path: root/english/News/weekly/2008/13/index.wml

#use wml::debian::projectnews::header PUBDATE="2008-10-20" SUMMARY="Bits from the Debian CD team, Debian, software patents and archive layout, Statistics about packages.debian.org usage"

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<p>Welcome to this year's 13th issue of DPN, the newsletter for the Debian
community.<br />
Some of the topics covered in this issue include:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Bits from the Debian CD team</li>
  <li>Debian, software patents and archive layout</li>
  <li>Statistics about packages.debian.org usage</li>
</ul>


<p><strong>Bits from the Debian CD team</strong></p>
<p>Steve McIntyre posted some
<a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2008/10/msg00003.html">bits from
the Debian CD team</a>. With the upcoming release of Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 <q>Lenny</q>,
Blu-ray Disc images will be available as well as CD and DVD images.  For the
first time in several years, users should be able to fit all of the packages
for one architecture on a single disc.  But due to the increased size of the
Debian archive and considerations of storage and network bandwidth (especially
on our mirrors) only a limited number of versions of each image will be
available for direct download on our mirrors.</p>

<p>All images will be available via Jigdo (a tool which creates images by
downloading individual .deb files and assembling them into one .iso file), and
most images for the popular architectures will be available as torrents, too.</p>

<p>He also gave some figures about the total numbers of images that need to be
created for Lenny. Summarized over all architectures it comes to 414 CD images,
64 DVD images, and 13 Blu-ray Disc images.</p>


<p><strong>Debian, software patents and archive layout</strong></p>
<p>A recently announced <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/501190">Intent To Package
<q>moonlight</q></a>, an open source implementation of a patented proprietary product,
caused some <a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2008/10/msg00063.html">discussion
regarding software patents</a>. Packaging such software and
distributing it via our mirror network could be a legal risk for Debian and its
mirrors.</p>

<p>Paul Wise argued that problems caused by patented software are already
addressed by unofficial archives like
<a href="http://www.debian-multimedia.org">debian-multimedia.org</a> and
<a href="http://www.debian-unofficial.org">debian-unofficial.org</a>.
Reinhard Tartler <a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2008/10/msg00152.html">pointed out some
flaws with these archives</a> and
<a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2008/10/msg00127.html">proposed</a>
introducing a new section alongside main, contrib and non-free, with policy
adapted accordingly. His proposal, however, was criticised, too, for example the regression
of the section main not being <q>self contained</q> any more.</p>


<p><strong>Statistics about packages.debian.org usage</strong></p>
<p>Since <a href="https://packages.debian.org/">packages.debian.org</a> has been moved to a new
host sponsored by <a href="http://www.1und1.info/">1&amp;1</a>, J&ouml;rg Jaspert took the
opportunity to
<a href="http://blog.ganneff.de/blog/2008/10/19/packagesdebianorg-1.html">publish some data</a> about the usage of this service.  Since the start of this
year, packages.debian.org has already seen 5,777,672 unique visitors
downloading the page 122,314,763 times (both numbers excluding bots, such as
crawlers for search engines). Nearly half of the visitors went directly to
packages.debian.org, while less than a quarter came by way of a search engine.</p>


<p><strong>Unofficial bug tracker and delayed queue</strong></p>
<p>The <a href="http://bts.turmzimmer.net">unofficial tracker</a> for Release Critical bugs
now <a href="http://blogs.turmzimmer.net/2008/10/14#lenny-4">incorporates</a> bugs fixed by
uploads to the so-called delayed queue.  This makes it easier to track bugs
needing to be worked on.  The delayed queue is used for package uploads not
carried out by the regular maintainer of the package (so-called NMUs).</p>

<p>In related news, Alexander Reichle-Schmehl used this tool to publish
some <a href="http://blog.schmehl.info/Debian/releasing-lenny-2">detailed</a>
and <a href="http://blog.schmehl.info/Debian/releasing-lenny-3">categorized</a>
<a href="http://blog.schmehl.info/Debian/releasing-lenny-4">numbers</a> about
the release critical bugs.</p>


<p><strong>Bits from the Eee PC team</strong></p>
<p>Ben Armstrong delivered a
<a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2008/10/msg00002.html">report</a>
on the status of the port of Debian for the Eee PC netbooks. A recent upload of
the Linux kernel fixed some thermal problems and solved issues with ACPI. Also,
the ath5k driver included with the Linux kernel 2.6.27 supports the wireless
adaptors of the 701, 900, 900A and 1000HD models, which previously required a
non-free driver.</p>


<p><strong>Policy for backporting KDE features</strong></p>
<p>Sune Vuorela <a href="http://pusling.com/blog/?p=89">wondered</a> how to
deal with features introduced in recent versions of the desktop environment
KDE.  Other distributions often seem to backport new features to older versions
they ship in their releases.  He lists some pros and cons, and wonders whether
Debian should do likewise.</p>


<p><strong>Listing of debian.net domains</strong></p>
<p>Nico Golde reported that he has removed his list of debian.net subdomains
(which can be registered by any Debian Developer) due to privacy issues.  He <a
href="http://nion.modprobe.de/blog/archives/655-debian.net-domain-page-no-longer-available.html">asks</a>
developers to add their debian.net subdomains to a <a
href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianNetDomains">wiki page</a>.</p>


<p><strong>Report from Skolelinux/Debian-edu gathering</strong></p>
<p>Sune Vuorela <a href="http://pusling.com/blog/?p=88">reported</a> on the
recent gathering of Skolelinux/Debian-Edu developers. He spent some time
working on educational videos and KDE related education packages as well as
GNASH, a free software flash player.</p>


<p><strong>Slogan for <q>Lenny</q></strong></p>
<p>The Debian Art team is seeking a slogan for the next stable release, Debian
GNU/Linux 5.0 <q>Lenny</q>.  The discussion, as well as a poll, can be found in
the archives of the <a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-publicity/2008/10/msg00037.html">debian
publicity mailing list</a>.</p>


<p><strong>Systems Expo 2008</strong></p>
<p>From Tuesday 21 October to Friday 24 October, the Debian Project will
participate at the
<a href="http://www.systems.de/link/en/19137019/">Systems</a> expo 2008 in Munich,
Germany. The Debian booth will be located in Area B2, Booth 315 along with
other FLOSS projects. Please see the
<a href="https://www.debian.org/events/2008/1021-systems">events page</a> for
further details.</p>


<p><strong>Technical Dutch Open Source Event 2008</strong></p>
<p>From Saturday 25 October to Sunday 26 October, the Debian Project will
participate with a booth at the Technical Dutch Open Source Event (T-DOSE) in
Eindhoven, Netherlands. Please see the
<a href="https://www.debian.org/events/2008/1025-t-dose">events page</a> for
further details.</p>


<p><strong>New Developers</strong></p>
<p>Since the previous issue of the Debian Project News, 7 applicants have been
accepted as
<a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-newmaint/2008/10/msg00026.html">Debian
Developers</a>, and 3 as
<a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2008/10/msg00040.html">Debian
Maintainers</a>. Please welcome Adam Barratt, Julian Andres Klode, Jonny Lamb,
Joachim Reichel, Bradley Smith, Behan Webster and Y Giridhar Appaji Nag as well
as Emmanuel Bouthenot, Samuel Thibaul and David Paleino to our project!</p>


<p><strong>Important Debian Security Advisories</strong></p>
<p>Debian's Security Team recently released advisories for these packages (among
others): <a href="https://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1649">iceweasel</a>,
<a href="https://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1650">openldap</a>,
<a href="https://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1651">ruby1.8</a>,
<a href="https://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1652">ruby1.9</a>,
<a href="https://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1653">linux-2.6.18</a> and
<a href="https://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1655">libxml2</a>. Please read them
carefully and take the proper measures.</p>

<p>Please note that these are a selection of the more important security
advisories of the last two weeks. If you need to be kept up to date about
security advisories  released by the Debian Security Team, please subscribe to
the <a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-security-announce/">security
mailing list</a> for announcements.</p>


<p><strong>New and noteworthy packages</strong></p>

<p>The following packages were added to the unstable Debian archive recently
(<a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/newpkg">among
others</a>):</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/antlr3-gcj">\
	antlr3-gcj -- language tool for constructing recognizers, compilers etc (native code)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/hotssh">\
	hotssh -- graphical interface to secure shell</a></li>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/iceweasel-l10n-bn-in">\
	iceweasel-l10n-bn-in -- Bengali language package for Iceweasel</a></li>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/iceweasel-l10n-gl">\
	iceweasel-l10n-gl -- Galician language package for Iceweasel</a></li>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/iceweasel-l10n-hi">\
	iceweasel-l10n-hi -- Hindi language package for Iceweasel</a></li>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/iceweasel-l10n-is">\
	iceweasel-l10n-is -- Icelandic language package for Iceweasel</a></li>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/iceweasel-l10n-kn">\
	iceweasel-l10n-kn -- Kannada language package for Iceweasel</a></li>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/iceweasel-l10n-mr">\
	iceweasel-l10n-mr -- Marathi language package for Iceweasel</a></li>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/iceweasel-l10n-te">\
	iceweasel-l10n-te -- Telugu language package for Iceweasel</a></li>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/iceweasel-l10n-th">\
	iceweasel-l10n-th -- Thai language package for Iceweasel</a></li>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/python-renderpm">\
	python-renderpm -- python low level render interface</a></li>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/xen-linux-system-2.6.26-1-xen-686">\
	xen-linux-system-2.6.26-1-xen-686 -- XEN system with Linux 2.6.26 image on i686</a></li>
<li><a href="https://packages.debian.org/unstable/main/zshdb">\
	zshdb -- debugger for Z-Shell scripts</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Debian Package of the Day featured the packages
<a href="http://debaday.debian.net/2008/10/19/memstat-identify-what-is-using-up-virtual-memory/">memstat</a>
(a tool to identify what is using up virtual memory) and
<a href="http://debaday.debian.net/2008/10/12/smartmontools-control-the-health-of-your-hard-disk/">smartmontools</a>
(a set of tools to monitor the health of your hard disks).</p>


<p><strong>Work-needing packages</strong></p>
<p>Currently 441 packages are orphaned and 124 packages are up for adoption.
Please take a look at the
<a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2008/10/msg00217.html"> recent</a>
<a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2008/10/msg00339.html">reports</a>
to see if there are packages you are interested in or view the complete list of
<a href="https://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/help_requested">packages which need
your help</a>.</p>


<p><strong>Want to continue reading DPN?</strong></p>
<p>Please help us create this newsletter. We still need more volunteer writers to
watch the Debian community  and report about what is going on. Please see the
<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/ProjectNews/HowToContribute">contributing page</a> to find
out how to help. We're looking forward to receiving your mail at
<a href="mailto:debian-publicity@lists.debian.org">debian-publicity@lists.debian.org</a>.</p>

#use wml::debian::projectnews::footer editor="Meike Reichle, Alexander Reichle-Schmehl"