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Fedora Weekly News Issue 86

Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 86[1] for the week of April 29th through May 5th, 2007. The latest issue can always be found here[2] and RSS Feed can be found here[3] .

[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue86

[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/LatestIssue

[3] http://feeds.feedburner.com/fwn


Announcements

In this section, we cover announcements from various projects.

Fedora Core 5 End of Life

MaxSpevack announces in fedora-announce-list[1] ,

"Several months ago, the Fedora Board (in consultation with Red Hat Engineering) decided to increase the length of time that Fedora releases are supported, in terms of updates.

This decision was retroactively applied to Fedora Core 5, allowing it to remain a fully maintained release for several months longer than it would have under our old policy.

Fedora Core 5 will reach its End of Life[2] for updates on Friday June 29th, 2007. "

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2007-May/msg00000.html

[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LifeCycle

CD Bootloader Change - Test Help Needed

WillWoods announces in fedora-test-list[1] ,

"So, Fedora 7's CD/DVD boot menu needs a small tweak to work in qemu. We want to make sure this change is safe and stable, so we need your help.

Please download the (8MB) test image from here[2] . Burn it to CD and boot it in as many (i386/x86_64) machines as you can. We want to know if the graphical menu looks right, and if the timer counts down from 60. Report results here[3] .

If the boot menu looks normal on all the machines we try it on, we'll make this change for F7 final."

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-test-list/2007-May/msg00221.html

[2] http://people.redhat.com/~katzj/syslinux-test-16bpp-boot.iso

[3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/JeremyKatz/IsolinuxTest

Status of the merge

JesseKeating announces in fedora-maintainers[1] ,

"Merge is going well now. A bunch of hiccups early on as we moved our test scripts into acting with real bits and databases and such, but now that that's over...

For those interested, here are some reference items:

  • The main koji web interface [2]
  • overall topic and status [3]
  • specific to the CVS merge [4]

Thank you for all your patience as we try to make this dream come true!"

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-May/msg00050.html

[2] http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji

[3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure/CoreExtrasMerge

[4] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure/CoreExtrasCVSMerge

Rawhide 20070502 Live Images

JeremyKatz announces in fedora-test-list[1] ,

"It's that time again... time for another set of rawhide live images. This is based off of yesterday's rawhide and thus is pre-merge fun. I'm planning to do another set of images once we get a merged rawhide tree, so probably the beginning of next week.

You can get the torrent file from (the fedora torrent site)[2] . Available images are i386, x86_64, i386 KDE and also an x86_64 KDE image. Note that the x86_64 images require DVD media, the i386 images will fit on 700 meg CD media. Please file any issues against product Fedora Core, version devel and against the relevant component or LiveCD if you're unsure."

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-test-list/2007-May/msg00192.html

[2] http://torrent.fedoraproject.org.

Fedora 7 Test 4 ISOs for IA64 Available

PraritBhargava announces in fedora-devel-list[1] ,

"A set of CD ISOs and a DVD ISO based on the Fedora 7 test4 ISOS of the ia64 Fedora development branch (also known as rawhide) are available from (Fedora IA64)[2] .

Please remember that F7 ia64 is _unsupported_ by Fedora. You can file bugs, but be sure to file them against the devel branch of Fedora Core. Also, add "fedora-ia64" to the "blocks" field of the BZ."

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01391.html

[2] http://oss.sgi.com/projects/fedora

Announcing New Fedora-php-devel-list

ChristopherStone announces in fedora-devel-list[1] ,

"We now have a mailing list for PHP related discussion for Fedora. This list is for people in the PHP SIG group, or anyone who is interested in packaging or (co-)maintaining PHP packages in Fedora. We can also use this list for discussing Fedora PHP guidelines changes and additions. For more information, and to subscribe, see (fedora-php-devel-list)[2] ."

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00082.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-php-devel-list

Planet Fedora

In this secton, we cover a highlight of Planet Fedora - an aggregation of blogs from world wide Fedora contributors.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Planet

Come together.... Right now!

MikeMcGrath points out in his blog[1] ,

"So whats the big deal? Why have people been writing about it all with a strong sense of pride?

Simple. This is a big step for Fedora. In the past Fedora "Core" was written as a sort of base operating system that could be added on to. Well, Extras was added to it. But in a separate repository. And so extras existed, quietly gaining speed, size and contributors. Core was entirely managed by Red Hat. Extras was entirely community, anyone could add packages to it, including Red Hat people. Now, there is no more Extras, no more Core. It's one community operation.

So what has changed? Well the immediate changes aren't that big to the end user. Some core packages can now be linked against extras packages, that's nice. The real changes are in the community itself. By completing this merge and setting up the underlying infrastructure we have greatly increased the potential of our future. As our contribution base continues to grow so will the Fedora universe, and that's why the merger is so important."

[1] http://mmcgrath.livejournal.com/3480.html

Merge day and some stats

RahulSundaram points out in his blog[1] ,

"It is finally happening. Fedora Core and Fedora Extras are getting merged[2] today.

This is possibly the biggest single change we have done ever since Fedora Project was formed. It empowers[3] the volunteer community[4] at large to have more direct access to packages in Fedora including those in what was known as Fedora Core.

This is the first time (that I am aware of) a distribution that is sponsored by a major commercial Linux vendor has allowed everyone a equal footing in the repository resulting in a pretty big change for developers involved that would benefit end users in a more suble ways. More on that follows."

[1] http://rahulsundaram.livejournal.com/11669.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-May/msg00050.html

[3] http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/?p=284

[4] http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/blogs/fedora_champions_of_community

Job Openings for OLPC

ChristopherBlizzard points out in his blog[1] ,

"Red Hat has a few job openings to work on the One Laptop per Child project[2] :

Software Engineer II[3] : This terrible job title is code for awesome engineer. We’re looking to build an update system for OLPC that isn’t the usual yum/rpm/deb/apt system and we need awesome strong CS-focused people to make it happen. There are two openings for this job, not one.

Program Manager[4] : What is a program manager, you ask? This is a person who manages the process around the software development and release process. They make sure that bugs are being followed up on, improves communication both inside the team and handles messaging to other team members and helps hold people’s feet to the fire about what they should be working on. This is not an engineering position, but an engineering background helps. Other parts of this role include making sure that a QA and test groups are working together with the engineering folks to make sure that everything is ready to go."

[1] http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/?p=283

[2] http://www.laptop.org/vision/index.shtml

[3] https://redhat.ats.hrsmart.com/cgi-bin/a/highlightjob.cgi?jobid=2369

[4] https://redhat.ats.hrsmart.com/cgi-bin/a/highlightjob.cgi?jobid=2357

GIMP rain animation tutorial

NicuBuculei points out in his blog[1] ,

"After a number of Inkscape tutorials, it was the time for me to make a GIMP one, this one about creating a fake a rain animation effect, like this:

It is quite big, with many large images, so I put it on a static page[2] from my tutorials website, if you are interested, read it in its original location."

[1] http://nicubunu.blogspot.com/2007/05/gimp-rain-animation-tutorial.html

[2] http://howto.nicubunu.ro/gimp_rain_animation/

Spin your own Fedora Security Live USB key

LukeMacken points out in his blog[1] ,

"Here is how to easily create a security-distribution based on what will eventually be Fedora 7. This requires that you be running FC7Test* or rawhide, as the livecd-tools are not currently available for FC6.

Interested in helping make the Security LiveCD better? See the SecurityLiveCD[2] wiki for more information."

[1] http://lewk.org/blog/2007/05/02/fedora-security-liveusb-distro.html

[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LukeMacken/SecurityLiveCD

Two steps forward, no steps back

PaulFrields points out in his blog[1] ,

"Today’s 3122 kernel and iwlwifi-0.0.16[2] have taken care of kernel oopsing[3] , and my Intel 3945 wireless happily associates with my AP in open, WEP, and WPA modes both with SSID broadcast on or off. Thanks to the upstream people who made this happen, with some rabble rousing from dragoran, and John Linville for sticking with this problem too."

[1] http://marilyn.frields.org:8080/~paul/wordpress/?p=773

[2] http://intellinuxwireless.org/?p=iwlwifi

[3] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/236451

Marketing

In this section, we cover Fedora Marketing Project.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing

Fedora merges Core and Extra repositories

RahulSundaram reports in fedora-marketing-list[1] ,

"At noon EDT today Red Hat developers began merging the Fedora Core and Extras repositories. The new merged Fedora repository is one of the major changes for the upcoming Fedora 7 release, and marks the first time a major distribution supported by a company has allowed members of the community to modify packages inside a distribution[2] ."

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-May/msg00005.html

[2] http://distrocenter.linux.com/distrocenter/07/05/03/1711201.shtml?tid=111

Fedora: Champions of Community

RahulSundaram reports in fedora-marketing-list[1] ,

"Fedora 7 Test 4 was launched last week and I’m excited! Right now I’m downloading the ISO to try it out and, although I’m aware that there are plenty of new features for me to explore in the distribution itself, many of the elements that have me most excited are changes relating to their infrastructure: they are setting out to empower the community more than any other distribution has[2] ."

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-May/msg00003.html

[2] http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/blogs/fedora_champions_of_community

Developments

In this section, we cover the problems/solutions, people/personalities, and ups/downs of the endless discussions on Fedora Developments.

http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list

David Woodhouse Likes Monkeys

A thread about the problems of packaging the ocsinventory-client led DavidWoodhouse to express a need for Fedora maintainers as opposed to mere package-monkeys [1] . ThorstenLeemhuis agreed with David's technical fix, but decried the use of the term "package monkey" [2] , as it appeared to be a derogatory term for people that volunteered to do essential maintenance tasks. Thorsten noted that if he were forced to classify himself, he would be a package-monkey. JonathanUnderwood was in strong agreement [3] , while David hastened to point out his partiality to monkeys, his own self-identification as a package-monkey, and the aptness of the term [4] . MatthiasClasen pointed out that the problem was whether other people found it offensive regardless and the effect it might have on contributors [5] .

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00194.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00202.html

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00203.html

[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00204.html

[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00215.html

Meanwhile, back at work, RemiCollet (who was doing all the volunteer work to make ocsinventory-client available to Fedora users) apologized for not filing the requisite bug that would allow him to use the ppc Exclude-Arch, and acknowleged that using "dmidecode" (which is an x86 only way of reading the SMBIOS/DMI to obtain information on hardware components) wasn't the best way [6] . Remi provided some background, namely that the company that he works for is writing a Perl version of the inventory agent that needs to work on Linux, Windows, Aix, Solaris and that Remi has already split out useful subpackages during this process.

[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00228.html

GianlucaSforna was happy to be called a package-monkey, but settled for being a packager until he was downgraded [7] to junior-packager by SimoSorce.

[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00217.html

OCaml Packaging Guidelines, Something A Bit More Meaty

After reading some review requests, HansdeGoede suggested [1] some guidelines for packages using the Caml language [2] . GerardMilmeister suggested the formation of a SIG, and alerted RichardJones (of Red Hat's Emerging Technologies group), as someone who had previously been interested in this. Richard contrasted the current relatively meagre Fedora coverage to Debian's and was enthusiastic at the idea of getting more OCaml packages into our repositories [3] .

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00129.html

[2] http://caml.inria.fr/index.en.html

ToshioKuratomi offered to help out steering the guideline approval process [4] and sought clarification [5] of whether the guidelines should require the packages build to bytecode and/or nativecode and Hans gave a more detailed description [6] of the two possible ways that OCaml code could be compiled. RichardJones posted a separate possible wrinkle to be considered [7] .

[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00179.html


[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00191.html

[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00192.html

[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00212.html

RichardJones then opened up a discussion of the proposed guidelines, which centered around whether or not the .mli files (which are analogous to header files in C) should be removed from the -devel packages [8] . NigelJones (whose review packages stimulated Hans to write the new guidelines), noted that he'd replaced the .mlis with generated html, which didn't seem convenient to Richard or TomasMraz [9] . Nigel tried to come up with a compromise, but this seemed to depend [10] on too much manual intervention to Hans.

[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00200.html

[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00209.html

Gerard opened a bugzilla [11] where further discussion, particularly of the lack of a problem of a stable ABI, the need to introduce versioning in library pathnames, and the possibility of compatibility packages, could be discussed.

[11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00213.html

Merge Surges Ahead

In response to MikeChambers, JesseKeating reported that the merge of Core and Extras was proceeding smoothly, with some scrambling to build ppc64 packages that didn't exist previously in Extras [1] . Jesse had previously been posting updates to the list [2] , which prompted some well-deserved thanks.

ChrisWeyl had a practical question about whether it was necessary for developers to do a fresh checkout from the new CVS, and RolandMcGrath suggested [3] that existing "Extras" checkouts were fine, but could be upgraded with:

echo :ext:user cvs fedora redhat com:/cvs/pkgs > root find extras -maxdepth 4 -wholename '*/CVS/Root' -exec cp -f root {} \;

He also noted that "Core" checkouts were a bit more difficult, requiring:

find dist -maxdepth 4 -wholename '*/devel/CVS/Root' -exec cp root {} \;

Roland also noted that a plan for developer migration should have been worked out in advance of the actual merge.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00256.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00257.html

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00184.html

Aggressive Incorporation Of Latest KDE4 Planned

A direct enquiry from JosPoortvliet (of KDE) asked what Fedora was intending to do about the upcoming KDE4 (alpha1) [1] , noting that a lot of other distros were going to have packages but that nothing had been heard from Fedora. KevinKofler was able to reply readily [2] that he had already produced parallel installable 3.80.3 packages that are targeted at developers. Kevin thought that it would be easy enough to upgrade to 4.0.0 as soon as it was out, but that he would prefer to make some changes in the packaging to target Fedora 8. Kevin's current packages allow developers to work in a KDE3 environment while developing for KDE4 and he felt that with the F7 feature freeze there was no way that KDE4 was going into F7.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00144.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00147.html

Jos was then given an URL pointing to Kevin's packages, which could be included in the KDE release notes for interested parties [3] . RexDieter wanted to submit the current packages for review just after the release of F7, but Kevin reiterated that the package structure was not ideal, and thought that Fedora should push ahead to incorporate even a release candidate in F8 [4] based on the rawhide packages and noted that the codebase was moving rapidly and that Fedora had never been afraid of that in the past.

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00149.html

[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00153.html

LaurentRineau expresssed a contrarian viewpoint, suggesting that a release candidate wasn't good enough and that it was necessary to have a stable KDE [5] . Kevin pointed out that a release candidate tested for months in rawhide was likely to be more stable than an untested release [6] and also that F8 would end up with a one-month lag compared to other distros if the wait-and-see approach were taken. ChristopherAillon was fine with release candidates but not with "alphas, betas or random cvs snapshots" [7] , while RahulSundaram dragged the comparison back from possibly arbitrary naming [8] and into a consideration of how much actual testing the software had received. JesseKeating gave qualified agreement [9] , pointing out that what mattered was what the upstream developers planned to do with any particular branch of code, and that Fedora could and had shipped pre-releases that were guaranteed to fit in with Fedora's feature-freezes.

[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00156.html

[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00153.html

[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00158.html

[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00161.html

[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00162.html

Zope Packaging For Fedora 7

According to a post from DavidMackay [1] there was a slight problem with the packaging of Zope for F7. While David was happy to see Zope available, it depends on an older version of Python (2.4) while F7 ships only with Python (2.5). MichaelSchwendt stated that there was no Zope and no Plone available for F7 and that what David was using were Fedora Core 6 packages that were lingering in the development repository [2] . JeremyKatz pointed David in the direction of the upstream developers, because Python-2.5 has been available for nine months at this stage. He also pointed out that shipping an older version of Python would cause bulking of the distribution. ThorstenLeemhuis made a counter-argument [3] , pointing out that compatability packages are shipped in other similar cases [4] .

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00226.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00229.html

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00230.html

[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00232.html

RahulSundaram was in agreement with Thorsten, but RexDieter pointed out that FESCo had already made the decision not to provide a python-compat package [5] . JonathanSteffan noted [5a] that he had been willing to take on the maintenance of a compatibility package, but that the Zope maintainer, and FESCo as a whole had requested that this not happen. KevinKofler didn't think that FESCo should be vetoing packages except for licensing issues, which led SethVidal to reiterate Jeremy's earlier argument that this shifted the maintenance burden from upstream onto Fedora [6] . Thorsten adduced Xen as an example of exactly this and wondered why Xen was special, to which Jeremy replied that Xen's handling had been "a mistake" [7] . PaulFrields pointed to the existence of Release Notes that suggest using virtualization and careful planning for Zope-dependent users [8] . Incidentally (in response to Thorsten's direct query), Paul noted that the Release Notes wiki had been opened for us all to edit and add any specialized information we have.

[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00234.html

[5a] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00262.html

[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00236.html

[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00243.html

[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00253.html

In the course of the discussion JeremyKatz suggested that the guidelines be modified to include the provision that prior to the introduction of any compatibility package, the assent of the primary packager must be sought. MichaelSchwendt was in agreement [9] and added that upstream and any recognized competent testers must also be consulted.

[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00251.html

TillMaas noted that python-2.5 had been released before python-2.4.4 and python-2.3.6 [10] and that thus python-2.5 was actually older. TonyNelson clarified that the lower numbered pythons were supposed to be final bug-fix releases [11] . Again JesseKeating focused on the forward momentum of Fedora asking rhetorically why, given Till's argument, would anyone support 2.6 series kernels while there were 2.4 releases still happening. MichaelStahnke and DenisLeroy still thought that Fedora would be conveying a message that it was for developers only if the compat packages weren't shipped, leading ThorstenLeemhuis to suggest that although a clean-break had to be made at some time, this might be a case for an exception coupled with a statement of future intent [12] .

[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00264.html

[11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00278.html

[12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00283.html

JesseKeating made the practical suggestion of using a chroot to install the compat packages, and JeremyKatz's recommendation of virtualization or helping the Zope developers to get Python-2.5 working for them led to a final positive note when DebarshiRay (rishi) pointed to a Google SoC project to get Zope3 working on Python2.5 [13] .

[13] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00252.html

Inclusion Of Experimental Non-Enabled Nouveau Driver

A bug report [1] from MilesLane stated that when he selected and enabled the "nouveau" driver (a free reverse-engineered driver for nvidia cards [1a] ) on the current F7test4 LiveCD, he experienced significant problems when Compiz was also enabled.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00093.html

[1a] http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/FrontPage

RahulSundaram responded that nouveau was nowhere near ready to work with Compiz. (This was later confirmed by AdamJackson (ajax) who asked Miles to file a bug [2a] , and also said that 3D acceleration in general was not enabled yet in the nouveau driver.) ChristopherStone was prompted by Rahul's response to object to nouveau's inclusion [2] , as it was experimental and would generate confusion from general users. Rahul argued that the situation was exactly parallel with the inclusion of a new Intel Xorg driver in FC6, leading Chris to label it as useless except for developers and inferior to the "nv" driver [3] . Later AdamJackson proposed [4] that if there was a Compiz-related crash then it was just a bug that needed fixing and while pointing out that there are known hangs and problems due to nv ("there are no good X drivers"), cast doubt on the idea that nouveau was so inferior.

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00109.html

[2a] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00107.html

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00117.html

[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00123.html

NicolasMailhot had positive experiences with nouveau [5] which led Miles to wonder if it was the same driver that was causing problems. This prompted JesseKeating to re-iterate the point that the driver was not enabled by default, and JefSpaleta a short while later concurred that [6] auto-selection was correctly selecting the "nv" driver and that anyone enabling a non-default was explicitly making a decision to experiment. A possible problem raised by Jef [7] was that there would be multiple updates of the package due to rapid development of the driver and that these updates would be forced on all users. NicolasMailhot added the good news [8] that immediately after the release of F7 the "nouveau" driver would be split out from "nv", getting rid of this problem.

[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00118.html

[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00134.html

[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00134.html

[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00137.html

Where Did the CD ISOs Go?

A lest member, "n0dalus", observed [1] that there were only DVD and LiveCD images available for F7t4 and asked if there would be CD images available for Fedora 7. "n0dalus" was concerned that the equipment upon which he needed to test (and later install) the release was mainly older machines with no DVD players, used in a rural, volunteer project. RahulSundaram confirmed his worst fears but wondered why the LiveCD (which is installable) wouldn't do. "Dragoran" asked whether there would be CD images available for the actual release and Rahul confirmed that there would not [2] .

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00022.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00028.html

"n0dalus" and JonCiesla wondered how they could generate the CD's they'd need [3] and Rahul suggested Pungi and Livecd-tools [4] but Jon thought that Pungi might not be able to generate F7 ISOs when run on F6 [5] . There was no direct answer to this.

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00025.html

[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00033.html

[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00035.html

Later, with assistance from PaulHowarth, dragoran and JeremyKatz, Jon explored the possibility [6] of upgrading his redhat-release package and then running "yum upgrade".

[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00040.html

KDE's Place In The Open Platform Known As "Fedora" Acknowleged

Following on from last week's discussion [1] on the announcement of the final test of F7, KevinKofler was a bit upset [2] at what he took to be a denigration of KDE's "integration" with Fedora by one of the central figures, release manager JesseKeating. Kevin noted that the KDE community external to Fedora were already very dubious about Fedora's approach to their desktop environment and that while he and others were doing their best to correct this, it was unwise to make comments such as Jesse's.

[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue85#head-43f2b723855d1315f4842c9b9df365b0a969fab8

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00006.html

In an attempt to clarify, Jesse argued that all of the "system-config-" tools on Fedora were GTK based and that new functionality (e.g. Fast User Switching [3] ) were too. Kevin acknowledged this but pointed out that KDE wasn't exactly lagging behind in these areas [4] even though there were no prominent Red Hat hackers developing for KDE, and that Mandriva had managed to cope with a similar situation. JoseMatos also cautioned against downplaying the usability of KDE in Fedora and the dangers of bad PR [5] , and also drew attention to an apparent conflation of the desktop with the widget toolkit.

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00008.html

[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00056.html

[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00062.html

"Dragoran" wondered why there was no x86_64 KDE LiveCD (only an x386) one, and JeremyKatz responded that it was due solely to time constraints [6] .

[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00029.html

FlorianLaRoche provided an interesting way of examining the new Fedora landscape, pointing out that the ability to provide specific "spins" and/or to select alternate software from the merged Fedora repositories should really do away with the old KDE/GNOME wars [7] . Florian confirmed that support for KDE from Red Hat was assured, not least because there are RH partners requesting it, but also because the current direction and intent of Fedora is to be an open platform that integrates as many options as possible. RahulSundaram enlarged upon this and pointed out LukeMacken's USBSecurityLiveCD spin as an example [8] .

[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00099.html

[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00100.html

Meanwhile more entries were made to the "Name That Distro" contest, which looks set to run indefinitely [9] (note: entrants must also supply their own rules, prize may be announced at a later date).

[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00058.html

When Two Broadcom Drivers Go To War

Responding to a query from "Alan", WillWoods posted a succinct description [1] of the steps necessary to enable the non-Free Broadcom firmware to work with NetworkManager so that BCM4306 chipsets were usable.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00070.html

MilesLane still wondered if this would work for his particular chipset (which was an early revision) [2] , because some encouraging feedback from JarodWilson included the information that only revision 4 and upwards would work with this method. Later posts from "Kelly (lightsolphoenix)" and "Alan" confirmed that although they'd had the firmware working in FC6 it seemed to now be broken. JohnLinville jumped in to remind them to blacklist the newer bcm43xx-mac80211 driver and "Alan" confirmed [3] that this now worked.

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00076.html

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00111.html

John further explained [4] that there were two drivers present claiming the same PCI-id. BillNottingham and John were in favor of trying to fix this situation in time for F7 if there was consensus, as the fix seemed easy and had obvious benefits. Miles then confirmed that he could use the described methods to get his card working from the LiveCD for F7t4 [5] and appended a dmesg output.

[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00083.html

[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00092.html

Falling Blocks, Wink Wink

Wart sought clarification on a bug report that had noticed the "tetris-bsd" package was included. Wart noted that this was an oversight and the name at least would be removed [1] , but asked if the bug reporter was correct that the game itself and not just the name might cause legal problems.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00009.html

TomCallaway (spot) thought that as long as the name is removed, there would be no problem, but AlanCox was less sure [2] and pointed out the litigious tendencies of the Tetris company.

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00048.html

JonathanUnderwood had researched the issue a bit and found that the Emacs developers had discussed the situation [3] and TomTromey observed that RMS seemed to believe there was no problem. Jonathan reported that he'd raised additional issues on @emacs-development since then and that RMS was taking advice from FSF legal counsel.

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-May/msg00095.html

Documentation

In this section, we cover the Fedora Documentation Project.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject

Fedora Documentation Steering Committee Meeting

The meeting logs for 29 April[1] and 06 May[2] , as well as the summaries for 29 April[3] and 06 May[4] , were posted to fedora-docs-list.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00200.html

[2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-May/msg00045.html

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00202.html

[4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-May/msg00048.html

Translations for Release Notes Must Be Complete by 10 May

Some languages are complete[1] , but there are several that have not completed the final translation of the release notes. A reminder was sent to fedora-trans-list[2] . An announcement list that is used to alert and send announcements to all per-language mailing lists was discussed, all during the FDSCo IRC meeting[3] .

[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Translation/Statistics

[2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-May/msg00024.html

[3] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/SteeringCommittee/Meetings/Minutes/IRCLog20070506

Fedora Guides

As discussed in the FDSCo IRC meeting[1] , it is time to focus and finish the four guides to be released with Fedora 7: Fedora Installation Guide, Fedora User Guide, Fedora Administration Guide, and the Fedora Software Management Guide. The Steering Committee further discussed bringing in new content and modularly built guides as projects to focus on between Fedora releases.

[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/SteeringCommittee/Meetings/Minutes/IRCLog20070506#t09:39

New Docs Tasks Page

As of 06 May, all Documentation Project tasks are going to be tracked on one master page[1] . This page highlights tasks[2] that new contributor can begin work on when they join the project, and should include a mentor for the contributor to work with.

[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Tasks

[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/SteeringCommittee/Meetings/Minutes/IRCLog20070506#t09:18

Documentation Style

Several suggestions for improvement[1] to the Fedora Documentation led to a discussion about why the project uses its current style, including limiting the use of screen shots and the "professional" tone[2] . This same discussion also led to the conclusion that more information could be provided, specifically relating to technical terms, for little work by linking to relevant Wikipedia articles.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00205.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00218.html

This discussion later developed to consider possible voices that the project might adopt in the future, moving away from the traditional corporate technical voice.[3]

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-May/msg00017.html

DTDs Available Publicly

PaulFrields announced that some of the DTDs used by the Documentation Project are soon available at a publicly accessible URI.[1] This helps solve problems involving validation errors while editing documents from CVS. The DTDs set for release are rpm-info.dtd and entities.dtd at the following URLs:

http://docs.fedoraproject.org/dtds/rpm-info.dtd

http://docs.fedoraproject.org/dtds/entities.dtd

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-April/msg00206.html

Fedora-dsco-list Set For Retirement

Following a series of updates to the projects Join page[1] , it was proposed that the fedora-dsco-list should be retired and the references to it removed[2] . This proposal won agreement from several Steering committee members[3] . After this idea being incomplete for a long time, the list was finally closed[4] with the archives left for posterity[5] .

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-May/msg00026.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-May/msg00025.html

[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-May/msg00037.html

[4] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-May/msg00046.html

[5] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-dsco-list/

Translation

This section, we cover the news surrounding the Fedora Translation (L10n) Project.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N

Deadline Extension

PaulFrields endeared himself to the translation team with his post[1] about the extension of the freeze date to 10-May-2007 (2359 UTC).

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2007-April/msg00129.html

Infrastructure

In this section, we cover the Fedora Infrastructure Project.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure

More on Email Addresses

A little while ago the Infrastructure team modified[1] the fedoraproject.org email addressing scheme, removing the firstname.lastname convention (except for special cases). MikeMcGrath revisited[2] the issue this week as the Ambassador group likes the professional look of the firstname.lastname convention. After discussion it was decided that ThomasChung of the Ambassador group would manage the Ambassador email addresses, thereby allowing for a better case-by-case assignment of firstname.lastname addresses.

[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg00059.html

[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-April/msg00205.html

Security Week

In this section, we highlight the security stories from the week in Fedora.

Do We Really Need a Security Industry?

Last week Bruce Schneier published a commentary about the security industry: Do We Really Need a Security Industry?[1]

This story generated a fair amount of discussion. The commentary is best summed up by this quote "Aftermarket security is actually a very inefficient way to spend our security dollars ..." The conclusion Bruce comes to is to outsource your security needs to a different company, the service being no different than outsourcing your telephone needs. While it makes sense that not every company will need to employ security experts, there is no reason that the operating system shouldn't be doing more. A technology such as SELinux can play a huge role preventing malware and intruders from gaining unwanted access.

The current aftermarket security industry relies on the idea that the operating system is insecure, and cannot be fixed. It is unlikely that a technology such as SELinux will ever result in a completely secure solution out of the box, but with the right know how it can help prevent many insecurities. As long as people write the code that runs our computers, there will be security bugs. We will never fix every possible bug, but we can try to mitigate the potential damage. Right now if a piece of malware infects a computer, it can do nearly anything it wants. In the near future SELinux should be able to prevent malware from doing anything useful.

[1] http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2007/05/securitymatters_0503

Security Advisories

In this section, we cover Security Advisories from fedora-package-announce.

https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-package-announce

Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories

Fedora Core 5 Security Advisories

Events and Meetings

In this section, we cover event reports and meeting summaries from various projects.

Fedora Board Meeting 2007-05-01

Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-05-03

Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-04-26

Fedora Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-05-01

Fedora Release Engineering Meeting 2007-04-30

Fedora Documentation Steering Committee Meeting 2007-05-06

Fedora Documentation Steering Committee Meeting 2007-04-29

Event Report: Feel IT - Bamberg, Germany

Event Report: FLISOL 2007 - Argentina

Event Report: FLISOL 2007 - Caracas, Venezuela

Event Photos: FLISOL 2007 - Santiago, Chile

Feedback

This document is maintained by the Fedora News Team[1] . Please feel free to contact us to give your feedback. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Fedora Weekly News, please see the Join[2] page to find out how to help.

[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject

[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join

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