path: root/english/News/weekly/2004/38/index.wml

#use wml::debian::weeklynews::header PUBDATE="2004-09-28" SUMMARY="Release, Robot, Removal, Organigram, BTS, Sarge, XDM, FDL, Installer"
# $id: index.wml,v 1.2 2004/07/06 20:09:11 joey Exp $

<p>Welcome to this year's 38th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for the
Debian community.  Brad Fitzpatrick of LiveJournal/Danga interactive gave a
talk at this year's <a href="http://conferences.oreillynet.com/os2004/">\
OSCON</a> on the use of Free Software in a large scale web application which
is based on the Debian operating system.  Slashdot <a
href="http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/04/09/15/003202.shtml">reported</a>
about the <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/debianhardened">hardening
effort</a> for Debian that was recently <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/09/msg00126.html">started</a>
by Lorenzo Hernandez Garcia-Hierro.</p>

<p><strong>Sarge Release Update.</strong> Steve Langasek sent in an <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2004/09/msg00005.html">\
update</a> on the release of sarge and explained which packages are blocking
the transition of others into testing.  The major blocker seems to be the lack
of the testing-security buildd infrastructure.  A new release candidate of the
<a href="$(HOME)/devel/debian-installer/">installer</a> is expected soon and
the number of release critical bugs is dropping but not as fast as
prospected.</p>

<p><strong>Surveillance Robot powered by Debian.</strong> An <a
href="http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS7830788916.html">article</a> talks
about a surveillance robot that was recently switched to using Debian as
operating system.  Engineer Dave Northrup said, that Debian stood out because
of its quest to provide very stable and proven sets of packages.  Their
commercial systems are very trimmed-down versions of Debian GNU/Linux, and
their research systems will be transitioned over to full-releases of Debian by
the end of the year.</p>

<p><strong>Support for removed Packages?</strong> Andreas Krüger <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-release/2004/09/msg00348.html">wondered</a>
how packages will be supported that were part of sarge at one time but were
removed later in the testing life cycle.  He mentioned a wishlist <a
href="https://bugs.debian.org/115787">bug report</a> to implement downgrade
functionality.  Frank Lichtenheld <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-release/2004/09/msg00350.html">added</a>
that <a href="http://packages.debian.org/aptitude">aptitude</a> has a special
category for obsolete packages so that they could be removed easily.</p>

<p><strong>Graph of the Debian Organisation.</strong>  Martin F. Krafft
prepared an <a href="http://people.debian.org/~madduck/organigram/">\
organigram</a> of the Debian organisation mainly for his forthcoming <a
href="http://www.opensourcepress.de/index.php?26&amp;backPID=15&amp;tt_products=16">book</a>.  He has
<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-www/2004/09/msg00200.html">released</a>
it under the <a
href="http://opensource.org/licenses/artistic-license.php">Artistic
License</a> and concedes that there is no way to
properly encapsulate the Debian organisation into a graph, but it was felt
that this representation is good.  He welcomes constructive criticism and
suggestions.</p>

<p><strong>Bugs via LDAP updated.</strong> Andreas Barth <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2004/09/msg00010.html">\
announced</a> that the LDAP frontend to the <a
href="https://bugs.debian.org/">bug tracking system</a> provides access to
closed bugs as well.  The system has also been moved to a standard woody
OpenLDAP installation using the standard LDAP port.  The new slapd uses a
different base dn: <code>dc=bugs,dc=debian,dc=org</code> and the old instances
on master and spohr are deprecated.</p>

<p><strong>Bugfix Migration into Sarge.</strong> Jeroen van Wolffelaar <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2004/09/msg00007.html">\
reminded</a> developers that the release team needs help with ensuring that
important bugfixes migrate into sarge.  He added a list of packages for which
he doesn't have up-to-date information.  If you maintain one or more packages
that have a newer version in sid than in sarge, please visit the <a
href="http://www.wolffelaar.nl/~sarge/">updates administration database</a>
and update the information.</p>

<p><strong>Documentation of Sub-Sections.</strong> Gustavo Franco <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/09/msg01205.html">wondered</a>
if new and more precise documentation for subsections would be required.  He
stomped over a package that would apparently fit into several sections.
Enrico Zini <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/09/msg01326.html">added</a>
that there should be more support for <a
href="http://debtags.alioth.debian.org/">package tags</a>.</p>

<p><strong>X Display Manager Comparison.</strong> Osamu Aoki <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/09/msg01333.html">compared</a>
the four X display managers Debian ships: <a
href="http://packages.debian.org/xdm">XDM</a>, <a
href="http://packages.debian.org/gdm">GDM</a>, <a
href="http://packages.debian.org/kdm">KDM</a> and <a
href="http://packages.debian.org/wdm">WDM</a>.  GDM seems to be best suited.
He also noticed that there is no standard way to set up a start up script when
choosing the window manager via menu.  This is major problem for CJK
(Chinese/Japanese/Korean) user who needs to set up keyboard input which is
sometimes a daemon program.</p>

<p><strong>Modifications to the GNU Free Documentation License?</strong> Roger
Leigh <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/09/msg00362.html">\
wondered</a> if it would be possible to add a clarification document to the
license in order to counter the main problems which would affect a manual
licensed under the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html">GNU FDL</a>.
The work itself is written in Docbook/SGML, and contains no invariant
sections.  The answers suggest that this would work but that the document
would still not be <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/09/msg00375.html">compatible</a>
with the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU GPL</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Debian-Installer Schedule.</strong> Joey Hess sent in <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2004/09/msg01451.html">plans</a> for
the <a href="$(HOME)/devel/debian-installer/">debian-installer</a> meeting in
<a href="http://meeting.ffis.de/Oldenburg2004/">Oldenburg</a> that talked
about immediate release plans and post-sarge work.  A timeline is included in
the <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2004/09/msg01482.html">\
minutes</a>.  This includes a test candidate to be released on September 30th,
including a string release.</p>

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

<ul>
<li><a href="$(HOME)/security/2004/dsa-551">lukemftpd</a> --
    Arbitrary code execution.
<li><a href="$(HOME)/security/2004/dsa-552">imlib2</a> --
    Arbitrary code execution.
<li><a href="$(HOME)/security/2004/dsa-553">getmail</a> --
    Root compromise.
<li><a href="$(HOME)/security/2004/dsa-554">sendmail</a> --
    Potential open relay.
</ul>

<p><strong>New or Noteworthy Packages.</strong> The following packages were
added to the unstable Debian archive <a
href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main">recently</a> or contain
important updates.</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/python/eric">eric</a>
    -- Full featured Python IDE.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/esvn">esvn</a>
    -- Qt frontend for the Subversion revision system.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/gpsbabel">gpsbabel</a>
    -- GPS file conversion plus transfer to/from GPS units.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/electronics/ivi">ivi</a>
    -- Graphical front-end for various HDL simulators.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/podbrowser">podbrowser</a>
    -- Documentation browser for Perl.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/pperl">pperl</a>
    -- Make Perl scripts persistent in memory.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/prboom">prboom</a>
    -- Clone of the legendary first person shooter Doom.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/qtorrent">qtorrent</a>
    -- BitTorrent client for Qt 3.x.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/rox-filer">rox-filer</a>
    -- Simple graphical file manager for X11.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/smbldap-tools">smbldap-tools</a>
    -- Scripts to manage Unix and Samba accounts stored on LDAP.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/wash2hs">wash2hs</a>
    -- WASH preprocessor for including literal XHTML fragments.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/xblast-tnt">xblast-tnt</a>
    -- Multiplayer blast-the-others game inspired by Dynablaster.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/xmame-tools">xmame-tools</a>
    -- Tools for xmame and xmess.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/zsafe">zsafe</a>
    -- Password manager with encryption.
</ul>

<p><strong>Orphaned Packages.</strong> 9 packages were orphaned this week and
require a new maintainer.  This makes a total of 169 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/editors/beaver">beaver</a>
     -- Lightweight text editor.
     (<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/273316">Bug#273316</a>)
     </li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/bfbtester">bfbtester</a>
     -- Brute Force Binary Tester.
     (<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/273701">Bug#273701</a>)
     </li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/doc/doc-linux-sv-text">doc-linux-sv</a>
     -- Linux HOWTOs in Swedish - Text version.
     (<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/273702">Bug#273702</a>)
     </li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/gnome/gfslicer">gfslicer</a>
     -- Utility to split and join files.
     (<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/273703">Bug#273703</a>)
     </li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/ksmp3play">ksmp3play</a>
     -- Curses-based MP3 player.
     (<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/273704">Bug#273704</a>)
     </li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/ledcontrol">ledcontrol</a>
     -- Scriptable keyboard LED control.
     (<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/273705">Bug#273705</a>)
     </li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libfilesys-diskfree-perl">libfilesys-diskfree-perl</a>
     -- Perl interface to df.
     (<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/273907">Bug#273907</a>)
     </li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/math/nco">nco</a>
     -- NetCDF Operators.
     (<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/273322">Bug#273322</a>)
     </li>
<li> <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/snake4">snake4</a>
     -- Snake game.
     (<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/273706">Bug#273706</a>)
     </li>
</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="Adrian von Bidder, Matt Black, Martin 'Joey' Schulze"