From:	 Martin Schulze <joey@infodrom.org>
To:	 Debian News Channel <debian-news@lists.debian.org>
Subject: Debian Weekly News - February 27th, 2002
Date:	 Wed, 27 Feb 2002 20:56:49 +0100

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Debian Weekly News
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2002/9/
Debian Weekly News - February 27th, 2002
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Welcome to this year's ninth issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for
the Debian community. Our collegues from Linux Weekly News had nice
[1]coverage of the unstable Debian distribution. Additionally, the
European Commission wants to know more about Free Software developers.
You may want to help with their [2]survey. This week's compulsory
discussion on the release process of Debian is [3]here.

 1. http://lwn.net/2002/0221/
 2. http://floss1.infonomics.nl/
 3. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0202/msg01653.html

Packages Removed From Woody. Anthony Towns [4]informed us about the
first set of packages that were removed from Woody. However, this
isn't the last word on the matter in a number of ways: there are
certainly going to be more removals, but there's also still a chance
for some of these packages to get back into Woody if the appropriate
bugs are fixed and the package is given enough time to be tested.

 4. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce-0202/msg00014.html

Crypto Software in Debian. You may have heard about this subject
before, the Debian project plans to include crypto software in their
main archive. James Troup and Sam Hartman recently sent a [5]note to
all mirror maintainers, to inform them about the current situation and
future plans. Sometime after March 8th, crypto software like OpenSSH,
SSL support, and many other enhancements will be integrated into the
main archive. This is in accordance to [6]legal advice the Debian
project received.

 5. http://lists.debian.org/debian-mirrors-0202/msg00001.html
 6. http://www.debian.org/legal/cryptoinmain

OpenOffice Progress. Some people may have missed it already, but
Jan-Hendrik Palic is still working on getting OpenOffice compiled and
packaged. He recently announced a [7]web page unveiling the current
status of his effort. Several problems were already addressed but
there's still a lot of work to do until it can be packaged. People who
are interested in this matter should subscribe to the
[8]debian-openoffice mailing list.

 7. http://www.linux-debian.de/openoffice/
 8. http://lists.debian.org/debian-openoffice/

Investigating Debian's Menu System. Bill Allombert tested support for
the Debian menu system in all window managers and menu managers in
Debian/testing. The [9]results of this [10]survey are sobering. Too
many menu managers do not support user defined menu entries out of the
box and some window managers even preprocess their config files with
m4 which may cause problems.

 9. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0202/msg01460.html
 10. http://people.debian.org/~ballombe/wmbugs/

Debian as Aid Server. Matthew Grant from an [11]organisation that
hosts GNU/Linux Projects for Developing Countries [12]reported that
they chose Debian to build an [13]Aid Server whose purpose is to
enhance communications for aid organisations and NGOs
(Non-governmental organizations), specially suited for conditions
found in many 3rd world countries.

 11. http://www.anathoth.gen.nz/
 12. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0202/msg01786.html
 13. http://linux-aid.anathoth.gen.nz/

Upgrading from Potato to Woody. Dale Scheetz [14]completed his second
attempt at a smooth upgrade from Potato to Woody. Things went much
better this time, but there are still some slight gotchas that will
need to be detailed in the upgrade notes. Before actually upgrading,
one has to install new versions of apt, dpkg and apt-utils, though.

 14. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0202/msg01868.html

Debian and the LSB. The Linux Standard Base [15]Specification 1.1.0
(LSB) was released a while back. To make Debian LSB compliant, Chris
Lawrence [16]prepared an [17]lsb package that contains a number of
compatibility scripts and directories and provides the lsb dependency
for LSB-conformant applications. With a few caveats, it implements
most of the LSB spec, in conjunction with Joey Hess' new [18]alien
8.00.

 15. http://www.linuxbase.org/spec/refspecs/LSB_1.1.0/gLSB/book1.html
 16. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0202/msg01940.html
 17. http://people.debian.org/~lawrencc/
 18. http://kitenet.net/programs/alien/

Debian Project Leader Elections. After [19]Raphaël Hertzog and
[20]Bdale Garbee the third candidate, our fearless XFree86 maintainer,
Branden Robinson, [21]declared his intent to run for the office of
Debian Project Leader. Campaigning begins on February 28th (i.e.
tomorrow). After publication of their platforms, there shall be a one
week period for each candidate to create a rebuttal, and the rebuttals
shall be published on the 7th of March.

 19. http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote-0202/msg00002.html
 20. http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote-0202/msg00010.html
 21. http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote-0202/msg00017.html

Debian and IPv6. Not all networking packages in Debian are ready for
IPv6 connections yet. Unfortunately many maintainers, both Debian and
upstream, often respond to patches like: "I don't have IPv6 on my
system, therefore can't validate whether or not your patch
destabilizes my stable code, so I won't accept it." This degenerates
it into another chicken and egg situation. A Debian repository for
IPv6 enabled packages that aren't part of Debian yet, would be
[22]appreciated. [23]Setting up IPv6 over an IPv4 tunnel is quite
easy, says Marco d'Itri. Here's another [24]document that describes
how to make an application not care about IPv4 or IPv6 in socket
connections.

 22. http://lists.debian.org/debian-ipv6-0202/msg00044.html
 23. http://www.linux.it/~md/6to4
 24. http://www.kame.net/newsletter/19980604/

MySQL Documentation is Free or Not? Recent versions of MySQL
documentation state clearly that they are not released using the
[25]GNU General Public License (GPL). The reason is that [26]MySQL AB
likes to be the only one who may sell printed versions for MySQL.
However, they [27]would like to release the documentation under the
[28]GNU Free Documentation License (FDL). This license and the
original idea would clash, though.

 25. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
 26. http://www.mysql.com/
 27. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal-0202/msg00153.html
 28. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

Public Relations for Debian. Karl Hegbloom [29]pointed out that the
Debian Project lacks a good PR department that submits PR and tech
articles to news services. News papers and services need press
releases submitted to them for reprint and redistribution. Debian
isn't included in many of them, however, some read our press releases
as well and comment on them. Additionally, a properly maintained press
kit is missing that could be used at exhibitions.

 29. http://lists.debian.org/debian-publicity-0201/msg00010.html

New Incoming System Changes. Adam McKenna [30]noticed that the [31]new
incoming system behaves different than the old one and is already
installed on both non-US and ftp-master. Uploaded packages are
immediately [32]"accepted", and the bugs are closed right away.
However, it still takes up to one day until the package appears in the
archive and can be installed by our users. This was implemented to
reduce the load on the Bug Tracking System (BTS), however a saner
approach seem to be tagging these bug reports "fixed" and close them
after the package has been installed.

 30. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0202/msg02084.html
 31. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce-0202/msg00006.html
 32. http://lists.debian.org/debian-qa-packages-0202/msg00213.html

New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the
Debian archive recently.

 * [33]aegis3 -- Advanced software management tool.
 * [34]bsign -- Corruption and intrusion detection using embedded
   hashes.
 * [35]cpuid -- Intel and AMD x86 CPUID display program.
 * [36]debaux -- Debian Auxiliary Programs.
 * [37]diffmon -- Tool for reporting changes in system configuration.
 * [38]ecartis -- Fast, Flexible Mailing List Manager.
 * [39]egoboo -- 3D dungeon crawling adventure in the spirit of
   NetHack.
 * [40]gruftistats -- Generate a web page with statistics about an
   IRC channel.
 * [41]hexxagon -- Hexagonal Ataxx Clone for GTK.
 * [42]magnus -- Computational group theory software with GUI.
 * [43]mondo -- System to backup your filesystem to CDs.
 * [44]netperf -- Network performance benchmark.
 * [45]nparted -- Curses and GNU Parted based disk partition table
   manipulator.
 * [46]omniidl -- The idl compiler of the omniorb.
 * [47]parchive -- Use PAR files to reconstruct missing parts of
   multi-part archives.
 * [48]pktrace -- Converts Metafont fonts into Type1 fonts.
 * [49]revtex4 -- LaTeX 2e document class distributed by the American
   Physical Society.
 * [50]smokeping -- A latency logging and graphing system.
 * [51]swath -- Thai word segmentation program.
 * [52]wpp -- A perl5 script that allows preprocessing of HTML files.
 * [53]xpm -- X program to monitor APM battery status.

 33. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/aegis3.html
 34. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/bsign.html
 35. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/cpuid.html
 36. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/debaux.html
 37. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/diffmon.html
 38. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/ecartis.html
 39. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/egoboo.html
 40. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/gruftistats.html
 41. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/hexxagon.html
 42. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/math/magnus.html
 43. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/mondo.html
 44. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/netperf.html
 45. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/nparted.html
 46. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/omniidl.html
 47. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/parchive.html
 48. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/tex/pktrace.html
 49. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/tex/revtex4.html
 50. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/smokeping.html
 51. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/swath.html
 52. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/wpp.html
 53. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/xapm.html

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

 * [54]GNUJSP -- Unauthorized file access.

 54. http://www.debian.org/security/2002/dsa-114

Orphaned Packages. 19 packages were orphaned this week and require a
new maintainer. This makes a total of 111 orphaned packages. Many
thanks to the previous maintainer who contributed to the Free Software
community. Please see the [55]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.

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

 * [56]asd4 -- Advanced Sound Daemon. ([57]Bug#134534)
 * [58]debvote -- Voting software used by the Debian Project.
   ([59]Bug#135885)
 * [60]dtmfdial -- A DTMF (Duel Tone Multiple Frequency) Tone Dialer.
   ([61]Bug#135948)
 * [62]jetspeed -- Java Enterprise Information Portal Framework.
   ([63]Bug#135566)
 * [64]kernel-patch-kiobuf -- Stephen Tweedie's kiobuf (formerly
   raw-io) patch. ([65]Bug#134961)
 * [66]manpages-ru -- Russian translations of Linux manpages.
   ([67]Bug#135057)
 * [68]mova -- Scripts for Mova-format dictionary. ([69]Bug#135061)
 * [70]pgpgpg -- Wrapper for using GnuPG in programs designed for
   PGP. ([71]Bug#135542)
 * [72]ts -- Yet another TeXShell for GNU/Linux. ([73]Bug#135465)
 * [74]wmcpu -- Window Maker docking app similar to xosview.
   ([75]Bug#135886)
 * [76]wmdate -- Calendar for window manager docking bars.
   ([77]Bug#135887)
 * [78]wmgrabimage -- Maintains a small thumbnail image from the WWW.
   ([79]Bug#135890)
 * [80]wmmand -- A dockable mandelbrot fractal browser.
   ([81]Bug#135888)
 * [82]wmppxp -- PPxP console for Window Maker dock. ([83]Bug#134535)
 * [84]wmspaceweather -- Shows the "weather" in space.
   ([85]Bug#135889)
 * [86]wmweather -- Window Maker Docking app that can show your
   current weather. ([87]Bug#135892)
 * [88]xfce -- The Cholesterol Free Desktop Environment.
   ([89]Bug#135055)
 * [90]xfstt -- TrueType Font Server for X11. ([91]Bug#135949)
 * [92]zblast -- A shoot 'em up space game. ([93]Bug#135058)

 56. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/asd4.html
 57. http://bugs.debian.org/134534
 58. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/debvote.html
 59. http://bugs.debian.org/135885
 60. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/dtmfdial.html
 61. http://bugs.debian.org/135948
 62. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/jetspeed.html
 63. http://bugs.debian.org/135566
 64. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/kernel-patch-kiobuf.html
 65. http://bugs.debian.org/134961
 66. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/doc/manpages-ru.html
 67. http://bugs.debian.org/135057
 68. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/mova.html
 69. http://bugs.debian.org/135061
 70. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/non-us/pgpgpg.html
 71. http://bugs.debian.org/135542
 72. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/ts.html
 73. http://bugs.debian.org/135465
 74. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/wmcpu.html
 75. http://bugs.debian.org/135886
 76. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/wmdate.html
 77. http://bugs.debian.org/135887
 78. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/wmgrabimage.html
 79. http://bugs.debian.org/135890
 80. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/wmmand.html
 81. http://bugs.debian.org/135888
 82. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/wmppxp.html
 83. http://bugs.debian.org/134535
 84. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/wmspaceweather.html
 85. http://bugs.debian.org/135889
 86. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/wmweather.html
 87. http://bugs.debian.org/135892
 88. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/xfce.html
 89. http://bugs.debian.org/135055
 90. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/xfstt.html
 91. http://bugs.debian.org/135949
 92. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/zblast-x11.html
 93. http://bugs.debian.org/135058

Got News? Please inform us about everything that's going on in the
Debian community. We are always looking for any interesting stories to
add, especially new items by volunteer writers. We're looking forward
to receiving your mail at [94]dwn@debian.org.

 94. mailto:dwn@debian.org


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