news April 2007

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Fedora Docs Meeting 2007-04-29
by John Babich 30 Apr '07

30 Apr '07

Thomas / Karsten: Please include the meeting minutes and summary for the 2007-04-29 Fedora Docs Meeting in the LWN. See http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/SteeringCommittee/Meetings/Minutes for links and details. Thanks, John Babich Volunteer, Fedora Docs Project

3 3

Fedora Weekly News Issue 85
by Thomas Chung 30 Apr '07

30 Apr '07

= Fedora Weekly News Issue 85 = Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 85[1] for the week of April 22nd through April 28th, 2007. The latest issue can always be found here[2] and RSS Feed can be found here[3]. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue85 [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/LatestIssue [3] http://feeds.feedburner.com/fwn 1. Fedora Weekly News Issue 85 1. Announcements 1. Announcing Fedora 7 Test 4 (6.93) 2. Making the Merge Happen 2. Planet Fedora 1. Red Hat Magazine OLPC Articles 2. Red Hat Summit Compilation 3. 0-Day Fedora Kernels 4. Fedora Article in LWN 3. Marketing 1. Red Hat's JBoss to Adopt Fedora Model 4. Developments Mon, April 23 - Sat, April 28 2007 1. Root Filesystem Encryption Patch 2. RPM Packaging Feedback Sought and Received 3. Wow, Presto Rocks! 4. Pidgin Epoch Removed, Rawhide Updates Need Manual Correction 5. How To Get Your Packages Sponsored And Reviewed 6. Fedora7-Test4 Announced 7. Repowars II: Add Some EPEL "repotag" Duct Tape? 8. Standard Naming Scheme For KDE Components 9. kdebase And lftp Cause Rawhide Update Problem 10. The Merge Is Upon Us! 5. Maintainers 1. libperl & perl in Fedora 7 2. Guidelines Update 3. Fedora 7 Development Freeze 4. The Name For Fedora 7? 6. Documentation 1. Release Notes Freeze 2. Media Handling in Pirut 3. Knowledge Base? 7. Translation 1. Release Note POT/PO Files 8. Infrastructure 1. Operating Procedures 2. Sponsored vs Volunteers 9. Artwork 1. The Open Pallete 2. Echo SVG Fixed 3. Linuxtag Germany 10. Security Week 1. Firefox 1.5 Support Extended 11. Security Advisories 1. Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories 2. Fedora Core 5 Security Advisories 12. Events and Meetings 1. Release Engineering Meeting: 2007-04-23 2. Packaging Committee Meeting: 2007-04-24 3. Ambassadors Meeting: 2007-04-26 4. French Ambassadors Meeting: 2007-04-29 5. Event Report: CarolinaCon 2007 - North Carolina, USA 6. Event Report: FLISOL 2007 - Santiago, Chile 7. Event Report: FLISOL 2007 - Salvador, Bahia, Brazil 13. Errata 1. Erratum #1 2. Erratum #2 14. Feedback == Announcements == In this section, we cover announcements from various projects. === Announcing Fedora 7 Test 4 (6.93) === The Fedora Project is pleased to announce[1] the release of the fourth and final test release of Fedora 7! Test 4 is for beta users. This is the time when we MUST have full community participation. Without this participation both hardware and software functionality suffers. We need your help. Join us! This is the final test release before the Fedora 7 release, which is scheduled for May 24, 2007. For further information see [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/7]. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2007-April/msg00006.ht… === Making the Merge Happen === JesseKeating announces in fedora-devel-list[1], "Test4 is out, Final looms, must have merge! http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure/CoreExtrasMerge is the working page for the merge status. I would like to get merged asap and shake out the problems and get some builds done before the final freeze. Please provide input!" [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01250.html == Planet Fedora == In this secton, we cover a highlight of Planet Fedora - an aggregation of blogs from world wide Fedora contributors. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Planet === Red Hat Magazine OLPC Articles === JohnPalmieri points out in hig blog[1], "For the general audience who wish to find out more about the OLPC project and the people working on it (or at least the ones in Cambridge, MA), part 2 of the OLPC video blog[2] is now online. For developers, part 2 of my Porting a PyGTK game to Sugar[3] series is also up. The first lesson focused on the game itself. This lesson shows the initial port." [1] http://www.j5live.com/?p=361 [2] http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/04/25/inside-one-laptop-per-child-episod… [3] http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/04/26/building-the-xo-porting-a-pygtk-ga… === Red Hat Summit Compilation === JefSpaleta points out in his blog[1], "So I finally got around to poking at my digital music library and playing with rhythmbox again after almost a year after my move. I noticed the magnatune plugin and started poking at the available content in the catalog. Some of its not bad, but some of it's not to good. So instead of wasting my time hunting and pecking I decided to do a quick search for compilations. And I found this: The Red Hat Summit[2] Compilation[3]." [1] http://jspaleta.livejournal.com/9346.html [2] http://www.redhat.com/promo/summit/ [3] http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/magnacomp-redhat/ === 0-Day Fedora Kernels === DaveJones points out in his blog[1], "A few days ago I fixed up the script that grabbed the latest kernel I built for Fedora and dumped it onto my people.redhat.com page. F7 users can now install the repo file[2] into /etc/yum.repos.d/ and have it grab those fresh kernels as soon as they're built without having to wait a whole day to get them from rawhide." [1] http://kernelslacker.livejournal.com/77038.html [2] http://people.redhat.com/davej/kernels/Fedora/fc7/kernel.repo === Fedora Article in LWN === RahulSundaram points out in his blog[1], "LWN published a article titled Blaming Fedora[2] but really praising it for a strong policy on Free software. The discussions in the comments lead to me having a ongoing offlist very constructive conversations with Brett Smith, licensing compliance engineer from FSF on Fedora Free software analysis[3]. We are having good progress. I will post updates when we reach major milestones." [1] http://rahulsundaram.livejournal.com/11380.html [2] http://lwn.net/Articles/230042/ [3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FreeSoftwareAnalysis == Marketing == In this section, we cover Fedora Marketing Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing === Red Hat's JBoss to Adopt Fedora Model === RahulSundaram points out in fedora-marketing-list[1], "The move would mean that JBoss[2] would deliver a Fedora-like community edition of its core software that only looks forward. As with the Fedora Linux project, no backward compatibility is guaranteed—Fedora is focused on the future and new features." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-April/msg00160.h… [2] http://labs.jboss.com/ == Developments Mon, April 23 - Sat, April 28 2007 == In this section, we cover the problems/solutions, people/personalities, and ups/downs of the endless discussions on Fedora Developments. http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list === Root Filesystem Encryption Patch === ThomasSwan posted[1] details of how to achieve an encrypted root filesystem on FC6 using LUKS[2]. Thomas was hoping to get his modified mkinitrd script into F7-Test4, but it was pointed out that firstly, F7t4 had already shipped[3] and secondly, that new features like this were not appropriate anyway during a final freeze[4]. All responding to Thomas made it clear that his contribution was not being rejected and that they hoped to see it in F8. [1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01217.html [2] http://www.cygnetech.com/linux/howtos/root_filesystem_encryption.php [3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01221.html [4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01225.html Thomas was happy enough with this and sought further feedback[5] on how to avoid problems with keeping the modified mkinitrd in sync with kernel updates. [5] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01226.html BrunoWolf III was less happy as he'd been hoping that these patches (which had been around for a while) would make it into F7 which would coincide with his need to upgrade some FC5 machines. He wondered[6] who had to be bugged to make the patches actually get incorporated? Thomas answered that he would be happy to assist Bruno patch F7 and intended to set up a yum repository to aid others. FlorianLaRoche pointed Bruno to the wiki, where information about this could be shared but this didn't satisfy Bruno. Finally, BillNottingham was drawn into the discussion and noted some problems[7] with the patches which was why he had not yet rolled them in. [6] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01227.html [7] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01276.html === RPM Packaging Feedback Sought and Received === Kelly (lightsolphoenix) looked for advice on some KDE packages that Kelly had produced[1]. TrondDanielsen suggested[2] that, as Kelly was interested in being a maintainer of these packages for Fedora, it would be a good idea to go through the official procedure[3]. RudolfKastl suggested that the SRPM packages would be useful, and Kelly responded with those packages and the spec files. [1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01202.html [2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01208.html [3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PackageMaintainers/Join === Wow, Presto Rocks! === Continuing the positive reactions to presto, RexDieter was excited[1] by his experiences with it. Rex wondered how the tools to create presto-enabled repositories were coming along and intoned the mantra "release early, release often." RichardHughes was also interested in these tools[2]. JonathanDieter pleaded end-of-term pressure and pointed to the tools in an unfinished state[3]. MartinSourada noted that he too saw huge savings in bandwidth (90%) for an update on FC6[4] and encouraged the inclusion of presto for F8. [1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01188.html [2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01193.html [3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01194.html [4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01196.html === Pidgin Epoch Removed, Rawhide Updates Need Manual Correction === As a result of negotiations between AOL and the developers of Gaim[1], the program has been renamed to "Pidgin". WarrenTogami noted that the opportunity to remove the epoch had been missed with the original Fedora Extras 7 package[2], and that this was now corrected and rawhide users should manually fix the problem using: su -c "yum remove libpurple" su -c "yum install pidgin" The issue arose later in a rawhide user error report[3], manifesting as a missing "libpurple.so". "libpurple" is the renamed "libgaim". Another user reported that he did not have this problem with rawhide, but JoshBoyer was able to explain[4] that this was because he was not using the latest epochless package (which yum would refuse to update). TrondDanielsen also quickly provided a practical fix[5]. [1] http://www.pidgin.im/index.php?id=177 [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01195.html [3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01238.html [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01242.html [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01240.html === How To Get Your Packages Sponsored And Reviewed === A query from AntonKuznetsov opened up a discussion about the proper way to submit software for review[1]. NigelJones posted links[2] to the specific package that Anton was talking about ("Profugus", a time-dependent automatic migrator of Xen kernels) and counselled patience, noting that the review process was at least two weeks usually and that Anton had only submitted the package ten days ago. [1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01268.html [2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01270.html Nigel's informative email clarified an apparent confusion in the original post about the role of volunteer "pre-reviewers", who note problems with packages before they are formally reviewed by someone that can act as a sponsor. ManuelWolfshant who had pre-reviewed the package confirmed that this was the case[3]. [3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01272.html PatriceDumas also suggested patience, and a part of his post that said there are some reviews that are years old surprised RahulSundaram[4], who felt that packages which had been in review for more than a few months should have their reviews closed as they were clogging up the process. Patrice argued that there was already a "stalled review" policy for dealing with this, and along with NigelJones pointed out several reasons for keeping such a review open. These included maintaining a continuous body of information, ease of contact with external upstream developers. JasonTibbits argued specifically against Rahul's assertion that software older than six months was probably obsoleted[5]. Jason also suggested that people should ping the reviewers more often, then closed with a promise to start reviewing again Real Soon Now (TM). [4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01284.html [5] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01307.html RalfCorsepius provided an affirmative datapoint to Rahul's original question. JasonTibbitts felt that these were very atypical packages[6] and RexDieter thought that on occasion third-party repositories could be a positive way of getting more feedback, but Ralf didn't see that as true for his particular case[7] which failure he attributed to deficiencies in the rpmbuild system, the guidelines and the competence of "review monkeys"[8]. KevinKofler then proferred some mutual aid to Ralf[8a] as Kevin now owns a package and can thus perform review for those who don't need sponsors. [6] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01308.html [7] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01320.html [8] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01286.html [8a] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01338.html JoséMatos pointed out that the merge of the Core and Extras repositories might have filled up the queue[9] and that in general things were working as they should be, and Anton posted thanks for all the feedback and information that he'd obtained[10]. [9] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01283.html [10] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01312.html === Fedora7-Test4 Announced === The final test of F7 was announced[1] by WillWoods on April 26th. The torrents were temporarily delayed[2], but are now available. There were several additions to the copious release notes: 1) AdamJackson pointed out[3] that users of integrated Intel graphics chipsets would be using a new modesetting driver by default. 2) DavidWoodhouse made the hearts of PS3 owners beat a little faster[4] by pointing out that F7 was the first Fedora to work out of the box on their box. 3) KevinKofler caught a small error[5] that implied that KDE was not in the spin [1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01252.html [2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01265.html [3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01258.html [4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01263.html [5] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01271.html RahulSundaram was not impressed with the move to rename the distribution as simply "Fedora". Following up on his questioning about whether this had been discussed by marketing, JoshBoyer said it had not been discussed on a public list, but on IRC[5a], and AxelThimm provided[6] an example of how this could lead to confusion centered around what was on the spin (on the DVD or multiple CDs) and what was available on the network in addition to this. There were a couple of suggestions, but no agreement (other than that naming sucks and that there was much confusion)[7][8]. [5a] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01292.html [6] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01325.html [7] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01334.html [8] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01342.html === Repowars II: Add Some EPEL "repotag" Duct Tape? === ThorstenLeemhuis moved a discussion from @fedora-maintainers in order to reach a wider audience[1]. This discussion concerned the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) repository[2] that aims to provide a way for high-quality Fedora packages to be provided for RHEL and related spinoffs such as CentOS and Scientific Linux. Repository tags (repotags) are an optional addition to the name of a package, which mainly served the purpose in pre-Extras days of providing brand-recognition between the many excellent, competing repositories. [1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01232.html [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL/ Thorsten led off with some personal observations, but wished to concentrate on what seemed to him the most important thing: a political problem whereby some would feel that EPEL had been privileged over other "outside the fence" repositories which had to use a repotag, while EPEL did not. Bearing all this in mind, Thorsten was specifically soliciting discussion prior to any of the concerned steering bodies voting[4] on his concrete proposals to solve the problem. FernandoLopez-Lezcano was largely in agreement[5] with Thorsten's scheme to use defines in the EPEL buildsystem to add a repotag, while simultaneously leaving the Fedora buildsystem undisturbed. [3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/NamingGuidelines [4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01305.html [5] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01297.html AxelThimm was also mainlu in agreement with the proposal[6], and JefSpaleta provided one of his usual informative and thoughtful takes on the situation[7], which characterized it as a general usability problem, limited by the design of the current tools. Jef also roughly outlined how package signatures /might/ be used to get around this in the future, a proposal which drew some favourable comment from Fernando. [6] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01326.html [7] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01266.html === Standard Naming Scheme For KDE Components === In further naming scheme news, Kelly (lightsolphoenix) wondered whether the names of various KDE components should be patterned after the GTK ones[1]. TomTromey wondered the same thing about emacs dependent pieces and JonathanUnderwood explained that it depended on whether they were solely for emacs, Xemacs, or could be used on both[2]. RexDieter pointed Kelly to a draft packaging guideline for KDE[3], and recommended following upstream in the meantime. [1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01311.html [2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01335.html [3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01314.html === kdebase And lftp Cause Rawhide Update Problem === An attempt to update kdebase and lftp on rawhide left DavidHunter seeking help[1] when everything he'd tried failed. Mark and JoshBoyer both suggested a nodeps erasure of the current versions of the packages[2] as an immediate practical workarounds. [1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01235.html [2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01237.html JesseKeating acknowledged the workarounds, but wanted to get to the bottom of the problem and asked for bugzilla reports, prompting MichaelSchwendt to explain that these were the result of temporary breakage in rawhide[3] due to known causes. [3] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01245.html MamoruTasaka gave a reply specifically on the lftp problem[3a] and RexDieter stepped in to help with the kdebase problem[3b], which seemed to be to do with the OP mixing in packages from the kde-redhat repository with Fedora's own kde package. Jesse was still unhappy with this because it would not preserve an upgrade path within rawhide (which is a desideratum according to recent FESCo meetings). To this end he proposed an Obsoletes/Provides, which neither PatriceDumas nor MichaelSchwendt were enthusiastic about[4]. Michael's argument seemed to suggest that there are several ways in which an upgrade path within rawhide are not always be practical. [3a] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01246.html [3b] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01249.html [4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01259.html === The Merge Is Upon Us! === Drawing our attention to the imminence of merging, JesseKeating asked for input[1] on the plans to merge. After a query from HansdeGoede about gstreamer plugins, MatthiasClasen posted a tracker bugzilla entry[2] for items that would have to happen post-merge and freeze. [1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01250.html [2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01264.html == Maintainers == In this section, we cover Fedora Maintainers, the group of people who maintain the software packages in Fedora https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-maintainers === libperl & perl in Fedora 7 === Due to build issues, libperl.so was originally going to be moved[1] from the perl package into its own sub-package; however, all has been corrected in the Perl camp for rawhide users. Perl was multilib in Fedora Core 6 due to Gaim, but Jesse Keating has "whitelisted" perl to make it multilib again with Pidgin (Gaim) being in Extras. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00439.html === Guidelines Update === Clearing up the relationship between the packager and reviewer is an update to the Packaging Guidelines[1]. It is the responsibility of the reviewer to point out problems and it is the responsibility of the packager to correct the problem, while it is a combined responsibility to determine the severity. If the packager or reviewer feels a particular package should be exempt from the Packaging Guidelines[2], it must be brought to the attention of the Fedora Packaging Committee. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00484.html [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines === Fedora 7 Development Freeze === With Fedora 7 Test 4 now out the door, there is now a continual development freeze[1] until the May 24 release. During this time, only bug fixes will be accepted. Core packages must also be using the f7-final tag. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00582.html === The Name For Fedora 7? === With Fedora 7 quickly approaching, Jesse Keating[1] is also seeking Fedora maintainers to fill in the blank: Bordeaux -> Zod -> <blank>? Zod is a <blank>, <blank> is a <blank>. Suggestions are to be run through the legal queue and then voting takes place afterwards. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00587.html == Documentation == In this section, we cover the Fedora Documentation Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject === Release Notes Freeze === The release notes wiki[1] is was temporarily frozen with the information being ported over to CVS for translators to begin their work, reports PaulFrields.[2] The wiki was unfrozen so notes can continue to be added up to Fedora 7 release; these additional notes are combined with the ISO-based release notes to be published as a Web-only release[3]. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00154.html [3] http://docs.fedoraproject.org/release-notes === Media Handling in Pirut === RahulSundaram announced that he is working on updating the Software Management Guide[1] with the goal of releasing a new version for Fedora 7[2]. If you are interested in helping, you can find more details under the guide's working notes.[3] [1] http://docs.fedoraproject.org/yum [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00174.html [3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Drafts/SoftwareManagementGuide/WorkingNo… There was also a request for help with documenting the support for media in the development version of Pirut. Although this feature is present, the required auto-configuration is not yet present in Anaconda and so the documentation is needed before release. If anybody is interested in helping with this send a post to the DocsProject mailing list.[4] [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00173.html === Knowledge Base? === Following the report of a bug with a simple fix, the idea of a knowledge base was briefly discussed. It is hoped that a knowledge base would provide the ideal location for one-off bugs such as this, which in turn might have the effect of making it easier for users to contribute docs.[1] [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00187.html == Translation == This section, we cover the news surrounding the Fedora Translation (L10n) Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N === Release Note POT/PO Files === Release notes POT and PO files for Fedora 7 have been made available for translation, announced PaulFrields [1]. He also mentioned in his followup[2] the best ways to obtain the files. Localization of Fedora 7 release notes by translators was ongoing during the week, with the PO files due back to Fedora Documentation on 2 May[3]. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00092.html [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00093.html [3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Schedule#relnotes-schedule == Infrastructure == In this section, we cover the Fedora Infrastructure Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure === Operating Procedures === As part of organizing Infrastructure, MikeMcGrath has been working on some standard operating procedures (SOPs)[1] and has posted his work thus far[2]. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg00… [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure/SOP/database?action=fullsearch… === Sponsored vs Volunteers === A discussion started this week about tracking sponsored versus volunteer contributions to Fedora, with sponsored meaning the contribution was done as part of a for-pay work assignment by the contributor. This thread was started by RahulSundaram, who was interested in having these oft-requested statistics. The thread expanded to discuss the ideal of tracking all contributions made to Fedora, but it appears package maintainers are the first to be tracked[2]. It was emphasized that the tracking is optional; a contributor can opt not to supply this context of their contribution. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg00… [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg00… == Artwork == In this section, we cover Fedora Artwork Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork === The Open Pallete === The second part of "The Open Pallete" - a series of articles in Red Hat Magazine[1] about open source graphics tools - has been published. This article is titled "Grungy Brushes", and discusses how to create brushes in Inkscape that can then be used in The Gimp. It's a great article and well worth a read for any budding (or experienced) open artists out there! NicuBuculei has also written some follow up articles which can be found linked from the original post.[2] [1] http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/04/22/the-open-palette-creating-grungy-g… [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00132.html === Echo SVG Fixed === Following last week's discussions about the problems with the echo-icon-theme's package size, a lot of work has occurred this week and all the icons have now been fixed[1]. The fixed icons can be found on a subpage of the Echo icon's wiki page[2]. It is unlikely that these updated SVGs can be added to the echo-icon-theme package before Fedora 7, however, as Fedora is now frozen for release.[3] [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00138.html [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/EchoIconTheme/Cleanup [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00139.html === Linuxtag Germany === GeroldKassube has requested help from the Fedora artwork team with a brochure and a banner for Linuxtag Germany[1] - one of the larger open source events in Europe with in excess of 10000 visitors throughout the week. If you feel you could help, read the post and send your reply to the Fedora Art list. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00126.html == Security Week == In this section, we highlight the security stories from the week in Fedora. === Firefox 1.5 Support Extended === The biggest security story from last week was the news that the life of Firefox 1.5 is being extended by upstream until mid-May[1]. The Mozilla project is planning to stop providing official updates for the 1.5 Firefox branch. They of course want to put their development effort into the 2.0 branch. The current plan for Red Hat and Fedora is to roll security patches into the 1.5 branch. Several distributions are going to work together to keep the 1.5 branch maintained with security patches since there is great interest in keeping 1.5 maintained for the immediate future. Chris Aillon explains this in a blog posting, "Mozilla Corp. to work more closely with Linux distributors"[2]. This action shows a huge strength of open source software and security maintenance. When a closed source application is distributed, you have to run whatever version the author wishes you to run. If an application has the source available, and the will exists, a version that no longer receives formal support can live on. [1] http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=21543 [2] http://christopher.aillon.org/blog/dev/mozilla/20061204-linux-alliance.html == Security Advisories == In this section, we cover Security Advisories from fedora-package-announce. https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-package-announce === Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories === * FEDORA-2007-475 : rdesktop-1.5.0-2.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-475 * FEDORA-2007-473 : avahi-0.6.16-4.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-473 * FEDORA-2007-471 : eclipse-3.2.2-2.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-471 * FEDORA-2007-469 : system-config-date-1.8.12-2.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-469 * FEDORA-2007-449 : policycoreutils-1.34.1-7.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-449 * FEDORA-2007-411 : xsane-0.994-2.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-411 * FEDORA-2007-466 : dovecot-1.0.0-3.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-466 * FEDORA-2007-438 : xterm-225-1.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-438 * FEDORA-2007-456 : httpd-2.2.4-1.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-456 * FEDORA-2007-465 : m4-1.4.8-2 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-465 === Fedora Core 5 Security Advisories === * FEDORA-2007-448 : poppler-0.5.1-3.fc5 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC5/FEDORA-2007-448 == Events and Meetings == In this section, we cover event reports and meeting summaries from various projects. === Release Engineering Meeting: 2007-04-23 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01214.html === Packaging Committee Meeting: 2007-04-24 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00507.html === Ambassadors Meeting: 2007-04-26 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg00350… === French Ambassadors Meeting: 2007-04-29 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg00366… === Event Report: CarolinaCon 2007 - North Carolina, USA === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg00346… === Event Report: FLISOL 2007 - Santiago, Chile === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg00361… === Event Report: FLISOL 2007 - Salvador, Bahia, Brazil === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg00362… == Errata == >From time to time, we issue an Errata to correct Fedora Weekly News[1] published in previous week. We apologize for any confusion it may cause. If you feel a news needs to be corrected, please submit an "Errata Request" to Fedora News Team[2]. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject === Erratum #1 === In FWN Issue #84, in the section entitled "Mass Package Rebuilds - Papering Over Cracks or Shaking the Tree?" we erroneously wrote: "JohnPoelstra posted details of the Release Engineering Meeting. ThorstenLeemhuis was against one of the decisions made in the meeting: the rebuilding en masse of all packages at Test2 release time." This should have read: "JohnPoelstra posted details of the Release Engineering Meeting. These included a note that a mass rebuild of all packages around, but no later than test2 will be considered in the future. ThorstenLeemhuis mentioned in a reply that he was against rebuilding en masse all packages for each cycle." === Erratum #2 === In FWN #84, in the section entitled "Packaging Extensions for Mozilla Applications: Security Implications" we misattributed an opinion to VilleSkyttä: "VilleSkyttä remembered a conversation from the past that suggested there was some interest in packaging the extensions. He was specifically interested in making it easier to obtain a 64-bit version of enigmail." This was in fact ThorstenLeemhuis, not VilleSkyttä. == Feedback == This document is maintained by the Fedora News Team[1]. Please feel free to contact us to give your feedback. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Fedora Weekly News, please see the Join[2] page to find out how to help. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join -- Thomas Chung http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung

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editorial pass incoming (29-Aug-2007)
by Karsten Wade 30 Apr '07

30 Apr '07

I'm about to do an editorial pass, as long as Thomas isn't about to put FWN to bed for the week. First I'll pop these munchkins into their little beds, then I'll look here and at the Wiki to see where Thomas is at. - Karsten -- Karsten Wade, 108 Editor ^ Fedora Documentation Project Sr. Developer Relations Mgr. | fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject quaid.108.redhat.com | gpg key: AD0E0C41 ////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

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Fedora Weekly News Issue 84: Errata
by Thomas Chung 25 Apr '07

25 Apr '07

Fedora Weekly News Issue 84: Errata has been published. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue84/Errata Also, it has been linked from orginal FWN Issue 84. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue84 Regards, -- Thomas Chung http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung

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Re: Regarding the section "Mass Package Rebuilds - Papering Over Cracks or Shaking the Tree?" on http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue84
by Karsten Wade 23 Apr '07

23 Apr '07

On Mon, 2007-04-23 at 19:21 +0200, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote: > Nevertheless could you guys sooner or later discuss the "Or are we > allowed to fix errors (like the two things mentioned above) ourself if > we find them?" question? tia! How would you envision fixing them? You could: * Respond on your own blog * Reply to f-announce-l with an errata * Reply to the list where the erroneous report came from, making it clear what the error is; then the reporter picks up the correction for next week It doesn't make sense to edit the Wiki; the content there is essentially gone once it is written into the newsletter. I think for something that is an obvious factual error on FWN's part, we should issue an errata, to f-announce-l; that at least is what I propose. That makes the errata "official". But if the situation were different, such as you disagreeing with an opinion or interpretation, then your only recourse is channels you have direct access to -- your own blog, email lists, etc. - Karsten -- Karsten Wade, 108 Editor ^ Fedora Documentation Project Sr. Developer Relations Mgr. | fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject quaid.108.redhat.com | gpg key: AD0E0C41 ////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

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Re: Regarding the section "Mass Package Rebuilds - Papering Over Cracks or Shaking the Tree?" on http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue84
by Karsten Wade 23 Apr '07

23 Apr '07

On Mon, 2007-04-23 at 22:54 +0530, Rahul Sundaram wrote: > All of the news is available in http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Beats > before it gets published. I think it is good to review and fix things if > you can find them. The content is not due until Saturday, and in order to be timely, is written then or afterward. So there is a very short window. In addition, those sections are (AIUI) under ACLs. Why? Writing in certain locations needs authority and formality. To create a trustworthy news entity, we need to have more process and control in place than "anyone can post something as news". I wouldn't want to encourage or edit that. Anyone *can* post something as news; we all have blogs and mailing lists and can send email to f-announce-l. That doesn't mean that FWN should be open to all to write into. - Karsten -- Karsten Wade, 108 Editor ^ Fedora Documentation Project Sr. Developer Relations Mgr. | fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject quaid.108.redhat.com | gpg key: AD0E0C41 ////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

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Re: Fwd: Regarding the section "Mass Package Rebuilds - Papering Over Cracks or Shaking the Tree?" on http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue84
by Karsten Wade 23 Apr '07

23 Apr '07

How should we handle errata? Since this is email, I think a resend to f-announce-l with a subject: "[errata] Fedora Weekly News Issue 84" ... then trim the email to just the errata'd section, showing the original, then put in the correction. I think disagreements about our opinions are not worthy of an errata. A different interpretation of the facts is not worthy of an errata. A factual error is worthy of an errata. FWIW, the "to rebuild or not rebuild" situation I found very confusing the entire time; I could not get a handle on the technical details enough to decide. On Mon, 2007-04-23 at 10:12 -0700, Thomas Chung wrote: > FYI... > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Thorsten Leemhuis <fedora(a)leemhuis.info> > Date: Apr 23, 2007 1:24 AM > Subject: Regarding the section "Mass Package Rebuilds - Papering Over > Cracks or Shaking the Tree?" on > http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue84 > To: Thomas Chung <tchung(a)fedoraproject.org>, rahulsundaram(a)gmail.com, > Karsten Wade <kwade(a)redhat.com> > > > Hi, > > I found my name near a section where I think the text is misleading > (read: totally wrong): > > "ThorstenLeemhuis was against one of the decisions made in the meeting: > the rebuilding en masse of all packages at Test2 release time." > > The second part of that is not wrong; from the log of the meeting > referred to: > > "In the future we should consider a mass rebuild of all packages around, > but no later than test2" > > "Consider a mass rebuild" and "rebuilding en masse of all packages at > Test2 release time" are two totally different things. > > Further: I'm all for "considering a mass rebuild of all packages around, > but no later than test2". > > Please fix (in a ideal world: in a way that readers that have read it > see that something was corrected after the stuff was published) and > please be a bit more careful in the future. Thanks! > > CU > thl > > -- Karsten Wade, 108 Editor ^ Fedora Documentation Project Sr. Developer Relations Mgr. | fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject quaid.108.redhat.com | gpg key: AD0E0C41 ////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

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Fedora Weekly News Issue 84
by Thomas Chung 23 Apr '07

23 Apr '07

= Fedora Weekly News Issue 84 = Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 84[1] for the week of April 15th through April 21st, 2007. The latest issue can always be found here[2] and RSS Feed can be found here[3]. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue84 [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/LatestIssue [3] http://feeds.feedburner.com/fwn [[TableOfContents]] 1. Fedora Weekly News Issue 84 1. Announcements 1. F7T4 and SATA/IDE Testing (This Means You!) 2. Multi-Lingual Release Announcement 3. firstname.lastname(a)fedoraproject.org is going away 2. Planet Fedora 1. The XO in the Real World 2. PIdgin hits Rawhide 3. Design a Linux logo for an Indy Racing Car 4. Volunteers Needed on Fedora Docs Project 3. Developments 1. Packaging Extensions for Mozilla Applications: Security Implications 2. L10N Issue With system-sonfig-samba, Support or Bugreport? 3. Fedora 7 Release Notes Freeze: Going, going ... 4. Broken Dependencies in Fedora Extras. Mikmod To Be Reverted. Packagers: Watch For Dlopens! 5. KDE LiveCD -- English Only, And Which parted GUI? 6. Mass Package Rebuilds - Papering Over Cracks or Shaking the Tree? 7. Extras i386 Mock Rebuild -- Large Number of Failures Due to Yum Bug 8. How To Deal With Binary Incompatibility Introduced By Compiler Changes 9. The Great PERL Package Split 10. Add Option To Experiment With updates-testing To Firstboot? 4. Maintainers 1. How To Handle GPL Exceptions 2. Release Notes Freeze For Fedora 7 5. Documentation 1. FDSCo Meeting Minutes 2. Invite a Member 3. Default Home Page Links 4. Virtualization Guide 6. Translation 1. Entity Switchback 7. Infrastructure 1. Fedoraproject.org Email 8. Artwork 1. Echo SVGs 2. Default Test 4 Icon Theme 9. Security Week 1. Risk report: Two years of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 2. Macbook hacked at CanSecWest 10. Security Advisories 1. Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories 2. Fedora Core 5 Security Advisories 11. Events and Meetings 1. Release Engineering Meeting: 2007-04-16 2. Release Engineering Meeting: 2007-04-19 3. Packaging Committee Meeting: 2007-04-17 4. FESCo Meeting Summary for 2007-04-19 5. Event Report: ICT Week - PETRONAS University of Technology (Malaysia) 6. Event Report: FISL 8.0 (Brazil) 12. Feedback == Announcements == In this section, we cover announcements from various projects. === F7T4 and SATA/IDE Testing (This Means You!) === WillWoods announces in fedora-test-list[1] - This is your early warning that F7 Test4 - the last of the pre-F7 test releases[2] - is coming out NEXT WEEK. IF YOU HAVE BEEN HAVING PROBLEMS WITH DISK DETECTION AND/OR OTHER DISK-RELATED THINGS, please read this! One of the biggest changes in F7 is the new IDE driver stack, which uses libata (like the SATA drivers do). Not only are IDE hard drives now called /dev/sdX, but they're using new and interesting code. This could be (and has been) causing some problems relating to drive detection at boot time and install time, especially with upgrades from FC6 and earlier. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-test-list/2007-April/msg00289.html [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraTesting === Multi-Lingual Release Announcement === KarstenWade announces in fedora-marketing-list[1] - The time has come to produce the final list of talking points[2] we want covered in the F7 release. By producing this list, we are enabling writers to write a native-language, region-specific version of the Fedora 7 release announcement. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-April/msg00093.h… [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Drafts/ReleaseAnnouncements/TalkingPoints === firstname.lastname(a)fedoraproject.org is going away === MikeMcGrath announces in fedora-announce-list[1] - Please note that in one week (April 25th) firstname.lastname(a)fedoraproject.org email addresses are going away. These reasons are purely technical. People that need exceptions should contact someone on the infrastructure team[2] or stop by #fedora-admin on irc.freenode.net for consideration on a case by case basis. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2007-April/msg00004.ht… [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure == Planet Fedora == In this secton, we cover a highlight of Planet Fedora - an aggregation of blogs from world wide Fedora contributors. http://planet.fedoraproject.org/ === The XO in the Real World === JohnPalmieri points out in his blog[1] - "The FISL congress is over and it was great talking to the enormous amount of people who showed interest in the XO learning laptop and the OLPC project[2]. It was nice to see people's interest turn into large smiles by the time I was done explaining the project and answering their questions. Many stayed for fifteen minute or more and some even came back multiple times to play around with the machines and ask more questions." "The experience made the long hours working the booth worth it. It also affirmed to me the real reasons I decided to work on the project when given the chance to switch from Red Hat's desktop group." [1] http://www.j5live.com/?p=357 [2] http://www.laptop.org/ === PIdgin hits Rawhide === WarrenTogami points out in his blog[1] - "A pre-beta7 snapshot of pidgin-2.0.0[2] is in FE7, and gaim is now removed from Core. This gives us a small window for gaim-* plugin package maintainers to rename the plugin packages, and for everyone to test that an upgrade from gaim to pidgin goes smoothly for the core application and all plugins." "nautilus-sendto seemed to be the only package within Core with a dep on gaim. I have rebuilt nautilus-sendto without that gaim dep for now. We will be able to re-add it later only after the distributions are merged, since pidgin is now in Extras. We have put pidgin directly into Extras in order to avoid issues where it must build against other packages in Extras like meanwhile-devel." [1] http://wtogami.livejournal.com/16260.html [2] http://www.pidgin.im/ === Design a Linux logo for an Indy Racing Car === MairinDuffy points out in her blog[1] - "Thought you open source artists out there might be interested: Tux 500 Logo Contest[2]" [1] http://mihmo.livejournal.com/40576.html [2] http://tux500.com/contest.php === Volunteers Needed on Fedora Docs Project === JohnBabich points out in his blog[1] - "I am reading with concern regarding the great work that three individuals are doing on the Fedora 7 Release Notes: Paul, Rahul and Karsten. They do a terrific job with the result being best-in-class documentation[2] for each release of Fedora Linux. They are three highly-committed people who work behind-the-scenes to do a mostly thankless job." "Therefore, I am appealing to the Fedora community (and beyond) to contribute time and talent to help keep Fedora one of the best community distros available." [1] http://jmbuser.livejournal.com/1450.html [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Join == Developments == In this section, we cover the problems/solutions, people/personalities, and ups/downs of the endless discussions on Fedora Developments. http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/ === Packaging Extensions for Mozilla Applications: Security Implications === Firefox, Thunderbird, and other applications often have optional and popular functional extensions available. The code for these does not pass through the Fedora packaging process, and updating/removing them is not recorded in the rpmdb, leading to external code (in the applications with the most security problems [1]) being installed without trace. [1] http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/04/18/risk-report-two-years-of-red-hat-e… VilleSkyttä remembered [2] a conversation from the past that suggested there was some interest in packaging the extensions. He was specifically interested in making it easier to obtain a 64-bit version of enigmail. ChristopherAillon responded that the only way he could see of doing it was a bit ugly [3], by querying RPM in %post and requiring triggers. OwenTaylor had some opposite experience with mugshot, which uses triggers but avoids the RPM queries; it might be useful to anyone seeking to package Firefox extensions [4]. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00855.html [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00858.html [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00859.html EnricoScholz wondered [4a] why Firefox was packaged in a way that seemed inimical to an rpm-based system (using versioned directories in /usr/lib). Christopher explained that this was because of a non-stable ABI, and that Enrico's proposed alternatives seemed a bit hackish [4b], but Enrico remained unconvinced based on his experience with packaging 15 extensions for Firefox-1.5. OwenTaylor agreed with Enrico that the packaging of Firefox seemed to have no advantage other than for parallel installs of different versions [4c]. [4a] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00876.html [4b] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00881.html [4c] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00888.html Owen was further of the opinion that actual binaries were profitably packaged but that if it was just script (e.g. XUL or JavaScript), it was best to leave the end-user to deal with it themselves. Countering, EnricoScholz brought up the security angle [5] and also the simplicity and ease of use that we've all grown accustomed to from Fedora's repositories. ChristopherAillon introduced a distinction between trust and security and referenced the recent Mozilla Developer's Summit that discussed this issue, leading AndrewOverholt to request further details to aid in a similar problem facing Eclipse packagers [6]. [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00868.html [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00873.html This was an interesting discussion that could affect a large number of projects. Extensibility through scripting is something that many applications offer, and if there's an easy way to re-use other people's code, then that will be taken by many end users regardless of risks. === L10N Issue With system-sonfig-samba, Support or Bugreport? === In a pleasant and productive exchange, AlainPortal pointed out some problems with the presence of two strings in a pot[1] file, leading to a non-translatable interface for system-config-samba. His attempts to get the attention of the maintainer prompted a gentle caution [2] from GilboaDavara that @fedora-devel was not a support list and that it would be better to file a bugzilla entry. The developer, NilsPhillipsen, wasn't disturbed and didn't think that he was being pestered for support [3] and encouraged a bugzilla entry. [1] ''pot'' files are a standard, human-readable way of providing for localization of string in software. http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html#Files [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01088.html [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01101.html === Fedora 7 Release Notes Freeze: Going, going ... === KarstenWade announced [1] on Friday April 20th 2007 that there were only 24 hours to get changes to the release notes incorporated into the ISO. The good news is that the Web-based release notes can be updated any time, so if you miss(ed) this deadline, then you can still communicate essential information. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01125.html For those of us that have suffered with weird Sony VAIO cdrom install issues in the past, ChuckAnderson raised a very useful question [2] about whether the current information in the release notes was useful (after the move to libata). [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01128.html AlanCox was worried that anyone that had one of these VAIOs (with external CDROM) would not be able to install F7 and asked that if anyone does have one, to do an "lspci -vxxxx" with the cardbus controller inserted and to send it to him [3]. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01133.html === Broken Dependencies in Fedora Extras. Mikmod To Be Reverted. Packagers: Watch For Dlopens! === The April 19th 2007 automatically generated report of broken dependencies in Fedora Extras [1] revealed that an update of mikmod was playing havoc with a lot of packages. HansdeGoede was one of the maintainers of many of these and along with others argued that it was far too late in the release cycle to introduce a change like this. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01047.html JindrichNovy agreed, and while admitting to being the guilty party, explained that mikmod was pretty stagnant and that the beta fork had some worthwhile improvements [2]. He suggested making this change after the release of F7. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01110.html DominikMierzejewski ('Rathann') was bitten [3] by the perl packaging problems mentioned in this same FWN issue. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01060.html After HansdeGoede suggested that the list might be incomplete, MichaelSchwendt asserted that the tool that generates these reports (repoclosure) was pretty smart. Hans didn't deny this but wondered if it would miss some specific cases [4], such as a library being explicitly loaded within code by dlopen, and thus avoiding rpm's autodependency generation. Michael assented to this and said that it was the responsibility of the packager to look out for this sort of thing. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01087.html === KDE LiveCD -- English Only, And Which parted GUI? === The KDE LiveCD team has been making great strides to showcase what this highly polished desktop environment can bring to the Fedora user experience[1]. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/FeatureFedoraKDE/KDELiveCD SebastianVahl was concerned that this LiveCD is only available in English and he proposed two directions in which localized versions might be made available [2]. These boil down to either making a huge DVD, or else to making a good tutorial so that users of other languages can localize the CD for themselves. Comments are solicited. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01034.html A decision also needs to be made about whether to go with gparted or qtparted[3]. According to CallumLerwick, GilboaDavra, and FrankSchmitt, ntfs-formatted partitions can be resized with gparted but not with qtparted[4] (which is seemingly unmaintained since 2004), and that gparted is going into the LiveCD on that basis[5]. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01028.html [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01033.html [5] http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=234082 === Mass Package Rebuilds - Papering Over Cracks or Shaking the Tree? === JohnPoelstra posted details of the Release Engineering Meeting[1]. ThorstenLeemhuis was against one of the decisions made in the meeting: the rebuilding en masse of all packages at Test2 release time. His worries about the bandwidth impact versus the potential gains were discussed with DaveJones [2], who wondered if those that could be affected were likely to be running rawhide. Thorsten argued that while they might not, they could still be affected if they simply tried to upgrade from a stable release of Fedora N to Fedora N+1. A brief exchange with AxelThimm unearthed the difficulty of obtaining concrete historical data as to what extent Fedora was rebuilt in the past, but the figures looked high. 1. https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00900.html 2. https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00904.html In a separate branch of the same discussion, Axel came out very strongly in favor of the rebuilds [3], asserting that in essence avoiding rebuilds is just papering over the cracks and shifting bugs from development to maintenance, and that it is better to identify security and other problems and fix them prior to release. 3. https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00909.html Following input from JakubJelinek [4], JesseKeating noted that rebuilds should not be carried out merely to shake the tree and see what falls out, but when there are specific problems expected due to large changes in some critical components. 4. https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00942.html === Extras i386 Mock Rebuild -- Large Number of Failures Due to Yum Bug === MattDomsch posted the latest report on Dell's rebuilding of Extras packages in mock[1]. As usual, this report contains details of how many packages built/failed to build succesfully. MamoruTasaka noticed that one of the reported failures actually built succesfully for him[2]. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00894.html [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00895.html HansdeGoede and MarcinZajączkowski were also surprised to see their names appear [3] and didn't think there was a reason for their packages to break. JesseKeating noticed that the version of yum being used by Matt was lacking a crucial bug fix and that many of the failures were a result of that rather than a problem with the packages themselves. The errors were false-negatives rather than false-positives and Matt wasn't too concerned about having to rebuild the tiny fraction compared to the thousands that had been succesfully processed. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00950.html === How To Deal With Binary Incompatibility Introduced By Compiler Changes === As always, Fedora aggressively pursues the latest stable versions of software, including essential components of the compiler toolchain. PatriceDumas was worried about the potential for binary incompatibility resulting from the introduction of gfortran as a replacement for the aging g77[1]. AndrewHaley sought clarification[2] of the problem that Patrice was trying to solve, suggesting that using an "soname" was the usual way to track changes in the Application Binary Interface (ABI) [2a]. Patrice argued that this would lead to using a different soname version in Fedora than was being used upstream [3]. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00890.html [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00916.html [2a] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_Binary_Interface [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00926.html It seemed that there was some confusion and JakubJelinek helpfully suggested[4] that what was at issue was not the binary compatibility of essential compiler libraries, but rather the potential for creating a namespace clash between sonames of other libraries that have been built with different ABI versions of the compiler. This would make user-compiled binaries made with older versions of the library fail to link properly to the library, but it would not be possible to detect the error because the soname would be the same. Jakub clarified that what should be done is to talk to upstream for each library about a name change. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00935.html LinusWallej, EmmanualSeymann, and AndrewHaley further clarified that rebuilding all these user-compiled programs dependent on a library with a non-stable ABI was The Fedora Way[5]. Linus also suggested that getting the programs into Fedora if they were generally useful would be a good idea[6] and observed that many vendors target RHEL instead because they like the stability of the ABI whereas Fedora will do (within reason) whatever is innovative. Patrice seemed happy with the outcome, but also believed that more documentation about ABI practices was required. [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00934.html [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00971.html === The Great PERL Package Split === In line with the principle of modularizing packages as much as possible, RobinNorwood announced[1] the splitting of development packages out of the main perl package. The current situation is that each current perl package has a "BuildRequires:perl-devel" dependency. This results in users being concerned and confused that they have a "devel" package on their system when they did not request it. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00886.html Robin outlined the two main ways of fixing this as discussed on @fedora-perl-devel: 1) fix each package by removing the requires; 2) fix each package and also split out 5, or so, other development related packages and add them to the buildroots. Robin sought feedback from maintainers on their preferred option. Some early feedback from key project members indicated that such major restructuring would be preferred after the release of F7. Robin, while apologizing for the late timing, pointed out the benefits and relatively low cost[2] as he saw it. MattDomsch wondered how widespread the breakage would be and JasonLTibbitts and ChrisAdams made some estimates, noting that it wasn't only every perl-<somename> package, but at least 100 others[3]. MattMiller and others argued that such breakage would quickly alert the package owner who could then fix it easily. VilleSkyttä and RalfCorsepius raised problems with this fix[4]. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00972.html [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00993.html [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01012.html RalfCorsepius and ChrisAdams wondered [5] about the problem of a package that was generated using autoconf, which would just leave any optional perl dependencies out and build the package without failure, but with reduced functionality. This was agreed to be a corner-case that could be neglected. [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01016.html JesseKeating and ChrisWeyl [6] were concerned with the problem of what might be, in effect, a Fedora-centric redefinition of what could be considered to be "core" PERL modules. Jesse's over-riding concern was that anyone wanting to rebuild from shipped SRPMs should be able to do so easily[7]. [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01065.html [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00980.html === Add Option To Experiment With updates-testing To Firstboot? === Following up on a suggestion of DaveJones', ChrisBrown suggested that firstboot be modified to ask users whether they wanted access to the updates-testing packages[1]. WillWoods thought[2] that it would be better to draw attention to, and inform users about, repoman. One of the concerns that Chris sought to address is that updates-testing gets little actual testing. LukeMacken and JackTanner discussed[3] the problem of removing packages from update-testing that had failed community QA; in passing, Luke noted that in future all non-security updates would have to pass through testing, which might help to revitalize it. Luke also drew attention to bodhi, which should make pushing updates easier in the future. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01072.html [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01119.html [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01176.html == Maintainers == In this section, we cover Fedora Maintainers, the group of people who maintain the software packages in Fedora https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/ === How To Handle GPL Exceptions === Starting off the week on the fedora-maintainers-list was a question from a concerned Fedora package reviewer who was unsure how to handle an exception clause in the GPL license[1]. Rahul Sundaram chimed in saying that if the GPL exception restricts the license it may cause problems, but if it's more lax then it should be fine. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00305.html === Release Notes Freeze For Fedora 7 === This week also marked the freeze for the ISO-based release notes. Changes to the release notes now only affect the web-based release notes as the process of converting the release notes from the Wiki to XML has started[1]. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00432.html == Documentation == In this section, we cover the Fedora Documentation Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject === FDSCo Meeting Minutes === Both the log[1] and the summary[2] for the 2007-04-15 meeting are available here: [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/date.html [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00101.html The main topics included updates to the Desktop User Guide for Fedora 7, Fedora 7 Test 4 release notes, some more Google Summer of Code thoughts and also some discussions about the Administration Guide. === Invite a Member === The new Fedora accounts system will have the ability for existing members to invite friends, or others they think would be interested in helping out with Fedora, to join the project. MikeMcGrath requested ideas on the best phrasing for these e-mail invites[1]. PaulWFrields replied with his suggestion of an appropriate message[2]. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00104.html [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00105.html === Default Home Page Links === There was a proposal that it might be a good idea to include links to some sites related to Free Culture, in a broader sense than software alone, on the default Fedora 7 home page. The original proposal suggested that sites such as Jamendo or Magnatune would be a worthwhile addition[1]. Concerns were raised that this might transform the home page in to an advertising medium, resulting in some users losing faith in the standards of the home page[2]. Perhaps this is an opportunity to define exactly what criteria are required for inclusion in the homepage[3]. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00114.html [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00129.html [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00135.html === Virtualization Guide === The Virtualization Guide needed updating for Fedora 7 to include information on KVM[1], which was promptly addressed[2]. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00133.html [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00147.html == Translation == This section, we cover the news surrounding the Fedora Translation (L10n) Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N === Entity Switchback === PaulFrields posted this message[1] which detailed the changes to xml2po (now xml2po -e). He also mentioned that the number of fuzzy entries appears to be fewer than initially thought. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00065.html == Infrastructure == In this section, we cover Fedora Infrastructure Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure === Fedoraproject.org Email === MikeMcGrath made the email changes[1] discussed last week so that the firstname.lastname(a)fedoraproject.org are no longer valid. The change was made because of duplicity and processing problems. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg00… == Artwork == In this section, we cover Fedora Artwork Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork === Echo SVGs === MatthiasClasen reports that, while investigating the possibility of including SVGs in the Echo package to improve coverage of smaller icons, the size of the echo-icon-theme package increases to 70MB[1]. This lead to the discovery that some of the larger icons suffer from a number of bloat problems revolving around jpeg thumbnails and excess XML tags. A script was written that removes a lot of this bloat reducing the size of some icons considerably: 416K to 18K in one case.[2] There are still some problems with this script, resulting in some icons not rendering correctly, but it is being worked on constantly. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00064.html [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00065.html === Default Test 4 Icon Theme === As a result of the inclusion of Echo SVGs not being the quick-fix for smaller size coverage that was hoped, MatthiasClasen proposed that Bluecurve/Clearlooks may have to fall back to the default Fedora 7 icon theme[1]. This led to some discussion about possible alternative icon themes for Fedora 7 and Mist appeared as a popular choice[2]; Mist has now been made the default icon theme for Fedora 7 Test 4[3]. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00085.html [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00087.html [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-April/msg00102.html == Security Week == In this section, we highlight the security stories from the week in Fedora. === Risk report: Two years of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 === MarkCox wrote an interesting article looking at the last two years of security flaws in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4[1]. The information in this article is interesting to anyone who tracks open source security flaws. There is not a lot of public analysis of open source security flaws. The article does focus on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, but the trends represented apply to any Linux distribution. [1] http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/04/18/risk-report-two-years-of-red-hat-e… === Macbook hacked at CanSecWest === Apple's OS X is currently gaining attention in the security world[1]. Historically people have considered OS X to be very secure and mostly virus and hack free. This is starting to change as researchers have been paying attention to the Mac lately. Part of this is probably the challenge it presents. Those of us in the Linux world have been enjoying a similar situation. There is little fear of viruses, and as long as one applies security updates, there isn't much fear of being compromised. [1] http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-6178131.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj… There are many people who will argue that the real reason for this is that Linux is more secure by design. I believe it's a combination of things. Historically Linux users have been a bit more savvy, this is starting to change. In the past, the desktop was also very simple. This too is changing. As Gnome and KDE gain functionality, they also gain more security flaws. For example, the fact that the desktop will display a thumbnail of many different file types gives an attacker a doorway into a system. They of course need to convince a user into downloading a file, but as we've seen from many viruses, this is not as hard as it sounds. I hope that various technologies such as SELinux and Exec-Shield will help keep most of the trash away, the human factor cannot be fixed as easily. As long as people are willing to open attachments, and visit random web sites, viruses will exist. As a friend of mine used to say "We're OK until the toaster people start using it." The "toaster people" are the normal people confused by the knob on their toasters :) == Security Advisories == In this section, we cover Security Advisories from fedora-package-announce. https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/ === Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories === * FEDORA-2007-453: tcp_wrappers-7.6-40.3.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-453 * FEDORA-2007-436: coreutils-5.97-12.5.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-436 * FEDORA-2007-434: hplip-1.7.2-3.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-434 * FEDORA-2007-452: openoffice.org-2.0.4-5.5.22 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-452 * FEDORA-2007-451: scim-tables-0.5.7-2.1.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-451 * FEDORA-2007-442: selinux-policy-2.4.6-57.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-442 * FEDORA-2007-447: openoffice.org-2.0.4-5.5.21 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-447 * FEDORA-2007-428: yum-3.0.6-1.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-428 * FEDORA-2007-444: Fmc-4.6.1a-36.20070124cvs.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-444 * FEDORA-2007-415: php-5.1.6-3.5.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-415 * FEDORA-2007-440: [SECURITY] gstreamer-0.10.11-1.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-440 * FEDORA-2007-383: rhythmbox-0.9.8-2.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-383 * FEDORA-2007-410: tk2-2.10.8-3.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-410 === Fedora Core 5 Security Advisories === * FEDORA-2007-455: [SECURITY] php-5.1.6-1.5 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC5/FEDORA-2007-455 * FEDORA-2007-454: tcp_wrappers-7.6-40.3.fc5 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC5/FEDORA-2007-454 * FEDORA-2007-414: [SECURITY] Image``Magick-6.2.5.4-4.2.1.fc5.8 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC5/FEDORA-2007-414 * FEDORA-2007-445: mc-4.6.1a-36.20070124cvs.fc5 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC5/FEDORA-2007-445 == Events and Meetings == In this section, we cover event reports and meeting summaries from various projects. === Release Engineering Meeting: 2007-04-16 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-advisory-board/2007-April/msg00113.h… === Release Engineering Meeting: 2007-04-19 === * http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01092.html === Packaging Committee Meeting: 2007-04-17 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00338.html === FESCo Meeting Summary for 2007-04-19 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-April/msg00448.html === Event Report: ICT Week - PETRONAS University of Technology (Malaysia) === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg00280… === Event Report: FISL 8.0 (Brazil) === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-April/msg00304… == Feedback == This document is maintained by the Fedora News Team[1]. Please feel free to contact us to give your feedback. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Fedora Weekly News, please see the Join[2] page to find out how to help. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join -- Thomas Chung http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung

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doing my quick edits
by Karsten Wade 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

Things look really good so far, just doing a quick edit over everything; shouldn't step on Thomas' toes I hope. :) - Karsten -- Karsten Wade, 108 Editor ^ Fedora Documentation Project Sr. Developer Relations Mgr. | fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject quaid.108.redhat.com | gpg key: AD0E0C41 ////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

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[Fwd: [Fedora Project Wiki] Update of "FWN/Beats/Developments" by RahulSundaram]
by Karsten Wade 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

I'm not so sure it was pointless to identify when f-devel-l gets hijacked and what the consequences are. Not feeding the trolls on list is pretty important, but talking about the consequences and facts of it all seems like it might be useful. The slight derisive tone is interesting to me, as well. So, I'm not sure that I disagree with Rahul. I'm also not sure that I agree. -------- Forwarded Message -------- The following page has been changed by RahulSundaram: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Beats/Developments?action=diff&rev2=73&re… The comment on the change is: pointless ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01088.html 2. https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01101.html - - === A Very Confusing Thread With No Apparent Point === - A very long thread [1] which started out with a generalised complaint about multimedia support and wandered into LiveCD generation led to a repeated call from DavidZeuthen to please not feed the trolls and to leave @fedora-devel clear for development discussions. - - The thread wasn't so much a train-wreck as a multi-vehicle pileup in the fog. Survivors wandered out confused and with suspected injuries, unsure of where they'd ended up. - - 1. https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg00954.html -- Karsten Wade, 108 Editor ^ Fedora Documentation Project Sr. Developer Relations Mgr. | fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject quaid.108.redhat.com | gpg key: AD0E0C41 ////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

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