news December 2007

news@lists.fedoraproject.org

13 participants
18 discussions

I will help out in exchange for...
by Markus McLaughlin 22 Dec '07

22 Dec '07

I would be glad to help out for a few hours per weekend if my Linux blog ( linuxglobe.wordpress.com} has the "Inside Scoop" on the future Fedora releases!!! Mark McLaughlin Hudson, MA

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Fedora News site: Help Needed
by Rahul Sundaram 21 Dec '07

21 Dec '07

Hi, Fedora infrastructure is looking for a person to manage a new news site for Fedora which is currently planned to be a drupal instance. If anyone wants to volunteer to lead that effort or help coordinate with others, please contact the infrastructure team. Rahul

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In the news
by Rahul Sundaram 18 Dec '07

18 Dec '07

Hi, This is just an idea I have been thinking about for sometime. Instead of Fedora Marketing beat covering just Fedora news, could we instead do a more editorial style coverage of interesting news related to Free software including Fedora of course. A recent example, ----- == School detention for using Firefox turns out to be a hoax == An interesting story making the rounds this week is the one about a school student getting detention for using Firefox [1]. Fortunately it turned out to be a hoax [2] although there are a number of similar incidents of lack or technical savvy people or outright paranoia that have prevented the spread of good Free and open source software. Keep an eye for these. Incidentally Firefox is the default browser in Fedora and Firefox 3 [3] with much better Linux integration is about to be released in a short while [1]http://www.uploadgeek.com/uploads456/0/1197784327416.png [2] http://www.bigspring.k12.pa.us/news.php?action=view_article&article_id=2130 [3] http://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox3 ----- Does this sound appealing? Rahul

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Fedora Weekly News Issue 113
by Thomas Chung 17 Dec '07

17 Dec '07

= Fedora Weekly News Issue 113 = Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 113 for the week of December 10th. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue113 In Announcement, we have "Samba Security Updates For FC6" In Planet Fedora, we have "Talks with Mark: RHM Video", "F8 on the PS3", "Back from India: FOSS.in", "A good flip-flop: FUDCon Raleigh 2008", "Re-spinning Fedora" and "Succession Planning" FWN will take two weeks off for Christmas and New Years Holidays. The next issue will resume on January 7th 2008. On behalf of Fedora News Team, Happy Holidays! To join or give us your feedback, please visit http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join. 1. Announcements 1. Samba Security Updates for FC6 2. Planet Fedora 1. Talks with Mark: RHM Video 2. F8 on the PS3 3. Back from India: FOSS.in 4. A good flip-flop: FUDCon Raleigh 2008 5. Re-spinning Fedora 6. Succession Planning 3. Marketing 1. lwn.net: The search for a new Fedora leader 2. oreillynet.com: Fedora Core 6 No More 4. Developments 1. How Should PulseAudio Work? 2. Two RFCs For Smolt 3. KDE4: Removable Media Mounting Refused Under GDM 4. Color Management With Argyll 5. Multilib Fun With Group* Commands 6. Policies For Creating SIGs 7. Erratum 5. Advisory Board 1. Fedora Project Leader Succession Planning 6. Documentation 1. FDSCo Election In Progress 7. Security Week 1. Squirrelmail Compromise 2. Linux Virus Scanner 3. The Top 5 Most Overlooked Open Source Vulnerabilities for 2007 8. Advisories and Updates 1. Fedora 8 Security Advisories 2. Fedora 7 Security Advisories 9. Events and Meetings 1. Fedora Board Meeting Minutes 2007-12-04 2. Fedora Ambassadors EMEA Meeting 2007-12-12 3. Fedora Documentation Steering Committee 2007-MM-DD 4. Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-MM-DD 5. Fedora Infrastructure Meeting 2007-12-13 6. Fedora Localization Meeting 2007-MM-DD 7. Fedora Marketing Meeting 2007-MM-DD 8. Fedora Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-MM-DD 9. Fedora Quality Assurance Meeting 2007-MM-DD 10. Fedora Release Engineering Meeting 2007-12-10 11. Fedora SIG EPEL Meeting Week 2007 Week 50 12. Fedora SIG KDE Meeting Week 2007-12-11 13. Fedora SIG Store Meeting 2007-MM-DD [[Anchor(Announcements)]] == Announcements == In this section, we cover announcements from Fedora Project. https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-announce-list Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === Samba Security Updates for FC6 === SimoSorce announces in fedora-announce-list[1] "Fedora 7 and 8 packages are being released but as you may know FC6 has reached EOL just recently. As I think this is an important security problem I decided to release new packages for FC6[2] so that people that have not yet finished their migration to newer supported Fedora releases can buy some more time. This is a one off service I felt compelled to release to help people, I am not going to do regular releases for FC6." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2007-December/msg00003… [2] http://simo.fedorapeople.org/samba/ [[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 === Talks with Mark: RHM Video === MarkCox points out in his blog[1], "Late last month I spent a day with the Red Hat Magazine team talking about vulnerability response. The first video is now available and talks about the role of Red Hat in dealing with vulnerabilities in third party software. The video was shot in my home office which explains the calming green paint; it's hard to get too stressed in a pale green room." [1] http://www.awe.com/mark/blog/200712162208.html === F8 on the PS3 === JoshBoyer points out in his blog[1], "There was a last minute regression on the PS3 for the F8 installer that causes a traceback in anaconda when looking for the video driver. This is worked around by specifying "xdriver=fbdev" on the command line. After that, it booted the F8 DVD just fine, and is currently installing in text mode on my standard definition TV." [1] http://jwboyer.livejournal.com/18688.html === Back from India: FOSS.in === LennartPoettering points out in his blog[1], "FOSS.in was one the best conferences I have ever been to, and a lot of fun. The organization was flawless and I can only heartily recommend everyone to send in a presentation proposal for next year's iteration. I certainly hope the commitee is going to accept my proposals next year again. Especially the food was gorgeous." [1] http://0pointer.de/blog/photos/india.html === A good flip-flop: FUDCon Raleigh 2008 === PaulFrields points out in his blog[1], "MaxSpevack posted to fedora-devel-announce that we might swap days on the FUDCon schedule, splitting the hackfest days — Friday and Sunday — with the BarCamp day on Saturday. This potentially could turn out to be a great routine arrangement for FUDCon. since now the Saturday sessions can benefit from being informed by a prior day of hacking. FUDCon sessions now can be just as much about showing off work completed the day before, like a progress report for a code sprint, or the results of brainstorming and prototyping sessions." [1] http://marilyn.frields.org:8080/~paul/wordpress/?p=882 === Re-spinning Fedora === JeroenVanMeeuwen points out in his blog[1], "Here's a brief overview of what it takes to seriously Re-Spin Fedora. Fedora Unity has done so for a long time now, and not just for home use, but to distribute amongst a larger audience. The reasons we started and continue to do so are obvious, amongst others:" "The number of updates available to any freshly installed system (from officially released media) increases over time and rises up to 2 GiB. We believe there is no reason why anyone shouldn't be able to have these updates on the installation media already, thus decreasing the amount of updates available immediately after installation. This is a matter of convenience, as well as bandwidth and data traffic; bandwidth and/or data traffic in some locations in the world isn't as cheap as you might think, and some of us do not even have internet -those usually get a Re-Spin via the FreeMedia program or get it from a friend." [1] http://kanarip.blogspot.com/2007/12/re-spinning-fedora.html === Succession Planning === MaxSpevack points out in his blog[1], "After two years and four releases of Fedora, I would like to be able to do some other things related to Fedora and/or Red Hat while allowing someone else to assume the "Fedora Project Leader" responsibilities." [1] http://spevack.livejournal.com/39464.html [[Anchor(Marketing)]] == Marketing == In this section, we cover Fedora Marketing Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === lwn.net: The search for a new Fedora leader === RahulSundaram reports in fedora-marketing-list[1], "MaxSpevack, who has led the Fedora project through a period of great change and improvement, has announced that the time has come to move on to other (Fedora-related) challenges. So the project is looking for a new leader. "The Fedora Project Leader is a full-time Red Hat position, and so we need to go through a full interview process, etc. None of this is being done ad-hoc or randomly. The Fedora Board is part of the process, as is Red Hat's CTO and other managers within the engineering organization and human resources." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-December/msg0004… === oreillynet.com: Fedora Core 6 No More === ThomasChung reports in fedora-marketing-list1[1], "As of this last Friday, December 7th Fedora Core 6 is no more. With it goes the last release the Fedora Project had seen the split between "Community" (Extras) and Red Hat sponsored (Core). Those not intimately involved in Fedora might be interested to learn that when the merge happened it was the core packages that ended up having to follow the former "Extras" packaging guidelines and not the other way around. Yet another testament to the power of community." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-December/msg0003… [[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 === How Should PulseAudio Work? === PekkaSavola sought[1] details about how PulseAudio worked after sound stopped working on his Fedora 8 system following a re-installation. PulseAudio had worked prior to this reinstallation and Pekka wondered whether it was a daemon which needed to restarted. KellyMiller confirmed[2] that it was a daemon which is started in the background by the desktop. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00755.ht… [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00757.ht… A detailed explanation[3] by WillWoods outlined how access to the sound devices is managed by the desktop environment using HAL, ConsoleKit and PulseAudio. Will suggested that an upgraded system might need to use {{{sudo yum groupupdate sound-and-video gnome-desktop kde-desktop}}} with either of "gnome-desktop" or "kde-desktop" being omittable if desired. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00758.ht… Some concern was expressed[4] about the latency that results from redirecting ALSA-using applications through PulseAudio, which in turn then communicates with ''alsad'', which in turn communicates with the hardware. DenisLeroy had noticed the lag in some games. CallumLerwick recalled that this was because these applications were built using SDL and OpenAL (common libraries in game programming) and they were unable to work with PulseAudio directly, so SDL had been hacked to use ESD which in turn talked to PulseAudio. WillWoods confirmed[5] this and noted that last April a preliminary driver had been written to allow SDL to communicate with PulseAudio without any ESD intermediary. Fedora 9 was mentioned as a possible deadline for this native support of PulseAudio by SDL. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00765.ht… [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00776.ht… CallumLerwick rebuilt[6] a version of SDL with the PulseAudio patch and reported[7] that Second Life and OpenArean worked well, but that Quake3 displayed some stuttering due to its sampling rate. LeszekMatok suggested[8] a possible fix for the latter by choosing 44.1KHz sampling rate. There also appeared to be an OpenAL dependency on SDL-devel which needed to be fixed. [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00780.ht… [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00788.ht… [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00790.ht… NicolasMailhot had to report[9] serious problems playing video streams. These seemed directly attributable to PulseAudio. See FWN#101 "PulseAudio Enabled By Default"[10] and FWN#110 "PulseAudio CPU Usage"[11] for previous coverage of PulseAudio. [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00793.ht… [10] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue101#head-0d315a00a73ee5ed98c6be6aea9… [11] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue110#head-e00db32c1de9fc07afffbdefa89… PekkaSavola responded[12] to WillWoods that it appeared that the problem was that he was using XFCE which was not starting either PulseAudio, or the ESD compatibility wrapper. Will encouraged[13] Pekka to use one of the startup scripts and deprecated the idea of packaging up scripts to do this instead of fixing ALSA's configuration files to only use PulseAudio as the default when PulseAudio has been confirmed to be actually running. [12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00764.ht… [13] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00767.ht… === Two RFCs For Smolt === A request from YaakovNemoy presented[1] for community consideration a Privacy Policy in Smolt (the opt-in hardware profiler) and the integration of ''kerneloops'' with Smolt. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00739.ht… After it was clarified that ''smolt'' was the client program and ''smoon'' was the server which gathered the data StephenSmoogen suggested[2] that an improved plugin system would help to allow users choose the amount of data which they wished to share. A basic minimum would be collected and could be augmented with plugins to collect additional information. Discussion moved[3] on to whether a simple set of booleans configurable on both the ''smoon'' server and the ''smolt'' client was preferable to this plugin architecture. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00783.ht… [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00812.ht… CallumLerwick expressed[4] a wish for more detailed CPU information and ChristopherBrown wished[5] that ''anaconda'' would not prompt multiple times to query whether people really wanted to enable Smolt. In response to the latter point Yaakov commented that he had not received many complaints and would like to wait before disabling the confirmation screen. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00742.ht… [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00748.ht… [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00787.ht… EricSandeen requested filesystem information and Yaakov agreed[7] that this was a desirable piece of information. [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00787.ht… === KDE4: Removable Media Mounting Refused Under GDM === A problem with mounting a USB drive while using the new KDE4 was posted[1] by LexHider. Lex had reported the problem to @kde-core-devel and been informed that the problem lay on Fedora's end. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00727.ht… KevinKofler described[2] some possible interactions between PolicyKit, ConsoleKit and HAL to help interpret the slightly sparse error messages. It was unclear as to whether the two error messages reported by Lex were the same, but Kevin suggested that {{{ck-list-sessions}}} would help to debug the problem. It turned out[3] that Lex was actually using GDM instead of KDM (see also FWN#108 "KDE Flamewar Warms Up Night Of Final Freeze"[4]) and that using KDM obviated the problem. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00729.ht… [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00733.ht… [4] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue108#head-ed1d4f0d923619912c7df2f7a5d… A note from RexDieter drew attention[5] to the work the KDE SIG have been doing upstream to integrate KDM with ConsoleKit. [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00747.ht… === Color Management With Argyll === A happy collaboration between NicolasMailhot and FrédéricCrozat (of Mandriva) was reported[1] by Nicolas. Apparently the Argyll monitor color calibration system is coded idiosyncratically and Nicolas had done a lot of work re-working it to use standard build tools. Unfortunately he ran out of steam. Fortunately he published his work on his "fedorapeople" blog and Frédéric picked up where Nicolas had left off. Nicolas had been inspired to build on Frédéric's work and add some more features. He requested friendly reviews especially with regard to PAM, Hal and udev functionality. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00706.ht… DanielBerrange mentioned[2] that he too had found it hard to package Argyll and promised to look over the packages. NicolasChauvet (kwizart) was also interested[3] as he had previously submitted the ''xcalib'' and ''oyranos'' packages. Nicolas noted that both of these depended on ''argyll'' for ICC[5] profile creation and hoped that reviewer attention would fall on NicolasChauvet's packages once ''argyll'' was sorted out. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00707.ht… [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00722.ht… [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00723.ht… [5] International Color Consortium. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_management === Multilib Fun With Group* Commands === The recurring problem of i386 packages being installed on x86_64 systems got an airing when ChristopherWickert wondered[1] why an attempt to {{{yum groupinstall XFCE}}} pulled in i386 versions of ''Thunar'' (an XFCE file manager) and xprintf and consequently a sizable number of other i386 packages in order to satisfy dependencies. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00676.ht… DavidWoodhouse replied[2] that this was because of bug 235756[3] which was planned to be fixed in Fedora 9, see FWN#103 "YUM To Get Configurable Multilib Behavior In Fedora 9 ?"[4]. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00700.ht… [3] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=235756 [4] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue103#head-68881a9792d1712cc947c994078… DominikMierzejewski (rathann) asked[5] if {{{yum install yum-basearchonly}}} solved the problem, but Christopher demonstrated[6] that he had no XFCE i386 packages installed and yet the former command attempted to install i386 packages. He summed up the situation as "the whole group process seems really broken." SethVidal asked[7] for a full list of all installed i386 packages and commented that "groupcommands increase the weirdness since they offer no arch specification at all" [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00710.ht… [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00734.ht… [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00735.ht… === Policies For Creating SIGs === In the pursuit of creating an Erlang SIG PeterLemenkov asked[1] what needed to be done to form a SIG. HansdeGoede replied[2] that it was not necessary to pass any formal procedure other than a simple declaration that the SIG existed. He cautioned that enforcing packaging guidelines was a completely different matter however. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00601.ht… [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00603.ht… === Erratum === In FWN#112 "Heads Up: OpenSSL, OpenLDAP Changed In Rawhide"[1], we indavertently attributed to JesseKeating a suggestion from AlexLancaster that OpenSSL and OpenLDAP packages should be built in a systematic way, starting with Core packages. This has been corrected in the archived version. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue112#head-acc8e6ca4162e9ff6e9c81d98fd… [[Anchor(AdvisoryBoard)]] == Advisory Board == In this section, we cover discussion in Fedora Advisory Board. https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-advisory-board Contributing Writer: MichaelLarabel === Fedora Project Leader Succession Planning === This past week on the fedora-advisory-board, MaxSpevack, the Fedora Project Leader since early 2006, announced that they've begun planning for someone else to take the reigns of Fedora. Max is very much still interested in doing work for Red Hat and Fedora, but is looking for someone else to take the role as the Fedora Project Leader. If you're interested in finding out more about the succession planning, check out his e-mail announcement[1]. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-advisory-board/2007-December/msg0001… [[Anchor(Documentation)]] == Documentation == In this section, we cover the Fedora Documentation Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject Contributing Writer: JohnBabich === FDSCo Election In Progress === The election for the Fedora Documentation Steering Committee (FDSCo) is now under way. The election runs from 14 December until 23:59 UTC on 24 December 2007. The self-selected nominees for the election are listed at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/SteeringCommittee/Nominations. The rules governing the election are at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Policy/FDSCoElections. Here is a short summary of the voting rules: * Voting is open to all contributors in the Documentation Project who have joined the 'cvsdocs' group in the Fedora Account System. * Contributors have up to three votes they can cast for the slate of nominees, with one vote per nominee. * The four top vote receivers serve on FDSCo for 12 months, the next three vote receivers serve for 6 months. * Following this initial election, regular elections are every six months. Half of the seats are up for voting each election, first three seats, then four seats, and so on. * We are using the Fedora standard voting software. If you have not done this, there is still time to get your account so you can vote: 1. Go to the account edit page at https://admin.fedora.redhat.com/accounts/userbox.cgi. 1. Under '''Add new membership''' at the bottom of the page, put yourself in the '''cvsdocs''' group The actual voting takes place at https://admin.fedoraproject.org/voting. [[Anchor(SecurityWeek)]] == Security Week == In this section, we highlight the security stories from the week in Fedora. Contributing Writer: JoshBressers === Squirrelmail Compromise === It seems that some of the squirrelmail 1.4.11 and 1.4.12 releases have been compromised. The problem only exists in their releases, not in CVS, which is good. This is still a rather scary scenario though. http://marc.info/?l=squirrelmail-announce&m=119757931707501&w=2 We looked through the version being shipped in Fedora and didn't find the backdoor, but we will still upgrade to version 1.4.13 for peace of mind and to reduce confusion. === Linux Virus Scanner === And what better to end 2007 with than a story about virus scanners on Linux: http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/12/would_we_need_a.h… === The Top 5 Most Overlooked Open Source Vulnerabilities for 2007 === This story is most interesting, but a little confusing if you don't understand what Palamida does. http://www.palamida.com/node/513 Palamida specializes in inspecting source repositories and finding embedded source. A good example of this is projects that like to include source copies of zlib, rather than linking against a system version. It's no secret that there are significant benefits to using system libraries rather than including your own. Any project that includes a copy of an upstream library, needs to track the security flaws that affect that source. Most do not do this, which ends up leaving their users vulnerable. [[Anchor(AdvisoriesUpdates)]] == Advisories and Updates == In this section, we cover Security Advisories and Package Updates from fedora-package-announce. https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-package-announce Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === Fedora 8 Security Advisories === * samba-3.0.28-0.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * eggdrop-1.6.18-12.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * phpMyAdmin-2.11.3-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * poppler-0.6.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * mysql-5.0.45-6.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * squid-2.6.STABLE17-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * autofs-5.0.2-20 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce-mcs-manager-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfprint-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-cpugraph-plugin-0.4.0-2.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce-mcs-plugins-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfdesktop-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * libxfcegui4-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfwm4-themes-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-places-plugin-1.0.0-2.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * mousepad-0.2.13-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-modemlights-plugin-0.1.3.99-2.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-panel-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * Thunar-0.9.0-2.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfwm4-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * Terminal-0.2.8-2.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-weather-plugin-0.6.2-2.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-notes-plugin-1.6.0-2.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-fsguard-plugin-0.4.0-2.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-sensors-plugin-0.10.99.2-3.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * exo-0.3.4-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * thunar-volman-0.2.0-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * orage-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-mixer-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce-utils-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-session-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-appfinder-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * gtk-xfce-engine-2.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-icon-theme-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * libxfce4util-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * libxfce4mcs-4.4.2-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… === Fedora 7 Security Advisories === * samba-3.0.28-0.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * phpMyAdmin-2.11.3-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * eggdrop-1.6.18-12.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xorg-x11-xfs-1.0.5-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * autofs-5.0.1-29 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * mysql-5.0.45-6.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * squid-2.6.STABLE16-2.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * libxfcegui4-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce-utils-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce-mcs-plugins-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * exo-0.3.4-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * libxfce4mcs-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * Terminal-0.2.8-2.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-modemlights-plugin-0.1.3.99-2.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-places-plugin-1.0.0-2.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-fsguard-plugin-0.4.0-2.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-sensors-plugin-0.10.99.2-3.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfdesktop-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * Thunar-0.9.0-2.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfwm4-themes-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-notes-plugin-1.6.0-2.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-weather-plugin-0.6.2-2.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-cpugraph-plugin-0.4.0-2.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfwm4-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-session-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-panel-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * libxfce4util-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * orage-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * thunar-volman-0.2.0-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-mixer-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * mousepad-0.2.13-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfprint-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-appfinder-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce4-icon-theme-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * gtk-xfce-engine-2.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xfce-mcs-manager-4.4.2-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… [[Anchor(EventsMeetings)]] == Events and Meetings == In this section, we cover event reports and meeting summaries from various Projects and SIGs. Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === Fedora Board Meeting Minutes 2007-12-04 === * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Board/Meetings/2007-12-04 === Fedora Ambassadors EMEA Meeting 2007-12-12 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-December/msg00… === Fedora Documentation Steering Committee 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Infrastructure Meeting 2007-12-13 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-December/ms… === Fedora Localization Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Marketing Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Quality Assurance Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Release Engineering Meeting 2007-12-10 === * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ReleaseEngineering/Meetings/2007-dec-10 === Fedora SIG EPEL Meeting Week 2007 Week 50 === * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL/Reports/Week50 === Fedora SIG KDE Meeting Week 2007-12-11 === * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/KDE/Meetings/2007-12-11 === Fedora SIG Store Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report -- Thomas Chung http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung

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Docs Beat ready for review
by John Babich 17 Dec '07

17 Dec '07

Thomas: The big (and only) news is the FDSCo Election currently underway. Best Regards, John Babich FWN Beat Writer, Documentation Project

2 1

Holiday Schedule for FWN
by Thomas Chung 16 Dec '07

16 Dec '07

All, After Monday, we'll take next two weeks off for Christmas and New Years Holiday. Our next issue will resume on January 7th, 2007 covering Jan 1st - 5th Happy Holidays everyone! Regards, -- Thomas Chung http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung

1 0

Development Beat ready for editing for FWN#113
by Oisin Feeley 16 Dec '07

16 Dec '07

Hi all, Development beat is ready at the usual place. There are only 6 topics and 1 erratum this week. -- Oisin Feeley oisinfeeley(a)imapmail.org

3 3

Fedora Weekly News Issue 112
by Thomas Chung 10 Dec '07

10 Dec '07

= Fedora Weekly News Issue 112 = Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 112 for the week of December 3rd. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue112 In Announcement, we have "FUDCon Raleigh 2008" In Planet Fedora, we have "CentOS really does fill a gap", "Fedora 8 Re-Spin in the making", "FDSCo nominations underway", "Fedora update metrics", "FAmSCo nominations/elections" To join or give us your feedback, please visit http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join. 1. Announcements 1. FUDCon Raleigh 2008 2. Planet Fedora 1. CentOS really does fill a gap 2. Fedora 8 Re-Spin in the making 3. FDSCo nominations underway 4. Fedora update metrics 5. FAmSCo nominations/elections 3. Daily Package 1. System Recover Week 4. Marketing 1. Interview with Brian Stevens with Red Hat 2. Fedora 8 - More than a Linux Distribution 3. Fedora Store meeting summary 5. Developments 1. TeXLive In Rawhide 2. Sub-Packaging: Gentooification, Ubiquitous Fragmentation Or Choice? 3. YUM: Should It Update Itself First? 4. Replacing Tail With Inotify Aware Version 5. Smolt UUIDs Broken (Danger Awful Puns) 6. Eliminating Un-needed Dependencies 7. Open By Default: New FAS Groups Proposed 8. Heads Up: OpenSSL, OpenLDAP Changed In Rawhide 6. Documentation 1. Nominations for FDSCo Election Open 2. New POT Available for Release Notes 3. FDSCo Election Calendar 4. Digging the DUG 5. NSA guide to securing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 7. Translation 1. New Release Note POT 8. Infrastructure 1. Wanted! Mirror Manager Wranglers 2. The Jigdo Discussion 9. Security Week 1. Critical Vulnerability in Microsoft Metrics 10. Advisories and Updates 1. Fedora 8 Security Advisories 2. Fedora 7 Security Advisories 3. Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories 11. Events and Meetings 1. Fedora Board Meeting Minutes 2007-MM-DD 2. Fedora Ambassadors Meeting 2007-MM-DD 3. Fedora Documentation Steering Committee (Log) 2007-12-09 4. Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-12-06 5. Fedora Infrastructure Meeting (Log) 2007-MM-DD 6. Fedora Localization Meeting 2007-MM-DD 7. Fedora Marketing Meeting 2007-MM-DD 8. Fedora Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-12-04 9. Fedora Quality Assurance Meeting 2007-MM-DD 10. Fedora Release Engineering Meeting 2007-12-04 11. Fedora SIG EPEL Meeting Week 2007-12-05 12. Fedora SIG KDE Meeting Week 2007-12-04 13. Fedora SIG Store Meeting 2007-MM-DD [[Anchor(Announcements)]] == Announcements == In this section, we cover announcements from Fedora Project. https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-announce-list Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === FUDCon Raleigh 2008 === MaxSpevack announces in fedora-announce-list[1], "The next FUDCon (Fedora User and Developer Conference) will be in Raleigh, NC from January 11-13, 2008. The event is 100% free to attend." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2007-December/msg00001… [[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 === CentOS really does fill a gap === PaulFrields points out in his blog[1], "To second what Jayson Rowe said, CentOS really does fill a gap. As a person who works on Fedora almost exclusively in his spare time, CentOS is the perfect way for me to experience performance equivalent to Red Hat Enterprise Linux — albeit without the support options — and take advantage of the very long horizon of platform durability. RHEL is the gold standard in Linux stability and performance, so there's no better way for any hobbyist to run his own servers with zero financial impact than to use CentOS. CentOS is to the Internet homesteader what RHEL is to business." [1] http://marilyn.frields.org:8080/~paul/wordpress/?p=880 === Fedora 8 Re-Spin in the making === JeroenVanMeeuwen points out in his blog[1], "A Fedora 8 Re-Spin is in the making, and as often we have a couple of issues we want to resolve with this Re-Spin." "Just so that it is clear; we do need you to let us know what it is you want resolved in a Re-Spin, or otherwise, possibly, we end up with a Re-Spin being released that still has the bugs or errors you wanted to see resolved." [1] http://kanarip.blogspot.com/2007/12/fedora-8-re-spin-in-making.html === FDSCo nominations underway === PaulFrields points out in his blog[1], "According to our schedule, the Fedora Documentation Steering Committee (FDSCo) nominations are open. We have three seats up for election this cycle. Vigorous work is underway for more documentation for Fedora 8/9, and we want to see strong community leadership driving the development of these docs." [1] http://marilyn.frields.org:8080/~paul/wordpress/?p=879 === Fedora update metrics === LukeMacken points out in his blog[1], "Using flot, a plotting library for jQuery, I threw together some shiny metrics for bodhi. It's pretty amazing to see how a Fedora release evolves over time, with almost as many enhancements as bugfixes. This could arguably be a bad thing, as our "stable" bits seem to change so much; but it definitely shows how much innovation is happening in Fedora." [1] http://lewk.org/blog/bodhi-metrics.html === FAmSCo nominations/elections === SandroMathys points out in his blog[1], "Today I nominated myself for the FAmSCo (Fedora Ambassadors Steering Committee) elections taking place very soon. Actually, the nomination-period would be over already if there were enough volunteers, but not the period has been extended for one week as written in the election rules." http://sandro-mathys.ch/blog/2007/12/05/famsco-nominationselections-me/ [[Anchor(DailyPackage)]] == Daily Package == The Fedora Daily Package departed from its usual format this week to run a special "Focus Week" dealing with system recovery tasks. These five topics were included in "System Recovery Week". http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/ Contributing Writer: ChrisTyler === System Recover Week === * Single-User Mode [1] - Using runlevel "s" to solve basic system problems. * Rescue Mode and Reinstalling Grub [2] - Booting into rescue mode from optical disk, and reinstalling a damaged or overwritten Grub bootloader. * Using LVM in Rescue Mode [3] - Finding, activating, and using Logical Volumes in rescue mode. * Recovering RAID Devices [4] - Gaining access to damaged RAID arrays. * Dealing with Disk Images [5] - Accessing data on disk image files created during rescue operations or from Xen/KVM virtual machines. [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/157-System-Recovery-… [2] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/158-System-Recovery-… [3] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/159-System-Recovery-… [4] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/160-System-Recovery-… [5] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/161-System-Recovery-… [[Anchor(Marketing)]] == Marketing == In this section, we cover Fedora Marketing Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === Interview with Brian Stevens with Red Hat === RahulSundaram reports in fedora-marketing-list[1], "So, Fedora 8, just made available in the last week, had 54,000 downloads and installs that we can even measure in the first four days, a vibrant development community around next generation technology whether that be KVM or appliances or spins or network manager improvements. So, Fedora is absolutely the place to watch the OS evolve." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-December/msg0002… === Fedora 8 - More than a Linux Distribution === ThomasChung reports in fedora-marketing-list[1], "One of the most popular free-as-in-freedom Linux distribution, Fedora Linux, released its latest version, Fedora 8, earlier in November. In addition to being a fantastic release, Fedora's user and development community and a clear headed approach makes Fedora 8 much more than a Linux distribution." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-December/msg0001… === Fedora Store meeting summary === MaxSpevack reports in fedora-marketing-list[1], "I do think that a Fedora Store session would be a useful thing to have for part of a day at the FUDCon Hackfest." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-December/msg0001… [[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 === TeXLive In Rawhide === The availability of TeXLive in rawhide was announced[1] by JindrichNovy on the 3rd Dec. This is excellent news for TeX users as the teTeX distribution had been unmaintained since mid-2006. As a result Fedora users now benefit from an actively maintained TeX distribution with more styles available. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00157.ht… Jindrich was kind enough to produce packages for Fedora 8 as well as for rawhide and MilosJakubicek posted[2] that he had used Jindrich's test repository to install them onto Fedora 8 with no problems. Full details on how to use the repository were included[3] on the wiki by Jindrich. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00180.ht… [3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/FeatureTexLive#head-694fe23a06614cef… The magnitude of Jindrich's packaging feat was noted[4] by JonathanUnderwood in a question about the obsoleting of teTeX and the details of how TeX sub-packages should be named and what they should require. PatriceDumas answered[5] that package renaming and dependencies were separate issues and that the use of new virtual provides would allow switching TeX distributions more easily. In response to a request from Jindrich, Jonathan opened[6] a bugzilla tracker entry which explains the issue very clearly. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00193.ht… [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00209.ht… [6] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=410401 A brief problem was experienced during the initial build of the packages as reported[7] by JesseKeating. It seemed that the problem was due to the "Obsoletes:" and "Provides:" being incorrect and this was fixed[8] by Jindrich. An educational thread about version-release comparisons was spun[9] between TillMaas and MichaelSchwendt. [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00280.ht… [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00293.ht… [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00302.ht… === Sub-Packaging: Gentooification, Ubiquitous Fragmentation Or Choice? === After JoachimFrieben had a bugzilla report closed with "NOTABUG" when he reported that the "vtk-devel" package pulled in too many dependencies he posted[1] a request for discussion of a standard policy to deal with splitting packages into smaller units. Joachim contrasted the manner in which "plplot" was sub-divided with the monolithic nature of "vtk-devel". [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00007.ht… PatriceDumas expressed[2] clear opposition to a standard policy, preferring to rely instead on packager knowledge. He also argued that from a user's perspective increased granularity imposed a need to become aware of, and to install, the subpackages. Patrice developed[3] these points further in response to RichiPlana's expression of desire for such a guideline. Patrice's rather convincing argument was that a guideline could not cover all cases and he backed this up for the specific example under discussion, showing that that packaging of "vtk" itself had been fine-grained, but that "vtk-devel" had been more monolithic because of the expectation that a "-devel" package provides all that is needed to develop with that package. Later RexDieter expressed[4] the idea that packaging splits should be performed with the objective of benefiting runtime and WarrenTogami drew[5] a parallel with how "pidgin" had been handled: "PERL" and "Tcl" capability was split out of the runtime so that users without a need for these scripting extensions did not have to install all of PERL and Tcl, yet the "pidgin-devel" package did include these dependencies. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00008.ht… [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00042.ht… [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00035.ht… [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00049.ht… The advantages of sub-packages were proposed by LeszekMatok as a means to escape the "dependency hell" reputation which is often unfairly attached to Fedora and there was violent agreement expressed[6] on this point by ChristopherStone in the context of Fedora being used as a base for other distributions. RexDieter wondered[7] why this sub-packaging was an essential pre-requisite to improving Fedora as a base distribution. Christopher's demurral to provide further details prompted satire from JesseKeating and an excellent overview[8] of the problem from YaakovNemoy. Yaakov suggested that too much choice was to be avoided and that perhaps such needs were best met by internal customization of Fedora. Christopher responded[9] with anecdotal evidence that Gentoo was indeed becoming preferred to Fedora precisely for these reasons. [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00018.ht… [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00030.ht… [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00047.ht… [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00050.ht… Joachim was unconvinced by these arguments and posted[10][11] evidence that "vtk-devel" was not actually a self-sufficient package and disputed the distinction between developers and users which had been drawn as part of the rationale for allowing a certain amount of user-unfriendly bloat. [10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00053.ht… [11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00061.ht… TomCallaway echoed[12] Patrice's argument that software worked on different models and that it was difficult to force it all into the same packaging strictures. He added the suggestion that if there were sufficient interest and concern on the point then a SIG could be formed to suggest sub-packaging improvements where desired. [12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00019.ht… JonathanUnderwood suggested[13] that the argument was "too hand wavy and nebulous" and asked whether Joachim had submitted a patch which could provide the basis of a technical discussion. [13] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00065.ht… === YUM: Should It Update Itself First? === A query[1] from "DrDiesel" about why kmod updates were failing was answered[2] by SethVidal that this was due to a bug in YUM which had been fixed in yum-3.2.8. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00476.ht… [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00479.ht… WillWoods noted that there had been many bugs lately where the solution had been to update YUM and its dependencies prior to updating anything else. He asked[3] whether it was feasible to make this behavior automatic. HansdeGoede thought it[4] was important that this should only be done when everything was set for an update. Otherwise simply the selected package and dependencies should be installed. Another caveat was added[5] by SethVidal, namely that blind automatic updates of YUM and its dependencies would lead to problems when jumping distribution versions. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00542.ht… [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00546.ht… [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00545.ht… === Replacing Tail With Inotify Aware Version === On Dec 5th FlorinAndrei drew attention[1] to a cool version of "tail" named "inotail"[2] for which he had written a spec file and produced packages for some architectures and distributions. "Inotail" substitutes the regular polling of a file obtained in follow-mode with inotify triggers sent from the kernel upon specified changes to the file. The result is both faster and also conveys a more accurate picture of when events occur. Florin asked for anyone interested to take over the package and shepherd it through the submissions process as he was short of time. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00426.ht… [2] http://distanz.ch/inotail/ Interest was expressed[3] by MarcelaMaslanova and ManuelWolfshant (who had already packaged it). Manuel suggested adding it to ''inotify-tools'' and offered[4] to review the package. TomasMraz preferred[5] that a patch was prepared to add the functionality to the existing ''tail'' contained in ''coreutils''. KarelZak thought[6] that there were potential portability issues, but ColinWalters[7] disagreed and after some discussion of the potential for a problem with scripts depending on the current effect of sleep on ''tail -f'' MartinEbourne agreed[8]. JesseKeating pronounced[9] himself happy to remove ''inotail'' once the current ''tail'' had been patched. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00433.ht… [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00434.ht… [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00436.ht… [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00469.ht… [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00471.ht… [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00486.ht… [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00497.ht… ParagN drew[10] the attention of would-be packagers to the package created by JesseKeating shortly after Florin had first made his announcement. [10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00439.ht… === Smolt UUIDs Broken (Danger Awful Puns) === A request for a follow-up on earlier discussion about the apparent brokenness of the Smolt[1] database was posted[2] by JonMasters. The issue was that hundreds of profile submissions were being made per month against particular UUIDs. Jon speculated that a common hardware device was being inappropriately included in the pool used as a source of entropy for generating random UUIDs. (This is done so that each Smolt user is anonymous yet unique.) [1] https://hosted.fedoraproject.org/projects/smolt/ [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00328.ht… After some horrible puns were exchanged between AlanCox and Jon the thread was mercifully brought to a halt when MikeMcGrath posted[3] that the problem seemed to originate with the construction of the LiveCD and had nothing to do with how the kernel generated UUIDs. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00359.ht… Unfortunately the damage had been done[4] by that time. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00365.ht… === Eliminating Un-needed Dependencies === A request for objections to the removal of ''bdftruncate'' (a PERL script which generates truncated ISO10646-1 BDF fonts) from ''xorg-x11-font-utils'' was posted[1] by AdamJackson. The immediate impetus was to prevent the pulling in of all of PERL in order to satisfy the dependency for this rarely used script. NicolasMailhot referenced[2] last week's discussion about core fonts during which he had expressed the opinion that they ought not to depend on anything, even ''xorg-x11-font-utils''. Nicolas also hoped to persuade Adam to take over the maintenance of the "core fonts packaging guidelines". [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00472.ht… [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00474.ht… While Adam was in agreement with Nicolas he declined[3] to take over the onerous tasks of either making it possible for the core fonts to be packaged instead of generated on the fly, or the maintenance of their guidelines. He expressed an interest solely in simplifying the dependency graph by removing unnecessary arcs from it. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00493.ht… KevinKofler asked[4] why a Perl dependency was a problem, noting that most systems had it installed already. He was answered by DavidZeuthen[5] that his experience working on the OLPC project suggested that if Fedora was to be useful for the embedded and virtual environments then it was very important to be able to choose not to use such large packages. AdamJackson also mentioned[6] the "ability to use trimmed subsets of Fedora for custom purposes" and the speed of dependency resolution as important considerations and DanWilliams echoed[7] the point. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00502.ht… [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00503.ht… [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00518.ht… [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00520.ht… TomCallaway suggested[8] using a sub-package (see also this FWN#112 "Sub-Packaging: Gentooification, Ubiquitous Fragmentation Or Choice?" for a related discussion of sub-packaging) rather than dropping the script entirely. [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00559.ht… === Open By Default: New FAS Groups Proposed === The template for new package requests was noted[1] by JesseKeating to mislead requesters into thinking that they would not have open ACLs unless they explicitly opted in to this. Jesse wondered if changing this to something clearer emphasizing that "as a requester you'd have to explicitly opt out of of having open acls" would be welcomed. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00311.ht… ToddZullinger liked[2] the "open by default" status-quo and suggested that "Private Commits" would be a good prompt for those with a need for tighter control. DavidWoodhouse added[3] that a valid reason should be required, to which ThorstenLeemhuis responded[4] with some examples and suggested (again) that there should be a FAS[5] group of "experienced maintainers" with universal access. LubomirKundrak agreed[6] with Thorsten that packages with multiple maintainers did not need to be open by default, but thought that a "just sponsored contributor" was an experienced maintainer and that there should be no creation of the more privileged sub-group suggested by Thorsten. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00317.ht… [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00336.ht… [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00339.ht… [5] Fedora Account System [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00342.ht… The existence of the "extra most super experienced maintainers" group for which Thorsten wished was revealed[7] by PatriceDumas to already exist. [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00370.ht… After Thorsten argued that Lubomir's evaluation of experience was incorrect and suggested that rather than a binary approach to access there could be levels, JohnDennis added[8] some supporting caution that allowing simple open access would provide an ideal channel for anyone who wished to distribute malware. [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00358.ht… JesseKeating argued[9] that many of the major distributions had "open" commits for project members. In response to Thorsten's querying whether Jesse had a solution to the problem Jesse suggested[10] that a new group "cvsnewbies" be created. Members would only have access to their own packages and could later be promoted to existing groups such as "cvspkgs" or "cvsextras". Jesse described the motivation as "[to have] our package set to be accessible to as many people as possible instead of locked away from as many people as possible." Jesse then outlined a detailed proposal which includes changing the "cvsextras" group to become similar to "cvspkgs" and adding a new "cvsexperienced" group with CVS access to all modules which have not explicitly opted out. Thorsten was substantially in agreement[11] with this although he noted that it sounded very like proposal which he and others had tried to make months ago. Thorsten also thought that membership of "cvsexperienced" (or whatever it will be called) should be determined by people (FESCo or sponsors) rather than a rigid guideline. [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00367.ht… [10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00374.ht… [11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00379.ht… === Heads Up: OpenSSL, OpenLDAP Changed In Rawhide === TomasMraz announced[1] that there are new versions of OpenLDAP and OpenSSL with new sonames. Consequently dependent packages need to be rebuilt. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00239.ht… A lingering problem with KDE's licensing uncertainties(see FWN#105 "SAMBA: The GPLv3 License Dance Begins"[1a]) was flagged[2] by SimoSorce as the reason that SAMBA packages were being delayed in rebuilding. He asked whether ''libsmbclient'' support could be disable in KDE while Trolltech pondered the issue. [1a] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue105#head-9704e381395b0f0ccc8a4ab8559… [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00289.ht… RexDieter kindly and promptly disabled libsmbclient support[3] and TomCallaway counseled patience[4]. Simo explained that there were a lot of other packages being delayed as a result. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00298.ht… [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00297.ht… Later MatthiasClasen posted[5] a list of packages which still needed to be rebuilt. He expressed a willingness to help with them, but point out that most had ACLs which prevented him from being able to do so. AdamTkac expressed[6] a similar frustration (see this FWN#112 "Open By Default: New FAS Groups Proposed") wondering why "cvsextras" members were restricted from commits. JesseKeating thought the package list was much large (up to 656) and suggested[7] a systematic approach of starting with packages in the "Base" comps group and proceeding upwards, in order to avoid wasting time on rebuilds guaranteed to fail. [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00349.ht… [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00351.ht… [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00352.ht… In the course of trying to determine which packages would need to be rebuilt, Jesse realized there would also be ordering problems and mentioned[8] a tool named "thetango" which derives build trees for individual SRPMS by evaluating dependencies between binary RPMs derived from a set of SRPMS. An ordered build list is one of the products and Jesse posted that he was working on generating this list. HansdeGoede was appreciative[9]: "Thanks for that, your awesome! Yes really you are despite us having differences of opinion sometimes :)" [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00361.ht… [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00366.ht… [[Anchor(Documentation)]] == Documentation == In this section, we cover the Fedora Documentation Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject Contributing Writer: JohnBabich === Nominations for FDSCo Election Open === KarstenWade wrote [1]: "Forgot to remind us the nominations are open: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/SteeringCommittee/Nominations Go ahead! Details here: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Policy/FDSCoElections Elections start on 14 December." [1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00069.html === New POT Available for Release Notes === Paul Frields wrote [2] that a "new POT is available for the last few days for the Release Notes module. We plan to gather updated PO and push an update on or about December 11." Localization (L10n) work is welcome on the following docs: release-notes, readme, readme-live-image, readme-burning-isos, and about-fedora. For those of us unfamiliar with l10n: "The GNU gettext toolset helps programmers and translators at producing, updating and using translation files, mainly those PO files which are textual, editable files...A PO file is made up of many entries, each entry holding the relation between an original untranslated string and its corresponding translation." [3] Gettext is part of the Fedora Project's toolchain for translation and localization with PO being an acronym for "Portable Object". [2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00005.html [3] http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html#PO-Files === FDSCo Election Calendar === KarstenWade wrote [4] that elections for the Fedora Documentation Steering Committee (FDSCo) need to be held soon. He endorsed the previously suggested schedule: Nominations open on 05 December and close on 12 December. Voting opens on 14 December and closes on 24 December. We have three seats open for (re)election, currently held by John Babich (jmbabich), Pawel Sadowski (mcgiwer), and Bart Couvreur (couf). These four seats are held until the next election: Paul W. Frields (pfrields), Karsten Wade (kwade), Dimitris Glezos (glezos) and Robert 'Bob' Jensen (bjensen). He concluded by saying, 'After this election, the new FDSCo has to hold discussions with all contributors and decide how we are cycling seats and how often we are holding elections for the future. This was a direction left by the current FDSCo after the previous round of elections: "After the next election, review election policy and how often elections should be held."' Bart Couvreur [5] seconded the motion, as did BobJensen [6], and PaulFrields [7], with JohnPoelstra [8] adding it to the official voting calendar. [4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00011.html [5] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00014.html [6] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00015.html [7] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00030.html [8] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00026.html === Digging the DUG === MarcWiriadisastra began discussion as to the focus of the revived Fedora Desktop User Guide (DUG): "Can we come to a consensus on what else needs to be done to make this doc a reality." [9] As lead writer of the DUG, JohnBabich responded quickly with "There are two types of apps: common and desktop manager-specific apps." and went on to explain his vision for the DUG encompassing common apps like Firefox and desktop manager-related apps, mainly those grouped with GNOME, KDE and Xfce. [10] KarstenWade [11], VladimirKosovac [12], PaulFrields [13], and DanOBrien [14] all expressed their opinions on the scope and depth of the DUG as opposed to documents like the Administration Guide. One issue discussed in detail was DVD and HTTP installs with apparently buggy behavior, requiring CLI skills to resolve them. If this is the case, how much detail should be discussed on topics like this, beyond the basics? [9] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00033.html [10] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00035.html [11] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00036.html [12] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00038.html [13] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00059.html [14] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00058.html === NSA guide to securing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 === MurrayMcAllister wrote that there "is a fantastic "Guide to the Secure Configuration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5" PDF available here: http://www.nsa.gov/snac/downloads_redhat.cfm?MenuID=scg10.3.1.1 It looks like it would be an invaluable resource for research for the Fedora Admin Guide. Among many other things, it covers IMAP/POP3, DNS, Web, Samba, Proxies, LDAP etc." [15] VladimirKosovac thought it would be good additional reference [16], which KarstenWade seconded [17], and added that it was a great example of technical documentation from which to learn. [15] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00048.html [16] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00050.html [17] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-December/msg00063.html [[Anchor(Translation)]] == Translation == This section, we cover the news surrounding the Fedora Translation (L10n) Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N Contributing Writer: JasonMatthewTaylor === New Release Note POT === PaulFrields posted[1] this week about the updated release-note POT/PO files. As always we appreciate the work that the translation team does! [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-December/msg00000.ht… [[Anchor(Infrastructure)]] == Infrastructure == In this section, we cover the Fedora Infrastructure Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure Contributing Writer: JasonMatthewTaylor === Wanted! Mirror Manager Wranglers === MattDomsch this week posted[1] a request for more people to help with the Mirror Manager setup. This will allow, among other things for more enhancements to the Mirror Manager software and help alleviate some of the workload on those already doing the work. He received a fair amount of replies with offer to help, if you are interested contact him on IRC or reply on the Fedora Infrastructure mailing list[2] [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-December/ms… [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure === The Jigdo Discussion === This week saw discussion[1] about the feasibility of implementing Jigdo to host spins[2] which would according to the thread author reduce the storage space requirements for spins which is a definite benefit as storage capacity is always a concern. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-December/ms… [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/CustomSpins [[Anchor(SecurityWeek)]] == Security Week == In this section, we highlight the security stories from the week in Fedora. Contributing Writer: JoshBressers === Critical Vulnerability in Microsoft Metrics === Window Snyder has some rather insightful feedback regarding Microsoft Metrics. In general this commentary can apply to anyone who tries to compare closed source and open source security records. http://blog.mozilla.com/security/2007/11/30/critical-vulnerability-in-micro… [[Anchor(AdvisoriesUpdates)]] == Advisories and Updates == In this section, we cover Security Advisories and Package Updates from fedora-package-announce. https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-package-announce Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === Fedora 8 Security Advisories === * wesnoth-1.2.8-2.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * kernel-2.6.23.8-63.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * openoffice.org-2.3.0-6.7.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * nagios-2.10-5.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * seamonkey-1.1.7-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * ruby-gnome2-0.16.0-18.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * zabbix-1.4.2-4.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * drupal-5.4-1.fc8 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… === Fedora 7 Security Advisories === * wesnoth-1.2.8-2.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * nagios-2.10-3.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * openoffice.org-2.3.0-6.5.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * seamonkey-1.1.7-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * kernel-2.6.23.8-34.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * drupal-5.4-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * zabbix-1.4.2-3.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * ruby-gnome2-0.16.0-18.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… === Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories === * firefox-1.5.0.12-7.fc6 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * htdig-3.2.0b6-9.fc6 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * perl-5.8.8-12 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * openoffice.org-2.0.4-5.5.25 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * xorg-x11-xfs-1.0.5-1.fc6 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… * kernel-2.6.22.14-72.fc6 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-December/msg00… [[Anchor(EventsMeetings)]] == Events and Meetings == In this section, we cover event reports and meeting summaries from various Projects and SIGs. Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === Fedora Board Meeting Minutes 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Ambassadors Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Documentation Steering Committee (Log) 2007-12-09 === * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/SteeringCommittee/Meetings/Minute… === Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-12-06 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-December/msg00606.ht… === Fedora Infrastructure Meeting (Log) 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Localization Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Marketing Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-12-04 === * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Minutes20071204 === Fedora Quality Assurance Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Release Engineering Meeting 2007-12-04 === * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ReleaseEngineering/Meetings/2007-dec-04 === Fedora SIG EPEL Meeting Week 2007-12-05 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/epel-devel-list/2007-December/msg00025.html === Fedora SIG KDE Meeting Week 2007-12-04 === * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/KDE/Meetings/2007-12-04 === Fedora SIG Store Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report -- Thomas Chung http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung

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Added FDSCo Meeting
by John Babich 10 Dec '07

10 Dec '07

Thomas: I took the liberty to add the FDSCo Meeting Log link to http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Beats/EventsMeetings. Feel free to delete it you so choose. Best Regards, John Babich Writer, Documentation Project Beat

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Docs Beat ready for review
by John Babich 09 Dec '07

09 Dec '07

Thomas: The Docs Beat is ready for review. John Babich Writer, Documentation Beat

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