path: root/english/News/weekly/2005/21/index.wml

#use wml::debian::weeklynews::header PUBDATE="2005-05-25" SUMMARY="Mac Mini, Hurd, WNPP, RAR, Waste, Woody, Non-US, Volatile"
# $Id$

<p>Welcome to this year's 21st issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for the
Debian community.  A lot of activity has still been recorded on the <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-release/">debian-release</a> list in
order to fix the remaining <a
href="https://bugs.debian.org/release-critical/">release-critical</a> bugs and
to get the translations into shape.  Matt Whipp <a
href="http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/69766/open-source-not-running-short-of-developers.html">\
quoted</a> several people to counter the claim that Free Software is running
short of developers.</p>

<p><strong>Debian Desktop with 12 Watts.</strong> Silas Bennett wanted to run
a low-power desktop system and ended up using a <a
href="http://www.apple.com/macmini/">Mac mini</a>.  He <a
href="http://www.home.earthlink.net/~silasb/macbat/">described</a> that he had
removed the hard disk and CD-ROM drive to save power and space that he could
reuse with a battery pack, so that the system draws 12 watts from it.  He was
also delighted to see the sarge installer run flawlessly.</p>

<p><strong>Debian GNU/Hurd running GNOME and Qt.</strong> Michael Banck <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-hurd/2005/05/msg00109.html">managed</a> 
to get GNOME compile and run on GNU/Hurd, albeit with some caveats and loose
ends, and also took a <a
href="http://people.debian.org/~mbanck/media/hurd-gnome.png">screenshot</a>.
Several packages had to be modified in order to make them build, so
that GNOME won't be uploaded for hurd-i386 soon, but the general issues
seem to have been solved.  In related news, Qt is <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-hurd/2005/04/msg00082.html">running</a>
fine on the Hurd as well, and volunteers are sought after for
porting KDE.</p>

<p><strong>Changes to the weekly WNPP Posting.</strong> Martin Michlmayr <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/05/msg00012.html">\
announced</a> that the weekly mail about work-needing and prospective <a
href="$(HOME)/devel/wnpp/">packages</a> won't be sent to the announce list
anymore but to the dedicated <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-wnpp/">\
debian-wnpp</a> list instead.  In addition to that, future mails will only
include new entries in order to have the mails be helpful again.</p>

<p><strong>Confusing Package Versions.</strong> Nico Golde <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/05/msg01023.html">noticed</a>
that the most recent version of <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unrar">\
unrar</a> has a lower version number than the packages before.  Roberto
Sanchez <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/05/msg01024.html">\
explained</a> that the old package was non-free and has been replaced by a
free version with a lower version number.   Unfortunately it can't <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/05/msg01029.html">cope</a>
with current RAR 3.x archives.  The free version has since then been renamed
into <a href="http://packages.debian.org/unrar-free">unrar-free</a> to avoid
confusion.</p>

<p><strong>Packaging Waste.</strong> Romain Beauxis wanted to <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/05/msg00444.html">package</a>
<a href="http://waste.sourceforge.net/">waste</a> a collaboration tool for
small teams.  Mirco Bauer <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/05/msg00353.html">noted</a>
that the authors considered this <a
href="http://www.nullsoft.com/free/waste/">unauthorised software</a>.  It
seems that Nullsoft's parent company AOL didn't agree to the release, hence
the strong message.</p>

<p><strong>Last Update to Woody.</strong> Joey Schulze <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/05/msg00013.html">\
sent</a> in the <a href="http://people.debian.org/~joey/3.0r6/">\
preparation</a> for the last update to Debian 3.0.  As usual, this mostly adds
recent security updates to the woody release.  He also <a
href="http://www.infodrom.org/~joey/log/?200505130653">explained</a> that
there can't be another update after the release of sarge due to deficiencies
in the archive <a href="http://cvs.debian.org/dak/?cvsroot=dak">suite</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Non-US being phased out.</strong> Frans Pop <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-release/2005/05/msg01163.html">proposed</a>
a paragraph about the end of the non-US archive to be added to the <a
href="$(HOME)/releases/sarge/releasenotes">release notes</a> since it is
dysfunctional and not needed anymore.  From the 29 <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-release/2005/05/msg01354.html">packages</a>
still included, only five haven't been able to be <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-release/2005/05/msg01355.html">moved</a>
into the main archive.</p>

<p><strong>Debian-Volatile Strategy.</strong> The volatile team <a
href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/05/msg00016.html">\
pondered</a> to create a second <a href="http://volatile.debian.net/">\
volatile</a> archive with less strict criteria.  This would help packages such
as <a href="http://packages.debian.org/gaim">Gaim</a> that need to be updated
during the lifetime of sarge in order to support modified protocols.  They are
also looking for ways to announce updated packages.</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>DSA 724: <a href="$(HOME)/security/2005/dsa-724">phpsysinfo</a> --
    Cross site scripting.
<li>DSA 725: <a href="$(HOME)/security/2005/dsa-725">ppxp</a> --
    Local root exploit.
<li>DSA 726: <a href="$(HOME)/security/2005/dsa-726">oops</a> --
    Format string vulnerability.
<li>DSA 727: <a href="$(HOME)/security/2005/dsa-727">libconvert-uulib-perl</a> --
    Arbitrary code execution.
</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/web/bbclone">bbclone</a>
    -- PHP based Web Counter on Steroids.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/chora2">chora2</a>
    -- Code repository viewing component for horde framework.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/cyrus2courier">cyrus2courier</a>
    -- Converts Cyrus mailbox format to Maildir.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/desktop-profiles">desktop-profiles</a>
    -- Framework for setting up desktop profiles.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/drift">drift</a>
    -- Type sensitive preprocessor for Haskell.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/grabc">grabc</a>
    -- Identifies an onscreen colour using a crosshair cursor.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/installation-report">installation-report</a>
    -- System installation report.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/kde/kiosktool">kiosktool</a>
    -- Configure the KDE kiosk framework.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/p7zip">p7zip</a>
    -- File archiver with high compression ratio.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/releaseforge">releaseforge</a>
    -- Alternative to SourceForge's File Release System (FRS).
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/schism">schism</a>
    -- ImpulseTracker clone aiming at providing the same look&amp;feel.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/unrar-free">unrar-free</a>
    -- Unarchiver for .rar files.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/webcpp">webcpp</a>
    -- Configurable utility to convert source code to HTML.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/yaws">yaws</a>
    -- High performance HTTP 1.1 webserver written in Erlang.
<li><a href="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/z80asm">z80asm</a>
    -- Assembler for the Zilog Z80 microprocessor.
</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="Michael Banck, Martin 'Joey' Schulze"