---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml
This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of 29 November 2004.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
==============
1. Gentoo News
==============
Genesi starts shipping PegasosPPC with Gentoo Linux preinstalled
----------------------------------------------------------------
The Luxemburg-based company Genesi S.Ã .r.l.[1] has announced that sales of
their PegasosPPC Open Desktop Workstations (ODW) equipped with Gentoo
Linux 2004.3 will start this week. Just hours after ordering of the ODW
had become "quietly" available on the Freescale (i.e. the CPU
manufacturer's) website[2] on Thanksgiving Day, orders started pouring in,
says Bill Buck, Genesi's CEO. The units are to be shipped to South Korea
and will be the first to sport Gentoo Linux, on top of the previously
included Debian and Yellowdog.
1. http://www.genesi.lu
2.
https://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?nodeId=018rH3bTdG8653&code=PPCG40001
Figure 1.1: Fan-less assembled Pegasos II motherboard
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20041129-odw.jpg
According to Genesi, the PowerPC-based ODW offers "an anchor for the whole
enterprise infrastructure." Optimized performance and lower price levels
are the prime objectives, offering a solution to collapse the IT
infrastructure into one family of scalable and upgradable hardware, and an
open-source operating system and application base. "We think there will be
a lot of interest in this concept, especially for national IT
infrastructures where a progressively developing software resource based
on GNU/Linux can significantly reduce the total cost of ownership," says
Bill Buck. He wants a low-foot-print, low-power 32bit PowerPC solution
"with a strong link to Gentoo and other non-commercial GNU/Linux
distributions as a foundation." Genesi and Freescale foster development on
their current Open Desktop Workstations, with the next hardware generation
being tuned to market: The PegasosPPCs donated last month to Gentoo Linux
and other developers are predominantly positioned as development machines,
but they can serve as thin clients, workstation, netcom devices, file
servers or clusters alike.
Figure 1.2: What's inside a Pegasos?
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20041129-pegasos.jpg
Amidst MySQL servers and efforts at building Pegasos blade clusters,
Gentoo developer David Holm[3] and colleagues have been working on a
Linux/PPC-based network firewall and mail filter application running on
the Pegasos hardware. By utilising AltiVec to do parallel processing of
data they hope to increase the maximum throughput of both network packets
and e-mails. Developers at the Romanian subsidiary of Freescale[4] are
integrating their AltiVec enhanced VPN enciphering modules with this
product. The base system is built by using the Gentoo uclibc stages in
order to minimise the footprint so that it will fit on flash storage.
Parts of the code developed for this project will be released as (L)GPL,
the systems are scheduled to ship in early 2005.
3. dholm@gentoo.org
4. http://www.freescale.com
Gentoo script repository
------------------------
As the script-aided administration of Gentoo systems is clearly a very
useful concept, the idea of a central script repository had already been
formalized in an early Gentoo Linux Enhancement Proposal (GLEP)[5]. Lack
of manpower has prevented this from finishing yet, but Gentoo developer
Patrick Lauer now offers a provisional repository[6], awaiting integration
into the official collection when GLEP #15 is finally implemented. This
space is open to all users, not just official developers. For the time
being, if you want to contribute, send your script(s) with a short
description (and in case they are not in the public domain, some license
information attached to it) directly to Patrick[7].
5. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/glep/glep-0015.html
6. http://gentooexperimental.org/scripts/
7. patrick@gentoo.org
News from the Gentoo translators projects
-----------------------------------------
With the announcement of the Japanese translator team[8] that their
version of the Gentoo Handbook for x86 now reflects all changes done for
the 2004.3 release, there are currently six alternative languages
available with a mostly or even completely up-to-date translation of the
English default handbook. While the German version had already been in
sync with the English documentation since the day of the release, Danish,
French, Spanish and traditional Chinese have been added over the course of
the last two weeks. Other languages are bound to follow, and you can speed
up things by helping the translation teams in your language: contact the
project leads listed here[9] if you would like to contribute your time.
8. http://www.gentoo.gr.jp/jpnews/main/20041128-GentooHandbook-x86.xml
9. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gdp/international.xml
==============
2. Future zone
==============
Shifting to 2.6 kernel as default
---------------------------------
Traditionally, our installation documentation has instructed users to
install a Linux 2.4 kernel to power their Gentoo installation. Linux 2.4
is now in maintenance mode and has been superseded by Linux 2.6.
Linux 2.6, initially released at the end of 2003, is the result of years
of rapid development, providing many new features and improvements.
Notable changes include much improved desktop interactivity, multimedia
improvements such as new sound drivers (ALSA), improved hardware and
architecture support, additional security capabilities, improved
multi-processor (SMP) efficiency, and many other changes. Linux 2.6 is
still under constant development and has now reached a mature stage.
Gentoo Linux has always provided and semi-supported Linux 2.6 for an
option for users, and a few architectures have recently moved to making
this their recommended kernel (ppc, ppc64, amd64, ia64). For other
architectures such as x86, the default supported kernel is still Linux
2.4. For the 2005.0 release, the Gentoo kernel developers are working to
make Linux 2.6 the default kernel for all supported architectures upon
which 2.6 runs well. All new installations will run Linux 2.6, and at time
of release, existing 2.4 users will be encouraged to migrate.
Preparation for this switch has already begun. Our 2004.3 LiveCD, unlike
previous releases, runs the Linux 2.6 kernel internally by default, and
feedback from this has been very positive. Our Gentoo-supported Linux 2.6
package, gentoo-dev-sources, has been extended to be supported by as many
architectures as possible, whereas its 2.4 predecessor (gentoo-sources) is
really only aimed at x86 users. Thankfully, the process of migration from
Linux 2.4 to 2.6 is relatively simple, but documentation is in development
to highlight caveats in the migration[10].
10. http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/migration-to-2.6.xml
For the 2005.0 release, the 2.6-based gentoo-dev-sources package will be
merged into gentoo-sources. Other kernel packages will undergo similar
operations (e.g. development-sources merging into vanilla-sources), and
the 2.6 releases will be the default kernels under these package titles.
Linux 2.4 will still be supported, and will be selectable through an
alternative Portage profile. We have some more work to do beforehand, but
we will provide complete documentation when this change settles into place.
==================
3. Gentoo security
==================
X.Org, XFree86: libXpm vulnerabilities
--------------------------------------
libXpm contains several vulnerabilities that could lead to a Denial of
Service and arbitrary code execution.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[11]
11. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-28.xml
unarj: Long filenames buffer overflow and a path traversal vulnerability
------------------------------------------------------------------------
unarj contains a buffer overflow and a directory traversal vulnerability.
This could lead to overwriting of arbitrary files or the execution of
arbitrary code.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[12]
12. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-29.xml
pdftohtml: Vulnerabilities in included Xpdf
-------------------------------------------
pdftohtml includes vulnerable Xpdf code to handle PDF files, making it
vulnerable to execution of arbitrary code upon converting a malicious PDF
file.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[13]
13. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-30.xml
ProZilla: Multiple vulnerabilities
----------------------------------
ProZilla contains several buffer overflow vulnerabilities that can be
exploited by a malicious server to execute arbitrary code with the rights
of the user running ProZilla.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[14]
14. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-31.xml
phpBB: Remote command execution
-------------------------------
phpBB contains a vulnerability which allows a remote attacker to execute
arbitrary commands with the rights of the web server user.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[15]
15. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-32.xml
TWiki: Arbitrary command execution
----------------------------------
A bug in the TWiki search function allows an attacker to execute arbitrary
commands with the permissions of the user running TWiki.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[16]
16. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-33.xml
Cyrus IMAP Server: Multiple remote vulnerabilities
--------------------------------------------------
The Cyrus IMAP Server contains multiple vulnerabilities which could lead
to remote execution of arbitrary code.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[17]
17. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-34.xml
phpWebSite: HTTP response splitting vulnerability
-------------------------------------------------
phpWebSite is vulnerable to possible HTTP response splitting attacks.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[18]
18. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-35.xml
phpMyAdmin: Multiple XSS vulnerabilities
----------------------------------------
phpMyAdmin is vulnerable to cross-site scripting attacks.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[19]
19. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-36.xml
=========================
4. Heard in the community
=========================
Web forums
----------
The udderly mysterious Larry the Cow
In preparation for the Italian G-Day (see our article[20] in last week's
GWN), Peach[21] has designed a few posters, and thought he'd share his
artwork with the community. Note that "If it moves, compile it" doesn't
become the official motto for Gentoo Linux just by repetition...
20.
21. http://forums.gentoo.org/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=15873
* Larry The Cow unveiled and Gentoo Posters[22]
22. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=257123
gentoo-user
-----------
Gentoo on low end systems
Gentoo is primarily installed on modern hardware because it demands CPU
power when doing most Portage operations. However, Gentoo's "only what you
need" approach is great for systems that only need a select set of
services running, or machines with meager hardware available. Check out
this quick thread for a few tips if you're planning on installing Gentoo
on an aging machine.
* Gentoo Tips for Lower End Systems?[23]
23. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/108696
Copying kernel config files
Here's a quick tip that we've mentioned before; but can be such a time
saver that it is worth bringing up every so often. When upgrading Linux
kernels, use the command stated in this thread to carry over the settings
from your previous kernel version.
* Q: Copying kernel config files[24]
24. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/108698
Thanksgiving shopping tips
For our readers in the U.S., what kind of holiday week would it be without
mentioning shopping the day after Thanksgiving? This sprawling thread
covered just about every old tip and advice in the book. A bit off topic,
but right on time. Enjoy!
* When to shop during thanksgiving?[25]
25. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/108703
gentoo-dev
----------
Thanksgiving thanks given
With Thanksgiving just over and Christmas approaching, both users and
developers have expressed their gratitude for Gentoo's existence. In the
first thread, Christian Hoenig expresses his gratitude for being able to
run Gentoo for two years without reinstall, and just a few hours before,
Jeremy Huddleston[26] was all warm and mushy inside after eating his
Thanksgiving turkey, and just felt like writing a happy "thank you all!"
26. eradicator@gentoo.org
* Big thanks for my 2nd anniversary, devs![27]
* thank you all![28]
27. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/23197
28. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/23184
Beeping nuisance
Roman Gaufman[29] writes: "Someone was bound to complain. I set xorg to
emerge and go to sleep. I fall asleep and it starts beeping! GRR! Doesnt
it bother anyone? -- under no circumstances do I want beeping." This
common "bug" has already been taken care of, but the documentation for
EBEEP_IGNORE is not yet publically available. Check the thread to see how
you can silence Portage if you have to!
29. hackeron@gmail.com
* Gentoo beeping at me?[30]
30. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/23109
=======================
5. Gentoo International
=======================
Turkey: New Gentoo website, GWN mailing list
--------------------------------------------
Gentoo Türkiye, the Turkish Gentoo User Group, has announced their
soon-to-be website[31], still very much under construction at the time of
this writing. According to admin Bahadır Kandemir (who is doubling as lead
GWN translator for Turkish), the team running the site is working on their
own XML content management system, and will go live as soon as possible.
More importantly, the revived Turkish GWN version can now be subscribed
to, via a brandnew mailing list "bulten@gentoo-tr.org" (bulten =
newsletter), operational only since last week. If you would like to
receive the Turkish GWN regularly (with a delay of just a few hours
compared to the English original), send an empty mail to
bulten-subscribe@gentoo-tr.org. Interestingly enough, Gentoo Türkiye's
website and mailing list are sponsored by a Moscow-based hosting company,
IQChoice.com[32]. In case you'd like to support their efforts, come and
meet the Turkish Gentoo user community where they usually hang out: in the
#turklug channel on irc.freenode.net.
31. http://www.gentoo-tr.org/
32. http://www.iqchoice.com
Poland: Bialystok EVDT conference
---------------------------------
Last Saturday, 20 November 2004, a group of open-source amateurs using the
colorful label "Electric Vodka Developer Team" (EVDT) held a conference on
"Alternative platforms and operating systems"[33] in their home town
Bialystok, an all-day event hosted at the local Technical University.
Papers on the history of operating systems, on cluster, embedded, and real
time systems, and about the differences between x86 and PowerPC
architectures were being presented to about 80 participants. The PPC side
was further explored in talks about the Altivec units in PowerPC G4
processors and how to make use of them with the help of gcc, and in a
closing presentation about the PegasosPPC platform (see above) and its
native MorphOS system. Between the sessions and after the last one had
finished, visitors were able to see and touch some live hardware and
software. There were PowerPC (G3 and G4) with MorphOS on display, and x86
desktops with QNX, Slackware, Debian, and of course Gentoo Linux
installed. Everyone was free to check the differences between several
Linux flairs, alternative operating systems, and assorted hardware. Some
photos and a longer report from the event are available here[34] (polish
only).
33. http://szarik.rr.nu/evdt/alt04.html
34. http://szarik.rr.nu/evdt/alt04.html
Figure 5.1: Power of diversity: alternative platforms on display at the
conference
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20041129-bialystok.jpg
Germany: Bowling for Gänsebein
-------------------------------
The notorious Ruhr region Gentooists are meeting on 10 December for a
friendly Christmas dinner party at the equally notorious Gasthof
Harlos[35] in Oberhausen. The menu is still being discussed, available
options include Gänsekeulen (goose legs) and Rinderrouladen (beef rolls).
After dinner the attendants and their ample supply of Glühwein (German
mulled wine) will retreat to the bowling alley. If you intend to join
them, post to this forum thread[36].
35. http://www.gasthof-harlos.de
36. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=1783926#1783926
======================
6. Gentoo in the press
======================
ZDNet UK (25 November 2004)
---------------------------
In her article[37] published shortly after Gentoo Linux 2004.3 was made
available to the public, Ingrid Marson from ZDNet UK already reports about
the preparations for Gentoo's next release, 2005.0, due in February next
year. The article is mostly based on an interview with Gentoo release
engineer Chris Gianelloni[38] and points out a graphical installation and
the planned ability to run Gentoo Linux completely off the LiveCD.
37. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39175014,00.htm
38. wolf31o2@gentoo.org
===========
7. Bugzilla
===========
Summary
-------
* Statistics
* Closed bug ranking
* New bug rankings
Statistics
----------
The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[39]) to record and
track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the
development team. Between 14 November 2004 and 28 November 2004, activity
on the site has resulted in:
39. http://bugs.gentoo.org
* 1563 new bugs during this period
* 847 bugs closed or resolved during this period
* 47 previously closed bugs were reopened this period
Of the 7645 currently open bugs: 135 are labeled 'blocker', 248 are
labeled 'critical', and 562 are labeled 'major'.
Closed bug rankings
-------------------
The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period
are:
* AMD64 Porting Team[40], with 50 closed bugs[41]
* Xavier Neys[42], with 34 closed bugs[43]
* Gentoo Games[44], with 33 closed bugs[45]
* Mozilla Gentoo Team[46], with 29 closed bugs[47]
* ppc64 architecture team[48], with 27 closed bugs[49]
* Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[50], with 27 closed bugs[51]
* Jeremy Huddleston[52], with 25 closed bugs[53]
* Gentoo Linux bug wranglers[54], with 23 closed bugs[55]
40. amd64@gentoo.org
41.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch$field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=amd64@gentoo.org
42. neysx@gentoo.org
43.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=neysx@gentoo.org
44. games@gentoo.org
45.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=games@gentoo.org
46. mozilla@gentoo.org
47.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=mozilla@gentoo.org
48. ppc64@gentoo.org
49.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=ppc64@gentoo.org
50. gnome@gentoo.org
51.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=gnome@gentoo.org
52. eradicator@gentoo.org
53.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=eradicator@gentoo.org
54. bug-wranglers@gentoo.org
55.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=bug-wranglers@gentoo.org
New bug rankings
----------------
The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during
this period are:
* Gentoo's Team for Core System packages[56], with 32 new bugs[57]
* AMD64 Porting Team[58], with 28 new bugs[59]
* Gentoo X-windows packagers[60], with 23 new bugs[61]
* media-video herd[62], with 20 new bugs[63]
* Java team[64], with 20 new bugs[65]
* Portage team[66], with 15 new bugs[67]
* SpanKY[68], with 13 new bugs[69]
* netmon herd[70], with 13 new bugs[71]
56. base-system@gentoo.org
57.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=base-system@gentoo.org
58. amd64@gentoo.org
59.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=amd64@gentoo.org
60. x11@gentoo.org
61.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=x11@gentoo.org
62. media-video@gentoo.org
63.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=media-video@gentoo.org
64. java@gentoo.org
65.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=java@gentoo.org
66. dev-portage@gentoo.org
67.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=dev-portage@gentoo.org
68. vapier@gentoo.org
69.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=vapier@gentoo.org
70. netmon@gentoo.org
71.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=netmon@gentoo.org
==================
8. Tips and Tricks
==================
Portage GUIs
------------
Larry the Cow became just a bit frustrated with Portage and its textual
frontend. There used to be the legendary KPortage to sooth his craving for
a graphical user interface, but its development stalled, and it vanished
from the Portage tree a long time ago.
Then Larry tried guitoo and porthole. He was impressed. He found two
up-to-date Portage frontends with ongoing development. All of a sudden,
Larry the Cow was in control. And he liked it.
First off, Guitoo[72] is a KDE application offering most functions of
Portage, such as views of installed and generally available packages. It
helps you keep your system up to date, lets you view logs and keeps its
own queue for the installation of multiple packages. Very interesting and
rather more advanced than its predecessor KPortage it's equipped with a
systemtray ("kicker") application called Gentoo Watcher, which is pulling
in rss feeds from the Gentoo website, raking in all available information
on the latest packages and the Gentoo Linux Security Advisories (GLSA).
Using the watcher, pending security updates are just one click away as
they can be pushed to Guitoo for emerging.
72. http://guitoo.sf.net
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Code Listing 8.1: |
|Emerge |
Guitoo---------------------------------------------------------------------
----
| |
|# echo "app-portage/guitoo ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords (if |
necessary)
|# emerge guitoo |
| |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
And then there's Porthole[73]. GTK+-2 rather than Qt-based, it gives you
control over the basic Portage features, i.e. emerge, unmerge, sync and
update. While guitoo only gets the output of emerge --pretend to show you
the dependencies a package has, porthole can show you directly which
dependencies are met and which are not.
73. http://porthole.sf.net/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Code Listing 8.2: |
|Emerge |
Porthole-------------------------------------------------------------------
------
| |
|# echo "app-portage/porthole ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords (if |
necessary)
|# emerge porthole |
| |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Larry, being happy about having the tools in the first place, is rather
indifferent at this point as to which one is preferrable. He suggests you
try both, and decide for yourself. Choice to the user.
Figure 8.1: Screenshots of Porthole (left) and Guitoo (right, including
the watcher)
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20041129-tnt.png
===========================
9. Moves, adds, and changes
===========================
Moves
-----
The following developers recently left the Gentoo team:
* None this week
Adds
----
The following developers recently joined the Gentoo Linux team:
* Micheal Marineau (marineam) - Kernel patches
Changes
-------
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux
project:
* None this week
=====================
10. Contribute to GWN
=====================
Interested in contributing to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter? Send us an
email[74].
74. gwn-feedback@gentoo.org
================
11. GWN feedback
================
Please send us your feedback[75] and help make the GWN better.
75. gwn-feedback@gentoo.org
================================
12. GWN subscription information
================================
To subscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to
gentoo-gwn-subscribe@gentoo.org.
To unsubscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to
gentoo-gwn-unsubscribe@gentoo.org from the email address you are
subscribed under.
===================
13. Other languages
===================
The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages:
* Danish[76]
* Dutch[77]
* English[78]
* German[79]
* French[80]
* Japanese[81]
* Italian[82]
* Polish[83]
* Portuguese (Brazil)[84]
* Portuguese (Portugal)[85]
* Russian[86]
* Spanish[87]
* Turkish[88]
76. http://www.gentoo.org/news/da/gwn/gwn.xml
77. http://www.gentoo.org/news/be/gwn/gwn.xml
78. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml
79. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml
80. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml
81. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml
82. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml
83. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml
84. http://www.gentoo.org/news/br/gwn/gwn.xml
85. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml
86. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml
87. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml
88. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml
Ulrich Plate <plate@gentoo.org> - Editor
Rafał Ciszyński <r.ciszynski@wb.pl> - Author
Brian Downey <bdowney@briandowney.net> - Author
Daniel Drake <dsd@gentoo.org> - Author
Michael Imhof <tantive@gentoo.org> - Author
Patrick Lauer <patrick@gentoo.org> - Author
--
gentoo-gwn@gentoo.org mailing list
Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml
This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of 29 November 2004.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
==============
1. Gentoo News
==============
Genesi starts shipping PegasosPPC with Gentoo Linux preinstalled
----------------------------------------------------------------
The Luxemburg-based company Genesi S.Ã .r.l.[1] has announced that sales of
their PegasosPPC Open Desktop Workstations (ODW) equipped with Gentoo
Linux 2004.3 will start this week. Just hours after ordering of the ODW
had become "quietly" available on the Freescale (i.e. the CPU
manufacturer's) website[2] on Thanksgiving Day, orders started pouring in,
says Bill Buck, Genesi's CEO. The units are to be shipped to South Korea
and will be the first to sport Gentoo Linux, on top of the previously
included Debian and Yellowdog.
1. http://www.genesi.lu
2.
https://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?nodeId=018rH3bTdG8653&code=PPCG40001
Figure 1.1: Fan-less assembled Pegasos II motherboard
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20041129-odw.jpg
According to Genesi, the PowerPC-based ODW offers "an anchor for the whole
enterprise infrastructure." Optimized performance and lower price levels
are the prime objectives, offering a solution to collapse the IT
infrastructure into one family of scalable and upgradable hardware, and an
open-source operating system and application base. "We think there will be
a lot of interest in this concept, especially for national IT
infrastructures where a progressively developing software resource based
on GNU/Linux can significantly reduce the total cost of ownership," says
Bill Buck. He wants a low-foot-print, low-power 32bit PowerPC solution
"with a strong link to Gentoo and other non-commercial GNU/Linux
distributions as a foundation." Genesi and Freescale foster development on
their current Open Desktop Workstations, with the next hardware generation
being tuned to market: The PegasosPPCs donated last month to Gentoo Linux
and other developers are predominantly positioned as development machines,
but they can serve as thin clients, workstation, netcom devices, file
servers or clusters alike.
Figure 1.2: What's inside a Pegasos?
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20041129-pegasos.jpg
Amidst MySQL servers and efforts at building Pegasos blade clusters,
Gentoo developer David Holm[3] and colleagues have been working on a
Linux/PPC-based network firewall and mail filter application running on
the Pegasos hardware. By utilising AltiVec to do parallel processing of
data they hope to increase the maximum throughput of both network packets
and e-mails. Developers at the Romanian subsidiary of Freescale[4] are
integrating their AltiVec enhanced VPN enciphering modules with this
product. The base system is built by using the Gentoo uclibc stages in
order to minimise the footprint so that it will fit on flash storage.
Parts of the code developed for this project will be released as (L)GPL,
the systems are scheduled to ship in early 2005.
3. dholm@gentoo.org
4. http://www.freescale.com
Gentoo script repository
------------------------
As the script-aided administration of Gentoo systems is clearly a very
useful concept, the idea of a central script repository had already been
formalized in an early Gentoo Linux Enhancement Proposal (GLEP)[5]. Lack
of manpower has prevented this from finishing yet, but Gentoo developer
Patrick Lauer now offers a provisional repository[6], awaiting integration
into the official collection when GLEP #15 is finally implemented. This
space is open to all users, not just official developers. For the time
being, if you want to contribute, send your script(s) with a short
description (and in case they are not in the public domain, some license
information attached to it) directly to Patrick[7].
5. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/glep/glep-0015.html
6. http://gentooexperimental.org/scripts/
7. patrick@gentoo.org
News from the Gentoo translators projects
-----------------------------------------
With the announcement of the Japanese translator team[8] that their
version of the Gentoo Handbook for x86 now reflects all changes done for
the 2004.3 release, there are currently six alternative languages
available with a mostly or even completely up-to-date translation of the
English default handbook. While the German version had already been in
sync with the English documentation since the day of the release, Danish,
French, Spanish and traditional Chinese have been added over the course of
the last two weeks. Other languages are bound to follow, and you can speed
up things by helping the translation teams in your language: contact the
project leads listed here[9] if you would like to contribute your time.
8. http://www.gentoo.gr.jp/jpnews/main/20041128-GentooHandbook-x86.xml
9. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gdp/international.xml
==============
2. Future zone
==============
Shifting to 2.6 kernel as default
---------------------------------
Traditionally, our installation documentation has instructed users to
install a Linux 2.4 kernel to power their Gentoo installation. Linux 2.4
is now in maintenance mode and has been superseded by Linux 2.6.
Linux 2.6, initially released at the end of 2003, is the result of years
of rapid development, providing many new features and improvements.
Notable changes include much improved desktop interactivity, multimedia
improvements such as new sound drivers (ALSA), improved hardware and
architecture support, additional security capabilities, improved
multi-processor (SMP) efficiency, and many other changes. Linux 2.6 is
still under constant development and has now reached a mature stage.
Gentoo Linux has always provided and semi-supported Linux 2.6 for an
option for users, and a few architectures have recently moved to making
this their recommended kernel (ppc, ppc64, amd64, ia64). For other
architectures such as x86, the default supported kernel is still Linux
2.4. For the 2005.0 release, the Gentoo kernel developers are working to
make Linux 2.6 the default kernel for all supported architectures upon
which 2.6 runs well. All new installations will run Linux 2.6, and at time
of release, existing 2.4 users will be encouraged to migrate.
Preparation for this switch has already begun. Our 2004.3 LiveCD, unlike
previous releases, runs the Linux 2.6 kernel internally by default, and
feedback from this has been very positive. Our Gentoo-supported Linux 2.6
package, gentoo-dev-sources, has been extended to be supported by as many
architectures as possible, whereas its 2.4 predecessor (gentoo-sources) is
really only aimed at x86 users. Thankfully, the process of migration from
Linux 2.4 to 2.6 is relatively simple, but documentation is in development
to highlight caveats in the migration[10].
10. http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/migration-to-2.6.xml
For the 2005.0 release, the 2.6-based gentoo-dev-sources package will be
merged into gentoo-sources. Other kernel packages will undergo similar
operations (e.g. development-sources merging into vanilla-sources), and
the 2.6 releases will be the default kernels under these package titles.
Linux 2.4 will still be supported, and will be selectable through an
alternative Portage profile. We have some more work to do beforehand, but
we will provide complete documentation when this change settles into place.
==================
3. Gentoo security
==================
X.Org, XFree86: libXpm vulnerabilities
--------------------------------------
libXpm contains several vulnerabilities that could lead to a Denial of
Service and arbitrary code execution.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[11]
11. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-28.xml
unarj: Long filenames buffer overflow and a path traversal vulnerability
------------------------------------------------------------------------
unarj contains a buffer overflow and a directory traversal vulnerability.
This could lead to overwriting of arbitrary files or the execution of
arbitrary code.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[12]
12. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-29.xml
pdftohtml: Vulnerabilities in included Xpdf
-------------------------------------------
pdftohtml includes vulnerable Xpdf code to handle PDF files, making it
vulnerable to execution of arbitrary code upon converting a malicious PDF
file.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[13]
13. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-30.xml
ProZilla: Multiple vulnerabilities
----------------------------------
ProZilla contains several buffer overflow vulnerabilities that can be
exploited by a malicious server to execute arbitrary code with the rights
of the user running ProZilla.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[14]
14. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-31.xml
phpBB: Remote command execution
-------------------------------
phpBB contains a vulnerability which allows a remote attacker to execute
arbitrary commands with the rights of the web server user.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[15]
15. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-32.xml
TWiki: Arbitrary command execution
----------------------------------
A bug in the TWiki search function allows an attacker to execute arbitrary
commands with the permissions of the user running TWiki.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[16]
16. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-33.xml
Cyrus IMAP Server: Multiple remote vulnerabilities
--------------------------------------------------
The Cyrus IMAP Server contains multiple vulnerabilities which could lead
to remote execution of arbitrary code.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[17]
17. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-34.xml
phpWebSite: HTTP response splitting vulnerability
-------------------------------------------------
phpWebSite is vulnerable to possible HTTP response splitting attacks.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[18]
18. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-35.xml
phpMyAdmin: Multiple XSS vulnerabilities
----------------------------------------
phpMyAdmin is vulnerable to cross-site scripting attacks.
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[19]
19. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200411-36.xml
=========================
4. Heard in the community
=========================
Web forums
----------
The udderly mysterious Larry the Cow
In preparation for the Italian G-Day (see our article[20] in last week's
GWN), Peach[21] has designed a few posters, and thought he'd share his
artwork with the community. Note that "If it moves, compile it" doesn't
become the official motto for Gentoo Linux just by repetition...
20.
21. http://forums.gentoo.org/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=15873
* Larry The Cow unveiled and Gentoo Posters[22]
22. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=257123
gentoo-user
-----------
Gentoo on low end systems
Gentoo is primarily installed on modern hardware because it demands CPU
power when doing most Portage operations. However, Gentoo's "only what you
need" approach is great for systems that only need a select set of
services running, or machines with meager hardware available. Check out
this quick thread for a few tips if you're planning on installing Gentoo
on an aging machine.
* Gentoo Tips for Lower End Systems?[23]
23. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/108696
Copying kernel config files
Here's a quick tip that we've mentioned before; but can be such a time
saver that it is worth bringing up every so often. When upgrading Linux
kernels, use the command stated in this thread to carry over the settings
from your previous kernel version.
* Q: Copying kernel config files[24]
24. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/108698
Thanksgiving shopping tips
For our readers in the U.S., what kind of holiday week would it be without
mentioning shopping the day after Thanksgiving? This sprawling thread
covered just about every old tip and advice in the book. A bit off topic,
but right on time. Enjoy!
* When to shop during thanksgiving?[25]
25. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/108703
gentoo-dev
----------
Thanksgiving thanks given
With Thanksgiving just over and Christmas approaching, both users and
developers have expressed their gratitude for Gentoo's existence. In the
first thread, Christian Hoenig expresses his gratitude for being able to
run Gentoo for two years without reinstall, and just a few hours before,
Jeremy Huddleston[26] was all warm and mushy inside after eating his
Thanksgiving turkey, and just felt like writing a happy "thank you all!"
26. eradicator@gentoo.org
* Big thanks for my 2nd anniversary, devs![27]
* thank you all![28]
27. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/23197
28. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/23184
Beeping nuisance
Roman Gaufman[29] writes: "Someone was bound to complain. I set xorg to
emerge and go to sleep. I fall asleep and it starts beeping! GRR! Doesnt
it bother anyone? -- under no circumstances do I want beeping." This
common "bug" has already been taken care of, but the documentation for
EBEEP_IGNORE is not yet publically available. Check the thread to see how
you can silence Portage if you have to!
29. hackeron@gmail.com
* Gentoo beeping at me?[30]
30. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/23109
=======================
5. Gentoo International
=======================
Turkey: New Gentoo website, GWN mailing list
--------------------------------------------
Gentoo Türkiye, the Turkish Gentoo User Group, has announced their
soon-to-be website[31], still very much under construction at the time of
this writing. According to admin Bahadır Kandemir (who is doubling as lead
GWN translator for Turkish), the team running the site is working on their
own XML content management system, and will go live as soon as possible.
More importantly, the revived Turkish GWN version can now be subscribed
to, via a brandnew mailing list "bulten@gentoo-tr.org" (bulten =
newsletter), operational only since last week. If you would like to
receive the Turkish GWN regularly (with a delay of just a few hours
compared to the English original), send an empty mail to
bulten-subscribe@gentoo-tr.org. Interestingly enough, Gentoo Türkiye's
website and mailing list are sponsored by a Moscow-based hosting company,
IQChoice.com[32]. In case you'd like to support their efforts, come and
meet the Turkish Gentoo user community where they usually hang out: in the
#turklug channel on irc.freenode.net.
31. http://www.gentoo-tr.org/
32. http://www.iqchoice.com
Poland: Bialystok EVDT conference
---------------------------------
Last Saturday, 20 November 2004, a group of open-source amateurs using the
colorful label "Electric Vodka Developer Team" (EVDT) held a conference on
"Alternative platforms and operating systems"[33] in their home town
Bialystok, an all-day event hosted at the local Technical University.
Papers on the history of operating systems, on cluster, embedded, and real
time systems, and about the differences between x86 and PowerPC
architectures were being presented to about 80 participants. The PPC side
was further explored in talks about the Altivec units in PowerPC G4
processors and how to make use of them with the help of gcc, and in a
closing presentation about the PegasosPPC platform (see above) and its
native MorphOS system. Between the sessions and after the last one had
finished, visitors were able to see and touch some live hardware and
software. There were PowerPC (G3 and G4) with MorphOS on display, and x86
desktops with QNX, Slackware, Debian, and of course Gentoo Linux
installed. Everyone was free to check the differences between several
Linux flairs, alternative operating systems, and assorted hardware. Some
photos and a longer report from the event are available here[34] (polish
only).
33. http://szarik.rr.nu/evdt/alt04.html
34. http://szarik.rr.nu/evdt/alt04.html
Figure 5.1: Power of diversity: alternative platforms on display at the
conference
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20041129-bialystok.jpg
Germany: Bowling for Gänsebein
-------------------------------
The notorious Ruhr region Gentooists are meeting on 10 December for a
friendly Christmas dinner party at the equally notorious Gasthof
Harlos[35] in Oberhausen. The menu is still being discussed, available
options include Gänsekeulen (goose legs) and Rinderrouladen (beef rolls).
After dinner the attendants and their ample supply of Glühwein (German
mulled wine) will retreat to the bowling alley. If you intend to join
them, post to this forum thread[36].
35. http://www.gasthof-harlos.de
36. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=1783926#1783926
======================
6. Gentoo in the press
======================
ZDNet UK (25 November 2004)
---------------------------
In her article[37] published shortly after Gentoo Linux 2004.3 was made
available to the public, Ingrid Marson from ZDNet UK already reports about
the preparations for Gentoo's next release, 2005.0, due in February next
year. The article is mostly based on an interview with Gentoo release
engineer Chris Gianelloni[38] and points out a graphical installation and
the planned ability to run Gentoo Linux completely off the LiveCD.
37. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39175014,00.htm
38. wolf31o2@gentoo.org
===========
7. Bugzilla
===========
Summary
-------
* Statistics
* Closed bug ranking
* New bug rankings
Statistics
----------
The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[39]) to record and
track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the
development team. Between 14 November 2004 and 28 November 2004, activity
on the site has resulted in:
39. http://bugs.gentoo.org
* 1563 new bugs during this period
* 847 bugs closed or resolved during this period
* 47 previously closed bugs were reopened this period
Of the 7645 currently open bugs: 135 are labeled 'blocker', 248 are
labeled 'critical', and 562 are labeled 'major'.
Closed bug rankings
-------------------
The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period
are:
* AMD64 Porting Team[40], with 50 closed bugs[41]
* Xavier Neys[42], with 34 closed bugs[43]
* Gentoo Games[44], with 33 closed bugs[45]
* Mozilla Gentoo Team[46], with 29 closed bugs[47]
* ppc64 architecture team[48], with 27 closed bugs[49]
* Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[50], with 27 closed bugs[51]
* Jeremy Huddleston[52], with 25 closed bugs[53]
* Gentoo Linux bug wranglers[54], with 23 closed bugs[55]
40. amd64@gentoo.org
41.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch$field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=amd64@gentoo.org
42. neysx@gentoo.org
43.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=neysx@gentoo.org
44. games@gentoo.org
45.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=games@gentoo.org
46. mozilla@gentoo.org
47.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=mozilla@gentoo.org
48. ppc64@gentoo.org
49.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=ppc64@gentoo.org
50. gnome@gentoo.org
51.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=gnome@gentoo.org
52. eradicator@gentoo.org
53.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=eradicator@gentoo.org
54. bug-wranglers@gentoo.org
55.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&resolution=FIXED&assigned_to=bug-wranglers@gentoo.org
New bug rankings
----------------
The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during
this period are:
* Gentoo's Team for Core System packages[56], with 32 new bugs[57]
* AMD64 Porting Team[58], with 28 new bugs[59]
* Gentoo X-windows packagers[60], with 23 new bugs[61]
* media-video herd[62], with 20 new bugs[63]
* Java team[64], with 20 new bugs[65]
* Portage team[66], with 15 new bugs[67]
* SpanKY[68], with 13 new bugs[69]
* netmon herd[70], with 13 new bugs[71]
56. base-system@gentoo.org
57.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=base-system@gentoo.org
58. amd64@gentoo.org
59.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=amd64@gentoo.org
60. x11@gentoo.org
61.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=x11@gentoo.org
62. media-video@gentoo.org
63.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=media-video@gentoo.org
64. java@gentoo.org
65.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=java@gentoo.org
66. dev-portage@gentoo.org
67.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=dev-portage@gentoo.org
68. vapier@gentoo.org
69.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=vapier@gentoo.org
70. netmon@gentoo.org
71.
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-11-14&chfieldto=2004-11-28&assigned_to=netmon@gentoo.org
==================
8. Tips and Tricks
==================
Portage GUIs
------------
Larry the Cow became just a bit frustrated with Portage and its textual
frontend. There used to be the legendary KPortage to sooth his craving for
a graphical user interface, but its development stalled, and it vanished
from the Portage tree a long time ago.
Then Larry tried guitoo and porthole. He was impressed. He found two
up-to-date Portage frontends with ongoing development. All of a sudden,
Larry the Cow was in control. And he liked it.
First off, Guitoo[72] is a KDE application offering most functions of
Portage, such as views of installed and generally available packages. It
helps you keep your system up to date, lets you view logs and keeps its
own queue for the installation of multiple packages. Very interesting and
rather more advanced than its predecessor KPortage it's equipped with a
systemtray ("kicker") application called Gentoo Watcher, which is pulling
in rss feeds from the Gentoo website, raking in all available information
on the latest packages and the Gentoo Linux Security Advisories (GLSA).
Using the watcher, pending security updates are just one click away as
they can be pushed to Guitoo for emerging.
72. http://guitoo.sf.net
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Code Listing 8.1: |
|Emerge |
Guitoo---------------------------------------------------------------------
----
| |
|# echo "app-portage/guitoo ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords (if |
necessary)
|# emerge guitoo |
| |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
And then there's Porthole[73]. GTK+-2 rather than Qt-based, it gives you
control over the basic Portage features, i.e. emerge, unmerge, sync and
update. While guitoo only gets the output of emerge --pretend to show you
the dependencies a package has, porthole can show you directly which
dependencies are met and which are not.
73. http://porthole.sf.net/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Code Listing 8.2: |
|Emerge |
Porthole-------------------------------------------------------------------
------
| |
|# echo "app-portage/porthole ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords (if |
necessary)
|# emerge porthole |
| |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Larry, being happy about having the tools in the first place, is rather
indifferent at this point as to which one is preferrable. He suggests you
try both, and decide for yourself. Choice to the user.
Figure 8.1: Screenshots of Porthole (left) and Guitoo (right, including
the watcher)
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20041129-tnt.png
===========================
9. Moves, adds, and changes
===========================
Moves
-----
The following developers recently left the Gentoo team:
* None this week
Adds
----
The following developers recently joined the Gentoo Linux team:
* Micheal Marineau (marineam) - Kernel patches
Changes
-------
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux
project:
* None this week
=====================
10. Contribute to GWN
=====================
Interested in contributing to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter? Send us an
email[74].
74. gwn-feedback@gentoo.org
================
11. GWN feedback
================
Please send us your feedback[75] and help make the GWN better.
75. gwn-feedback@gentoo.org
================================
12. GWN subscription information
================================
To subscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to
gentoo-gwn-subscribe@gentoo.org.
To unsubscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to
gentoo-gwn-unsubscribe@gentoo.org from the email address you are
subscribed under.
===================
13. Other languages
===================
The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages:
* Danish[76]
* Dutch[77]
* English[78]
* German[79]
* French[80]
* Japanese[81]
* Italian[82]
* Polish[83]
* Portuguese (Brazil)[84]
* Portuguese (Portugal)[85]
* Russian[86]
* Spanish[87]
* Turkish[88]
76. http://www.gentoo.org/news/da/gwn/gwn.xml
77. http://www.gentoo.org/news/be/gwn/gwn.xml
78. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml
79. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml
80. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml
81. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml
82. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml
83. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml
84. http://www.gentoo.org/news/br/gwn/gwn.xml
85. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml
86. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml
87. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml
88. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml
Ulrich Plate <plate@gentoo.org> - Editor
Rafał Ciszyński <r.ciszynski@wb.pl> - Author
Brian Downey <bdowney@briandowney.net> - Author
Daniel Drake <dsd@gentoo.org> - Author
Michael Imhof <tantive@gentoo.org> - Author
Patrick Lauer <patrick@gentoo.org> - Author
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