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Debian Weekly News
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2006/16/
Debian Weekly News - April 18th, 2006
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Welcome to this year's 16th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for
the Debian community. We congratulate the new project leader (DPL),
Anthony Towns. Holger Levsen [1]announced updated [2]videos from the
last Skolelinux meeting as Ogg theoras. For the first time the videos
themselves contain a copyright and author note.
1. http://layer-acht.org/blog/debian/#1-14
2. http://meetings-archive.debian.net/pub/debian-meetings/2006/debian-edu-erkelenz/
Debian Project Leader Election. Manoj Srivastava [3]announced Anthony
Towns as the winner of this year's project leader [4]election whose
term started on April 17th. In total 421 developers have casted a
ballot. Anthony [5]stated afterwards that the general philosophy he
is aiming to follow is that there's very little you can do as DPL that
you can't do as a regular developer.
3. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/04/msg00004.html
4. http://www.debian.org/vote/2006/vote_002
5. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2006/04/msg00152.html
Experimental Autobuilder. Wouter Verhelst [6]explained that
automatically building packages in the experimental distribution is a
bit of a special case, which means that our experimental autobuilders
act slightly differently compared to other distributions. Only
properly versioned build-dependencies will be pulled in from
experimental and taken from unstable otherwise.
6. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/04/msg00007.html
Debian Python Modules Team. Raphaël Hertzog [7]reported that the
Debian Python Modules Team has been created to collaboratively
maintain packages of Python modules. They have prepared a [8]policy
already and invite all maintainers of Python modules to join the team.
7. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/04/msg00008.html
8. http://python-modules.alioth.debian.org/python-modules-policy.html
X11 Release 7 Transition. Steve Langasek [9]reported that X.Org 7.0
alias X11R7 has been uploaded into [10]unstable and that it brought a
few bugs with it. As a result the X11R6 hierarchy is going away and
new programs are installed in /usr/bin instead. Static library
packages have also been dropped.
9. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/04/msg00010.html
10. http://www.debian.org/releases/sid/
Reforming the New Maintainer Process. Marc Brockschmidt [11]summarised
his experiences of the current process. Some problems and delays are
caused by the lack of interested people working as application
managers. He proposed to raise the requirements before applying and to
separate upload permissions, system accounts and voting rights.
11. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2006/04/msg00163.html
On Generating Revenue. Annamalai Gurusami [12]wondered why the Debian
project doesn't sell CDs and generate revenue. Don Armstrong
[13]explained that the Debian project is a non-profit organisation and
that other entities are more used to the complications of taxes and
the economics of making and selling CDs and DVDs. Paul Johnson
[14]added that it's better to donate to Debian directly instead of
purchasing a product of which only a fraction of the prize goes to the
project.
12. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2006/04/msg00221.html
13. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2006/04/msg00240.html
14. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2006/04/msg00244.html
Package Removal Problems. Lars Wirzenius [15]summarised the top 10
problems he discovered in Debian packages using the [16]piuparts
utility that performs automatic installation and de-installation of
packages. Gustavo Franco [17]suggested to add checks to [18]linda and
[19]lintian that could detect some of these problems earlier.
15. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/02/msg00693.html
16. http://packages.debian.org/piuparts
17. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/02/msg00984.html
18. http://packages.debian.org/linda
19. http://packages.debian.org/lintian
License Meta Information. Jari Aalto [20]proposed to add a new field
to the control file that contains the abbreviation of the used
license. Martin Würtele [21]pointed out that this information is
already available on [22]packages.debian.org without the need to
download the entire package. Jörg Jaspert [23]stated that such a field
would not even ease NEW processing.
20. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/02/msg00766.html
21. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/02/msg00769.html
22. http://packages.debian.org/
23. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/02/msg00778.html
Marking BTS SPAM. Shaun Jackman [24]wondered if it would be possible
to mark spam sent via the [25]bug tracking system (BTS). Don Armstrong
[26]pointed out that a button with a similar functionality already
exists on the web pages for bug reports. Additionally, Javier
Fernández-Sanguino Peña [27]provided a [28]Mutt configuration snippet
for reporting list spam via mail.
24. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/02/msg00811.html
25. http://www.debian.org/Bugs/
26. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/02/msg00812.html
27. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/02/msg01213.html
28. http://packages.debian.org/mutt
Changes to the unofficial AMD64 Archive. Jörg Jaspert [29]informed
about a functional change on [30]amd64.debian.net, which maintains an
unofficial port of Debian for the [31]AMD64 platform. Since the recent
inclusion of AMD64 as an officially supported platform there is no
need for an unofficial AMD64 build daemon anymore. Users of testing or
unstable should switch over to an official [32]mirror, users of sarge,
the current stable release, are not affected by this change.
29. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/04/msg00005.html
30. http://amd64.debian.net/
31. http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/
32. http://www.debian.org/mirrors/list
Security Updates. You know the drill. Please make sure that you update
your systems if you have any of these packages installed.
* DSA 1032: [33]zope-cmfplone packages -- Unprivileged data
manipulation.
* DSA 1033: [34]horde3 -- Several vulnerabilities.
* DSA 1034: [35]horde2 -- Several vulnerabilities.
* DSA 1035: [36]fcheck -- Insecure temporary file creation.
* DSA 1036: [37]bsdgames -- Local privilege escalation.
33. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1032
34. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1033
35. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1034
36. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1035
37. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1036
New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the
unstable Debian archive [38]recently or contain important updates.
38. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main
* [39]briquolo -- Fast paced 3d breakout.
* [40]cfourcc -- Command line tool for changing FourCC in Microsoft
RIFF AVI files.
* [41]cryptonit -- Client side PKI (X.509) cryptographic tool.
* [42]dglog -- CGI log analyser for DansGuardian.
* [43]dodgindiamond2 -- Shoot-'em-up arcade game for one or two
players.
* [44]germinate -- Expand dependencies in a list of seed packages.
* [45]lsb-desktop -- Linux Standard Base 3.1 Desktop support
package.
* [46]mesa-utils -- Miscellaneous Mesa GL utilities.
* [47]sparsehash -- Google's extremely memory-efficient hash_map
implementation.
* [48]thoggen -- DVD backup utility based on GStreamer and Gtk+.
* [49]tzdata -- Time Zone and Daylight Saving Time Data.
* [50]xorg -- X.Org X Window System.
* [51]zope2.9 -- Open Source Web Application Server.
39. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/briquolo
40. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/cfourcc
41. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/cryptonit
42. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/dglog
43. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/dodgindiamond2
44. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/germinate
45. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/lsb-desktop
46. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/mesa-utils
47. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libdevel/sparsehash
48. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/thoggen
49. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libs/tzdata
50. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/xorg
51. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/zope2.9
Orphaned Packages. 11 packages were orphaned this week and require a
new maintainer. This makes a total of 292 orphaned packages. Many
thanks to the previous maintainers who contributed to the Free
Software community. Please see the [52]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.
52. http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/
* [53]alltraxclock -- Analog clock plugin for GKrellM.
([54]Bug#362929)
* [55]alltraxclock2 -- Analog clock plugin for GKrellM2.
([56]Bug#362930)
* [57]libticables3 -- Support library for Texas Instruments link
cables. ([58]Bug#362163)
* [59]libticalcs4 -- Provides functions to communicate with TI
calculators. ([60]Bug#362164)
* [61]libtifiles0 -- Texas Instruments calculators file formats
library. ([62]Bug#362166)
* [63]skinedit -- Skin editor for TiEmu. ([64]Bug#362161)
* [65]thai-system -- Meta package for Thai environment under X11.
([66]Bug#362490)
* [67]tidev-modules -- Sources for drivers for Texas Instruments
calculators link cables. ([68]Bug#362162)
* [69]tiemu -- Texas Instruments calculators emulator.
([70]Bug#362159)
* [71]tilp -- TI calculator <-> PC communication program for X.
([72]Bug#362157)
* [73]unalz -- Utility used for decompressing alzip format file.
([74]Bug#362995)
53. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/gkrellm-alltraxclock
54. http://bugs.debian.org/362929
55. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/gkrellm-alltraxclock2
56. http://bugs.debian.org/362930
57. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libs/libticables3
58. http://bugs.debian.org/362163
59. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libs/libticalcs4
60. http://bugs.debian.org/362164
61. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/libs/libtifiles0
62. http://bugs.debian.org/362166
63. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/math/tiemu-skinedit
64. http://bugs.debian.org/362161
65. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/thai-system
66. http://bugs.debian.org/362490
67. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/tidev-modules-source
68. http://bugs.debian.org/362162
69. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/math/tiemu
70. http://bugs.debian.org/362159
71. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/math/tilp
72. http://bugs.debian.org/362157
73. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/unalz
74. http://bugs.debian.org/362995
Removed Packages. 8 packages have been [75]removed from the Debian
archive during the past week:
75. http://ftp-master.debian.org/removals.txt
* python2.1 -- IDE for Python (v2.1) using Tkinter
[76]Bug#362047: Request of QA, superseded by python 2.3 and 2.4
* decompyle2.2 -- Old version of the Python byte-code decompiler
[77]Bug#361406: Request of maintainer, obsolete; replaced by
decompyle; depends on to-be-removed python2.2
* zope-speedpack -- Speed optimisation for cmf-based products
[78]Bug#361946: Request of maintainer, obsolete
* zope-filesystemsite -- Filesystem directory views from cmf
[79]Bug#361947: Request of Maintainer, obsolete
* zope-testcase -- Unit testing framework and test case for Zope
[80]Bug#361948: Request of maintainer, merged with zope
* zopeinterface -- Python library for API definitions through
interfaces
[81]Bug#361950: Request of maintainer, superseded by zope3
* zope-verbosesecurity -- Helps to explain the reason for denied
access
[82]Bug#361949: Request of maintainer, merged with zope
76. http://bugs.debian.org/362047
77. http://bugs.debian.org/361406
78. http://bugs.debian.org/361946
79. http://bugs.debian.org/361947
80. http://bugs.debian.org/361948
81. http://bugs.debian.org/361950
82. http://bugs.debian.org/361949
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 [83]contributing
page to find out how to help. We're looking forward to receiving your
mail at [84]dwn@debian.org.
83. http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/contributing
84. mailto:dwn@debian.org
This issue of Debian Weekly News was edited by Sebastian Feltel
and Martin 'Joey' Schulze.
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