Fedora Weekly News 230

Wednesday, 16 June 2010

    * 1 Fedora Weekly News Issue 230
          o 1.1 Planet Fedora
                + 1.1.1 General
          o 1.2 QualityAssurance
                + 1.2.1 AutoQA initscript testing
                + 1.2.2 Fedora 14 QA schedule
                + 1.2.3 Virtualized testing
                + 1.2.4 NSS dependency issue
                + 1.2.5 Triage metrics
          o 1.3 Fedora In the News
                + 1.3.1 Sugar on a Stick v3 Mirabelle released (h-online.com)
                + 1.3.2 Fedora’s lucky 13 (ghacks.net)
                + 1.3.3 Counting the Cost of Free: What Value, Linux? (Computer Zine)
                + 1.3.4 Pino: Fedora’s default social tool (ghacks.net)
                + 1.3.5 Sugar on a Stick hits 3.0, teaches us about a new kind of fruit
                + 1.3.6 Can Fedora be the new Ubuntu? (Tech Republic)
                + 1.3.7 Backing up with Deja Dup (ghacks.net)
                + 1.3.8 Fedora 13 Boasts Many Leading-Edge Enhancements (eWeek)
          o 1.4 Artwork
                + 1.4.1 Design Team IRC Meeting
                + 1.4.2 Sparkle Share
          o 1.5 Security Advisories
                + 1.5.1 Fedora 13 Security Advisories
                + 1.5.2 Fedora 12 Security Advisories
                + 1.5.3 Fedora 11 Security Advisories

- Fedora Weekly News Issue 230 -

Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 230[1] for the week ending June 16, 2010. What follows
are some highlights from this issue.

In this week's FWN, we have a shorter issue, with folks taking a breather following
the very successful release of Fedora 13. We begin with news from the Fedora Planet,
including details on the Project's Twitter presence, new approved features for Fedora
14, an update on multitouch in Fedora, and a discussion on what goes in to Fedora metrics
and release stats. In Quality Assurance news, details on the QA schedule for Fedora 14, an
update on automated test script review and revision, and a discussion regarding
virtualized testing of releases. Next up are a variety of Fedora news pieces in the trade
press and blogosphere in Fedora In The News. In Design team news, a new Design Team IRC
meeting schedule, and discussion around Sparkle Share, a tool in development. Security
Advisories brings us current with security-related packages released in the past week.
Read on!

The audio version of FWN - FAWN - is back! You can listen to existing issues[2] on the
Internet Archive. If anyone is interested in helping spread the load of FAWN production,
please contact us!

If you are interested in contributing to Fedora Weekly News, please see our 'join'
page[3]. We welcome reader feedback: news(a)lists.fedoraproject.org

FWN Editorial Team: Pascal Calarco, Adam Williamson

   1. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue230
   2. http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22FWN%22
   3. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join

-- Planet Fedora --

In this section, we cover the highlights of Planet Fedora[1] - an aggregation of blogs
from Fedora contributors worldwide.

Contributing Writer: Adam Batkin

   1. http://planet.fedoraproject.org

--- General ---

Luke Slater mentioned[1] that "we've recently acquired the username
'Fedora' on Twitter and we're using this event as the catalyst to start
Fedora's foray into the world of Microblogging (or relaunch it, perhaps...). We're
currently deciding on what exactly to do in respect to this and a discussion took place in
the Fedora Marketing meeting this Tuesday..."

Rahul Sundaram announced[2] that three new features have been approved for Fedora 14: More
content in live images, faster picture browsing (replacing libjpeg with libjpeg-turbo) and
Multi-path device support including bootup.

Michael DeHaan suggested[3] a way to use Google Analytics to help track down (and
presumably fix) common error messages.

John Palmier provided[4] an update on the status of Multitouch in Fedora.

Richard W.M. Jones found[5] that Linux now has a set of APIs for freezing
("Quiescing") filesystems.

Venkatesh Hariharan posted[6] an excerpt from Flash Co-Creator Jonathan Gay, discussing
"the challenges they faced in using H.264 standard."

Ian Weller discussed[7] how Fedora metrics are tracked, and the process of releasing the
(anonymized) raw data that was used to produce the final statistics.

Clint Savage is trying to comabt[8] apathy, which "is what kills communities around
the globe" and how to get people to contribute back.

   1. http://dinosaur-os.com/post/691754809/fedora-microblogging
   2. http://fedoranext.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/fedora-14-three-new-features/
   3. http://michaeldehaan.net/2010/06/09/googling-for-error-messages/
   4. http://www.j5live.com/2010/06/09/multitouch-working-in-fedora/
   5. http://rwmj.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/freezing-filesystems/
   6. http://osindia.blogspot.com/2010/06/challenges-in-using-proprietary.html
   7. http://ianweller.org/2010/06/10/datanommer-making-fedora-metrics-more-tra...
   8.
http://sexysexypenguins.com/2010/06/08/combatting-apathy-in-free-and-open...

-- QualityAssurance --

In this section, we cover the activities of the QA team[1]. For more information on the
work of the QA team and how you can get involved, see the Joining page[2].

Contributing Writer: Adam Williamson

   1. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA
   2. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA/Join

--- AutoQA initscript testing ---

Josef Skladanka updated[1] the status of the automated initscripts test effort[2]. He
explained that 30% of initscripts had now been reviewed, and again asked for people to
help in completing the process.

   1. http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/test/2010-June/091466.html
   2. http://fedorahosted.org/autoqa/wiki/initscripts

--- Fedora 14 QA schedule ---

John Poelstra posted[1] the QA group schedule for Fedora 14[2], including all the
significant dates for the team in the run-up to the next Fedora release.

   1. http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/test/2010-June/091492.html
   2. http://poelstra.fedorapeople.org/schedules/f-14/f-14-quality-tasks.html

--- Virtualized testing ---

Bob Lightfoot asked[1] if there was a consensus on the use of virtual machines as opposed
to real systems in testing, and whether it is acceptable to run tests of the install media
in virtual machines. Richard Ryniker's well-considered response[2] pointed out that
"just as an error observed on "real" hardware might be attributed to a
quirk or fault in that platform, so too an error in a VM might be the result of some bug
in the implementation of the VM," and that "errors observed in a VM
environment...should be subjected to the same triage process that might elevate them to
"critical" status because they seriously impact operation on many (real or
virtual) platforms, or reduce them to "future consideration" status because they
have little impact, they occur only on platforms rare enough to suggest a quirk or
platform fault is their cause". Adam Williamson said[3] that virtual testing is
valuable, but testing on real hardware is also necessary, in both cases.

   1. http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/test/2010-June/091494.html
   2. http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/test/2010-June/091497.html
   3. http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/test/2010-June/091501.html

--- NSS dependency issue ---

During the QA weekly meeting of 2010-06-07[1], Adam Williamson brought up the problem with
dependencies in the nss-softokn package which had caused dependency issues during updates
for many users of the 64-bit edition of Fedora 13. The group concluded that there had been
no failure in the QA processes, but also agreed that it would be a good idea to make sure
the AutoQA dependency checks will be able to catch this particular type of problem when
they go live. Adam promised to send Will Woods a summary of the issue for this purpose.

   1. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA/Meetings/20100607

--- Triage metrics ---

During the Bugzappers weekly meeting of 2010-06-08[1], Adam Williamson recapped the
previous efforts to produce a system for monitoring the triage process and providing
metrics on triage work, and proposed an alternative approach of producing some simple
Bugzilla queries that would provide some basic information in the short term and without a
lot of complex work. Jeff Raber stepped in and volunteered to attempt this.

   1.
http://meetbot.fedoraproject.org/fedora-meeting/2010-06-08/bugzappers.201...

-- Fedora In the News --

In this section, we cover news from the trade press and elsewhere that is re-posted to the
Fedora Marketing list[1]

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing

Contributing Writer: Pascal Calarco

--- Sugar on a Stick v3 Mirabelle released (h-online.com) ---

Rahul Sundaram forwarded a posting from The H from 2010-06-14:

"At last week's LinuxTag conference in Berlin, Sugar Labs, the organisation
behind the One Laptop Per Child's XO laptop software, released Sugar on a Stick
version 3.0, also known as "Mirabelle". Sugar on a Stick is a version of the
free open source Sugar Learning Platform that can be installed on a bootable USB flash
drive to run on a conventional desktop, notebook or netbook computer."

The full post is available[2].

   1. http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/marketing/
   2.
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Sugar-on-a-Stick-v3-Mirabelle-rele...

--- Fedora’s lucky 13 (ghacks.net) ---

Rahul Sundaram forwarded a review of highlights from Fedora 13:

"I could continue on forever and a day about how Fedora 13 brings a world of
improvement to the Fedora/Linux experience. But the best thing I can say is that Ubuntu
better watch out or Fedora might well usurp it as the king of Linux for new users. And
since Fedora is already one of the most popular distributions with experienced users . . .
you get the picture.

If you have never tried Fedora do so now. If you jumped ship on Fedora some where around
Fedora 9, I’d say it’s about time you jumped back on the ship and enjoyed an incredible
experience."

The full post is available[1]

   1. http://www.ghacks.net/2010/06/11/fedoras-lucky-13/

--- Counting the Cost of Free: What Value, Linux? (Computer Zine) ---

Rahul Sundaram forwarded an interview with Amanda McPherson, marketing and developer
programs VP at the Linux Foundation, in which she discusses a recent study calculating the
cost of producing the Fedora 9 release:

"Bentley: Why the Fedora community distribution and not another?

McPherson: Fedora is the basis for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which represents a large
percentage of the Linux market. This provided us with a very relevant model to assess.
Also, David A. Wheeler had used Red Hat for his study in 2002. OpenSuse and Debian/Ubuntu
would, of course, also be great targets for this study. We may do that at a later date. We
also would like to use an embedded distribution."