Debian Weekly News - March 28th, 2006

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Debian Weekly News
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2006/13/
Debian Weekly News - March 28th, 2006
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Welcome to this year's 13th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for
the Debian community. David Moreno Garza [1]built an RSS [2]feed for
the Debian Weekly News. Manoj Srivastava [3]called for votes for this
year's project leader [4]election which has seen the lowest
participation ever in a Debian project leader election seen so far.
Votes must be received by April 8th, 2006.

 1. http://www.damog.net/?p=473
 2. http://www.g33k.com.ve/~damog/debian/feeds/dwn.xml
 3. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/03/msg00022.html
 4. http://www.debian.org/vote/2006/vote_002

Deprecating debmake after etch. Santiago Vila [5]announced that
[6]debmake will be removed from testing and unstable some time after
the release of [7]etch. Maintainers of the remaining packages (less
than 60) that still use debmake for packaging should switch to other
tools soon. In a few months he will open bug reports against the
remaining packages.

 5. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/03/msg00019.html
 6. http://packages.debian.org/debmake
 7. http://www.debian.org/releases/etch/

Past Events Notes. Alexander Schmehl [8]reported about past
[9]events where the Debian project was present. There were booths and
participation at the [10]FOSDEM in Belgium, the [11]Chemnitzer
Linux-Tage and the [12]CeBIT in Hannover. Alexander also seeks for
support for upcoming events like the South Pacific Linux World in
Australia or the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in Korea.

 8. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2006/03/msg00215.html
 9. http://www.debian.org/events/
 10. http://www.debian.org/events/2006/0225-fosdem
 11. http://www.debian.org/events/2006/0304-linuxtag-chemnitz
 12. http://www.debian.org/events/2006/0309-cebit

New Debian-Edu/Skolelinux Release. Finn-Arne Johansen [13]announced
the new version 2.0 of Skolelinux after a long period of development.
It contains many updates and new features such as sound on thin
clients, improved hardware detection, a new version of KDE and many
updated translations for an increasing number of languages. A lot of
documentation has also been [14]improved to provide a better overview
about the project and make it easier to join the team.

 13. http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/2006/03/msg00067.html
 14. http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/2006/03/msg00128.html

Limitations of reportbug. Kamaraju Kusumanchi [15]reported that the
[16]reportbug utility has displayed more than 600 bug report titles
when he wanted to report a bug. Since searching for keywords in bug
reports is not supported Marco d'Itri [17]suggested using [18]Google
groups for this.

 15. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/02/msg00523.html
 16. http://packages.debian.org/reportbug
 17. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/02/msg00530.html
 18. http://groups.google.com/group/linux.debian.bugs.dist

Debian Fonts Task Force. Christian Perrier [19]explained the goals of
the foundation of a font packages maintenance team for Debian. One of
the goals for this team is setting up a font packaging policy to
improve the incorporation of new fonts in Debian. A dedicated
[20]project was set up on [21]Alioth along with a Subversion
repository and a [22]mailing-list.

 19. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/03/msg00248.html
 20. http://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-fonts/
 21. http://alioth.debian.org/
 22. http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-fonts-devel/

Supported Languages for the Debian-Installer. Just after the second
beta [23]release of the [24]debian-installer, Christian Perrier
[25]indicated that work was going on for the installer localisation.
He [26]cleaned out his debian-installer supported languages [27]list.
New languages are [28]still being added but if people want their
language to be supported in etch's installer, work must start now.

 23. http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/News/2006/20060315
 24. http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
 25. http://lists.debian.org/debian-i18n/2006/03/msg00055.html
 26. http://lists.debian.org/debian-i18n/2006/03/msg00054.html
 27. http://people.debian.org/~bubulle/d-i/i18n-doc/languages.html
 28. http://lists.debian.org/debian-i18n/2006/03/msg00074.html

Archive Recompilation with GCC 4.1. Martin Michlmayr [29]announced
that over the last two weeks he has compiled the whole Debian archive
on a quad-core Broadcom MIPS box using GCC 4.1. The aim was to
discover problems in GCC 4.1 itself and bugs in packages exhibited by
GCC's increased standards conformance (in particular regarding C++
code). Through the compilation of about 6200 packages, he found 500
new bugs: 280 of which are due to the increased strictness of GCC 4.1.

 29. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/03/msg01084.html

Writing Copyright Files. Jörg Jaspert [30]reported about the
requirements of information in copyright files since many rejects from
the [31]NEW queue are still due to broken or incomplete
copyright-files. It must contain the author(s) name, the year(s) of
the copyright, the used license(s) and the URL to the upstream source.

 30. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/03/msg00023.html
 31. http://ftp-master.debian.org/REJECT-FAQ.html

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

 * DSA 1013: [32]snmptrapfmt -- Insecure temporary file.
 * DSA 1014: [33]firebird2 -- Denial of service.
 * DSA 1015: [34]sendmail -- Arbitrary code execution.
 * DSA 1016: [35]evolution -- Arbitrary code execution.
 * DSA 1017: [36]Linux 2.6.8 -- Several vulnerabilities.
 * DSA 1018: [37]Linux 2.4.27 -- Several vulnerabilities.
 * DSA 1019: [38]koffice -- Several vulnerabilities.
 * DSA 1020: [39]flex -- Insecure code generation.

 32. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1013
 33. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1014
 34. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1015
 35. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1016
 36. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1017
 37. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1018
 38. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1019
 39. http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1020

New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the
unstable Debian archive [40]recently or contain important updates.

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

 * [41]brltty-x11 -- Access software for a blind person using a soft
   braille terminal.
 * [42]cl-parenscript -- JavaScript embedded in a Common Lisp host.
 * [43]cps-site -- Pre-configured Zope instance containing a plone
   site.
 * [44]dctrl-tools -- Command-line tools to process Debian package
   information.
 * [45]erlang-mode -- Erlang editing mode for emacsen editors.
 * [46]iaxmodem -- Software modem with IAX2 connectivity.
 * [47]gromacs -- Molecular dynamics simulator, with building and
   analysis tools.
 * [48]kolab-resource-handlers -- Scripts for the Kolab groupware
   server.
 * [49]lanmap -- Network discovery tool that produces nice 2d images.
 * [50]latex-sanskrit -- Pre-processor and fonts to typeset Sanskrit
   in TeX.
 * [51]mtasc -- ActionScript 2 to Flash (SWF) compiler.
 * [52]o3read -- Standalone converter for OpenOffice.org documents.
 * [53]polgen -- SELinux policy generation scripts.
 * [54]pyqonsole -- X Window terminal written in Python.

 41. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/brltty-x11
 42. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/cl-parenscript
 43. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/cps-site
 44. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/dctrl-tools
 45. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/interpreters/erlang-mode
 46. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/comm/iaxmodem
 47. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/science/gromacs
 48. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/kolab-resource-handlers
 49. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/lanmap
 50. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/tex/latex-sanskrit
 51. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/mtasc
 52. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/o3read
 53. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/polgen
 54. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/python/pyqonsole

Orphaned Packages. 13 packages were orphaned this week and require a
new maintainer. This makes a total of 273 orphaned packages. Many
thanks to the previous maintainers 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]apcd -- APC Smart UPS daemon. ([57]Bug#358513)
 * [58]arla -- Free client for the AFS distributed network
   filesystem. ([59]Bug#358482)
 * [60]falselogin -- False login shell. ([61]Bug#358516)
 * [62]haskell-hsql -- Multi-Database Interface System for Haskell.
   ([63]Bug#358873)
 * [64]libemail-abstract-perl -- Library that presents unified
   interface to mail representations. ([65]Bug#358895)
 * [66]liblogfile-rotate-perl -- Perl module to rotate logfiles.
   ([67]Bug#358573)
 * [68]libmodule-pluggable-perl -- Automatically provide your module
   the ability to accept plugins. ([69]Bug#358894)
 * [70]multisync -- Program to synchronise PIM data. ([71]Bug#358485)
 * [72]restartd -- Process checker and/or restarter. ([73]Bug#358514)
 * [74]rscheme -- Threaded, persistent, OO, scheme interpreter and
   compiler. ([75]Bug#359135)
 * [76]tdtd -- Emacs major mode for editing SGML and XML DTDs.
   ([77]Bug#358437)
 * [78]tictactoe -- Tic-tac-toe game written in Ruby.
   ([79]Bug#358574)
 * [80]ttylog -- Serial port logger. ([81]Bug#358515)

 56. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/apcd
 57. http://bugs.debian.org/358513
 58. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/arla
 59. http://bugs.debian.org/358482
 60. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/falselogin
 61. http://bugs.debian.org/358516
 62. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/libghc6-hsql-dev
 63. http://bugs.debian.org/358873
 64. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libemail-abstract-perl
 65. http://bugs.debian.org/358895
 66. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/liblogfile-rotate-perl
 67. http://bugs.debian.org/358573
 68. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libmodule-pluggable-perl
 69. http://bugs.debian.org/358894
 70. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/gnome/multisync
 71. http://bugs.debian.org/358485
 72. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/restartd
 73. http://bugs.debian.org/358514
 74. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/rscheme
 75. http://bugs.debian.org/359135
 76. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/tdtd
 77. http://bugs.debian.org/358437
 78. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/tictactoe
 79. http://bugs.debian.org/358574
 80. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/ttylog
 81. http://bugs.debian.org/358515

Removed Packages. 25 packages have been [82]removed from the Debian
archive during the past week:

 82. http://ftp-master.debian.org/removals.txt

 * python-bsddb3 -- Python interface to libdb3
   [83]Bug#264695: Request of QA, orphaned, bundled with Python 2.3+
 * oonsoo -- Solitaire game for X
   [84]Bug#275774: Request of QA, orphaned for 500+ days, many
   alternatives
 * icecast-client -- Streaming MPEG Layer III feeder
   [85]Bug#279526: Request of QA, orphaned for 500+ days,
   alternatives exist
 * kmatplot -- Gnuplot-like tool for plotting data sets in 2D or 3D
   [86]Bug#285735: Request of QA, orphaned, has never been part of a
   stable release, buggy, dead upstream
 * rawrec -- Buffered raw audio recorder/player
   [87]Bug#288215: Request of QA, orphaned, buggy, no upstream
 * soundgrab -- Play a raw audio file and interactively select and
   save pieces
   [88]Bug#288216: Request of QA, orphaned, buggy
 * gcombust -- GTK+ based CD mastering and burning program
   [89]Bug#288267: Request of QA, orphaned, upstream inactive
 * cscvs -- System for integrating CVS repositories into Arch
   archives
   [90]Bug#305462: Request of QA, orphaned, alternatives exist
 * kbear -- Graphical FTP client for KDE
   [91]Bug#315340: Request of QA, orphaned, buggy, no upstream
   activity
 * mysql-dfsg -- MySQL database client library
   [92]Bug#356751: Request of maintainer, superseded by
   mysql-dfsg-5.0
 * mysql-dfsg-4.1 -- MySQL database client library
   [93]Bug#356752: Request of maintainer, superseded by
   mysql-dfsg-5.0
 * linux-kernel-di-alpha -- Braille support (udeb)
   [94]Bug#357940: Request of maintainer, superseded by 2.6 images
 * memprof -- Memory profiler and leak detector
   [95]Bug#324607: Request of QA, orphaned, buggy, alternatives
   exist
 * kernel-image-2.4.27-hppa -- Header files related to Linux kernel
   version 2.4.27 on PA-RISC.
   [96]Bug#352011: Request of maintainer, superseded by 2.6
 * thy -- Tiny and fast http daemon
   [97]Bug#355852: Request of maintainer, unmaintained upstream,
   buggy
 * lablgtk -- Runtime libraries for lablgtk.
   [98]Bug#355673: Request of maintainer, replaced by gtk2 versions,
   obsolete
 * dvtitler -- Title generator for use with kino
   [99]Bug#352580: Request of maintainer, superseded by kino
 * goldedplus -- Offline mail reader for Fidonet and Usenet
   [100]Bug#334743: Request of QA, orphaned, several vulnerabilities,
   license unclear
 * preferences -- GNUstep Preferences application
   [101]Bug#356599: Request of maintainer, renamed to preferences.app
 * gorm -- Visual Interface Builder for GNUstep
   [102]Bug#356600: Request of maintainer, renamed to gorm.app
 * projectcenter -- IDE for GNUstep Development
   [103]Bug#356607: Request of maintainer, renamed to
   projectcenter.app
 * terminal -- Terminal Emulator for GNUstep
   [104]Bug#ERROR: Request of maintainer, renamed to terminal.app
 * tyvis -- UC's VHDL Simulation Runtime Libraries - shared library
   only
   [105]Bug#356940: Request of QA, uninstallable, not updated since
   2004-07, RC-buggy
 * dbtcp -- Miscellaneous command-line DBTCP utils
   [106]Bug#357857: Request of maintainer, unused, unmaintained,
   bitrot
 * waiho.app -- Simple FTP client for GNUstep
   [107]Bug#358122: Request of maintainer, replaced from http://ftp.app

 83. http://bugs.debian.org/264695
 84. http://bugs.debian.org/275774
 85. http://bugs.debian.org/279526
 86. http://bugs.debian.org/285735
 87. http://bugs.debian.org/288215
 88. http://bugs.debian.org/288216
 89. http://bugs.debian.org/288267
 90. http://bugs.debian.org/305462
 91. http://bugs.debian.org/315340
 92. http://bugs.debian.org/356751
 93. http://bugs.debian.org/356752
 94. http://bugs.debian.org/357940
 95. http://bugs.debian.org/324607
 96. http://bugs.debian.org/352011
 97. http://bugs.debian.org/355852
 98. http://bugs.debian.org/355673
 99. http://bugs.debian.org/352580
 100. http://bugs.debian.org/334743
 101. http://bugs.debian.org/356599
 102. http://bugs.debian.org/356600
 103. http://bugs.debian.org/356607
 104. http://bugs.debian.org/ERROR
 105. http://bugs.debian.org/356940
 106. http://bugs.debian.org/357857
 107. http://bugs.debian.org/358122

Want to continue reading DWN? Please help us create this newsletter.
We still need more volunteer writers who watch the Debian community
and report about what is going on. Please see the [108]contributing
page to find out how to help. We're looking forward to receiving your
mail at [109]dwn@debian.org.

 108. http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/contributing
 109. mailto:dwn@debian.org