Debian Weekly News - January 11th, 2005

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Debian Weekly News
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2005/02/
Debian Weekly News - January 11th, 2005
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Welcome to this year's 2nd issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for the
Debian community. [1]Knowing Knoppix is a beginner-friendly book to
help new users with the [2]Knoppix live CD. Bruno Torres conducted an
[3]interview with the Debian project leader Martin Michlmayr.

 1. http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/knowing-knoppix/index.html
 2. http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/
 3. http://os.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/12/23/2023223

KDE 3.3 accepted into Testing. Release Manager Steve Langasek
[4]noted that KDE 3.3 has been accepted into testing. He also
expressed many thanks to the KDE team for their [5]efforts in making
this happen, and to Anthony Towns for hand-holding britney through the
transition. This transition [6]closed many long standing
release-critical bugs in sarge, plus [7]many more.

 4. http://lists.debian.org/debian-release/2005/01/msg00033.html
 5. http://lists.debian.org/debian-release/2005/01/msg00004.html
 6. http://lists.debian.org/debian-qt-kde/2005/01/msg00060.html
 7. http://lists.debian.org/debian-qt-kde/2005/01/msg00074.html

More frequently Package Install and Mirror Runs. Ken Bloom [8]asked
whether it would be possible to speed up the release process by having
the daily archive run (package installations and mirror pulse) run
more than only once a day, as suggested by a release [9]proposal.
Joey Hess [10]noted that James Troup did not decline that. Release
Manager Steve Langasek also [11]added having a mirror pulse more often
a day would also effect the testing transition.

 8. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/01/msg00141.html
 9. http://wiki.debian.net/?RunDinstallHourly
 10. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/01/msg00177.html
 11. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/01/msg00178.html

Supporting free Java in Debian. Michael Koch [12]considered the free
Java implementations in good shape to run major applications and asked
for more users to work with them and report bugs. He has gotten the
impression that many people prefer to use non-free implementations
instead of reporting back problems with the free packages. For better
support people should give [13]Kaffe, [14]SableVM or [15]JamVM or any
of the other free JVM Implementations in Debian a try.

 12. http://lists.debian.org/debian-kde/2005/01/msg00081.html
 13. http://packages.debian.org/kaffe
 14. http://packages.debian.org/sablevm
 15. http://packages.debian.org/jamvm

Dealing with Firmware Blobs. Matthew Garrett [16]wondered how the
Debian project is going to deal with kernel drivers that require
non-free binary-only components to be loaded into the hardware. His
proposals include to leave non-free firmware blobs in non-free, but
don't force drivers that require these to be moved into contrib. Steve
Langasek [17]stated that he won't have a problem with a kernel package
that provides some drivers that need to load firmware blobs from disk
being in main.

 16. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2005/01/msg00140.html
 17. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2005/01/msg00141.html

Package Building without Helper Tools. Miriam Ruiz [18]announced her
[19]article on how to build a Debian package without using helper
tools. She explained, that it is not meant as a proof for an easy way
to maintain packages, but as a comprehensive look inside Debian
package building.

 18. http://lists.debian.org/debian-women/2005/01/msg00019.html
 19. http://women.alioth.debian.org/wiki/index.php/English/BuildingWithoutHelper

Rudeness in Changelog Files. Joey Hess [20]pointed out rudeness in two
current changelog files and wondered if we really need to be that
naughty in our files. Even though Steve Greenland [21]agrees that this
is not the proper place, he can also understand the frustration with
people who get on ones nerves.

 20. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/01/msg00472.html
 21. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/01/msg00481.html

APT Repository Documentation. Roberto Sanchez [22]announced the
[23]APT howto he wrote, since none of the other documentation was
particularly helpful to him. Ola Lundqvist [24]added that instead of
doing everything by hand one should use the [25]debarchiver package.

 22. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/01/msg00490.html
 23. http://familiasanchez.net/~sanchezr/?page=debrepository
 24. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/01/msg00493.html
 25. http://packages.debian.org/debarchiver

Sarge Security Updates Propagation. Joey Hess has been giving
[26]weekly reports on packages that contain security updates in sid
but which have not yet been propagated into sarge. He has created a
comprehensive [27]status page that contains the same information as
well as open bugs for known unfixed security problems.

 26. http://lists.debian.org/debian-release/2005/01/msg00051.html
 27. http://merkel.debian.org/~joeyh/testing-security.html

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

 * DSA 624: [28]zip -- Arbitrary code execution.
 * DSA 625: [29]pcal -- Arbitrary code execution.
 * DSA 626: [30]tiff -- Denial of service.
 * DSA 627: [31]namazu2 -- Cross-site scripting.
 * DSA 628: [32]imlib2 -- Arbitrary code execution.
 * DSA 629: [33]krb5 -- Arbitrary code execution.
 * DSA 630: [34]lintian -- Insecure temporary directory.
 * DSA 631: [35]kdelibs -- Arbitrary FTP command execution.
 * DSA 632: [36]linpopup -- Arbitrary code execution.
 * DSA 633: [37]bmv -- Insecure temporary file creation.
 * DSA 634: [38]hylafax -- Unauthorised access.

 28. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-624
 29. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-625
 30. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-626
 31. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-627
 32. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-628
 33. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-629
 34. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-630
 35. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-631
 36. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-632
 37. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-633
 38. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-634

New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the
unstable Debian archive [39]recently or contain important updates.

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

 * [40]daapd -- Serves music files using the Apple DAA protocol.
 * [41]fakepop -- Fake pop3 daemon. delivers same messages to all
   users.
 * [42]ffmpeg -- Multimedia player, server and encoder.
 * [43]foremost -- Forensics application to recover data.
 * [44]g-wrap -- Scripting interface generator for C.
 * [45]itagalog -- Tagalog dictionary for Ispell.
 * [46]kxdocker -- Innovative docker for KDE that is like Mac OSX
   Docker.
 * [47]mpegdemux -- MPEG1/2 system stream demultiplexer.
 * [48]mypasswordsafe -- Easy-to-use password manager.
 * [49]nws -- Grid monitoring infrastructure (executables and man
   pages).
 * [50]sdcv -- Command line version of StarDict dictionary tool.
 * [51]sendxmpp -- Commandline XMPP (jabber) utility.
 * [52]systraq -- Monitor your system and warn when system files
   change.
 * [53]ultrapossum -- Multifunctional LDAP Solution.
 * [54]widelands -- Fantasy real-time strategy game.
 * [55]wmctrl -- Control an EWMH/NetWM compatible X Window Manager.

 40. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/daapd
 41. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/fakepop
 42. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/ffmpeg
 43. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/foremost
 44. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/interpreters/g-wrap
 45. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/itagalog
 46. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/kxdocker
 47. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/mpegdemux
 48. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/mypasswordsafe
 49. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/nws
 50. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/sdcv
 51. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/sendxmpp
 52. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/systraq
 53. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/ultrapossum
 54. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/widelands
 55. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/wmctrl

Orphaned Packages. 10 packages were orphaned this week and require a
new maintainer. This makes a total of 257 orphaned packages. Many
thanks to the previous maintainers who contributed to the Free
Software community. Please see the [56]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.

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

 * [57]kernel-patch-systrace -- Systrace kernel patch.
   ([58]Bug#289539)
 * [59]libcgi-untaint-perl -- Process CGI input parameters.
   ([60]Bug#289433)
 * [61]libcgi-validate-perl -- Advanced CGI form parser and type
   validation. ([62]Bug#289430)
 * [63]libconfig-general-perl -- Generic configuration module.
   ([64]Bug#289434)
 * [65]libexporter-lite-perl -- Lightweight subset of Exporter.
   ([66]Bug#289431)
 * [67]libuniversal-exports-perl -- Lightweight, universal exporting
   of variables. ([68]Bug#289432)
 * [69]mga-vid -- Kernel driver for the back-end scaler on Matrox
   cards (source). ([70]Bug#289435)
 * [71]middleman -- Web content caching and filtering proxy server.
   ([72]Bug#289027)
 * [73]systrace -- Enforce system call policies for applications.
   ([74]Bug#289537)
 * [75]xsystrace -- Systrace frontend invoked by systrace.
   ([76]Bug#289538)

 57. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/kernel-patch-systrace
 58. http://bugs.debian.org/289539
 59. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libcgi-untaint-perl
 60. http://bugs.debian.org/289433
 61. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libcgi-validate-perl
 62. http://bugs.debian.org/289430
 63. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libconfig-general-perl
 64. http://bugs.debian.org/289434
 65. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libexporter-lite-perl
 66. http://bugs.debian.org/289431
 67. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libuniversal-exports-perl
 68. http://bugs.debian.org/289432
 69. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/mga-vid-source
 70. http://bugs.debian.org/289435
 71. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/middleman
 72. http://bugs.debian.org/289027
 73. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/systrace
 74. http://bugs.debian.org/289537
 75. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/xsystrace
 76. http://bugs.debian.org/289538

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 [77]contributing
page to find out how to help. We're looking forward to receiving your
mail at [78]dwn@debian.org.

 77. http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/contributing
 78. mailto:dwn@debian.org


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