Debian Weekly News - November 9th, 2004

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Debian Weekly News
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2004/44/
Debian Weekly News - November 9th, 2004
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Welcome to this year's 44th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for
the Debian community. Anibal Monsalve Salazar [1]summarised the latest
DebConf5 preparation meeting. Joey Hess [2]reported that he has been
able to test the new [3]debian-installer remote via network on
different architectures which helps ensure that it will run properly.

 1. http://wiki.debian.net/index.cgi?DebConf5Meeting20041101
 2. http://kitenet.net/~joey/blog/entry/_and_all_through_the_house-2004-10-28-03-15.html
 3. http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

Distributable Firmware sought. Theo de Raadt of [4]OpenBSD fame was
[5]interviewed in response to OpenBSD's [6]effort to contact Texas
Instruments to distribute firmware for their wireless cards under an
acceptable license. OpenBSD has similar [7]problems to Debian with
binary-only firmware blobs that they cannot legally distribute with
their operating system.

 4. http://www.openbsd.org/
 5. http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/4118
 6. http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/4061
 7. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0404/msg00309.html

Alioth Project Naming Convention. Marcelo E. Magallon [8]noticed that
there is a policy for naming projects on [9]Alioth. For package
repositories that are used to co-maintain a package with other
developers, a "pkg-" prefix in the project name is required. Roland
Mas added that this is required to be able to differentiate projects
dedicated to Debian packaging from projects where Alioth is the main
repository of "upstream" code.

 8. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/11/msg00113.html
 9. http://alioth.debian.org/

Free Documentation Licenses. Jonathan Corbet [10]reviewed various
options for a free documentation license, including the GNU [11]Free
Documentation License (FDL), the [12]Open Publication License, and two
[13]Creative [14]Commons licenses. He concluded that putting a
BSD-like license on a document makes some sense and that the
restrictions imposed by the FDL are quite strong, too strong for a
book he co-authored.

 10. http://lwn.net/Articles/108250/
 11. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
 12. http://opencontent.org/openpub/
 13. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
 14. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Installing Debian on a Desktop. Tarun Agnani [15]installed Debian
GNU/Linux on a desktop computer and reported that no other
distribution comes close to Debian, which is the old grandfather of
Linux. He [16]finishes with configuring APT and installing those
applications that are common for a Desktop system.

 15. http://www.linuxtimes.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=211
 16. http://www.linuxtimes.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=211&page=2

German Conference News. Alexander "CEO" Schmehl [17]reported that the
Debian booth during this year's [18]Linuxworld Expo was the most
crowded one and that the booth will probably be larger next year. He
will help build the entire .Org pavilion next year. For next year's
CeBIT exhibition (Mar 9-15) the Debian project has been offered a
booth of their own as well.

 17. http://lists.debian.org/debian-events-eu/2004/11/msg00000.html
 18. http://www.debian.org/events/2004/1026-lwe

Installing Debian on RAID 1. Jorrit Waalboer has written
[19]instructions for installing Debian GNU/Linux on a RAID 1 pair. He
recommended using [20]Knoppix as the installer. From this the RAID is
set up and debootstrap is used to install Debian. Norbert Tretkowski
also provides [21]instructions on installing Debian via Knoppix.

 19. http://juerd.nl/site.plp/debianraid
 20. http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/
 21. http://www.inittab.de/manuals/debootstrap.html

Improving the Development Processes. Thomas Schorpp [22]proposed
applying several quality management techniques known in conventional
software development to Debian. Jeroen van Wolffelaar [23]noticed a
high level of buzzwords, though, and it is [24]questionable if these
techniques and metrics apply to Free Software at all.

 22. http://lists.debian.org/debian-qa/2004/11/msg00000.html
 23. http://lists.debian.org/debian-qa/2004/11/msg00023.html
 24. http://lists.debian.org/debian-qa/2004/11/msg00022.html

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

 * DSA 583: [25]lvm10 -- Insecure temporary directory.
 * DSA 584: [26]dhcp -- Format string vulnerability.
 * DSA 585: [27]shadow -- Unintended behaviour.
 * DSA 586: [28]ruby -- Denial of service.
 * DSA 587: [29]freeamp -- Arbitrary code execution.
 * DSA 588: [30]gzip -- Insecure temporary files.
 * DSA 589: [31]libgd1 -- Arbitrary code execution.
 * DSA 590: [32]gnats -- Arbitrary code execution.
 * DSA 591: [33]libgd2 -- Arbitrary code execution.

 25. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-583
 26. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-584
 27. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-585
 28. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-586
 29. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-587
 30. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-588
 31. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-589
 32. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-590
 33. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-591

New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the
unstable Debian archive [34]recently or contain important updates.

 34. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main

 * [35]backupninja -- Backup Utility written in PHP.
 * [36]basket -- User-friendly way to run programs and manage links
   in KDE.
 * [37]getmail4 -- Mail retriever with support for POP3, IMAP4 and
   SDPS.
 * [38]gkrellshoot -- Plugin for gkrellm to lock the screen and make
   screenshots.
 * [39]gmpc -- GNOME Music Player Client (graphical interface to
   MPD).
 * [40]hping3 -- Active Network Smashing Tool.
 * [41]lakai -- Transfers samples between a PC and an AKAI sampler.
 * [42]lkcdutils -- Utilities to capture and analyse kernel crash
   dumps.
 * [43]mp3splt -- Splits MP3 and Ogg Vorbis files without reencoding.
 * [44]mp3wrap -- Utility for MP3 wrapping (rolling multiple MP3s
   into one).
 * [45]msmtp -- Light SMTP client with support for server profiles.
 * [46]mxv -- Wave file editor with signal processing operators and
   analysis.
 * [47]sepol-utils -- Security Enhanced Linux policy utility
   programs.
 * [48]spambayes -- Python-based spam filter using statistical
   analysis.
 * [49]spew -- I/O performance measurement and load generation tool.
 * [50]vnstat -- Console-based network traffic monitor.
 * [51]wput -- Tiny wget-like ftp-client for uploading files.
 * [52]xwnc -- Mix of Xvnc and XDarwin with improved protocol.

 35. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/backupninja
 36. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/kde/basket
 37. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/getmail4
 38. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/gkrellshoot
 39. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/gmpc
 40. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/hping3
 41. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/lakai
 42. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/lkcdutils
 43. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/mp3splt
 44. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/mp3wrap
 45. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/msmtp
 46. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/mxv
 47. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/sepol-utils
 48. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/spambayes
 49. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/spew
 50. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/vnstat
 51. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/wput
 52. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/xwnc

Debian Packages introduced last Week. Every day, a different Debian
package is [53]featured from the testing distribution. If you know
about an obscure package you think others should also know about, send
it to [54]Andrew Sweger. Debian package a day introduced the following
packages last week.

 53. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/
 54. http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=debaday

 * [55]kuvert -- Wrapper for encrypting or signing outgoing mail.
 * [56]quintuple-agent -- Secure store for secrets (passphrases,
   etc.).
 * [57]guarddog -- Firewall configuration utility for KDE.
 * [58]guidedog -- NAT/masquerading/port-forwarding configuration
   tool for KDE.
 * [59]exiftran -- Transform digital camera JPEG images.

 55. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/37223.html
 56. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/37427.html
 57. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/37837.html
 58. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/37981.html
 59. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/38238.html

Orphaned Packages. 61 packages were orphaned this week and require a
new maintainer. This makes a total of 226 orphaned packages. Many
thanks to the previous maintainers who contributed to the Free
Software community. Please see the [60]WNPP pages 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.

 60. http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/

 * [61]aegis -- Aegis Web based user interface. ([62]Bug#279518)
 * [63]aegis3 -- Aegis Web based user interface. ([64]Bug#279517)
 * [65]autofs -- Kernel-based automounter for Linux. ([66]Bug#279872)
 * [67]cook -- Remote execution scripts for cook. ([68]Bug#279521)
 * [69]fhist -- Documentation for the fhist package. ([70]Bug#279516)
 * [71]freewrl -- VRML browser and Netscape plugin. ([72]Bug#279757)
 * [73]html2ps -- HTML to Postscript converter. ([74]Bug#279769)
 * [75]htp -- HTML pre-processor. ([76]Bug#280023)
 * [77]ibcs -- IBCS Emulator Modules for Linux (2.2.x kernel).
   ([78]Bug#279770)
 * [79]icecast-client -- Streaming MPEG Layer III feeder.
   ([80]Bug#279526)
 * [81]java2-common -- Common facilities for all Java2 environments.
   ([82]Bug#279772)
 * [83]libapache-asp-perl -- Perl Apache::ASP - Active Server Pages
   for Apache with mod_perl. ([84]Bug#279773)
 * [85]libapache-filter-perl -- Perl Apache::Filter - Alter the
   output of previous handlers. ([86]Bug#279774)
 * [87]libapache-ssi-perl -- Perl Apache::SSI - Implement Server Side
   Includes in Perl. ([88]Bug#279775)
 * [89]libauthen-sasl-cyrus-perl -- Perl extension for Cyrus SASL
   library. ([90]Bug#279776)
 * [91]libbusiness-ups-perl -- Perl interface to the UPS shipping
   costs web-site. ([92]Bug#279777)
 * [93]libcdk -- Curses Development Kit. ([94]Bug#279779)
 * [95]libcdk-perl -- Curses Development Kit for Perl.
   ([96]Bug#279778)
 * [97]libchart-perl -- Chart Library for Perl. ([98]Bug#279780)
 * [99]libcorba-orbit-perl -- ORBit module for Perl.
   ([100]Bug#279781)
 * [101]libcurses-widgets-perl -- Curses widget interface for Perl.
   ([102]Bug#279782)
 * [103]libfile-counterfile-perl -- Persistent counter class for
   Perl. ([104]Bug#279784)
 * [105]libfont-afm-perl -- Font::AFM - Interface to Adobe Font
   Metrics files. ([106]Bug#279785)
 * [107]libfrontier-rpc-perl -- Perl module to implement RPC calls
   using XML requests. ([108]Bug#279786)
 * [109]libgnome-gnorba-perl -- Gnorba module for Perl.
   ([110]Bug#279788)
 * [111]libgtk-perl -- Perl module for the libgtkxmhtml library.
   ([112]Bug#279790)
 * [113]libhtml-simpleparse-perl -- Perl HTML::SimpleParse - a
   bare-bones HTML parser. ([114]Bug#279791)
 * [115]libhttp-dav-perl -- HTTP:DAV - WebDAV client library for
   Perl. ([116]Bug#279792)
 * [117]libnet-finger-perl -- Perl Module providing an API for Finger
   queries. ([118]Bug#279794)
 * [119]libnet-snmp-perl -- Script SNMP connections.
   ([120]Bug#279795)
 * [121]libnewt-perl -- Perl bindings for Erik Troan's newt text-mode
   windowing toolkit. ([122]Bug#279798)
 * [123]libopengl-perl -- Perl module to display 3D data using
   OpenGL, GLU, GLUT, and GLX. ([124]Bug#279799)
 * [125]libplot-perl -- Perl interface to plot library.
   ([126]Bug#279800)
 * [127]libtangram-perl -- Orthogonal Object Persistence in
   Relational Databases. ([128]Bug#279804)
 * [129]libtest-unit-perl -- Unit testing interface for Perl.
   ([130]Bug#279805)
 * [131]libtie-cache-perl -- Perl Tie::Cache - LRU Cache in Memory.
   ([132]Bug#279807)
 * [133]linup -- Client for the Uptimes Project. ([134]Bug#279505)
 * [135]liveice -- Live audio streaming application.
   ([136]Bug#279527)
 * [137]masqdialer -- Daemon for remote control of masqueraded
   dial-up links. ([138]Bug#279398)
 * [139]perl-byacc -- Berkeley LALR parser generator, Perl version.
   ([140]Bug#279811)
 * [141]perl-tk -- Perl module providing the Tk graphics library.
   ([142]Bug#279823)
 * [143]perlftlib -- Perl module for the FreeType library.
   ([144]Bug#279824)
 * [145]pgperl -- Perl interface to the pgplot plotting library.
   ([146]Bug#279820)
 * [147]pilrc -- PalmOS resource compiler and editor.
   ([148]Bug#279825)
 * [149]plotutils -- GNU plotutils (plotting utilities) package.
   ([150]Bug#279827)
 * [151]prc-tools -- Development toolchain for PDAs using the PalmOS
   (utilities). ([152]Bug#279828)
 * [153]python-gtkextra -- Python module for the GtkExtra widget set
   extension. ([154]Bug#279541)
 * [155]radiuscontext -- Radius log parser and report generator.
   ([156]Bug#279592)
 * [157]reppu -- Network render program for blender.
   ([158]Bug#280028)
 * [159]sdd -- File duplication and conversion tool, similar to 'dd'.
   ([160]Bug#279515)
 * [161]sfio -- Enhanced library for managing I/O streams.
   ([162]Bug#279812)
 * [163]thttpd -- Support utilities for thttpd. ([164]Bug#279522)
 * [165]ubit -- Ubiquitous Brick Interactive Toolkit.
   ([166]Bug#279815)
 * [167]vcr -- V4l video capture program. ([168]Bug#279593)
 * [169]vrel -- Virtual Reality Engine Language parser.
   ([170]Bug#279816)
 * [171]vreng -- Virtual Reality Engine. ([172]Bug#279817)
 * [173]vrweb -- VRML browser and editor. ([174]Bug#279818)
 * [175]waimea -- Highly customisable window manager based on
   blackbox. ([176]Bug#279546)
 * [177]xbanner -- Beautify your X login screen. ([178]Bug#279819)
 * [179]xmms-cdread -- Input plugin for XMMS that reads audio data
   from CDs. ([180]Bug#279514)

 61. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/aegis
 62. http://bugs.debian.org/279518
 63. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/aegis3
 64. http://bugs.debian.org/279517
 65. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/autofs
 66. http://bugs.debian.org/279872
 67. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/cook
 68. http://bugs.debian.org/279521
 69. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/fhist
 70. http://bugs.debian.org/279516
 71. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/freewrl
 72. http://bugs.debian.org/279757
 73. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/html2ps
 74. http://bugs.debian.org/279769
 75. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/htp
 76. http://bugs.debian.org/280023
 77. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/otherosfs/ibcs-base
 78. http://bugs.debian.org/279770
 79. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/icecast-client
 80. http://bugs.debian.org/279526
 81. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/interpreters/java2-common
 82. http://bugs.debian.org/279772
 83. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libapache-asp-perl
 84. http://bugs.debian.org/279773
 85. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libapache-filter-perl
 86. http://bugs.debian.org/279774
 87. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libapache-ssi-perl
 88. http://bugs.debian.org/279775
 89. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libauthen-sasl-cyrus-perl
 90. http://bugs.debian.org/279776
 91. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libbusiness-ups-perl
 92. http://bugs.debian.org/279777
 93. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libs/libcdk4
 94. http://bugs.debian.org/279779
 95. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libcdk-perl
 96. http://bugs.debian.org/279778
 97. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libchart-perl
 98. http://bugs.debian.org/279780
 99. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libcorba-orbit-perl
 100. http://bugs.debian.org/279781
 101. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libcurses-widgets-perl
 102. http://bugs.debian.org/279782
 103. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libfile-counterfile-perl
 104. http://bugs.debian.org/279784
 105. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libfont-afm-perl
 106. http://bugs.debian.org/279785
 107. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libfrontier-rpc-perl
 108. http://bugs.debian.org/279786
 109. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libgnome-gnorba-perl
 110. http://bugs.debian.org/279788
 111. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libgtk-perl
 112. http://bugs.debian.org/279790
 113. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libhtml-simpleparse-perl
 114. http://bugs.debian.org/279791
 115. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libhttp-dav-perl
 116. http://bugs.debian.org/279792
 117. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libnet-finger-perl
 118. http://bugs.debian.org/279794
 119. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libnet-snmp-perl
 120. http://bugs.debian.org/279795
 121. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libnewt-perl
 122. http://bugs.debian.org/279798
 123. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libopengl-perl
 124. http://bugs.debian.org/279799
 125. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libplot-perl
 126. http://bugs.debian.org/279800
 127. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libtangram-perl
 128. http://bugs.debian.org/279804
 129. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libtest-unit-perl
 130. http://bugs.debian.org/279805
 131. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libtie-cache-perl
 132. http://bugs.debian.org/279807
 133. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/linup
 134. http://bugs.debian.org/279505
 135. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/liveice
 136. http://bugs.debian.org/279527
 137. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/masqdialer
 138. http://bugs.debian.org/279398
 139. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/perl-byacc
 140. http://bugs.debian.org/279811
 141. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/perl-tk
 142. http://bugs.debian.org/279823
 143. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libft-perl
 144. http://bugs.debian.org/279824
 145. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/math/pgperl
 146. http://bugs.debian.org/279820
 147. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/otherosfs/pilrc
 148. http://bugs.debian.org/279825
 149. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/math/plotutils
 150. http://bugs.debian.org/279827
 151. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/otherosfs/prc-tools
 152. http://bugs.debian.org/279828
 153. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/python/python-gtkextra
 154. http://bugs.debian.org/279541
 155. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/radiuscontext
 156. http://bugs.debian.org/279592
 157. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/reppu
 158. http://bugs.debian.org/280028
 159. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/sdd
 160. http://bugs.debian.org/279515
 161. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libs/sfio2000
 162. http://bugs.debian.org/279812
 163. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/thttpd
 164. http://bugs.debian.org/279522
 165. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libs/libubit1
 166. http://bugs.debian.org/279815
 167. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/vcr
 168. http://bugs.debian.org/279593
 169. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/vrel
 170. http://bugs.debian.org/279816
 171. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/vreng
 172. http://bugs.debian.org/279817
 173. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/vrweb
 174. http://bugs.debian.org/279818
 175. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/waimea
 176. http://bugs.debian.org/279546
 177. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/xbanner
 178. http://bugs.debian.org/279819
 179. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/xmms-cdread
 180. http://bugs.debian.org/279514

Want to continue reading DWN? 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 [181]contributing
page to find out how to help. We're looking forward to receiving your
mail at [182]dwn@debian.org.

 181. http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/contributing
 182. mailto:dwn@debian.org


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