Fedora Weekly News Issue 102
Thomas Chung
tchung at fedoraproject.org
Mon Aug 27 08:41:56 UTC 2007
= Fedora Weekly News Issue 102 =
Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 102 for the week of August 20th.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue102
Here is a highlight of this week's report:
In Ask Fedora, we have "Cleaning Old Files and Packages" and "CD Split
For fedora 7."
In Daily Package, we have "Remind - GUI/Text reminder service",
"Gallery2 - Web photo gallery", "Audio Setting Persistence",
"Transmission - BitTorrent Client" and "BZFlag - Capture-the-flag in a
Tank."
FYI, Fedora Weekly News will take a summer break until September 21st.
To join or give us your feedback, please visit
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join.
1. Announcements
2. Ask Fedora
1. Cleaning Old Files and Packages
2. CD Split For fedora 7
3. Planet Fedora
1. New Features in Fedora 8 - disable dontaudit rules
4. Daily Package
1. Fedora Daily Package Articles in Russian
2. Remind - GUI/Text reminder service
3. Gallery2 - Web photo gallery
4. Wednesday Why: Audio Setting Persistence
5. Transmission - BitTorrent Client
6. BZFlag - Capture-the-flag in a Tank
5. Marketing
1. Fedora/Open Source Success Story
2. A view of Linux as introduced by a blind user via Orca
6. Developments
1. KDE: Replace Dolphin With D3lphin?
2. Rebuilds Essential For Fedora 8
3. 23rd Aug FESCo Meeting
4. Development Spin
5. Making Initscripts LSB Compliant
6. BuildID And Proprietary Drivers
7. KDE4 Not A Feature Of Fedora 8?
8. Auto-Opening Of Ports In Firewalls By Services
9. TeXLive Licensing Problem?
10. dist-rawhide Not A Valid Target In Koji
7. Translation
1. Developer Wiki Page
2. String Freeze Policy
3. Translation Quick Start Guide
8. Infrastructure
1. Turbogears and Memory Usage
2. Asterisk on the Wiki
3. Bugzilla Upgrade
9. Security Week
1. July 2007 Operating System Vulnerability Scorecard
10. Advisories and Updates
11. Fedora 7 Security Advisories
12. Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories
13. Events and Meetings
1. Event Report: WBUT install fest. part 1
2. Fedora Board Meeting Minutes 2007-08-21
3. Fedora Ambassadors Meeting 2007-MM-DD
4. Fedora Documentation Steering Committee 2007-08-21
5. Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-MM-DD
6. Fedora Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Meeting 2007-08-22
7. Fedora Infrastructure Meeting (Log) 2007-08-23
8. Fedora Localization Project Meeting 2007-08-21
9. Fedora Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-08-21
10. Fedora Release Engineering Meeting 2007-08-20
[[Anchor(Announcements)]]
== Announcements ==
In this section, we cover announcements from various projects.
Contributing Writer: ThomasChung
There was no Official Announcement from Fedora Project last week.
[[Anchor(AskFedora)]]
== Ask Fedora ==
In this section, we answer general questions from Fedora community.
Send your questions to askfedora at fedoraproject.org and Fedora News
Team will bring you answers from the Fedora Developers and
Contributors to selected number of questions every week as part of our
weekly news report. Please indicate if you do not wish your name
and/or email address to be published.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/AskFedora
Contributing Writer: RahulSundaram, PaulFrields
=== Cleaning Old Files and Packages ===
''Peter A. Shevtsov <webmaster at mera.com.ru>: From time to time I
install some new software on my computers just to look at it, to try,
to see if it is the right tool for me, etc. After reading new articles
on Fedora Daily Package I run yum more frequently :)
This software requires some additional packages, libraries, etc. Also,
it creates some config files in my home dir. But when I remove the
software the redundant packages (libraries) and config files stay in
my system. Is there any way to remove theses unused packages and old
config files?''
By way of answering your question about configuration files, consider
that package updates are actually a remove and an install action. If
configuration files were included in package removal, instead of
sometimes treated specially, then upgrading a package might actually
erase the administrator's system configuration! This is obviously not
a desirable outcome, so many packages mark their system configuration
files in the RPM database so they are not yanked off the system. To
see if an installed package has a specially marked configuration file,
use the command {{{rpm -qc <package_name>}}}.
If you want to clean your system of packages that are not required by
any other software on your system, you can use the
{{{package-cleanup}}} script that is part of the 'yum-utils' package.
Install 'yum-utils' with the command {{{su -c "yum -y install
yum-utils"}}} and then run {{{su -c "package-cleanup --leaves"}}} to
see a list of these packages. Note that not every dependency
installed during a transaction is necessarily a leaf. A more thorough
way to remove packages you installed is by surveying the output of the
command {{{rpm -qa --last}}}, which shows you recently installed
packages listed by date.
You may also be interested in the {{{repackage}}} option, which you
can add to your `/etc/yum.conf` file to be able to roll back your
installed software state. Refer to the Fedora Daily Package site[1]
for an excellent explanation of how this feature works.
[1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/17-Wednesday-Why-Repackaging-and-Rollbacks.html
=== CD Split For fedora 7 ===
''Jack Gibbs <jbg2 at att.net>: I need the address or url of the company
that splits fedora 7 into CDs. thanks!''
This information is available fro the Fedora 7 FAQ [1]. There are
torrent files available too.
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora7/FAQ?#CD_Install_Images
[[Anchor(PlanetFedora)]]
== Planet Fedora ==
In this section, we cover a highlight of Planet Fedora - an
aggregation of blogs from world wide Fedora contributors.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Planet
Contributing Writers: ThomasChung
=== New Features in Fedora 8 - disable dontaudit rules ===
DanielWalsh reports in his blog[1],
"One of the features of SELinux is the ability to dontaudit certain
access checks by a confined application. dontaudit rules are handy
to force applications to take different code paths."
"In SELinux we prevent almost every application from reading the
/etc/shadow file directly, causing pam to use it's help application.
But this would cause a ton of AVC messages that look like sshd, login
or apache are trying to read /etc/shadow. So we dontaudit these
messages."
[1] http://danwalsh.livejournal.com/11673.html
[[Anchor(DailyPackage)]]
== Daily Package ==
In this section, we recap the packages that have been highlighted as a
Fedora Daily Package [1].
[1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/
Contributing Writer: ChrisTyler
=== Fedora Daily Package Articles in Russian ===
Dmitry Beketov is now translating Fedora Daily Package articles into
Russian and posting them at
http://www.fedora-core.ru/content/blogcategory/14/34/
=== Remind - GUI/Text reminder service ===
''Productive Mondays'' highlight a timesaving tool. This Monday[1] we
covered Remind[2]:
"Remind is a very flexible reminder service which can be used from the
command line. With the tkremind program (in the remind-gui package),
it can also be used with a graphical user interface."
[1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/128-Productive-Monday-Remind-GUIText-reminder-service.html
[2] http://www.roaringpenguin.com/en/penguin/openSourceProducts/remind
=== Gallery2 - Web photo gallery ===
''Artsy Tuesdays'' highlight a graphics, video, or sound application.
This Tuesday[1] Gallery2 [2] was featured:
"Gallery2 is an easy-to-use web-based photo gallery, built on PHP,
which has many available plugins and an active user community."
[1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/129-Artsy-Tuesday-Gallery2-Web-photo-gallery.html
[2] http://gallery.menalto.com/
=== Wednesday Why: Audio Setting Persistence ===
The ''Wednesday Why'' article[1] took a look at how Fedora saves audio
settings during system shutdown and restores them during a reboot:
"You've probably noticed that ALSA settings for various input and
output controls are preserved across reboots. The audio device state
is saved in the file /etc/alsa/asound.state, a text file which
contains a description of each device control and the current values."
[1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/130-Wednesday-Why-Audio-Setting-Persistence.html
=== Transmission - BitTorrent Client ===
''GUI Thursdays'' highlight software that enables, provides, enhances,
or effectively uses a GUI interface. This Thursday[1], Transmission[2]
was discussed:
"The preferred method for downloading Fedora installation images is
BitTorrent via the tracker at http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/ --
There are quite a few BitTorrent clients available in the Fedora
repositories. One of the newest is Transmission..."
[1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/131-GUI-Thursday-Transmission-BitTorrent-Client.html
[2] http://transmission.m0k.org/
=== BZFlag - Capture-the-flag in a Tank ===
''Friday Fun'' highlights fun, interesting, and amusing programs. This
Friday[1], we took a look at BZFlag[2]:
"BZFlag is a team-based multiplayer 3D capture-the-flag game. You
manouver your tank between pyramids and block buildings within a
walled arena, shooting enemy tanks and collecting flags -- either to
win the game (capture-the-flag mode) or to gain additional
capabilities (free-for-all mode)."
[1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/133-Friday-Fun-BZFlag-Capture-the-flag-in-a-Tank.html
[2] http://bzflag.org/
[[Anchor(Marketing)]]
== Marketing ==
In this section, we cover Fedora Marketing Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing
Contributing Writer: ThomasChung
=== Fedora/Open Source Success Story ===
JimNanney reports in in fedora-marketing-list[1],
"We really want to highlight to everyone that not only is the freedom
provided by open source software available, but is a key ingredient in
success from a business standpoint. Yes, as with any business there
are obstacles, but with open source solutions these have been very
minor when they could have been devastating."
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-August/msg00189.html
=== A view of Linux as introduced by a blind user via Orca ===
RahulSundaram reports in fedora-marketing-list[1],
"Windows is still not my preferred operating system" reports Darragh
at the end of his audio tour. "With the recent advances in Orca in
GNOME, and the fact that with the work of the people on the Speakup
Modified group, Fedora 7 makes it very easy to set up, and with the
combination of everything it's just so fast to use; it's really
becoming just a pleasure."
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-August/msg00163.html
[[Anchor(Developments)]]
== 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/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
Contributing Writer: OisinFeeley
=== KDE: Replace Dolphin With D3lphin? ===
ChitleshGoorah wanted to know[1] whether "dolphin" (a file-manager)
should be replaced with "d3lphin", which is a fork with some
improvements and fixes. He outlined the process by which dolphin might
be obsoleted by d3lphin and asked whether he should go ahead with it.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01697.html
In response[2] to PraritBhargava it was further explained that upstream KDE had
decided to no longer maintain dolphin in KDE3 and the fork was a
backport of bugfixes.
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01725.html
RexDieter was mostly in favour but RahulSundaram wondered[3] why
Chitlesh didn't just include the patches and retain the name,
especially as the fork was likely to be short-lived.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01701.html
Discussion then centered on what the package should be named and what
it should state it is providing and obsoleting. JohanCwiklinski
thought[4] that it would be better to name the package "d3lphin" and
have it obsolete and provide "dolphin" due to the fact that this
reflected upstream naming. He also argued for not maintaining both
packages simultaneously. This made MattMiller concerned about
upgrading due to the co-existence of the KDE4 package, but
LaurentRineau saw[5] little to worry about as the KDE4 "dolphin" is in
the package named "kdebase" and is not separate.
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01745.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01765.html
Rahul noted[6] that Chitlesh's provision of packages for both methods
meant he could go either way, but that patching the existing dolphin
would have been less work.
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01739.html
=== Rebuilds Essential For Fedora 8 ===
The need for the rebuilding of 2845 packages was posted[1] by
JesseKeating. Jess explained that a bad "binutils" in the buildroots
had caused a problem for SELinux and also that binary packages with
debuginfo built before build-id (see FWN#100 "New finddebug-info.sh.
Don't Run ld Directly In %build"[2]) needed to be rebuilt. It was
desirable to have this work completed before the Test2 freeze date
(28th Aug).
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01437.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue100#head-e6a52df4480369d67463ec269472c2f1a4545201
Jesse included a link to a list of the affected packages[3] produced
by a script which he refined several times in response to feedback.
[3] http://jkeating.fedorapeople.org/really-need-to-rebuild
In addition, the license tags are supposed to be fixed up, but Jesse
drew attention to the large number which are known not to be. Jesse
outlined the logistical problems of trying to rebuild the packages, or
rely on the packagers to fix these issues and rebuild themselves and
finished with an appeal for input from the community.
PaulHowarth wondered what were the cut-off dates for the ppc32/SELinux
issue and for the buildid/debuginfo issue and Jesse responded[4] that
they were respectively "anything built with binutils between versions
2.17.50.0.16 and 2.17.50.0.17-7" and "Anything that is binary, has
-debuginfo, and hasn't been built with rpm-4.4.2.1-7 or newer (which
landed around 2007-08-14 02:00:00.000000 koji time".
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01454.html
ChristopherBrown thought that slipping the Fedora 8 Test2 release by a
week and trying to contact maintainers and upon failure to rebuild
allowing any other maintainer to rebuild at will would solve things,
but this didn't attract JoshBoyer on the grounds[5] that it was too
complicated and probably unnecessary.
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01459.html
ThorstenLeemhuis also wanted[6] to keep to the Test2 release date. In
order to get the work done he suggested a script which would add a
".1" to the release and rebuild automatically any package not queued
or rebuilt by some time. A further script would email maintainers who
were delinquent in updating their license tags.
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01456.html
Following JesseKeating's interest in Thorsten's proposal a request
came in[7] from MiroslavLichvar to put the ".1" before the %{?dist}.
VilleSkyttä thought that this was undesirable as it broke the purpose
of %{dist} and a longish discussion followed in which this viewpoint
seemed to predominate, with Jesse finally plumping[8] for appending
".1" to %{dist}. A side-thread arose[9] when RalfCorsepius noted the
problems that the current convention of using x in %changelog entries
instead of x%{?dist}. Ralf specifically pointed out that the problem
with Jesse's method would be that the release tags in the changelog
would not match the actual %release tags. This quickly diverged into a
discussion of using SCMs to hold the changelog instead of keeping it
in the package with ColinWalters advocating[10] the use of Koji or
other online solutions and other contributors pointing out the
advantages of a non-networked, CLI interface to the information.
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01464.html
[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01493.html
[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01558.html
[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01640.html
An email from ToddZullinger updated[11] the list of improperly licensed packages
(67%) and ToshioKuratomi[12] and MichaelSchwendt[13] helped him
generating a mapping between packages and maintainers in the new
PackageDB.
[11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01471.html
[12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01495.html
[13] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01577.html
Returning to the central issue RayStrode wondered[14] why the rebuild
wasn't just automated instead of wasting developer time which could be
spent on adding new features.
[14] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01494.html
JoshBoyer responded that an automated rebuild might disrupt the
ability of the maintainer to implement changes and that searching for
AWOL maintainers was also important. JesseKeating added[15] that
automation tied up a package set potentially for days. Jesse further
explained[16] this in response to Ray's questioning with the
information that automated rebuilds occur at low priority and so can
be held back in a queue until a maintainer's non-automated build is
done. The automated build is then queued and because it is completed
later it becomes the latest version and the non-automated build (with
all its changes) is lost. In addition the License-tags really are a
rebuild issue and should be done now instead of later so that any
unexpected consequences surface with time to fix them.
[15] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01499.html
[16] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01505.html
=== 23rd Aug FESCo Meeting ===
An invitation[1] from BrianPepple to introduce missed topics to the
FESCo IRC meeting[2] was embraced by several people.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01644.html
[2] http://bpepple.fedorapeople.org/FESCo-2007-08-23.html
Specifically HansdeGoede ensured[3] that there was discussion about
making "initscripts" LSB compliant (see "Making Initscripts LSB
Compliant" below in this same FWN#102 for full coverage).
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01645.html
The most meaty topic of the meeting concerned two related proposals.
The first was that articulated[4] by DavidWoodhouse to obsolete
"kmods" from Fedora altogether. David's proposal argues that kernel
modules shouldn't be shipped as separate packages. Instead patches to
the kernel package should be accepted at the discretion of the kernel
maintainers (DaveJones and ChuckEbbert). Contributors would be
allowed commit access to the kernel solely for their own patch.
[4] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DavidWoodhouse/KmodProposal
The clearest objections came from ChristopherAillon who wanted to know
what precedent there was for allowing the maintainers of a "base"
package (e.g. kernel, firefox) to influence the rejection of "addons"
to that package (e.g. kmods or firefox-extensions respectively).
The second proposal came from JefSpaleta and suggested[5] that DKMS
[6] could be used to ship the source of "out-of-tree" kernel modules
which could be dynamically rebuilt to work with updated versions of
the kernel. This seemed to offer a possible way out of the impasse
described above as it has the advantage of opening up the contribution
process to experimental modules which could then be mainlined later.
The honed and crafted stable Fedora kernel would be unaffected and
only those chosing to opt-in to the experimental modules would
experience their vagaries.
[6] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/JefSpaleta/DKMSProposal
MattDomsch and JesseKeating noted during the meeting that JeremyKatz's
input was likely to be critical as he objected to having a second,
non-rpmdb database to track to find what is actually in /lib/modules.
Jef seemed to feel that this might be solvable, but Jesse was less
encouraged.
Several other meeting participants, e.g. ToshioKuratomi(abadger1999)
shared some of ChristopherAillon's worries about general rules
excluding add-on packages, but recognized its limited, practical value
for the special case of the kernel modules.
The conclusion was that this needed to be discussed at greater length
on @fedora-devel and that Jef, David and Jesse needed to produce a
mutually agreed proposal.
=== Development Spin ===
An email from AndrewOverholt announced[1] the creation of a SIG for
making a development specific spin of Fedora. Goals included but were
not limited to: providing tools, making targeting Fedora easier for
developers, making Fedora-developers lives easier. These open-ended
goals include deriving the spin from "Fedora Desktop" and including
Eclipse, Koji, Systemtap, Frysk, GCC-toolchain, Emacs and enabling the
debuginfo repository. An explicit goal is to attract new developers
to Fedora.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01356.html
There appeared[2] to be an immediate problem with the desire to enable
the debuginfo repository when JesseKeating pointed out that it would
involve changes to the fedora-release package or else post-install
processing. The latter seemed likely[3] when JeremyKatz added that
the spin would be based off the LiveCD image as opposed to a
traditional install. Jeremy added that it would be good to figure
this out for the latter too.
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01357.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01371.html
Jesse didn't like[4] the idea of modifying packages using a %post in
kickstart immediately after they've been installed and wondered
whether ChristopherAillon's suggestion[5] of copying the .repo file
into a special fedora-release-debuginfo package which would only be
installed on this spin was as unappealing as appeared at first blush.
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01379.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01373.html
DanHorak and JonathanUnderwood requested[6] their favorite IDEs to be
added to the spin (which Andrew in his initial email admitted was
going to be a bulky DVD).
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01539.html
The general idea was exciting[7] to ColinWalters, who also identified
three likely classes of users and suggested that developers of Fedora
could be left to fend for themselves, whereas amateur web-developers
and professional coders would be a larger audience. Colin had some
more specific ideas[8] about how the configuration of such a system
was much more important than simply the packages which were shipped
with it, these included: making finding software easier; starting
appropriate applications by default; having a running Xen image to
make it easier
to deploy apps on Xen.
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01374.html
[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01416.html
=== Making Initscripts LSB Compliant ===
HansdeGoede asked[1] a short while ago whether or not he should close
some bugs currently open on his packages which contained initscripts.
The bugs suggested that the initscrips should be LSB compliant[2] and
there was some discussion about switching to a different init system
(such as sysinit-ng) but no resolution was offered.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00898.html
[2] http://www.linux-foundation.org/spec/refspecs/LSB_3.1.0/index.shtml
Similar doubts were expressed[3] at that time by MatthiasSaou about
the "Unanswered questions" on the wiki page and VilleSkyttä pointed
out[4] that "rpmlint" wasn't much help.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00931.html
In the 23rd Aug 2007 FESCo meeting[4] the issue was advanced again by
Hans. The consensus during the IRC meeting seemed to be that
HaraldHoyer knew most about this (and had filed the bugs) and should
create a formal proposed guideline document in the wiki. WillWoods
was interested to hear that requiring "redhat-lsb" is uncool as it
bloats the install.
[4] http://bpepple.fedorapeople.org/FESCo-2007-08-23.html
=== BuildID And Proprietary Drivers ===
StewartAdam posted[1] a plea for help when he found the rpmbuild
failed when he tried to build ATi and nVidia proprietary drivers for
the devel branch at Livna.org. Stewart was aware that proprietary,
binary drivers weren't something which the Fedora Project could help
with but wondered if someone could help with the specific error which
was due to the absence of buildids. The problem was that buildids
couldn't be added to the binary and Stewart thought this showed
exactly why binary-only drivers should be avoided.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01317.html
A response from RolandMcGrath suggested[2] a define which might switch
off the behavior and wondered whether a debuginfo rpm could contain
any useful information about a binary anyway. VilleSkyttä was a bit
concerned[3] with the non-stripping of binaries that would then occur
and suggested a correction to Roland's define.
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01321.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01322.html
Roland suggested[4] that Ville's worries were unfounded because even
when debuginfo is enabled /usr/lib/rpm/redhat/brp-strip is run, he
also asked for any of the "rpm wizards" who had helped to set up the
current macros to speak up on what the preferred method was.
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01323.html
JeremyKatz confirmed[5] that Ville's method was the preferred one and
a happy StewartAdam confirmed[6] that he no longer saw the BuildID
errors and suggested including this information on the wiki page for
BuildID.
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01355.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01328.html
=== KDE4 Not A Feature Of Fedora 8? ===
HansdeGoede mentioned[1] that he had started packaging a KDE game
(ksirk) and been surprised to find no kde4 packages in rawhide. Hans
wondered what the status was and what he could do to help. Strictly
speaking most of the discussion on this occurred during the timeframe
of the previous FWN issue, but it's important and useful information.
(See FWN#99 "KDE4 Status"[2] for previous coverage of this topic).
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01281.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue99#head-518400f8171178c344dc79f45572bfc5b24f2acc
An initial response from MichelSalim advanced the information that
KDE4 probably would not be included in Fedora 8 and that there would
be some parallel-installable packages. Michel also noted that SuSE
(due to release in October) will not be shipping KDE4. This drew a
rather short response[3] from Hans who asked those of us without a
clue to RTFM and refrain from answering questions. Michel referred[4]
Hans to specific @fedora-devel threads. Subsequent defence of Michel
both on grounds of his correctness and for politeness led Hans to
explain[5] that he wished a high signal/noise ratio and had been
misled by the outdated wiki entry. He subsequently issued[6] an
unreserved apology to Michel.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01286.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01287.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01306.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01305.html
JoshBoyer stated that KDE4 would not be in Fedora 8, which RexDieter
reproved[7], suggesting that no final, absolute decision had been
reached in this regard. Further discussion with Josh however brought
out the information[8] that the most likely scenario for Fedora 8 is
that there will be a KDE3 desktop (desktop manager, window manager
etc) and a KDE4 runtime (libraries and resources for developing and
running KDE4 applications). Rex saw two other possible scenarios of a
KDE4 desktop and KDE3 runtime and no KDE4 runtime at ship date at all.
One of the points of confusion cleared up was that if something isn't
in Test2 then it isn't going to be a Feature.
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01297.html
[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01301.html
Rex stated[9] that if the KDE4 desktop was not ready by Test2 then it would not
replace the KDE3 desktop mid-release.
[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01311.html
After investigating the issue Rex posted[10] later to say that KDE4
would realistically not be in Fedora 8. Rex was upset about this and
managed to be both polite and profane. HansdeGoede stepped up to the
plate yet again to offer assistance[11] and was joined by
JoséAbílioMatos and "MarkG".
[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01714.html
[11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01720.html
AdamTkac was keen[12] on moving to KDE4 right now, but JoshBoyer
suggested that the KDE team had a better grasp of the practicalities
and RexDieter said[13] "there is a basic level of functionality and
reliability [...] which simply isn't there yet", and encouraged anyone
interested to join the KDE SIG[14].
[12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01341.html
[13] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01362.html
[14] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/KDE
=== Auto-Opening Of Ports In Firewalls By Services ===
A proposal[1] from JóhannGuðmundsson to implement a method to allow
services to automatically punch holes in the firewall suggested that
the best way of doing this might be for a service to read a firewall
configuration file and add iptables rules based upon it on starting
(and conversely remove those rules when stopping).
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01363.html
In favour was JeremyKatz. He added[2] the question whether it was
better to make the iptables change during starting/stopping (as
suggested by Johann) or to do it at chkconfig time. The advantage of
the latter is that it avoids having to make initscript changes, but
the former seems more "correct".
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01372.html
SimoSorce was less enthralled[3] by the prospect of having iptables
rules overridden or else having to change the initscripts and/or
reapply the rule each time the service starts or stops. Simo also
wondered whether Jeremy was right about it being more correct to make
these changes at start/stop, and also wondered to which interfaces
this would apply.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01378.html
"Nodata" and JonCiesla both looked[4] like they'd be part of a
pitchfork-bearing mob if their custom firewall settings were disrupted
by this functionality. ArthurPemberton agreed[5] with JonCiesla that
perhaps tying this in to ''system-config-securitylevel'' would allow
the functionality to be disabled in one easy place by admins.
DaveHollis thought[6] that integrating existing protocols for
modifying firewalls (UPnP, NAT-PMP[7]) by talking to avahi and using
DBUS to prompt for user input offered a better path.
LennartPoettering noted[8] that someone was already developing such a
module for avahi.
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01382.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01383.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01389.html
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAT-PMP
[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01408.html
Like Simo SaikatGuha wondered[9] what would happen with VPNs, and also
suggested that system-config-security could be modified to allow the
opening of ports per service (instead of explicitly by port) with
functions added to initscripts to look at this.
[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01380.html
BennyAmorsen posted[10] a slightly tongue-in-cheek implementation of
Johann's idea, suggesting that all he needed to do was to remove the
firewall completely.
[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01386.html
=== TeXLive Licensing Problem? ===
In the continuing drive to get License tags sorted out PatriceDumas
was doing his part and examining TeXLive (see FWN#101 "TeXLive
Status"[1]). Patrice noticed[2] an obligation to send notifications
to the copyright holder for "dvips" and "makeindex". Patrice wondered
if these requirements were considered to be the same to the very
similar Academic Free License (AFL) which is considered a Free
license.
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue101#head-5af8a93231914c675179704329893a9d0fc7a275
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01802.html
RahulSundaram argued[3] that there was a difference between a
requirement and a request and that hence the AFL was different.
Patrice was unsure about this as the AFL license used the word "must",
but demurred that he was not a native speaker of English.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01805.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01812.html
A re-reading of the AFL by Rahul seemed[5] to show that the obligation
was to convey to the ''recipients'' the license terms. Patrice
concurred[6] with this and said that he had noted the issue in the
TeXLive review.
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01815.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01816.html
=== dist-rawhide Not A Valid Target In Koji ===
DebarshiRay (rishi) was stumped[1] when using the standard BuildRoot
setup he couldn't build two of his packages from scratch. The
specific error message was "BuildrootError: could not init mock
buildroot, mock exited with status 100."
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01784.html
A quick response[2] from MamoruTasaka suggested that Rishi try to use "dist-f8"
instead of "dist-rawhide" and although this worked Rishi was puzzled
because koji list-target provides it as a possibility.
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01786.html
JesseKeating answered[3] that it was not "a fully valid target" and that it had
been created to allow pointing mock at a static repository of rawhide
on people's systems.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01792.html
[[Anchor(Translation)]]
== Translation ==
This section, we cover the news surrounding the Fedora Translation
(L10n) Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N
Contributing Writer: JasonMatthewTaylor
=== Developer Wiki Page ===
DimitrisGlezos put up a page[1] with information for maintainers
looking to get their project/resource translated[2].
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N/ResourceMaintainers
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-August/msg00064.html
=== String Freeze Policy ===
DimitrisGlezos posted[1] that there is now an official String Freeze
Policy, the idea is to give translators concrete timelines without
worry about overwrites and the like.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-August/msg00065.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ReleaseEngineering/StringFreezePolicy
=== Translation Quick Start Guide ===
NorikoMizumoto posted[1] some changes to the guide[2] and as always
the team is looking for additions and improvements.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-August/msg00087.html
[2]http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N/Tasks/TQSG
[[Anchor(Infrastructure)]]
== Infrastructure ==
In this section, we cover the Fedora Infrastructure Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure
Contributing Writer: JasonMatthewTaylor
=== Turbogears and Memory Usage ===
MikeMcGrath requested[1] some application owners and whoever else may
have some free time to investigate to ensure that the applications are
using their memory as intended as the machines are swapping
frequently.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-August/msg00110.html
=== Asterisk on the Wiki ===
MikeMcGrath posted[1] about a page created[2] to inform others about
Asterisk and some basic troubleshooting.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-August/msg00113.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure/Asterisk
=== Bugzilla Upgrade ===
ToshioKuratomi posted[1] a breakdown of expected problems with the
proposed Bugzilla upgrade. He also posted some post upgrade notes[2]
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-August/msg00122.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-August/msg00147.html
[[Anchor(SecurityWeek)]]
== Security Week ==
In this section, we highlight the security stories from the week in Fedora.
Contributing Writer: JoshBressers
=== July 2007 Operating System Vulnerability Scorecard ===
* http://blogs.technet.com/security/archive/2007/08/16/july-2007-operating-system-vulnerability-scorecard.aspx
I ran across this vulnerability report. The goal of which appears to
be to show that Windows Server 2003 has fixed significantly fewer
flaws than various other operating systems. Upon reading the report,
the first thing that popped into my head was "But what about the
things that aren't fixed?" There are quite a few reports like this,
none of them really say much. We can safely say that any report is
going to show that lots of things get fixed in operating systems that
contain lots of things.
I wouldn't mind seeing an report about the various outstanding flaws
in a given system. Such a report is likely impractical to produce, as
it's a full time job to track outstanding flaws, but it would no doubt
be useful. It's very easy to draw the shortsighted conclusion that the
more flaws a vendor fixes, the more insecure their product is. It
would make just as much sense to say that the fewer flaws a vendor
fixes, the more outstanding things they are still vulnerable to.
[[Anchor(AdvisoriesUpdates)]]
== Advisories and Updates ==
In this section, we cover Security Advisories and Package Updates from
fedora-package-announce.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA
Contributing Writer: ThomasChung
== Fedora 7 Security Advisories ==
* sysstat-7.0.4-3.fc7 -
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg00311.html
* kdelibs-3.5.7-20.fc7 -
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg00316.html
* kdebase-3.5.7-13.fc7 -
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg00317.html
* po4a-0.32-4.fc7 -
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg00333.html
* libvorbis-1.1.2-3.fc7 -
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg00343.html
* id3lib-3.8.3-17.fc7 -
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg00358.html
* bochs-2.3-7.fc7 -
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg00362.html
* kernel-2.6.22.4-65.fc7 -
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg00371.html
* pam_ssh-1.92-2.fc7 -
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg00378.html
== Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories ==
* dovecot-1.0.3-6.fc6 -
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg00303.html
[[Anchor(EventsMeetings)]]
== Events and Meetings ==
In this section, we cover event reports and meeting summaries from
various projects.
Contributing Writer: ThomasChung
=== Event Report: WBUT install fest. part 1 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-August/msg00058.html
=== Fedora Board Meeting Minutes 2007-08-21 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-advisory-board/2007-August/msg00119.html
=== Fedora Ambassadors Meeting 2007-MM-DD ===
* No Report
=== Fedora Documentation Steering Committee 2007-08-21 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-August/msg00059.html
=== Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-MM-DD ===
* No Report
=== Fedora Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Meeting 2007-08-22 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/epel-devel-list/2007-August/msg00136.html
=== Fedora Infrastructure Meeting (Log) 2007-08-23 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-August/msg00138.html
=== Fedora Localization Project Meeting 2007-08-21 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-August/msg00082.html
=== Fedora Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-08-21 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-August/msg00567.html
=== Fedora Release Engineering Meeting 2007-08-20 ===
* https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01400.html
--
Thomas Chung
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung
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