news August 2007

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29 discussions

Docs and art
by Jonathan Roberts 03 Sep '07

03 Sep '07

Hi all, I don't think I'm going to be able to carry on with doing the docs and arts beats :( I should be able to cover this weekend but after that I can't make any promises - I hope this is enough notice and doesn't inconvenience anybody too much?! Hopefully a few months down the line I might be able to start contributing again though :D Jon

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Fwd: thanks for your work in Fedora Weekly News
by Thomas Chung 30 Aug '07

30 Aug '07

Here is a great compliment from a FWN reader. :) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Troy Folger <troy.folger(a)issinc.com> Date: Aug 20, 2007 3:51 PM Subject: thanks for your work in Fedora Weekly News To: oisinfeeley(a)imapmail.org Cc: tchung(a)fedoraproject.org Mr. Feeley - I was reading Fedora Weekly News today and I was struck by how helpful your summaries in the "Developments" section of the news were. I think they are concise and very well written. I fear that you aren't paid for your work ... I hope my thanks will at least encourage you to continue. Thank you. Sincerely, Troy Folger

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Fedora Weekly News Issue 102
by Thomas Chung 27 Aug '07

27 Aug '07

= Fedora Weekly News Issue 102 = Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 102 for the week of August 20th. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue102 Here is a highlight of this week's report: In Ask Fedora, we have "Cleaning Old Files and Packages" and "CD Split For fedora 7." In Daily Package, we have "Remind - GUI/Text reminder service", "Gallery2 - Web photo gallery", "Audio Setting Persistence", "Transmission - BitTorrent Client" and "BZFlag - Capture-the-flag in a Tank." FYI, Fedora Weekly News will take a summer break until September 21st. To join or give us your feedback, please visit http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join. 1. Announcements 2. Ask Fedora 1. Cleaning Old Files and Packages 2. CD Split For fedora 7 3. Planet Fedora 1. New Features in Fedora 8 - disable dontaudit rules 4. Daily Package 1. Fedora Daily Package Articles in Russian 2. Remind - GUI/Text reminder service 3. Gallery2 - Web photo gallery 4. Wednesday Why: Audio Setting Persistence 5. Transmission - BitTorrent Client 6. BZFlag - Capture-the-flag in a Tank 5. Marketing 1. Fedora/Open Source Success Story 2. A view of Linux as introduced by a blind user via Orca 6. Developments 1. KDE: Replace Dolphin With D3lphin? 2. Rebuilds Essential For Fedora 8 3. 23rd Aug FESCo Meeting 4. Development Spin 5. Making Initscripts LSB Compliant 6. BuildID And Proprietary Drivers 7. KDE4 Not A Feature Of Fedora 8? 8. Auto-Opening Of Ports In Firewalls By Services 9. TeXLive Licensing Problem? 10. dist-rawhide Not A Valid Target In Koji 7. Translation 1. Developer Wiki Page 2. String Freeze Policy 3. Translation Quick Start Guide 8. Infrastructure 1. Turbogears and Memory Usage 2. Asterisk on the Wiki 3. Bugzilla Upgrade 9. Security Week 1. July 2007 Operating System Vulnerability Scorecard 10. Advisories and Updates 11. Fedora 7 Security Advisories 12. Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories 13. Events and Meetings 1. Event Report: WBUT install fest. part 1 2. Fedora Board Meeting Minutes 2007-08-21 3. Fedora Ambassadors Meeting 2007-MM-DD 4. Fedora Documentation Steering Committee 2007-08-21 5. Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-MM-DD 6. Fedora Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Meeting 2007-08-22 7. Fedora Infrastructure Meeting (Log) 2007-08-23 8. Fedora Localization Project Meeting 2007-08-21 9. Fedora Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-08-21 10. Fedora Release Engineering Meeting 2007-08-20 [[Anchor(Announcements)]] == Announcements == In this section, we cover announcements from various projects. Contributing Writer: ThomasChung There was no Official Announcement from Fedora Project last week. [[Anchor(AskFedora)]] == Ask Fedora == In this section, we answer general questions from Fedora community. Send your questions to askfedora(a)fedoraproject.org and Fedora News Team will bring you answers from the Fedora Developers and Contributors to selected number of questions every week as part of our weekly news report. Please indicate if you do not wish your name and/or email address to be published. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/AskFedora Contributing Writer: RahulSundaram, PaulFrields === Cleaning Old Files and Packages === ''Peter A. Shevtsov <webmaster(a)mera.com.ru>: From time to time I install some new software on my computers just to look at it, to try, to see if it is the right tool for me, etc. After reading new articles on Fedora Daily Package I run yum more frequently :) This software requires some additional packages, libraries, etc. Also, it creates some config files in my home dir. But when I remove the software the redundant packages (libraries) and config files stay in my system. Is there any way to remove theses unused packages and old config files?'' By way of answering your question about configuration files, consider that package updates are actually a remove and an install action. If configuration files were included in package removal, instead of sometimes treated specially, then upgrading a package might actually erase the administrator's system configuration! This is obviously not a desirable outcome, so many packages mark their system configuration files in the RPM database so they are not yanked off the system. To see if an installed package has a specially marked configuration file, use the command {{{rpm -qc <package_name>}}}. If you want to clean your system of packages that are not required by any other software on your system, you can use the {{{package-cleanup}}} script that is part of the 'yum-utils' package. Install 'yum-utils' with the command {{{su -c "yum -y install yum-utils"}}} and then run {{{su -c "package-cleanup --leaves"}}} to see a list of these packages. Note that not every dependency installed during a transaction is necessarily a leaf. A more thorough way to remove packages you installed is by surveying the output of the command {{{rpm -qa --last}}}, which shows you recently installed packages listed by date. You may also be interested in the {{{repackage}}} option, which you can add to your `/etc/yum.conf` file to be able to roll back your installed software state. Refer to the Fedora Daily Package site[1] for an excellent explanation of how this feature works. [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/17-Wednesday-Why-Rep… === CD Split For fedora 7 === ''Jack Gibbs <jbg2(a)att.net>: I need the address or url of the company that splits fedora 7 into CDs. thanks!'' This information is available fro the Fedora 7 FAQ [1]. There are torrent files available too. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora7/FAQ?#CD_Install_Images [[Anchor(PlanetFedora)]] == Planet Fedora == In this section, we cover a highlight of Planet Fedora - an aggregation of blogs from world wide Fedora contributors. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Planet Contributing Writers: ThomasChung === New Features in Fedora 8 - disable dontaudit rules === DanielWalsh reports in his blog[1], "One of the features of SELinux is the ability to dontaudit certain access checks by a confined application. dontaudit rules are handy to force applications to take different code paths." "In SELinux we prevent almost every application from reading the /etc/shadow file directly, causing pam to use it's help application. But this would cause a ton of AVC messages that look like sshd, login or apache are trying to read /etc/shadow. So we dontaudit these messages." [1] http://danwalsh.livejournal.com/11673.html [[Anchor(DailyPackage)]] == Daily Package == In this section, we recap the packages that have been highlighted as a Fedora Daily Package [1]. [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/ Contributing Writer: ChrisTyler === Fedora Daily Package Articles in Russian === Dmitry Beketov is now translating Fedora Daily Package articles into Russian and posting them at http://www.fedora-core.ru/content/blogcategory/14/34/ === Remind - GUI/Text reminder service === ''Productive Mondays'' highlight a timesaving tool. This Monday[1] we covered Remind[2]: "Remind is a very flexible reminder service which can be used from the command line. With the tkremind program (in the remind-gui package), it can also be used with a graphical user interface." [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/128-Productive-Monda… [2] http://www.roaringpenguin.com/en/penguin/openSourceProducts/remind === Gallery2 - Web photo gallery === ''Artsy Tuesdays'' highlight a graphics, video, or sound application. This Tuesday[1] Gallery2 [2] was featured: "Gallery2 is an easy-to-use web-based photo gallery, built on PHP, which has many available plugins and an active user community." [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/129-Artsy-Tuesday-Ga… [2] http://gallery.menalto.com/ === Wednesday Why: Audio Setting Persistence === The ''Wednesday Why'' article[1] took a look at how Fedora saves audio settings during system shutdown and restores them during a reboot: "You've probably noticed that ALSA settings for various input and output controls are preserved across reboots. The audio device state is saved in the file /etc/alsa/asound.state, a text file which contains a description of each device control and the current values." [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/130-Wednesday-Why-Au… === Transmission - BitTorrent Client === ''GUI Thursdays'' highlight software that enables, provides, enhances, or effectively uses a GUI interface. This Thursday[1], Transmission[2] was discussed: "The preferred method for downloading Fedora installation images is BitTorrent via the tracker at http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/ -- There are quite a few BitTorrent clients available in the Fedora repositories. One of the newest is Transmission..." [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/131-GUI-Thursday-Tra… [2] http://transmission.m0k.org/ === BZFlag - Capture-the-flag in a Tank === ''Friday Fun'' highlights fun, interesting, and amusing programs. This Friday[1], we took a look at BZFlag[2]: "BZFlag is a team-based multiplayer 3D capture-the-flag game. You manouver your tank between pyramids and block buildings within a walled arena, shooting enemy tanks and collecting flags -- either to win the game (capture-the-flag mode) or to gain additional capabilities (free-for-all mode)." [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/133-Friday-Fun-BZFla… [2] http://bzflag.org/ [[Anchor(Marketing)]] == Marketing == In this section, we cover Fedora Marketing Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === Fedora/Open Source Success Story === JimNanney reports in in fedora-marketing-list[1], "We really want to highlight to everyone that not only is the freedom provided by open source software available, but is a key ingredient in success from a business standpoint. Yes, as with any business there are obstacles, but with open source solutions these have been very minor when they could have been devastating." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-August/msg00189.… === A view of Linux as introduced by a blind user via Orca === RahulSundaram reports in fedora-marketing-list[1], "Windows is still not my preferred operating system" reports Darragh at the end of his audio tour. "With the recent advances in Orca in GNOME, and the fact that with the work of the people on the Speakup Modified group, Fedora 7 makes it very easy to set up, and with the combination of everything it's just so fast to use; it's really becoming just a pleasure." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-August/msg00163.… [[Anchor(Developments)]] == Developments == In this section, we cover the problems/solutions, people/personalities, and ups/downs of the endless discussions on Fedora Developments. http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list Contributing Writer: OisinFeeley === KDE: Replace Dolphin With D3lphin? === ChitleshGoorah wanted to know[1] whether "dolphin" (a file-manager) should be replaced with "d3lphin", which is a fork with some improvements and fixes. He outlined the process by which dolphin might be obsoleted by d3lphin and asked whether he should go ahead with it. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01697.html In response[2] to PraritBhargava it was further explained that upstream KDE had decided to no longer maintain dolphin in KDE3 and the fork was a backport of bugfixes. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01725.html RexDieter was mostly in favour but RahulSundaram wondered[3] why Chitlesh didn't just include the patches and retain the name, especially as the fork was likely to be short-lived. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01701.html Discussion then centered on what the package should be named and what it should state it is providing and obsoleting. JohanCwiklinski thought[4] that it would be better to name the package "d3lphin" and have it obsolete and provide "dolphin" due to the fact that this reflected upstream naming. He also argued for not maintaining both packages simultaneously. This made MattMiller concerned about upgrading due to the co-existence of the KDE4 package, but LaurentRineau saw[5] little to worry about as the KDE4 "dolphin" is in the package named "kdebase" and is not separate. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01745.html [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01765.html Rahul noted[6] that Chitlesh's provision of packages for both methods meant he could go either way, but that patching the existing dolphin would have been less work. [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01739.html === Rebuilds Essential For Fedora 8 === The need for the rebuilding of 2845 packages was posted[1] by JesseKeating. Jess explained that a bad "binutils" in the buildroots had caused a problem for SELinux and also that binary packages with debuginfo built before build-id (see FWN#100 "New finddebug-info.sh. Don't Run ld Directly In %build"[2]) needed to be rebuilt. It was desirable to have this work completed before the Test2 freeze date (28th Aug). [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01437.html [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue100#head-e6a52df4480369d67463ec26947… Jesse included a link to a list of the affected packages[3] produced by a script which he refined several times in response to feedback. [3] http://jkeating.fedorapeople.org/really-need-to-rebuild In addition, the license tags are supposed to be fixed up, but Jesse drew attention to the large number which are known not to be. Jesse outlined the logistical problems of trying to rebuild the packages, or rely on the packagers to fix these issues and rebuild themselves and finished with an appeal for input from the community. PaulHowarth wondered what were the cut-off dates for the ppc32/SELinux issue and for the buildid/debuginfo issue and Jesse responded[4] that they were respectively "anything built with binutils between versions 2.17.50.0.16 and 2.17.50.0.17-7" and "Anything that is binary, has -debuginfo, and hasn't been built with rpm-4.4.2.1-7 or newer (which landed around 2007-08-14 02:00:00.000000 koji time". [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01454.html ChristopherBrown thought that slipping the Fedora 8 Test2 release by a week and trying to contact maintainers and upon failure to rebuild allowing any other maintainer to rebuild at will would solve things, but this didn't attract JoshBoyer on the grounds[5] that it was too complicated and probably unnecessary. [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01459.html ThorstenLeemhuis also wanted[6] to keep to the Test2 release date. In order to get the work done he suggested a script which would add a ".1" to the release and rebuild automatically any package not queued or rebuilt by some time. A further script would email maintainers who were delinquent in updating their license tags. [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01456.html Following JesseKeating's interest in Thorsten's proposal a request came in[7] from MiroslavLichvar to put the ".1" before the %{?dist}. VilleSkyttä thought that this was undesirable as it broke the purpose of %{dist} and a longish discussion followed in which this viewpoint seemed to predominate, with Jesse finally plumping[8] for appending ".1" to %{dist}. A side-thread arose[9] when RalfCorsepius noted the problems that the current convention of using x in %changelog entries instead of x%{?dist}. Ralf specifically pointed out that the problem with Jesse's method would be that the release tags in the changelog would not match the actual %release tags. This quickly diverged into a discussion of using SCMs to hold the changelog instead of keeping it in the package with ColinWalters advocating[10] the use of Koji or other online solutions and other contributors pointing out the advantages of a non-networked, CLI interface to the information. [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01464.html [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01493.html [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01558.html [10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01640.html An email from ToddZullinger updated[11] the list of improperly licensed packages (67%) and ToshioKuratomi[12] and MichaelSchwendt[13] helped him generating a mapping between packages and maintainers in the new PackageDB. [11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01471.html [12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01495.html [13] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01577.html Returning to the central issue RayStrode wondered[14] why the rebuild wasn't just automated instead of wasting developer time which could be spent on adding new features. [14] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01494.html JoshBoyer responded that an automated rebuild might disrupt the ability of the maintainer to implement changes and that searching for AWOL maintainers was also important. JesseKeating added[15] that automation tied up a package set potentially for days. Jesse further explained[16] this in response to Ray's questioning with the information that automated rebuilds occur at low priority and so can be held back in a queue until a maintainer's non-automated build is done. The automated build is then queued and because it is completed later it becomes the latest version and the non-automated build (with all its changes) is lost. In addition the License-tags really are a rebuild issue and should be done now instead of later so that any unexpected consequences surface with time to fix them. [15] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01499.html [16] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01505.html === 23rd Aug FESCo Meeting === An invitation[1] from BrianPepple to introduce missed topics to the FESCo IRC meeting[2] was embraced by several people. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01644.html [2] http://bpepple.fedorapeople.org/FESCo-2007-08-23.html Specifically HansdeGoede ensured[3] that there was discussion about making "initscripts" LSB compliant (see "Making Initscripts LSB Compliant" below in this same FWN#102 for full coverage). [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01645.html The most meaty topic of the meeting concerned two related proposals. The first was that articulated[4] by DavidWoodhouse to obsolete "kmods" from Fedora altogether. David's proposal argues that kernel modules shouldn't be shipped as separate packages. Instead patches to the kernel package should be accepted at the discretion of the kernel maintainers (DaveJones and ChuckEbbert). Contributors would be allowed commit access to the kernel solely for their own patch. [4] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DavidWoodhouse/KmodProposal The clearest objections came from ChristopherAillon who wanted to know what precedent there was for allowing the maintainers of a "base" package (e.g. kernel, firefox) to influence the rejection of "addons" to that package (e.g. kmods or firefox-extensions respectively). The second proposal came from JefSpaleta and suggested[5] that DKMS [6] could be used to ship the source of "out-of-tree" kernel modules which could be dynamically rebuilt to work with updated versions of the kernel. This seemed to offer a possible way out of the impasse described above as it has the advantage of opening up the contribution process to experimental modules which could then be mainlined later. The honed and crafted stable Fedora kernel would be unaffected and only those chosing to opt-in to the experimental modules would experience their vagaries. [6] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/JefSpaleta/DKMSProposal MattDomsch and JesseKeating noted during the meeting that JeremyKatz's input was likely to be critical as he objected to having a second, non-rpmdb database to track to find what is actually in /lib/modules. Jef seemed to feel that this might be solvable, but Jesse was less encouraged. Several other meeting participants, e.g. ToshioKuratomi(abadger1999) shared some of ChristopherAillon's worries about general rules excluding add-on packages, but recognized its limited, practical value for the special case of the kernel modules. The conclusion was that this needed to be discussed at greater length on @fedora-devel and that Jef, David and Jesse needed to produce a mutually agreed proposal. === Development Spin === An email from AndrewOverholt announced[1] the creation of a SIG for making a development specific spin of Fedora. Goals included but were not limited to: providing tools, making targeting Fedora easier for developers, making Fedora-developers lives easier. These open-ended goals include deriving the spin from "Fedora Desktop" and including Eclipse, Koji, Systemtap, Frysk, GCC-toolchain, Emacs and enabling the debuginfo repository. An explicit goal is to attract new developers to Fedora. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01356.html There appeared[2] to be an immediate problem with the desire to enable the debuginfo repository when JesseKeating pointed out that it would involve changes to the fedora-release package or else post-install processing. The latter seemed likely[3] when JeremyKatz added that the spin would be based off the LiveCD image as opposed to a traditional install. Jeremy added that it would be good to figure this out for the latter too. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01357.html [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01371.html Jesse didn't like[4] the idea of modifying packages using a %post in kickstart immediately after they've been installed and wondered whether ChristopherAillon's suggestion[5] of copying the .repo file into a special fedora-release-debuginfo package which would only be installed on this spin was as unappealing as appeared at first blush. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01379.html [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01373.html DanHorak and JonathanUnderwood requested[6] their favorite IDEs to be added to the spin (which Andrew in his initial email admitted was going to be a bulky DVD). [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01539.html The general idea was exciting[7] to ColinWalters, who also identified three likely classes of users and suggested that developers of Fedora could be left to fend for themselves, whereas amateur web-developers and professional coders would be a larger audience. Colin had some more specific ideas[8] about how the configuration of such a system was much more important than simply the packages which were shipped with it, these included: making finding software easier; starting appropriate applications by default; having a running Xen image to make it easier to deploy apps on Xen. [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01374.html [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01416.html === Making Initscripts LSB Compliant === HansdeGoede asked[1] a short while ago whether or not he should close some bugs currently open on his packages which contained initscripts. The bugs suggested that the initscrips should be LSB compliant[2] and there was some discussion about switching to a different init system (such as sysinit-ng) but no resolution was offered. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00898.html [2] http://www.linux-foundation.org/spec/refspecs/LSB_3.1.0/index.shtml Similar doubts were expressed[3] at that time by MatthiasSaou about the "Unanswered questions" on the wiki page and VilleSkyttä pointed out[4] that "rpmlint" wasn't much help. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00931.html In the 23rd Aug 2007 FESCo meeting[4] the issue was advanced again by Hans. The consensus during the IRC meeting seemed to be that HaraldHoyer knew most about this (and had filed the bugs) and should create a formal proposed guideline document in the wiki. WillWoods was interested to hear that requiring "redhat-lsb" is uncool as it bloats the install. [4] http://bpepple.fedorapeople.org/FESCo-2007-08-23.html === BuildID And Proprietary Drivers === StewartAdam posted[1] a plea for help when he found the rpmbuild failed when he tried to build ATi and nVidia proprietary drivers for the devel branch at Livna.org. Stewart was aware that proprietary, binary drivers weren't something which the Fedora Project could help with but wondered if someone could help with the specific error which was due to the absence of buildids. The problem was that buildids couldn't be added to the binary and Stewart thought this showed exactly why binary-only drivers should be avoided. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01317.html A response from RolandMcGrath suggested[2] a define which might switch off the behavior and wondered whether a debuginfo rpm could contain any useful information about a binary anyway. VilleSkyttä was a bit concerned[3] with the non-stripping of binaries that would then occur and suggested a correction to Roland's define. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01321.html [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01322.html Roland suggested[4] that Ville's worries were unfounded because even when debuginfo is enabled /usr/lib/rpm/redhat/brp-strip is run, he also asked for any of the "rpm wizards" who had helped to set up the current macros to speak up on what the preferred method was. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01323.html JeremyKatz confirmed[5] that Ville's method was the preferred one and a happy StewartAdam confirmed[6] that he no longer saw the BuildID errors and suggested including this information on the wiki page for BuildID. [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01355.html [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01328.html === KDE4 Not A Feature Of Fedora 8? === HansdeGoede mentioned[1] that he had started packaging a KDE game (ksirk) and been surprised to find no kde4 packages in rawhide. Hans wondered what the status was and what he could do to help. Strictly speaking most of the discussion on this occurred during the timeframe of the previous FWN issue, but it's important and useful information. (See FWN#99 "KDE4 Status"[2] for previous coverage of this topic). [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01281.html [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue99#head-518400f8171178c344dc79f45572… An initial response from MichelSalim advanced the information that KDE4 probably would not be included in Fedora 8 and that there would be some parallel-installable packages. Michel also noted that SuSE (due to release in October) will not be shipping KDE4. This drew a rather short response[3] from Hans who asked those of us without a clue to RTFM and refrain from answering questions. Michel referred[4] Hans to specific @fedora-devel threads. Subsequent defence of Michel both on grounds of his correctness and for politeness led Hans to explain[5] that he wished a high signal/noise ratio and had been misled by the outdated wiki entry. He subsequently issued[6] an unreserved apology to Michel. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01286.html [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01287.html [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01306.html [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01305.html JoshBoyer stated that KDE4 would not be in Fedora 8, which RexDieter reproved[7], suggesting that no final, absolute decision had been reached in this regard. Further discussion with Josh however brought out the information[8] that the most likely scenario for Fedora 8 is that there will be a KDE3 desktop (desktop manager, window manager etc) and a KDE4 runtime (libraries and resources for developing and running KDE4 applications). Rex saw two other possible scenarios of a KDE4 desktop and KDE3 runtime and no KDE4 runtime at ship date at all. One of the points of confusion cleared up was that if something isn't in Test2 then it isn't going to be a Feature. [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01297.html [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01301.html Rex stated[9] that if the KDE4 desktop was not ready by Test2 then it would not replace the KDE3 desktop mid-release. [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01311.html After investigating the issue Rex posted[10] later to say that KDE4 would realistically not be in Fedora 8. Rex was upset about this and managed to be both polite and profane. HansdeGoede stepped up to the plate yet again to offer assistance[11] and was joined by JoséAbílioMatos and "MarkG". [10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01714.html [11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01720.html AdamTkac was keen[12] on moving to KDE4 right now, but JoshBoyer suggested that the KDE team had a better grasp of the practicalities and RexDieter said[13] "there is a basic level of functionality and reliability [...] which simply isn't there yet", and encouraged anyone interested to join the KDE SIG[14]. [12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01341.html [13] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01362.html [14] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/KDE === Auto-Opening Of Ports In Firewalls By Services === A proposal[1] from JóhannGuðmundsson to implement a method to allow services to automatically punch holes in the firewall suggested that the best way of doing this might be for a service to read a firewall configuration file and add iptables rules based upon it on starting (and conversely remove those rules when stopping). [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01363.html In favour was JeremyKatz. He added[2] the question whether it was better to make the iptables change during starting/stopping (as suggested by Johann) or to do it at chkconfig time. The advantage of the latter is that it avoids having to make initscript changes, but the former seems more "correct". [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01372.html SimoSorce was less enthralled[3] by the prospect of having iptables rules overridden or else having to change the initscripts and/or reapply the rule each time the service starts or stops. Simo also wondered whether Jeremy was right about it being more correct to make these changes at start/stop, and also wondered to which interfaces this would apply. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01378.html "Nodata" and JonCiesla both looked[4] like they'd be part of a pitchfork-bearing mob if their custom firewall settings were disrupted by this functionality. ArthurPemberton agreed[5] with JonCiesla that perhaps tying this in to ''system-config-securitylevel'' would allow the functionality to be disabled in one easy place by admins. DaveHollis thought[6] that integrating existing protocols for modifying firewalls (UPnP, NAT-PMP[7]) by talking to avahi and using DBUS to prompt for user input offered a better path. LennartPoettering noted[8] that someone was already developing such a module for avahi. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01382.html [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01383.html [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01389.html [7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAT-PMP [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01408.html Like Simo SaikatGuha wondered[9] what would happen with VPNs, and also suggested that system-config-security could be modified to allow the opening of ports per service (instead of explicitly by port) with functions added to initscripts to look at this. [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01380.html BennyAmorsen posted[10] a slightly tongue-in-cheek implementation of Johann's idea, suggesting that all he needed to do was to remove the firewall completely. [10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01386.html === TeXLive Licensing Problem? === In the continuing drive to get License tags sorted out PatriceDumas was doing his part and examining TeXLive (see FWN#101 "TeXLive Status"[1]). Patrice noticed[2] an obligation to send notifications to the copyright holder for "dvips" and "makeindex". Patrice wondered if these requirements were considered to be the same to the very similar Academic Free License (AFL) which is considered a Free license. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue101#head-5af8a93231914c6751797043298… [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01802.html RahulSundaram argued[3] that there was a difference between a requirement and a request and that hence the AFL was different. Patrice was unsure about this as the AFL license used the word "must", but demurred that he was not a native speaker of English. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01805.html [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01812.html A re-reading of the AFL by Rahul seemed[5] to show that the obligation was to convey to the ''recipients'' the license terms. Patrice concurred[6] with this and said that he had noted the issue in the TeXLive review. [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01815.html [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01816.html === dist-rawhide Not A Valid Target In Koji === DebarshiRay (rishi) was stumped[1] when using the standard BuildRoot setup he couldn't build two of his packages from scratch. The specific error message was "BuildrootError: could not init mock buildroot, mock exited with status 100." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01784.html A quick response[2] from MamoruTasaka suggested that Rishi try to use "dist-f8" instead of "dist-rawhide" and although this worked Rishi was puzzled because koji list-target provides it as a possibility. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01786.html JesseKeating answered[3] that it was not "a fully valid target" and that it had been created to allow pointing mock at a static repository of rawhide on people's systems. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01792.html [[Anchor(Translation)]] == Translation == This section, we cover the news surrounding the Fedora Translation (L10n) Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N Contributing Writer: JasonMatthewTaylor === Developer Wiki Page === DimitrisGlezos put up a page[1] with information for maintainers looking to get their project/resource translated[2]. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N/ResourceMaintainers [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-August/msg00064.html === String Freeze Policy === DimitrisGlezos posted[1] that there is now an official String Freeze Policy, the idea is to give translators concrete timelines without worry about overwrites and the like. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-August/msg00065.html [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ReleaseEngineering/StringFreezePolicy === Translation Quick Start Guide === NorikoMizumoto posted[1] some changes to the guide[2] and as always the team is looking for additions and improvements. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-August/msg00087.html [2]http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N/Tasks/TQSG [[Anchor(Infrastructure)]] == Infrastructure == In this section, we cover the Fedora Infrastructure Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure Contributing Writer: JasonMatthewTaylor === Turbogears and Memory Usage === MikeMcGrath requested[1] some application owners and whoever else may have some free time to investigate to ensure that the applications are using their memory as intended as the machines are swapping frequently. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-August/msg0… === Asterisk on the Wiki === MikeMcGrath posted[1] about a page created[2] to inform others about Asterisk and some basic troubleshooting. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-August/msg0… [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure/Asterisk === Bugzilla Upgrade === ToshioKuratomi posted[1] a breakdown of expected problems with the proposed Bugzilla upgrade. He also posted some post upgrade notes[2] [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-August/msg0… [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-August/msg0… [[Anchor(SecurityWeek)]] == Security Week == In this section, we highlight the security stories from the week in Fedora. Contributing Writer: JoshBressers === July 2007 Operating System Vulnerability Scorecard === * http://blogs.technet.com/security/archive/2007/08/16/july-2007-operating-sy… I ran across this vulnerability report. The goal of which appears to be to show that Windows Server 2003 has fixed significantly fewer flaws than various other operating systems. Upon reading the report, the first thing that popped into my head was "But what about the things that aren't fixed?" There are quite a few reports like this, none of them really say much. We can safely say that any report is going to show that lots of things get fixed in operating systems that contain lots of things. I wouldn't mind seeing an report about the various outstanding flaws in a given system. Such a report is likely impractical to produce, as it's a full time job to track outstanding flaws, but it would no doubt be useful. It's very easy to draw the shortsighted conclusion that the more flaws a vendor fixes, the more insecure their product is. It would make just as much sense to say that the fewer flaws a vendor fixes, the more outstanding things they are still vulnerable to. [[Anchor(AdvisoriesUpdates)]] == Advisories and Updates == In this section, we cover Security Advisories and Package Updates from fedora-package-announce. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA Contributing Writer: ThomasChung == Fedora 7 Security Advisories == * sysstat-7.0.4-3.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0031… * kdelibs-3.5.7-20.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0031… * kdebase-3.5.7-13.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0031… * po4a-0.32-4.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0033… * libvorbis-1.1.2-3.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0034… * id3lib-3.8.3-17.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0035… * bochs-2.3-7.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0036… * kernel-2.6.22.4-65.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0037… * pam_ssh-1.92-2.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0037… == Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories == * dovecot-1.0.3-6.fc6 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0030… [[Anchor(EventsMeetings)]] == Events and Meetings == In this section, we cover event reports and meeting summaries from various projects. Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === Event Report: WBUT install fest. part 1 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-August/msg0005… === Fedora Board Meeting Minutes 2007-08-21 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-advisory-board/2007-August/msg00119.… === Fedora Ambassadors Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Documentation Steering Committee 2007-08-21 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-August/msg00059.html === Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Meeting 2007-08-22 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/epel-devel-list/2007-August/msg00136.html === Fedora Infrastructure Meeting (Log) 2007-08-23 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-August/msg0… === Fedora Localization Project Meeting 2007-08-21 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-August/msg00082.html === Fedora Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-08-21 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-August/msg00567.html === Fedora Release Engineering Meeting 2007-08-20 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01400.html -- Thomas Chung http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung

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Vacation Notice
by Thomas Chung 27 Aug '07

27 Aug '07

Hello News Team, I'll be on vacation from Aug 31st until Sept 21st. As an Editor in Chief, I propose we take a summer break for Fedora Weekly News until I return. :) Well, If I don't hear from you. Have a great summer! Regards, -- Thomas Chung http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung

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Trans and Infra
by Jason 26 Aug '07

26 Aug '07

Both are ready for editing, sorry about the late posting. -Jason

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FWN#102 development news beat ready
by Oisin Feeley 26 Aug '07

26 Aug '07

Hi, Please find my @fedora-devel newsbeat ready for editing here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Beats/Developments#preview Best wishes -- Oisin Feeley oisinfeeley(a)imapmail.org -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Access your email from home and the web

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Ask Fedora beat ready
by Rahul Sundaram 26 Aug '07

26 Aug '07

Hi http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Beats/AskFedora Thanks to Paul W Frields for contributing. Rahul

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[Announcement] Fedora Weekly News Issue 100 in Czech language
by Bukovansky Richard 26 Aug '07

26 Aug '07

Hello everyone, for those interested just a little announcement: The Fedora Weekly News Issue 100 was translated to Czech language and published on fedora.cz Wiki page: http://wiki.fedora.cz/doku.php?id=tydenik:tydenikfedory100 Thanks goes to all FWN editors for hard work. Thank you. -- Bukovansky Richard richard.bukovansky(a)atlas.cz

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Daily Package screencast is excellent
by Oisin Feeley 20 Aug '07

20 Aug '07

I'm really enjoying Chris Tyler's "Daily Package" screencast. It's the ideal way of presenting some of this material, and that includes not just graphical interactions but also talking about and showing the use of commandline utilities like "renrot". I'm especially happy that there's an OggTheora version available. A minor glitch is that for both the YouTube (.flv) and the Theora version there is apparently a slight lag in voiceover compared to video. I'm aware of the YouTube issue as a known Linux problem, but perhaps it's correctable with the Theora? Best wishes, Oisin Feeley

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Fedora Weekly News Issue 101
by Thomas Chung 20 Aug '07

20 Aug '07

= Fedora Weekly News Issue 101 = Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 101 for the week of August 13th. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue101 Here is a highlight of this week's report: In Ask Fedora, we have "Location For Menu Entries And Customization" and "64-bit Java Plugin". In Daily Package, we have "Fedora Daily Package Articles in Chinese", "MediaWiki - Collaborative publishing", "RenRot - Rename and rotate photos", "Wednesday Why: Logins and Sessions", "GKrellM - System monitoring tool", "TaxiPilot - Drive a Space Taxi" and "Fedora Daily Package Weekly Video Summary" To join or give us your feedback, please visit http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join. 1. Announcements 2. Ask Fedora 1. Location For Menu Entries And Customization 2. 64-bit Java Plugin 3. Planet Fedora 1. Fedora 8 virtualization work-in-progress 2. LinuxWorld San Francisco 2007 Wrap-Up 4. Daily Package 1. Fedora Daily Package Weekly Video Summary 2. Fedora Daily Package Articles in Chinese 3. MediaWiki - Collaborative publishing 4. RenRot - Rename and rotate photos 5. Wednesday Why: Logins and Sessions 6. GKrellM - System monitoring tool 7. TaxiPilot - Drive a Space Taxi 5. Marketing 1. Deskftop Faceoff: Fedora vs. Vista 2. Virgin America moves from Fedora to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3. Installing Fedora - a video tour 6. Developments 1. PulseAudio Enabled By Default 2. GPL And LGPL Not Acceptable For Fedora 3. Mock Problems With Failing libdb-4.5.so Dependency 4. Attention! Low-Hanging Fruit Ahead! 5. XFS Problems Confirmed On x86 LVM 6. Mkinitrd EHCI-HCD Erro-71 On Boot 7. Meet The Desktop Team 8. Naming Fedora 8 And How Freezing Works 9. Package Management Cont. 10. TeXLive Status 7. Maintainers 1. Naming Fedora 8 2. The Status of Eclipse 3.3 In Fedora 8 8. Translation 1. String and Trans Freeze Pages 2. Module Movement Suggestions 9. Infrastructure 1. Builder Monitoring 10. Security Week 1. Real world security 11. Advisories and Updates 12. Fedora 7 Security Advisories 13. Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories 14. Events and Meetings 1. Fedora Board Meeting Minutes 2007-MM-DD 2. Fedora Ambassadors Meeting 2007-08-16 3. Fedora Documentation Steering Committee 2007-08-14 4. Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-MM-DD 5. Fedora Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Meeting 2007-08-15 6. Fedora Infrastructure Meeting (Log) 2007-MM-DD 7. Fedora Localization Project Meeting 2007-08-14 8. Fedora Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-MM-DD 9. Fedora Release Engineering Meeting 2007-08-13 15. Extras Extras 1. Fedora 7 Book for FWN 100th Issue [[Anchor(Announcements)]] == Announcements == In this section, we cover announcements from various projects. Contributing Writer: ThomasChung There was no significant announcement last week. [[Anchor(AskFedora)]] == Ask Fedora == In this section, we answer general questions from Fedora community. Send your questions to askfedora(a)fedoraproject.org and Fedora News Team will bring you answers from the Fedora Developers and Contributors to selected number of questions every week as part of our weekly news report. Please indicate if you do not wish your name and/or email address to be published. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/AskFedora Contributing Writer: RahulSundaram === Location For Menu Entries And Customization === ''Joe Klemmer <klemmerj(a)webtrek.com>: I have all three of the major desktop environments installed on my systems. My primary is Xfce but I do use GNOME or KDE at times. One thing I have found is that the menu's are not consistent across desktops. On my system Fedora 7 box it seems that KDE has MANY more entries in it's menu than GNOME or Xfce. Xfce generates it's menu on the fly and I'm guessing that the other two do as well. Is there any standard for placement of .desktop files? Something more effective than "locate .desktop" As an adjunct to this, is there a proper place for users to put manually created .desktop files? I have been putting them with the regular ones in /usr/share/applications/ but I'd be more at ease if there were a place under $(HOME) to put them. Something other than $(HOME)/Desktop as I wish to have entries in the menus but not on the desktop.'' Desktop menu entries in GNOME, KDE and Xfce among others follow the freedesktop.org desktop entry specification [1]. The specification allows for certain entries to be shown only in one particular desktop environment or excluded from others based on the how they are specified in the desktop files in Fedora packages. The menu is generated dynamically from the ".desktop" files. The system default folder in Fedora for menu entries is /usr/share/applications. See the specification for more details. [1] http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/desktop-entry-spec === 64-bit Java Plugin === ''Lane Brooks <lbrooks(a)mit.edu>: What options are there for getting a Java plugin working on 64bit Firefox?'' Sun has after a long delay committed[1] to a 64-bit plugin for Java version 1.7. Meanwhile the usual solution is to install the 32-bit version of Firefox which is available in the Fedora repository and continue using the 32-bit plugin. [1] http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4802695 [[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 === Fedora 8 virtualization work-in-progress === DanielBerrange reports in his blog[1], "For Fedora 8 we have quite an ambitious set of goals[2] to improve security of the virtualization management stack. With the test2 date fast approaching things are starting to fall into place, although as ever its taken longer than expected. Should really have expected this since it requires getting code accepted in 3 upstream projects (Xen, QEMU, KVM), releases several brand new pieces of new software (GTK-VNC and Virt Viewer), and updating many others (Virt Manager & virt-install)." [1] http://berrange.com/personal/diary/2007/08/fedora-8-virtualization-work-in [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/FeatureVirtSecurity === LinuxWorld San Francisco 2007 Wrap-Up === MattDomsch reports in his blog[1] See the Video Interview[2] at Fedora Booth. "Fellow Fedora Project Board member KarstenWade, and Fedora engineer JackAboutboul were manning the Fedora booth, and took time to tell me about the Fedora Translations effort, and the Creative Commons Live Content CD they were giving away, built entirely with Open Source tools included in Fedora 7." [1] http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/08/15/25022.aspx [2] http://media.dellone2one.com/dell/August2007/Fedora_cc.ogg [[Anchor(DailyPackage)]] == Daily Package == In this section, we recap the packages that have been highlighted as a Fedora Daily Package [1]. [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/ Contributing Writer: ChrisTyler === Fedora Daily Package Weekly Video Summary === A screencast video summary of this week's daily packages is available [1]. [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/127-Fedora-Daily-Pac… === Fedora Daily Package Articles in Chinese === Allen Chen has translated a number of Fedora Daily Package articles into Chinese and posted them on his blog at http://a3linux.blogspot.com. === MediaWiki - Collaborative publishing === ''Productive Mondays'' highlight a timesaving tool. This Monday[1] we covered Mediawiki[2]: "A Wiki is a collaboratively-edited web site. Some of the best-known examples are the projects of the Wikimedia Foundation, including Wikipedia and Wiktionary, and Wikis are useful collaboratively editing and publishing many different types of web content. The software that powers the Wikimedia Foundation projects is called MediaWiki and is available within Fedora." [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/120-Productive-Monda… [2] http://www.mediawiki.org/ === RenRot - Rename and rotate photos === ''Artsy Tuesdays'' highlight a graphics, video, or sound application. This Tuesday[1] Renrot[2] was featured: "Renrot is a simple but very useful command-line tool. It renames photo files based on information in the EXIF tags within the photo file. ... It will also rotate images based on the orientation data in the EXIF tags, if present." [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/121-Artsy-Tuesday-Re… [2] http://freshmeat.net/projects/renrot/ === Wednesday Why: Logins and Sessions === The ''Wednesday Why'' article[1] took a look at the difference between a login and an X session, and how this affects the execution of the ~/.bash_profile startup script: "A login occurs when you authenticate to the system in character mode and a shell is started for you. ... A session, on the other hand, is the graphical version of a login. The session is started by the display manager gdm (or, alternatively, kdm or xdm) when the program starts." [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/122-Wednesday-Why-Lo… === GKrellM - System monitoring tool === ''GUI Thursdays'' highlight software that enables, provides, enhances, or effectively uses a GUI interface. This Thursday[1], GKrellM[2] was discussed: "If you're interested in monitoring your system's performance, but want to see more information than the GNOME System Monitor applet can display, GKrellM is the tool for you. It's the Swiss army knife of graphical monitoring tools, offering more than a dozen built-in monitors (which run in a single process) and supporting both plugins and themes." [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/125-GUI-Thursday-GKr… [2] http://members.dslextreme.com/users/billw/gkrellm/gkrellm.html === TaxiPilot - Drive a Space Taxi === ''Friday Fun'' highlights fun, interesting, and amusing programs. This Friday[1], we took a look at TaxiPilot[2]: "Taxi Pilot is a strange 2D game where you become the pilot of a space taxi in the year 4017. You must pick up and drop off passengers without landing on the passengers or crashing your vehicle. ... Written for KDE 3, Taxi Pilot is loosely modeled after the Space Taxi game on the Commodore 64." [1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/126-Friday-Fun-TaxiP… [2] http://taxipilot.sourceforge.net/ [[Anchor(Marketing)]] == Marketing == In this section, we cover Fedora Marketing Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === Deskftop Faceoff: Fedora vs. Vista === DavidsonPaulo reports in fedora-marketing-list[1], "Fedora 7 adds a veneer to the GNU/Linux desktop that provides much of the ease of use of a Windows operating system, but beneath it, the traditional Unix concerns for security and for users doing things their own way remains. While users can ignore these concerns, especially when just starting out, as they become more experienced they may welcome the added control." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-August/msg00150.… === Virgin America moves from Fedora to Red Hat Enterprise Linux === ChristopherAillon reports in fedora-marketing-list[1], "Fedora was a fantastic solution for us as we began our journey with open source," said Ravi Simhambhatla, director of architecture and integration at Virgin America. "As our need for fine-grained control and scalability grew, we decided to migrate to Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its reputation as a resilient, secure and scalable platform as well as for its incredible support. Red Hat has the best kernel engineers in the world and when I'm in a real bind, it's priceless to have the ability to call someone who has the knowledge to get us on track quickly." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-August/msg00144.… === Installing Fedora - a video tour === RahulSundaram reports in fedora-marketing-list[1], "Ready to try Linux but want some hand-holding when you do? Here are three videos that walk you through the process of installing Fedora GNU/Linux." [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-August/msg00140.… [[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 === PulseAudio Enabled By Default === A replacement for the aging sound system with PulseAudio[1] was announced[2] as the default in Fedora 8 by LennartPoettering. (See ChrisTyler's description[3] in DailyPackage and earlier coverage[4] in FWN#98 "PulseAudio Improving Fedora Sound"). "Esound" has been booted for all new installs of Fedora 8. Lennart's post was comprehensive including a FAQ, links to presentations and more. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/FeaturePulseaudio [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01196.html [3] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/97-Artsy-Tuesday-Pul… [4] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue98#head-8b87bc9bb0ff1f9a45fa428cbde6… Lennart, as the principle developer, wanted to warn developers and packagers of audio-requiring applications that they needed to exercise caution and go through a handy checklist which he provided in his post. Although PulseAudio provides compatibility layers for e.g. OSS and ALSA it is incomplete and difficult and Lennart asked that people file bugs with him after checking through the list. The one big exception was Adobe Flash which may later have a workaround, but is known for now to be broken. There was a good deal of concern about the problem of Flash. DennisJacobfeuerborn expressed[5] these concerns best and tried to get some further information from Lennart. Dennis's suggestion was that the Flash problem be fixed before switching to PulseAudio as the default in order to avoid a backlash from users. IanBurrell drew a distinction[6] between replacing the sound-servers "esd" and "aRtsd" with PulseAudio (which will probably cause no problems) and replacing OSS and ALSA (which is the level at which the FLash problem occurs). [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01204.html [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01219.html MartinSourada wondered whether "swfdec" would work, and pointed out that it was FL/OSS. DavidNielsen responded[7] that "gnash" was in the Fedora repositories and had worked for him with PulseAudio. [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01206.html MatthiasClasen wondered[8] whether Lennart had looked at "libflashsupport" as it seemed to work well for him. "Kelly" responded that s/he had produced an RPM which worked although it was currently dependent on Flash, which could be changed. After noting that libflashsupport used an acceptable BSD license WarrenTogami wanted to know whether it used sane defaults for sound autodetection and an optional config file to override th(ese with explicit choices. "Kelly" responded[9] with what seemed like a list of sane overrides. [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01225.html [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01231.html The closed, proprietary nature of Adobe Flash had been mentioned by Lennart as a reason why supporting it was low on his list of priorities. "Nodata" wondered whether he had actually talked to Adobe's developers and WarrenTogami suggested[10] that if PulseAudio's interface was now stable then it might be targettable by Adobe. [10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01209.html As packager of a large number of games HansdeGoede was concerned that when he tried to follow Lennart's instructions they didn't seem to work. His supposition that it might be a 64-bit issue was quelled[11] by AdamGoode, who noted however that PulseAudio had recently broken in Rawhide for him also. [11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01223.html The VOIP client "Ekiga" was noted[12] to crash with PulseAudio according to MatejCepl. [12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01216.html The issue of KDE's aRtsd was addressed[13] by Kelly who noted that s/he had "Pulseaudio completely set up to use everything, so I know what has to be done to get it working (especially on KDE). Just ask." KevinKofler was also on the ball to assure[14] everyone that the KDE-SIG was on top of the situation with several options and that in future KDE4 would use Phonon which uses xine-lib which is supported perfectly by PulseAudio. [13] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01221.html [14] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01222.html === GPL And LGPL Not Acceptable For Fedora === Our attention was grabbed[1] when TomCallaway (spot) posted that "GPL and LGPL are not acceptable for Fedora". Having hooked us, Tom proceded to explain that what he meant was that license-tags in rpms need to be much more specific than merely "GPL" or "LGPL". A list of nine acceptable License tags for L/GPL packages was provided along with definitions. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01128.html EricSandeen (packager of "xfsprogs") was confused[2] about an apparent discrepancy between the source-code licence (GPL) and the included COPYING file (which specified that a particular library "libhandle" and some header files were LGPL but all other files were GPL). Tom's message had specified that COPYING should not be trusted and the source should be examined instead. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01130.html An interpretation advanced[3] by HansdeGoede pointed to the difference between whether libhandle was distributed as a separate file or else linked into the binaries. The former case, Hans argued, necessitated separate packages with individual licenses in order to make automated license checking work. Hans also interpreted the situation to mean that because the source-code contained specific mentions of the L/GPL they trumped[4] any mentions in the COPYING file. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01130.html [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01134.html "Kelly" believed that the point about the COPYING file was supposed to be that if both it and the source mentioned specific versions then the source version trumped all. This initially seemed to be distinct from the situation Hans and Eric were discussing in which COPYING mentioned a version but the source didn't mention a version. Hans seemed a bit miffed[5] and posted a quote from the Fedora Project wiki which backed up his position and stated that if there was no version specified for a L/GLP source then technically it was licensed under _any_ version of the GPL. [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01137.html An apology[6] from SimoSorce went some way to clear up this point and to disagree with Hans' interpretation. Simo stated that if an author had gone to the trouble of modifying the information in COPYING as opposed to merely cut and pasting it from the GPL then it was clear that their intention was expressed in COPYING and it ought to be used as the determinant of the License-tag. TomCallaway agreed[7] with this. [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01151.html [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01158.html Simo came up[8] with a pretty good summary of the pairwise combinations of un/modified COPYING with un/specified source licences and the probable actions to take in each case. [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01162.html A separate thread was started[9] by PatriceDumas to raise the issue of a copyright assignment without any licensing information in the "lesstif" code. Patrice wanted to know which short License-tag he should use. Spot responded that this was a "copyright assignment with no restrictions" which he hadn't added to the table of licenses yet because no package yet was solely and wholly under only thislicense. Subsequent information from Patrice revealed that there were also LPGLv2+, MIT and GPLv2+ parts, and Spot clarified[11] that "no license" was not required to be listed. [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01148.html [10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01157.html [11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01169.html Spurred[12] by the apparent green light being given to listing all possible licenses on a single binary rpm HansdeGoede sought clarification from Spot. Spot agreed that Hans was correct in his interpretation and that it was not appropriate to merely list all the compatible licenses that accompanied code that went into a single binary, instead the strictest license should be used. But there was according to Spot[13] one exceptional case (which doesn't occur very often), which is when the licenses are compatible but non-consuming (the L/GPL licenses ARE consuming so this doesn't occur often). [12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01174.html [13] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01176.html A final point about the licensing applying only to the packaged files was raised[14] in discussion between Hans and Patrice, both of whom thought the wiki should make this clearer. [14] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01180.html === Mock Problems With Failing libdb-4.5.so Dependency === While trying to build some packages in mock MamoruTasaka stumbled across a weird error[1] where unresolved dependencies on libdb-4.5.so were reported on Koji with a resulting failed build. However the individual packages installed fine without this problem. Mamoru also found the same problem for another build. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01227.html A hint as to what was going wrong was supplied[2] by JindrichNovy with the information that db4 had been updated to a newer version (4.6.18) recently and the older version (4.5.20) had been moved to compat-db. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01235.html Mamoru knew this and thought[3] that compat-db needed to be added automatically in Koji when dependencies were being resolved. He also pointed out that when compat-db was added manually to the BuildRequires the problem still persisted. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01237.html The problem was nailed[4] by VilleSkyttä who noted that the Obsoletes: provided in compat-db were the problem and should be changed from "Obsoletes: db4 < 4.6" to "Obsoletes: db4 < 4.2.52". JindrichNovy agreed[5] and after making this change rebuilt the compat-db package. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01238.html [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01243.html This still resulted[6] in failure for Mamoru (who was trying to build the "Oyranos" package produced by NicolasChauvet (kwizart) and "ice"). [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01254.html One of the Fedora Project's most experienced packagers, MichaelSchwendt, then provided[7] further depth to the problem explaining that packages were being obsoleted in the build environment by RPM due to virtual provides and that this was a problem intrinsic to RPM which will hopefully be resolved soon. [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01256.html Jindrich noted[8] again his rebuild of compat-db without "db4-* provides" and also that he was letting everyone know that "direct library dependencies are now needed for packages using older db4s". This phrase made MichaelSchwendt[9] and PatriceDumas[10] query whether that was needed given rpmbuild's automatic dependency handling. MamoruTasaka was happy to report[11] success using Jindrich's new packages. [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01275.html [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01276.html [10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01280.html [11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01278.html === Attention! Low-Hanging Fruit Ahead! === MatthiasClasen got the ball rolling[1] over on @fedora-desktop with a discussion of what changes could be easily made in order to produce a "Fedora Desktop" LiveCD spin for Fedora 8. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00104.ht… The most controversial of Matthias' proposals (which he later pointed out were his personal list and not some mandated one) was to remove LVM/RAID from the LiveCD installer. "Dragoran" wondered what was gained by this and ChristopherAillon responded[2] that what was lost were "confused users" and "one less screen in the install". JeremyKatz thought that users were unlikely to be confused about LVM/RAID because they had to click several buttons to get to that point. He also pointed out[3] that another loss would be those that need "dmraid" (fakeraid) support. DavidZeuthen thought[4] users would find their way into confusion if it was offered and explained that RAID or LVM could be used "under the hood" (he also posted a nice ASCII graphic to illustrate his ideal Install screen). [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00109.ht… [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00113.ht… [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00139.ht… David asked[4] Jeremy how easy it would be to change anaconda so that the underlying mechanism was decoupled from potentially simpler UIs on top of it. Jeremy referred[5] to his earlier suggestion of writing a kickstart generator as easier than adding another interface to anaconda. [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00153.ht… A good number of items on the laundry list were already being tackled[6] by JonNettleton, who also cautioned that there was a danger in waiting for perfect solutions instead of neglecting good, practical, immediate solutions. Among the projects Jon has been working on is hacking pam_keyring so that the keyring is unlocked on default, but he suggested, and Matthias confirmed[7], that with GNOME2.20 the gnome-keyring-pam package would do this. [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00118.ht… [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00130.ht… Reconsidering the launchers presented on the default gnome-panel configuration was appealing[8] to NicuBuculei, who especially thought the OpenOffice.org icons should be removed. DavidZeuthen and ZackCerza agreed and Zack added that having the launcher display the name/icon of the preferred browser automatically would be nice. Further discussion led JonNettleton to suggest a more flexible launcher which could auto-add frequently used applications. JesseKeating thought[10] this sounded like "BigBoard". [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00119.ht… [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00172.ht… [10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00176.ht… GianPaoloMureddu reacted strongly[11] against the idea of removing the root userand thought the Ubuntu experience of "sudo by default" added "/sbin" to the PATH of ordinary users. Gian Paolo wasn't against disabling root login on GDM though. In response ColinWalters wondered what setting the path had to do with enabling the root account and stated[12] that all he cared about was killing the multiple password prompts. Colin posted a link to a thread on FedoraForum in which MatthewMiller detailed how to use sudo and /etc/security/console.apps to achieve this goal. [11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00196.ht… [12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00200.ht… Dragoran thought[13] that it would be better just to disable root login through GDM and RayStrode agreed enough (including for the non "Desktop Fedora" cases) that he built[14] a new gdm package. [13] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00202.ht… [14] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-desktop-list/2007-August/msg00202.ht… === XFS Problems Confirmed On x86 LVM === A follow-up of an earlier discussion (FWN#98 "XFS In Anaconda"[1]) about support of the XFS filesystem in anaconda was carried out[2] by EricSandeen. Eric confirmed that xfs on 4KSTACKS over LVM was a problem due to stack overflows. However xfs on ordinary partitions seems to work. Eric committed to searching out the biggest problems when he has some spare time. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue98#head-9c78349dfd68e4c95f8e05e44ab4… [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01255.html Earlier NicolasMailhot asked[3] whether it would be possible to enable xfs for the non-problematic case of x86_64. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00870.html === Mkinitrd EHCI-HCD Erro-71 On Boot === PeteZaitcev wondered[1] why the "ehci" module was loaded last in Rawhide and proposed a patch to mkinitrd to load it before uhci and ohci. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01029.html The possibility that this would fix the detection of USB2.0 as USB1.1, especially in notebooks, led LamontPeterson to hope[2] that the change would be accepted. Pete responded, however, that this mis-detection was probably a separate issue (although it might be related) and asked for bugs to be filed. In the same email Pete further explained that the problem he was solving was discovery and initialization on the companion bus when EHCI is initialized in parallel. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01037.html Another bug (on bugzilla.kernel.org) was referenced[3] by TomLondon as a related issue, but Pete thought that it wasn't and explained that the "-71" error usually indicates poor signal integrity (due to cabling) and specifically in this case was due to EHCI transferring and switching a port. [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01129.html PeterJones agreed with PeteZaitcev's patch and committed it to the mkinitrd git repo which led DaveJones to request details of how to access the git repo. PeterJones (confused by all the Joneses and Peters yet?) supplied[4] a URI which depends on ssh-access. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01267.html === Meet The Desktop Team === An announcement[1] from MatthiasClasen about regular public IRC meetings to co-ordinate interested Fedora community members in making a better "Fedora Desktop" LiveCD (see also "Attention! Low-Hanging Fruit Ahead!" above in this same FWN#101) also mentioned the creation of a Desktop SIG (special interest group). [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01030.html The time of the inaugural meeting (20:00 - 21:00 CEST) was questioned[2] by MatejCepl as it was awkward for Europeans. DebarshiRay (Rishi) was unimpressed and counterpoised[3] the timing inflicted on developers in China and the Indian sub-continent. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01073.html [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01074.html JeroenVanMeeuwen (kanarip) thought[4] that this was an ideal after-work time for Europeans. ChristopherAillon posted that this was the only time that some people could meet and then hastened[5] to assure Matèj that he hadn't meant to sound so harsh. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01078.html [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01090.html Matèj didn't seem too disturbed[6] and pointed out that cutting into connubial bliss with after-hours meetings wasn't ideal. [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01214.html ChristopherBlizzard kept things moving by creating[7] a page for the DesktopSIG on the wiki and added the notes of the first meeting. AdamJackson (ajax) updated[8] the bootchart review request. LinusWalleij was grateful for the meeting notes, but suggested[9] that several of the items be discussed on @fedora-devel. Chris responded with links to greater discussion of some of the items Linus was concerned about and also pointed out that they were all on the F8 feature list already. [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01105.html [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01111.html [9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01112.html === Naming Fedora 8 And How Freezing Works === After discussion in the Release Engineering IRC meeting[1] (Aug 13th 2007) JoshBoyer was tasked to collect names for the Fedora 8 release. KevinKofler initiated[2] a thread with his own suggestion (Galois), noting that he was too lazy to subscribe to maintainers. Josh stated[3] that unless suggestions were posted to maintainers or CC'ed to him then they would most likely be missed. [1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ReleaseEngineering/Meetings/2007-aug-13 [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00957.html [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00964.html A pleasantly esoteric suggestion from "Alan" was to use "Underline" and from then on there was a descent into jokes about Spinal Tap, including the unpleasant idea of a "Smell the Glove" name for Fedora 13. DaveAirlie was pushing[4] for "Poitín" (an Irish Moonshine) and AndyShevchenko countered[5] with "Absinthe". The following discussion revealed that Fedora developers are steeped in the lore and minutiae of semi-illegal alcohol. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00961.html [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00986.html A suggestion from NormanGaywood to use one of the common objects from John Conway's Game of Life, the "Glider" was approved by several people and DouglasMcClendon added[6] that this might attract ESR back to Fedora... [6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01079.html Doug admitted to AdamJackson that he had been half-trolling, but that in light of the changed situation of codecs in Fedora 8 it might actually be true. JoshBoyer made it clear[7] that Fedora's policy on codecs was still the same and the only new thing was CodecBuddy which pointed interested users elsewhere for informaiton. JesseKeating also thought[8] that attracting ESR back would be a regression. [7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01123.html [8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01091.html Similar ideas were tossed around[1] in the Release Engineering IRC meeting, but what was more interesting was the clarification thrashed out between WarrenTogami(warren), WillWoods (wwoods) and JesseKeating(f13) of what a "Feature Freeze" is (new packages are allowed only if they don't require major changes to the well-tested existing packages which precede them). WillWoods seemed to be trying to find a way of producing a cutoff point for significant updates to packages at different "tiers" of strictness. Also of note in the IRC log is the "Deep Freeze" proposed for October 23rd after which new packages will not be added to Fedora 8 at all. This information should end up documented in the wiki[9] [9] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ReleaseEngineering/Overview Warren also posted[10] a notice of the coming August 28th Feature Freeze for Fedora 8 with notes explaining what the purpose of this is (to stabilize components in the default install mainly) and what to do if your favorite feature misses the deadline. DimitrisGlezos added[11] that this was also the date of the StringFreeze. [10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00939.html [11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00956.html === Package Management Cont. === NicolasMailhot gave some further feedback[1] to RichardHughes about the state of package management on Fedora (see FWN#99 "Package Management: Goats Satisfied With Current Situation"[2]). Nicolas specifically disagreed with the idea that anyone using a machine should be allowed to install security updates. RichardHughes continued to argue[3] that this was a policy choice which should be under the control of the administrator. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00876.html [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue99#head-dd8ff39e04dfea9eb777d17c13c5… [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00876.html An interesting new general criticism was then raised[4] by Nicolas who thought that the propagation time of fixes from packagers on Koji on through the master server and several layers of mirrors caused much wasted time. He highlighted the problem of a faulty package which can be continued to be installed by users many hours after a problem is identified and fixed. Nicolas proposed that RSS-blacklist support in YUM would avoid the ramifying of such problems. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00942.html SethVidal thought that this would introduce a single-point-of-failure and also be a bandwidth problem, but Nicolas responded[5] that the blacklist could be distributed in a decentralized way and would be bandwidth light as evidenced by the use of RSS on many high traffic sites. He added some good food for thought about how users flock to overload the more reliable root servers when there's a problem. [5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg00945.html === TeXLive Status === JindrichNovy announced[1] the availability of TeXLive for i386 and x86_64 via a repository hosted at his people.redhat.com account. He was seeking a reviewer and mentioned that the fixes included obsoletion of tetex-tex4ht (which allows the conversion of TeX to HTML and RTF among other things), and contained an updated xpdf-3.02 from upstream and a pdftex no longer statically linked to libstdc++.repository hosted at his people.redhat.com account. He was seeking a reviewer and mentioned that the fixes included obsoletion of tetex-tex4ht (which allows the conversion of TeX to HTML and RTF among other things), and contained an updated xpdf-3.02 from upstream and a pdftex no longer statically linked to libstdc++. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01047.html After a small hitch it was reported[2] by EdHill that the x86_64 packages worked apart from a couple of small problems with xdvi map files and dvips. Ed was happy to file bugs, but Jindrich replied[3] that as the package was still waiting on review there was no bugzilla entry for TeXLive yet. [2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01070.html [3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01082.html JesseKeating tried[4] to help out with the account quota restriction faced by Jindrich, but even when restricted to the i386 and x86_64 architectures TeXLive[5] is large. [4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01075.html [5] http://www.tug.org/texlive/doc/texlive-en/live.html#x1-120003 [[Anchor(Maintainers)]] == 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 Contributing Writer: MichaelLarabel === Naming Fedora 8 === Fedora 8 isn't coming out until November, but entries are now being accepted if you would like to come up with the "code name" for Fedora 8[1]. After all submissions have been received the names will be run through the legal department followed by an election process. Good luck to everyone picking the successor to Moonshine! [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-August/msg00199.html === The Status of Eclipse 3.3 In Fedora 8 === If you've been wondering the status of Eclipse 3.3 for Fedora 8, AndrewOverholt has updated the fedora-maintainers-list with the current status[1]. The Eclipse 3.3 SDK is mostly done and the message goes into detail with the other areas of this integrated development environment. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-August/msg00241.html [[Anchor(Translation)]] == Translation == This section, we cover the news surrounding the Fedora Translation (L10n) Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N Contributing Writer: JasonMatthewTaylor === String and Trans Freeze Pages === DimitrisGlezos put out a couple pages[1] to help clarify what freezes are and outlined the string freeze policy. As always comments/suggestions are appreciated. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-August/msg00013.html === Module Movement Suggestions === RunaBhattacharjee had a couple of suggestions[1] regarding how to communicate between maintainers and translators when modules get moved around in the repository. The suggestions seem sound and would help keep everyone on the same page. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-August/msg00033.html [[Anchor(Infrastructure)]] == Infrastructure == In this section, we cover the Fedora Infrastructure Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure Contributing Writer: JasonMatthewTaylor === Builder Monitoring === The Infrastructure group has been closely monitoring some of the systems and are looking to fine tune the monitoring parameters. MikeMcGrath posted this message[1] outlining some options and as always looking for any more suggestions. [1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-August/msg0… [[Anchor(SecurityWeek)]] == Security Week == In this section, we highlight the security stories from the week in Fedora. Contributing Writer: JoshBressers === Real world security === It's always easy to talk about how great new security innovations are which are currently included in things like the kernel, glibc, and gcc. The real test of these technologies isn't how many articles are written about how neat they are, it's real world examples. I found two of these examples this week. * SELinux blocks a Mambo exploit[1] [1] http://interactive.linuxjournal.com/article/9176 In this example, we see that SELinux prevented a worm from spreading. This was the result of SELinux sandboxing the httpd process. There are a great many people who suggest the best way to run SELinux is to disable it. I suspect this article proves that SELinux works, and should be used. * Stack Protector blocked an rsync off by one error[2] [2] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2007-4091 CVE-2007-4091 describes an off by one error in which a stack buffer ends up writing a single NULL byte ('\0') past the end of the character array. The location of this buffer could possibly result in an attacker taking over program execution. Stack Protector contains logic which places a "canary" on the stack which is then checked to ensure that nothing fishy is going on. The canary completely nullifies the potential to exploit this flaw. [[Anchor(AdvisoriesUpdates)]] == Advisories and Updates == In this section, we cover Security Advisories and Package Updates from fedora-package-announce. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA Contributing Writer: ThomasChung == Fedora 7 Security Advisories == * qtpfsgui-1.8.12-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0017… * kdegraphics-3.5.7-2.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0020… * koffice-1.6.3-9.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0021… * Terminal-0.2.6-3.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0022… * tor-0.1.2.16-1.fc7 - https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-August/msg0028… == Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories == * None [[Anchor(EventsMeetings)]] == Events and Meetings == In this section, we cover event reports and meeting summaries from various projects. Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === Fedora Board Meeting Minutes 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Ambassadors Meeting 2007-08-16 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-ambassadors-list/2007-August/msg0002… === Fedora Documentation Steering Committee 2007-08-14 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-August/msg00048.html === Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Meeting 2007-08-15 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/epel-devel-list/2007-August/msg00116.html === Fedora Infrastructure Meeting (Log) 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Localization Project Meeting 2007-08-14 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-August/msg00026.html === Fedora Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-MM-DD === * No Report === Fedora Release Engineering Meeting 2007-08-13 === * https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-August/msg01181.html [[Anchor(ExtrasExtras)]] == Extras Extras == In this section, we cover any noticeable extras news from various Linux Projects. Contributing Writer: ThomasChung === Fedora 7 Book for FWN 100th Issue === Unfortunately, there was no winner for Fedora 7 Book since there was no valid entries received last week. FWN will reserve the copy for future special event for Fedora Project. -- Thomas Chung http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ThomasChung

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news August 2007