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#use wml::debian::weeklynews::header PUBDATE="2002-04-10" SUMMARY="Boot-Floppies, XFree86, Debian Conference, Woody Release, FAI"
# $Id$
<p>Welcome to this year's fifteenth issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for
the Debian community. This was an impressive week, not only a preliminary
schedule for this year's Debian Conference was released and developers are
making plans for attending, but also Anthony Towns released a promising woody
status report. The current Project Leader Election is in <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote-0204/msg00081.html">full swing</a>
until
next Tuesday. The next issue of DWN will probably be able to name the next
Project Leader.</p>
<p><strong>Local init.d Files.</strong> Karsten Self <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0203/msg02335.html">proposed</a>
that the use of system local init.d scripts be added to the Debian policy
document. Scripts that are named <code>local-foo</code> should be considered
local and sacrosanct by the system, where <code>-foo</code> could have any
arbitrary value, including null (for the single instance of a local script).
The <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0203/msg02336.html">short
version</a> for this request would be that no Debian package should ever use an initscript ID
prefixed by <code>local</code>.</p>
<p><strong>Final Boot-Floppies 3.0.22 for Woody.</strong> David Kimdon <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot-0204/msg00004.html">announced</a>
that he finalized new boot-floppies and uploaded packages for the i386
architecture. Adam Di Carlo later <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot-0204/msg00120.html">alarmed</a>
porters to hurry up or some architectures will have to stay with an older
version. Despite showstopper bugs, this will be the version of boot-floppies
Woody will be released with. All architectures that will be released
with Woody are finally in sync with this version.</p>
<p><strong>Cyrus IMAPd 2.1.3 in Unstable.</strong> Henrique de Moraes Holschuh
<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-user-0204/msg00746.html">informed</a>
us about new Cyrus packages that have been uploaded into the unstable
distribution. Henrique feels that they are not mature enough for the next
stable release of Debian. Hence, he is trying to keep them out of the testing
distribution in order to keep them out of the next stable distribution.</p>
<p><strong>Annoying BTS Ack Mails.</strong> Daniel Jacobowitz recently <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0204/msg00158.html">complained</a>
about storms of "Information received" acknowledgement mails sent by
Bug Tracking System (BTS). For instance, this could cause <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0204/msg00172.html">annoying
circumstances</a> for users and third-party bug tracking systems. This was
prompted by the GCC GNATS system, which has dozens of reports created by these
ACKs. The BTS maintainers are currently working on a solution.</p>
<p><strong>Problems with ioctls Affecting XFree86.</strong> Jack Howarth <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0204/msg00193.html">pointed out</a>
that the current version of XFree86 doesn't build on all architectures. This
is due to a <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/141116">problem</a> or
misunderstanding between kernel headers, glibc headers and XFree86 source, as
Branden Robinson <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0204/msg00198.html">explained</a>
it, and it seems non-trivial to <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0204/msg00202.html">work around</a>
it.</p>
<p><strong>Schedule for Debian Conference 2.</strong> Joe Drew <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce-0204/msg00001.html">\
released</a> a <a
href="$(HOME)/events/2002/0705-debconf-schedule">preliminary
schedule</a> for the upcoming <a
href="$(HOME)/events/2002/0705-debconf">Debian Conference 2</a>,
which will be held from July 5th - 7th at York University in Toronto, Canada.
A <a href="http://lindows.com/debconf2">registration page</a> is up as well,
ironically, it is powered by a non-free <code>Microsoft-IIS/4.0</code> like Joey <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0204/msg00359.html">pointed
out</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Woody Release on May 1st.</strong> Anthony Towns is becoming <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce-0204/msg00004.html">\
increasingly confident</a> in woody's release readiness and has therefore
scheduled it for
May 1st. However, as always, it'll be released when it is ready: if we find out
that the software is not ready by April 30th, it won't be released. Together
with this announcement, he mentioned another set of 53 packages, which have
been removed from the testing distribution due to bugs and other issues.
<p><strong>Woody Release Notes.</strong> With the release of Woody closer than
ever, there is an urgent need for updated <a
href="$(HOME)/releases/woody/">release notes</a>. Rob Bradford
still has to address several issues in the current version and is <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce-0204/msg00005.html">seeking</a>
your assistance. Please get in touch with him at <a
href="mailto:rob@debianplanet.org">rob@debianplanet.org</a> if you can help
with the release notes.</p>
<p><strong>GNU FDL a non-free License?</strong> Several <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0204/msg00430.html">people</a> are
<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0204/msg00377.html">\
discussing</a> whether the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html">GNU
Free Documentation License</a> (GFDL) is a free license or not. If the GFDL
is indeed considered a non-free license, this would <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0204/msg00422.html">render</a>
almost all KDE and many other well known packages non-free since they use the GNU FDL for the
documentation. Additionally, here's an old <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal-0111/msg00006.html">thread</a> from
debian-legal, which may shed some light on the issue.</p>
<p><strong>New Developers Reference Uploaded.</strong> Adam Di Carlo uploaded
an updated <a href="http://packages.debian.org/developers-reference">\
developers-reference</a> 2.11. It contains important updates for
crypto-in-main and closes a number of bugs. He also <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-project-0203/msg00076.html">stated
publicly</a> that anyone who wishes to join in on the maintenance of the
developers-reference can and should put themselves forward. Simply get in
touch with him.</p>
<p><strong>Debian rules!</strong> The Sucks-Rules-O-Meter technique tries to
make tongue-in-cheek testimonies about the popularity of software. The
frequency of combined terms in the WWW like "foo sucks" and "foo rules" is
analyzed and plotted from the results of a search engine. Statistics of <a
href="http://srom.zgp.org/">operating systems</a> show as expected a strongly
positive deflection for free systems like GNU/Linux and FreeBSD. The
investigation about the popularity of <a
href="http://zork.net/~nick/srom/">GNU/Linux distributions</a> even points out
the highest sympathy value for Debian with a large distance to others.</p>
<p><strong>Removing Orphaned Packages.</strong> Martin Michlmayr <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-qa-0204/msg00019.html">noticed</a> that
there are a couple of orphaned packages in testing that were never part of a
stable release. Since these packages are currently not maintained, the
question arises whether Woody should be released without them. Some of
them are required since other packages depend on them. However, quite a few
could easily be removed from testing. His mail, of course, included such a
list.</p>
<p><strong>Python Module for Debconf.</strong> Josselin Mouette was tired of
shell programming and <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0204/msg00442.html">created</a> a
Python module for debconf. Interested people can get it from <a
href="http://www.ens-lyon.fr/~jmouette/debian/">here</a>. However, as long as
Python is not essential, people will have to install Python first, in order
to be able to install other packages. The module may be included in the
regular debconf package after Woody has been released.</p>
<p><strong>Updated FAI Package Available.</strong> Thomas Lange just recently
<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-beowulf-0204/msg00012.html">\
released</a> a new version of FAI (which stands for Fully Automatic
Installation). FAI 2.3 is tested with Debian 3.0 alias Woody. Many
improvements are included in this version, however, the documentation is not
yet up to date. If you are using this package and have some spare cycles to
donate, Thomas would probably be happy about assistance.</p>
<p><strong>New or Noteworthy Packages.</strong> The following packages were
recently added to the Debian archive.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/6tunnel">6tunnel</a>
-- TCP proxy for non-IPv6 applications.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/airsnort">airsnort</a>
-- WLAN sniffer.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/bochs-x">bochs-x</a>
-- Bochs binary with X interface.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/ccache">ccache</a>
-- Compiler results cacher, for fast recompiles.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/dietlibc">dietlibc</a>
-- Lightweight C library for embedded applications.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/dvdplusrw">dvdplusrw</a>
-- DVD+RW tools.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/fai">fai</a>
-- Fully Automatic Installation.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/ickle">ickle</a>
-- An ICQ2000 client for GTK+.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/mlglade">mlglade</a>
-- a glade to OCaml compiler.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/pixelize">pixelize</a>
-- Create an image consisting of many small images.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/scons">scons</a>
-- A replacement for Make.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/teapop">teapop</a>
-- Powerful and flexible RFC-compliant POP3 server.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/tuxpuck">tuxpuck</a>
-- "Shufflepuck Cafe" Clone.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/xmms-infopipe">xmms-infopipe</a>
-- General plugin for XMMS, reports real-time information to a pipe.
</ul>
<p><strong>Orphaned Packages.</strong> 6 packages were orphaned this week and
require a new maintainer. This makes a total of 120 orphaned packages. Many
thanks to the previous maintainers who contributed to the Free Software
community. Please see the <a href="$(HOME)/devel/wnpp/">WNPP pages</a> for
the full list, and please add a note to the bug report and retitle it to ITA:
if you plan to take over a package.</p>
<ul>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/elm-me+">elm-me+</a>
-- elm mail reader.
(<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/141971">Bug#141971</a>)</li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/gnome-chess">gnome-chess</a>
-- GNOME Chess.
(<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/141103">Bug#141103</a>)</li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/ibm-jdk1.1-installer">ibm-jdk1.1-installer</a>
-- An Installer for the IBM Java Developer Kit.
(<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/141521">Bug#141521</a>)</li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/interpreters/nase-a60">nase-a60</a>
-- An Algol-60 interpreter.
(<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/141181">Bug#141181</a>)</li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/quickppp">quickppp</a>
-- PPP Config tool.
(<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/141226">Bug#141226</a>)</li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/xchain">xchain</a>
-- A strategy game for 2-4 players.
(<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/141807">Bug#141807</a>)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Got News?</strong> Please inform us about everything that is
happening in the Debian community. We are always looking for any interesting
stories to add, especially new items by volunteer writers, and topics we tend
to miss. We're looking forward to receiving your mail at <a
href="mailto:dwn@debian.org">dwn@debian.org</a>.</p>
#use wml::debian::weeklynews::footer
|
