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#use wml::debian::weeklynews::header PUBDATE="2003-12-30" SUMMARY="Timeline, Testing, non-free, Installer, APT, Perl"
# $Id$
<p>Welcome to this year's 52nd issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for the
Debian community. LinuxCertified <a
href="http://linuxcertified.com/debian-linux-laptop.html">announced</a> the
Debian-certified <a
href="http://linuxcertified.com/linux-laptop-lc2430.html">LC2430</a> laptop, which is
sold with Debian GNU/Linux pre-configured. Merry Christmas: Nathanael
Nerode <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0312/msg01952.html">\
noticed</a> that the list of <a
href="https://bugs.debian.org/release-critical/">release critical bugs</a> is
below 600.</p>
<p><strong>Debian Timeline 2003.</strong> We have prepared a <a
href="$(HOME)/News/weekly/2003/timeline">timeline</a> for the ending year as
retrospective of a quite exciting and active year. It lists (hopefully) all
major events of the year 2003 as they were mentioned in the past 51 issues of
DWN. They are composed by a total of 36 volunteer writers and translated into
a dozen languages by many developers. A big and warm thanks for your great
work.</p>
<p><strong>Testing Advances.</strong> Anthony Towns <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-release-0312/msg00044.html">reported</a>
that several packages with release-critical bugs have been removed from
testing. Perl and zlib were also pushed to move into testing soon. He also
noted that anyone can upgrade and downgrade bug reports if it is appropriate.
There's no need to ask the maintainer or the release manager unless you're
concerned with the "in the package maintainer's opinion, makes the package
unsuitable for release" clause.</p>
<p><strong>Removal of non-free Components.</strong> Andrew Suffield <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote-0312/msg00011.html">proposed</a> a
general resolution to exclude non-free software from the next and all future
release processes. He also proposed disabling the possibility of uploading
packages into <code>non-free</code> and that the Debian project cease active
support of the <code>non-free</code> section. Anthony Towns <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote-0312/msg00013.html">stated</a> that
this proposal violates the <a href="$(HOME)/social_contract">social
contract</a> and therefore cannot be passed.</p>
<p><strong>2003 GNU/Linux Timeline.</strong> Our colleagues from <a
href="http://lwn.net/">Linux Weekly News</a> prepared the 6th annual <a
href="http://lwn.net/Articles/Timeline2003/">GNU/Linux Timeline</a>. A year
is a long time in the Free Software world, and in 2003 there were lawsuits
filed, major releases made, and, as always, the code got better. A few of
the Debian related events that are mentioned include the <a
href="http://lwn.net/Articles/60780/">mICQ drama</a>, the <a
href="http://lwn.net/Articles/60781/">project leader election</a>, and of
course, <a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/60786/">Debian's tenth birthday</a>.
The timeline is split
up by months, as usual.</p>
<p><strong>Comprehensive Debian Installer Reports.</strong> Rick Moen created a
<a href="http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Debian/installers.html">page</a> in which he
describes all known ways to install Debian. He debunks some common
misconceptions about Debian installers, such as no user-friendly installers,
no easy XFree86 4.3.0 support, no ReiserFS support, no software-RAID support
and so on. Rick lists and describes new-user friendly installers,
run-from-CD variants, unofficial installer images, the official installer,
specialised variants, chroot installation, PXE installation, installation
from a USB memory stick, and 'make your own' installers.</p>
<p><strong>Debian Installer Ports Status.</strong> Joey Hess reported on the
<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot-0312/msg01577.html">status</a> of
the debian-installer ports. The i386 port is on
track for beta 2 and seems to be working well. The PowerPC port is very
shaky and needs a Debian admin or a kindly offer from someone with a PowerPC
box. IA64 probably works, but there are no install reports to back this up.
The mips port may be in beta 2. It almost works, but there may be some final
issues to attend to. Status of the arm port is uncertain. There seems to be
progress, but apparently no install reports. Finally, status of mipsel is
also unclear, but it may be a little behind.</p>
<p><strong>APT 0.6.x in Experimental.</strong> Matt Zimmerman <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0312/msg01986.html">announced</a>
that he has uploaded <code>apt</code> 0.6 into experimental. This branch of
<code>apt</code> represents a first pass at merging <code>apt-secure</code>
into <code>apt</code> proper. Other new features are planned, but this is the
first. No extra effort should be required unless one uses non-Debian package
sources, in which case an extra confirmation step will be required by
<code>apt-get</code>.</p>
<p><strong>Automatic Generation of Perl Packages for Debian.</strong> Andreas
Klein <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-perl-0311/msg00023.html">\
announced</a> a program he wrote that <a
href="http://www.mathematik.uni-kassel.de/~klein/debian/">turns</a> Perl
modules into Debian packages automatically. This <a
href="http://www.mathematik.uni-kassel.de/~klein/debian/perl2deb">tool</a> is
quite useful for users when the respective Perl modules haven't been packaged
officially. This is somewhat similar to <code>dh-make-perl</code>.</p>
<p><strong>Security Updates.</strong> You know the drill. Please make sure
that you update your systems if you have this package installed.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="$(HOME)/security/2003/dsa-405">xsok</a> --
Local group games exploit.
</ul>
<p><strong>Want to continue reading DWN?</strong> Please help us create this
newsletter. We still need more volunteer writers who watch the Debian
community and report about what is going on. Please see the <a
href="$(HOME)/News/weekly/contributing">contributing page</a> to find out how
to help. 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 editor="Matt Black, Martin 'Joey' Schulze"
|
