path: root/english/News/weekly/2001/33/index.wml

#use wml::debian::weeklynews::header PUBDATE="2001-12-12" SUMMARY="No Ports, FOSDEM, Acronyms, Apache, Testing FAQ, KDE, Menus"
# $Id$

<p><strong>No Ports Anymore?</strong> Some people were <a
href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-www-0112/msg00010.html">wondering</a> why
Debian's main Web page doesn't contain a link to <a
href="https://www.debian.org/ports/">Ports</a> anymore.  Josip Rodin <a
href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-www-0112/msg00011.html">explained</a>
that he removed the link, since he felt that it didn't seem to fit in the
section where it was, and he couldn't quite find any other place to squeeze it
in.</p>

<p><strong>Debian at FOSDEM?</strong> The Debian Project has been offered a <a
href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-events-eu-0111/msg00039.html">conference
room</a> for a Debian meeting during the next <a
href="http://www.fosdem.org/">Free &amp; Open Source Software Developers'
European Meeting</a> (FOSDEM).  This event takes place in Brussels on February
16th and 17th.  People who are interested in giving a talk or attending should
contact Joey at events@debian.org.</p>

<p><strong>Halfway non-free?</strong> Thomas Uwe Gruettmueller <a
href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal-0112/msg00074.html">proposed</a>
splitting some packages off of non-free and creating a new
<em>partially-free</em> collection, which could contain manuals that only fail DFSG 2, 3
or 6 -- such as the Emacs Manual.  However, there's still an <a
href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal-0112/msg00001.html">ongoing
discussion</a> about this issue.  This has come up before, and for packages
which are not entirely free there is the <em>non-free</em> repository.</p>

<p><strong>Contacting Bug Submitters.</strong> Since some people were confused
about the Bug Tracking System's (BTS) behaviour we'd like to quote <a
href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0112/msg00305.html">Colin
Watson</a>: If you are attempting to get in touch with a bug submitter, do NOT
send mail only to <i>nnnnn</i>@bugs.debian.org.  If you do that, the message will
only be sent to the maintainer, and the submitter will never see it.  Always
Cc: either <i>nnnnn</i>-submitter@bugs.debian.org or the submitter's e-mail address
directly if she should know about the mail. For those of you unfamiliar with
the BTS, <i>nnnnn</i> is the number of the bug.</p>

<p><strong>Too Many Acronyms?</strong> The Debian mailing lists are rife
with Linux gurus and newbies alike. When a newbie wanders into a discussion
the acronym and jargon ratio is usually more than they can bear. Mark
Bucciarelli <a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-java/2001/debian-java-200112/msg00026.html">\
brought this up</a> on the Debian Java list, but it's a problem on other
lists as well. Even competent computer users get confused because many
acronyms are Debian-specific. (Like
<acronym title="Non-Maintainer Upload">NMU</acronym>,
<acronym title="Intent to Package">ITP</acronym>,
<acronym title="Bug Tracking System">BTS</acronym>, etc...)
Naturally a technical community like the Debian crowd isn't
going to stop using jargon and acronyms -- nor should they, they're more
efficient and that's why they're used in the first place. Perhaps it's
time for a Debian Glossary project, though? I (Zonker) am throwing the idea out there
to see if people are interested. If so, I'll set up an alias for folks willing
to work on such a project. I (Joey) am already maintaining such a <a
href="http://www.infodrom.org/Debian/doc/acronyms.html">list</a>;
contributions are welcome, of course.</p>

<p><strong>Apache Belonging In non-free?</strong> Rob Bos finally brought up
an <a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0112/msg00431.html">issue</a>
about the Apache Web server on <a
href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/">debian-devel</a>.  Its license
says that the names "Apache Server" and "Apache Group" must not be used to
endorse or promote products derived from this software without prior written
permission.  Debian, however, is modifying several files so that the Debian
package could possibly be considered as derivative work.  A similar <a
href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal-0104/msg00049.html">discussion</a>
was covered on <a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/">\
debian-legal</a> about 8 months ago.  The discussion is rather pointless, but
it happened...</p>

<p><strong>Unofficial Debian Testing FAQ.</strong> Several people have
questions with regard to the testing distribution.  In an attempt to compile
and present knowledge about the testing distribution, which is currently
spread among those developers who read Anthony Towns' postings most carefully,
Jules Bean has prepared an <a
href="http://people.debian.org/~jules/testingfaq.html">Unofficial Debian
Testing FAQ</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Debian Menus Policy.</strong> This week, Rob Bradford brought up
the <a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0112/msg00635.html">need</a>
for menu files for all packages that provide X, Gtk, Gnome or KDE
applications.  Erik Steffl <a
href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0112/msg00657.html">asked</a> for
a better menu structure so it doesn't look as chaotic as it does now.
Looks like somebody will need to go through all current menu items and check
for their relevance and location, and go through all other packages and
provide menu items for them.</p>

<p><strong>A Few Unofficial KDE Packages...</strong> Gregory J. Oschwald
<a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-kde/2001/debian-kde-200112/msg00135.html">\
announced</a> that he has made packages of KLatin, KLettres and KMessedWords
from the KDE Edutainment project available. Anyone who wants to run these
apps on Sid can find them at <a href="http://cda.mrs.umn.edu/~osch0001/edu/">\
http://cda.mrs.umn.edu/~osch0001/edu/</a>.</p>

<p><strong>IrDA on Dell Inspiron.</strong> We ran across <a
href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-laptop-0112/msg00178.html">\
this advice</a> on getting IrDA to work on a Dell Inspiron 8100. Anyone
who wants to sync their Palm Pilot directly to a laptop might want to check this
out. Very nifty. </p>

<p><strong>New or Noteworthy Packages.</strong> The following new or
updated packages were added to the Debian archive since our <a
href="$(HOME)/News/weekly/2001/32/">last issue</a>.</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/wavemon">wavemon</a>
    -- Wireless Device Monitoring Application.
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/euro-support">euro-support</a>
    -- Support for the Euro character in your Debian system.
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/fblogo">fblogo</a>
    -- Converts images to framebuffer-logo header file.
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/ogle">ogle</a>
    -- A DVD player with support for DVD menus.
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/pyne">pyne</a>
    -- A Python-GTK powered GUI mail-/newsreader.
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/xslide">xslide</a>
    -- An XSL editing mode for Emacs..
</ul>

<p><strong>Security Updates.</strong> You know the drill, make sure
you update your systems if you have one of these packages installed.</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="$(HOME)/security/2001/dsa-088">fml</a> --
    Improper character escaping.
<li><a href="$(HOME)/security/2001/dsa-089">icecast-server</a> --
    Remote root exploit.
<li><a href="$(HOME)/security/2001/dsa-090">xtel</a> --
    Symlink attack.
<li><a href="$(HOME)/security/2001/dsa-091">ssh</a> --
    Influencing login.
<li><a href="$(HOME)/security/2001/dsa-092">wmtv</a> --
    Local root exploit.
</ul>

<p><strong>Got news?</strong> So please tell us!  We're looking
forward to adding more items by voluntary writers. Send your scribbles
to <a href="mailto:dwn@debian.org">dwn@debian.org</a>.</p>

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