
available. Presto debuted on
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01405.html
on March24th] . The Presto
[https://hosted.fedoraproject.org/projects/presto/wiki/WikiStart
project] seeks testers using i386 FC6 systems.
RahulSundaram [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01765.html
reported around 74%] savings in download size for an update using this
method. The plugin is planned to be packaged in Fedora, and mirrors
can be encouraged to make delta packages available so that more users
will test it.
=== Missing /dev/hdX Devices? ===
A query from a Fedora 7 development branch tester about why there was
no longer a `/dev/hda` on his system was
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01455.html
answered] by WillWoods with the information that rawhide is using a
new libata that passes all devices (PATA/IDE and SATA subsystems)
through the SCSI layer so that all disk devices are now referenced as
`/dev/sdX`.
=== FC6 NetworkManager Gets Some Love ===
A discussion about why NM was being built against dbus-0.93 but is
currently running with dbus-1.0.1 morphed into an investigation of why
NM keeps on asking for the user's password
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01458.html
each time the WEP key is needed]. When it was asserted that this had
become even more intrusive in rawhide with prompting at each
suspend/resume, Richard Hughes explained that this was a design
decision for security where gnome-power-manager tells gnome-keyring to
lock on suspend. After some discussion, Richard Hughes
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01493.html
decided] to add a gconf option to make this behavior configurable.
=== LSB Compliance of Initscripts ===
Michal Marciniszyn was concerned
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01544.html
that a recent audit] carried out by him showed that most of the
shipped initscripts returned exit codes of "0" when there was no
configuratin file. Jakub Jelinek argued that this was irrelevant
because Fedora allowed the installation of LSB compliant applications
and their initscripts. Further, the current coding idiom resulted in
a snappier start-up. Emmanuel Seymann argued that the problem was
simply that "6" should be returned instead of "0".
=== Hplip: Advertising Via Icons? ===
A [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01498.html
very long thread] was opened by BernardJohnson on whether or not the
hplip package should install its icon to the menu. Hplip is
Hewlett-Packard's Linux Imaging and Printing software. The icon is
that of the Hewlett-Packard corporation and was removed by a developer
who wished not to fill the menus with "free advertising".
Bernard objected that the package was 100% GPL and that other
packages, such as VNC, did something similar, so for consistencies
sake a uniform standard should be applied. Technical objections to
hplip were voiced by other developers who felt that HP should instead
contribute to CUPS instead of installing a parallel stack.
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01538.html
Suggestions of replacement software] appear to reveal that
functionality is still scattered between different packages and that
hplip may provide features not available elsewhere. Leading on from a
suggestion by Dan Horák a possible way of installing specific drivers
for printers was
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01702.html
proposed by JeremyKatz] . No blood was shed during the discussion
which ranged into interpretations of the GPL, the inclusion of
CodecBuddy, and more.
=== Proper Flags in RPM .spec for Dell Firmware? ===
Leading on from a query about Dell's firmware package
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01880.html
failing to build] a debate took place over whether this was an
arch/noarch package and what exactly the
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01884.html
packaging guidelines say].A strong opinion was voiced in favour of the
idea that it was '''not''' a noarch package as demonstrated by its
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01882.html
failure to build using ExclusiveArch: x86_64].
=== Provide "buildsys-macros" in Installed System? ===
JesseKeating made a
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01759.html
favorably received proposal] to install the "buildsys-macros" in
shipped systems. These macros are used in the current build system
to provide essential definitions for package builds. Their inclusion
in shipped systems would make it easier for those rebuilding packages
for their current system. Those wishing to build for other releases
or distributions should probably use mock and redhat-rpm-config. Some
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01803.html
objections were voiced] to the idea of "vendor" macros. RalfCorsepius
and JarodWilson explored the issue, which seemed to pivot about
redhat-rpm-config breaking the ability of rpmbuild to cross-build
packages for non-Fedora. Ralf mentioned a possible work around and
Jarod suggested that this was a very exotic, unusual case that would
not affect most people.
=== KDE SIG Packages Status ===
Ending off March with the release of Fedora 7 Test 3 there is a bit of
activity worth sharing on the fedora-extras-list. KDE-SIG, or the KDE
Special Interest Group, has submitted a review request this week for
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-extras-list/2007-March/msg00267.html
kicker-compiz], which for the uninformed is a replacement KDE panel
capable of handling Compiz and Beryl. Other Fedora KDE-SIG packages
awaiting review are koverartist, klear, kdebluetooth, and keep.
Speaking of KDE, new plug-ins for Kipi and digikam also have pending
review requests.
=== Extras i386 rawhide rebuild in mock status ===
Last week Matthew Domsch had reported in with the Extras
Rawhide-in-Mock Build Results
([https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-extras-list/2007-March/msg00277.html
March 28, 2007 Results]). In total are now 2847 packages for Extras!
Though for i386 and x86_64 the number of packages that had failed to
build were 34 and 65, respectively. For comparison, back in January of
this year were 2606 packages while over 100 packages failed for each
architecture.
=== FC6 Gaim package update and sametime plugin issue ===
If the recent GAIM update for Fedora Core 6 had caused adverse effects
for your system, the
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-extras-list/2007-March/msg00289.html
issue with gaim-meanwhile] is in the process of being worked out. If
you use gaim-meanwhile, which is a plug-in for allowing GAIM to act as
a Sametime client, it would be wise to not yet update GAIM.
== Documentation and Translation ==
=== Changes in Docs CVS ===
Paul W. Frields
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-March/msg00197.html
reports] on a change in the Docs CVS. Previously, {{{xml2po -e}}}
was used to parse entities when creating POT and PO files; now
{{{xml2po -k}}} is used. Translation of the common entities file can
now proceed using the same methods, directory structure, and access
permissions as the rest of the documentation in CVS. Because the
changes create fuzzy entries for translators, there is some minor
inconvenience caused in the short term. The long term effect is to
make translating quicker and easier.
=== Fedora 7 Desktop User Guide ===
To get ready for Fedora 7, the Fedora Documentation team is
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-March/msg00202.html
discussing] updates that need to be made to the
[:Docs/DesktopUserGuide:Desktop User Guide]. Known issues in the
Fedora Core 6 release to resolved in the Fedora 7 release include:
* Adding KDE information, now that KDE has a more prominent focus in the spins
* Add more task focused documentation
* Push concept material to other documents
There is a general call for writers who can document the KDE desktop
for the DUG. Refer to the [:DocsProject/Join:Documentation Project
join] page for more information.
=== More wiki cleanup ===
As part of a general effort to clean up the wiki, Paul W. Frields
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-March/msg00183.html
requested] that someone from the Fedora Documentation Project ensure
that all the meeting minutes and IRC logs are correct for the
[:DocsProject/SteeringCommittee/Meetings:Steering Committee (FDSCo)
meeting page]. Jason Taylor has taken
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-March/msg00188.html
this] up.
=== Domain for translation statistics etc ===
Dimitris Glezos
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-March/msg00076.html
requested] a decision be made about domain name structures for the new
translation-focused web presence that hosts statistics and other
project related items. DimitrisGlezos submitted
http://translations.fedoraproject.org, http://l10n.fedoraproject.org/,
and http://i18n.fedoraproject.org/ for discussion. No decision has
been reached yet.
== Events and Meetings ==
=== Ambassadors Event Report ===
* [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-March/msg001...
Event Report: Dakshh 2007 (India)]
* [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-March/msg002...
Event Report: ISEIT Install Fest (Venezuela)]
=== Ambassadors Meeting: 2007-03-29 ===
* [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-March/msg002...
Ambassadors Meeting: 2007-03-29]
=== EPEL Meeting: 2007-03-25 ===
* [https://www.redhat.com/archives/epel-devel-list/2007-March/msg00396.html
EPEL SIG meeting: 2007-03-25]
== Security and Updates ==
=== Security ===
* FEDORA-2007-376: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
openoffice.org-2.0.4-5.5.17]
* FEDORA-2007-375: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
openoffice.org-2.0.2-5.21.2]
* FEDORA-2007-391: [SECURITY] Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
file-4.19-2.fc6]
=== Fedora Core 6 Updates ===
* FEDORA-2007-374: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
SDL-1.2.11-1.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-349: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
nfs-utils-1.0.10-7.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-356: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
libvirt-0.2.1-2.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-378: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
net-snmp-5.3.1-14.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-379: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
fonts-indic-2.1.5-1.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-364: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
selinux-policy-2.4.6-46.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-381: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
gaim-2.0.0-0.31.beta6.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-382: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
paps-0.6.6-19.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-358: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
epiphany-2.16.3-4.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-357: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
rhythmbox-0.9.8-1.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-385: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
ElectricFence-2.2.2-21.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-386: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
samba-3.0.24-3.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-387: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
redhat-rpm-config-8.0.45-9.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-388: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
ruby-1.8.5.35-2.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-392: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg001...
dovecot-1.0-2.rc28.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-327: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
yum-3.0.5-1.fc6]
* FEDORA-2007-384: Fedora Core 6 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg001...
audit-1.4.2-5.fc6]
=== Fedora Core 5 Updates ===
* FEDORA-2007-373: Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
samba-3.0.24-2.fc5]
* FEDORA-2007-380: Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
fonts-indic-2.1.5-1.fc5]
* FEDORA-2007-389: Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
ruby-1.8.5.35-2.fc5]
* FEDORA-2007-390: Fedora Core 5 Update:
[https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-March/msg000...
samba-3.0.24-3.fc5]
== Feedback ==
* This document is maintained by the
[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject Fedora News Team]. Please
feel free to contact us to give your feedback.
* If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Fedora Weekly
News, please see the
[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Contribution contributing]
page to find out how to help.
--
Thomas Chung
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung
16 years, 2 months