Debian Weekly News - April 12th, 2005

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Debian Weekly News
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2005/15/
Debian Weekly News - April 12th, 2005
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Welcome to this year's 15th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for
the Debian community. After an unscheduled downtime of one major host
in the Debian network the machine is [1]available again, but suffered
from gross filesystem corruption.

 1. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/04/msg00008.html

Debian Project Leader Election Result. Manoj Srivastava [2]announced
the [3]results of the recent project leader [4]election. After
running as project leader candidate since 2001 Branden Robinson
eventually won the election in 2005. He [5]thanked those who voted
for him and hoped to gain the confidence of those who didn't. 504
developers have casted a vote, which is 52.227 % of all possible
votes.

 2. http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2005/04/msg00028.html
 3. http://master.debian.org/~srivasta/leader2005_results.txt
 4. http://www.debian.org/vote/2005/vote_001
 5. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2005/04/msg00087.html

Why supporting PHP3? Marcelo Magallon [6]wondered why Debian still
supports PHP3 in addition to PHP4 in the unstable (and testing)
distribution. Gunnar Wolf [7]noted that those packages that depend on
PHP3 are available for PHP4 as well or depend on either version.
Andres Salomon [8]added that the license was changed which caused
people to stay with PHP3 instead of upgrading.

 6. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/04/msg00216.html
 7. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/04/msg00234.html
 8. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/04/msg00244.html

Creative Commons License Committee. Evan Prodromou [9]reported that
he was contacted by Creative Commons to work out the [10]issues over
their licenses. The project leader has appointed him as official
representative in this matter. He created a work group of Debian
developers who will participate in the discussions.

 9. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/04/msg00031.html
 10. http://people.debian.org/~evan/ccsummary.html

Acenic Firmware Rewrite. Peter De Schrijver [11]wondered if people
would be willing to work on a free firmware for the Tigon II chip.
Looking at the [12]datasheet it doesn't seem to be a very complicated
chip to code for. He was [13]thinking about somebody reading the
existing firmware sources, writing a specification and a second person
or group implementing the new free firmware based on the specs.

 11. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/04/msg00285.html
 12. http://alteon.shareable.org/firmware-source/12.4.13/tigonbk.pdf.bz2
 13. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/04/msg00425.html

Automatic Testing of Debian Packages. Mads Lindstrøm [14]wondered if
there are any tests that are or could be applied to Debian packages
automatically. Petter Reinholdtsen [15]mentioned a prototype
[16]script that will perform an automatic upgrade. Ola Lundqvist
[17]added comments about functional tests and component tests which
are both specific to the particular package.

 14. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/04/msg00377.html
 15. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/04/msg00380.html
 16. http://developer.skolelinux.no/~pere/upgrade-testing/
 17. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/04/msg00440.html

Help needed for Openswan 2.3.1. Rene Mayrhofer [18]called for help
with packaging [19]openswan version 2.3.1 which is supposed to fix
several problems in version 2.3.0. Since sarge is close to a release,
packaging a new upstream version may not the best idea, even if it is
supposed to fix a number of bugs. Rene has made [20]available
preliminary packages for larger testing.

 18. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/04/msg00411.html
 19. http://www.openswan.org/
 20. http://www.gibraltar.at/~rene/openswan/

Packages for GNOME 2.10? Jordi Mallach [21]explained that the GNOME
packaging [22]team is rather trying to stabilise the current GNOME
2.8.3 release for testing than to package the new release. If this
works well, they will be starting to work on version 2.10.

 21. http://oskuro.net/blog/freesoftware/debian-gnome-2.10-2005-03-10-14-49
 22. http://pkg-gnome.alioth.debian.org/

SELinux Integration into Etch. Manoj Srivastava has [23]started a mini
[24]project to bring Debian's SELinux patched packages back in sync
with the latest upstream and the latest SELinux patches, and to make
it easier for Debian developers to access SELinux patches. Its proper
integration into the etch release after sarge is out could be a
worthwhile release goal.

 23. http://www.golden-gryphon.com/blog/manoj/software/security/manoj.2005.03.07.html
 24. http://www.golden-gryphon.com/software/security/selinux.xhtml

Debian as a Web Serving Platform. Ladislav Bodnar [25]discussed
several operating systems for web servers and compared the features
and security aspects of Debian GNU/Linux with those of FreeBSD. With
Debian's slow release cycle, the only way to upgrade some packages was
to get them from [26]backports.org. The ability to upgrade the
operating system painlessly to a newer version is one area where
Debian enjoys a considerable advantage, says the author.

 25. http://lwn.net/Articles/123949/
 26. http://www.backports.org/

Running a homeless non-profit Organisation. John Goerzen [27]wrote
about running [28]Software in the Public Interest, Inc. (SPI) which
has no physical home. Holding discussions, even board meetings and
annual meetings online, is a confusing concept to many people, but it
makes perfect sense to the developers. He also asked how SPI could
attract more people into becoming involved.

 27. http://changelog.complete.org/node/248
 28. http://www.spi-inc.org/

New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the
unstable Debian archive [29]recently or contain important updates.

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

 * [30]855resolution -- Resolution modify tool for Intel graphic
   chipset.
 * [31]adesklets -- Interactive Imlib2 console for the X Window
   System.
 * [32]antennavis -- Antenna visualisation software.
 * [33]approx -- Proxy server for Debian archive files.
 * [34]ax25mail-utils -- Hamradio utilities for fbb.
 * [35]blktool -- Tune low-level block device parameters.
 * [36]coco-java -- Coco/R Compiler Generator (Java Version).
 * [37]confluence -- Language for synchronous reactive hardware
   system design.
 * [38]cuetools -- Tools for manipulating CUE/TOC files.
 * [39]drqueue -- Distributed render queue manager.
 * [40]e16menuedit2 -- Graphical menu editor for enlightenment.
 * [41]enscribe -- Convert images into sounds.
 * [42]flpsed -- WYSIWYG pseudo PostScript editor.
 * [43]freepops -- POP3 interface to several webmails.
 * [44]fyre -- Interactively renders Peter de Jong maps (chaotic
   functions).
 * [45]gff2aplot -- Pair-wise alignment-plots for genomic sequences
   in PostScript.
 * [46]gigtools -- Tools for Gigasampler and DLS Level 1/2 files.
 * [47]gimp-texturize -- Generates large textures from a small
   sample.
 * [48]glurp -- Gtk2.4+ frontend to the Music Player Daemon (MPD).
 * [49]gsoap -- SOAP stub and skeleton compiler for C and C++.
 * [50]hrd -- Puzzle game of HuaRongDao.
 * [51]ipmitool -- Utility for IPMI control with kernel driver or LAN
   interface.
 * [52]kboincspy -- Monitoring utility for the BOINC client.
 * [53]kexi -- Tool for manipulating database objects in KDE3.
 * [54]kleopatra -- KDE Certificate Manager.
 * [55]krename -- Batch renamer for KDE 3.x.
 * [56]ksh -- Real, AT&T version of the Korn shell.
 * [57]kxstitch -- Cross-stitch pattern creator and editor for KDE.
 * [58]llvm -- Low-Level Virtual Machine (LLVM) compiler for C/C++.
 * [59]moinmoin-common -- Python clone of WikiWiki - common data.
 * [60]moodle-book -- Module for Moodle to add multi-page resources.
 * [61]mouseemu -- Emulate mouse buttons and mouse wheel.
 * [62]mrxvt -- Lightweight multi-tabbed X terminal emulator.
 * [63]nsis -- Nullsoft Scriptable Install System.
 * [64]nvu -- Complete Web Authoring System.
 * [65]pdftoipe -- Converts arbitrary PDF file to XML file readable
   by Ipe.
 * [66]png2html -- Png2html transforms a PNG image to a web page.
 * [67]polyxmass -- Mass spectrometry software framework.
 * [68]praat -- Program for speech analysis and synthesis.
 * [69]pyrad -- Python module for creating and decoding RADIUS
   packets.
 * [70]qucs -- Universal Circuit Simulator.
 * [71]radeontool -- Utility to control ATI Radeon backlight
   functions on laptops.
 * [72]roxen4 -- Roxen Challenger Webserver.
 * [73]sam2p -- Convert raster images to EPS, PDF, and other formats.
 * [74]saods9 -- Image display tool for astronomy.
 * [75]shntool -- Multi-purpose tool for manipulating and analysing
   WAV files.
 * [76]skinedit -- Skin editor for TiEmu.
 * [77]specter -- Packet logger for netfilter's ULOG target.
 * [78]sshfs -- Filesystem client based on SSH File Transfer
   Protocol.
 * [79]starttls -- TLS encryption helper program.
 * [80]steam -- Environment for cooperative knowledge management.
 * [81]swscanner -- Simple Wireless Scanner.
 * [82]tea -- Text editor with syntax highlighting & UTF support.
 * [83]thescoder -- Compiler for OpenOffice 1.x thesaurus files.
 * [84]tiemu -- Texas Instruments calculators emulator.
 * [85]tinymux -- Text-based multi-user virtual world server.
 * [86]tutos2 -- The Ultimate Team Organisation Software.
 * [87]usbmount -- Automatically mount and unmount USB mass storage
   devices.
 * [88]visitors -- Fast web server log analyser.
 * [89]wmdrawer -- Button launcher.
 * [90]xresprobe -- X Resolution Probe.

 30. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/855resolution
 31. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/adesklets
 32. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/hamradio/antennavis
 33. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/approx
 34. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/hamradio/ax25mail-utils
 35. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/blktool
 36. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/coco-java
 37. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/electronics/confluence
 38. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/cuetools
 39. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/drqueue
 40. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/e16menuedit2
 41. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/enscribe
 42. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/flpsed
 43. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/freepops
 44. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/fyre
 45. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/science/gff2aplot
 46. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/gigtools
 47. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/gimp-texturize
 48. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/glurp
 49. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/gsoap
 50. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/hrd
 51. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/ipmitool
 52. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/kde/kboincspy
 53. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/kde/kexi
 54. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/kleopatra
 55. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/kde/krename
 56. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/shells/ksh
 57. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/kde/kxstitch
 58. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/llvm
 59. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/moinmoin-common
 60. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/moodle-book
 61. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/mouseemu
 62. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/mrxvt
 63. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/nsis
 64. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/nvu
 65. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/pdftoipe
 66. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/png2html
 67. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/science/polyxmass
 68. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/science/praat
 69. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/python/pyrad
 70. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/electronics/qucs
 71. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/radeontool
 72. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/roxen4
 73. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/sam2p
 74. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/science/saods9
 75. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/shntool
 76. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/math/skinedit
 77. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/specter
 78. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/sshfs
 79. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/starttls
 80. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/steam
 81. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/swscanner
 82. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/editors/tea
 83. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/thescoder
 84. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/math/tiemu
 85. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/tinymux
 86. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/tutos2
 87. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/usbmount
 88. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/visitors
 89. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/wmdrawer
 90. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/xresprobe

Orphaned Packages. 6 packages were orphaned this week and require a
new maintainer. This makes a total of 228 orphaned packages. Many
thanks to the previous maintainers who contributed to the Free
Software community. Please see the [91]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.

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

 * [92]hfsutils -- Tools for reading and writing Macintosh volumes.
   ([93]Bug#303264)
 * [94]kannel -- WAP and SMS gateway. ([95]Bug#303610)
 * [96]libaudio-wav-perl -- Modules for reading & writing WAV files.
   ([97]Bug#303614)
 * [98]php4-imagick -- ImageMagick module for PHP4.
   ([99]Bug#303616)
 * [100]slimp3 -- MPEG Layer III Streaming Server. ([101]Bug#303617)
 * [102]toshutils -- Toshiba laptop utilities. ([103]Bug#304160)

 92. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/otherosfs/hfsutils
 93. http://bugs.debian.org/303264
 94. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/kannel
 95. http://bugs.debian.org/303610
 96. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libaudio-wav-perl
 97. http://bugs.debian.org/303614
 98. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/php4-imagick
 99. http://bugs.debian.org/303616
 100. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/slimp3
 101. http://bugs.debian.org/303617
 102. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/toshutils
 103. http://bugs.debian.org/304160

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 [104]contributing
page to find out how to help. We're looking forward to receiving your
mail at [105]dwn@debian.org.

 104. http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/contributing
 105. mailto:dwn@debian.org


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