--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Debian Weekly News http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2005/47/ Debian Weekly News - November 22nd, 2005 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to this year's 47th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for the Debian community. Nathanael Nerode [1]observed that the new C++ libraries are not transitioning to testing due to a rash of dependent uploads and has requested that maintainers hold off from uploading dependent packages that will contribute to the clog. Guillem Jover [2]proposed to [3]split dependency lines in the source control files for improved readability. Andreas Tille [4]reported about a free [5]Live CD aiming at children. 1. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg01131.html 2. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg01195.html 3. http://bugs.debian.org/90989 4. http://lists.debian.org/debian-jr/2005/11/msg00003.html 5. http://www.klixxa.de/ Standard C++ Library Modification. Matthias Klose [6]announced that the memory allocator in the standard C++ library will be changed which requires several packages to be rebuilt for which he has appended a list. The library will be updated by new versions of the [7]gcc-3.4 and [8]gcc-4.0 packages. Maintainers may have to [9]rename the binary packages to reflect the new dependency. 6. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/11/msg00010.html 7. http://packages.debian.org/gcc-3.4 8. http://packages.debian.org/gcc-4.0 9. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/07/msg00001.html Declassification of private Mails. Anthony Towns [10]proposed a general resolution to open the archives of the debian-private list to the public after three years. A declassification team should be delegated to extract financial information about individuals and mails of no historical relevance. Authors and recipients should be given a period to comment on the publication. 10. http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2005/11/msg00001.html Project Leader Delegations. Branden Robinson released a [11]document explaining how project leader delegations work. The [12]constitution suggests that there may be other powers which the project leader may not directly wield, and which they must delegate instead. If a particular decision is delegated, the project leader cannot take back responsibility for the decision personally, but can re-delegate it to someone else. 11. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/11/msg00009.html 12. http://www.debian.org/devel/constitution Debtags Package Search. Enrico Zini [13]announced an experimental search engine for Debian packages on the basis of [14]debtags information. The [15]search starts with a normal text search, and then continues with categories. Since it is a prototype the engine is currently slow. 13. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/11/msg00011.html 14. http://debtags.alioth.debian.org/ 15. http://debtags.alioth.debian.org/packagebrowser/faq-search.html LCA05: Call for Presentations. Matthew Palmer [16]called for presentations for the upcoming small [17]Debian conference at the 23rd and 24th of January 2006 prior to the [18]Linux Conference Australia. The topic should be related to Debian and could be a normal presentation, discussion, tutorial or a story of grand success. 16. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/11/msg00013.html 17. http://miniconf5.debconf.org/ 18. http://linux.conf.au/ Automated Testing for Packages. Ian Jackson [19]proposed an interface for packages to describe included tests that can be run automatically. This should help find regressions in more recent versions of packages. The format shall be RFC822-style again and describe limitations or side effects as well. 19. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2005/11/msg00072.html Debian Developer's Packages Overview. Christoph Berg [20]announced new features for the [21]packages overview page. Arbitrary packages can be added to the page, the system can be configured to display additional user-defined sections, recently uploaded version are displayed and data from the [22]popularity contest is included as well. 20. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/11/msg00015.html 21. http://qa.debian.org/developer.php 22. http://popcon.debian.org/ No uncompressed Packages Files anymore. Ian Bruce [23]noticed that the Debian package archive doesn't provide uncompressed Packages files anymore. Jörg Jaspert [24]explained that this change was [25]announced three years ago already. Goswin Brederlow [26]added that [27]apt from experimental is able to use the recently provided differential files. 23. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg00993.html 24. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg01082.html 25. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2002/08/msg00008.html 26. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg00998.html 27. http://packages.debian.org/apt Automatic File Updates in Alioth. Frank Küster [28]wondered how files on [29]Alioth could be kept up-to-date with the Subversion [30]repository and already proposed to use a post-hook. Enrico Zini [31]explained his way of updating the web pages by using a mail trigger and an anonymous checkout area. 28. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg01014.html 29. http://alioth.debian.org/ 30. http://svn.debian.org/ 31. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg01017.html Descriptions for Dummy and Meta Packages. Enrico Zini [32]asked for consistent descriptions for meta and dummy packages so that they aren't tagged wrongly and future package managers can handle them properly. A metapackage is used to pull in other packages. On the contrary, a dummy package is used for smooth upgrades of packages and can safely removed afterwards. 32. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/10/msg01154.html PHP License Status.. Jeremy Bouse [33]asked for clarification regarding the [34]PHP licenses as to whether or not they qualify as free since many PEAR packages use them. Steve Langasek [35]explained that the licenses itself are considered free but not suitable for anything which is not PHP. 33. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/10/msg00124.html 34. http://www.php.net/license/3_0.txt 35. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/10/msg00125.html Security Updates. You know the drill. Please make sure that you update your systems if you have any of these packages installed. * DSA 898: [36]phpgroupware -- Several vulnerabilities. * DSA 899: [37]egroupware -- Several vulnerabilities. * DSA 900: [38]fetchmail -- Potential information leak. * DSA 901: [39]gnump3d -- Several vulnerabilities. * DSA 902: [40]xmail -- Arbitrary code execution. * DSA 903: [41]unzip -- Unauthorised permissions modification. * DSA 904: [42]netpbm-free -- Arbitrary code execution. * DSA 905: [43]mantis -- Several vulnerabilities. * DSA 906: [44]sylpheed -- Arbitrary code execution. 36. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-898 37. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-899 38. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-900 39. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-901 40. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-902 41. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-903 42. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-904 43. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-905 44. http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-906 New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the unstable Debian archive [45]recently or contain important updates. 45. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main * [46]eidviewer -- Application to read out information from the Belgian electronic ID card. * [47]festlex-ifd -- Italian support for Festival. * [48]octave2.9 -- GNU Octave language for numerical computations (2.9 branch). * [49]paredit-el -- Minor Emacs mode for structurally editing Lisp code. * [50]php5-mapscript -- Module for php5-cgi to use mapserver. * [51]qa-assistant -- Checklist assistant. * [52]slang-cfitsio -- Read and write FITS files from S-Lang. * [53]trackballs-dbg -- Debugging symbols for Trackballs. * [54]wavpack -- Audio codec (lossy and lossless) - encoder and decoder. * [55]xtrace -- Trace communication between X client and server. * [56]zpkg -- Build software distributions based on the Python distutils package. 46. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/eidviewer 47. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/festlex-ifd 48. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/math/octave2.9 49. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/editors/paredit-el 50. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/php5-mapscript 51. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/gnome/qa-assistant 52. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/interpreters/slang-cfitsio 53. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/games/trackballs-dbg 54. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/wavpack 55. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/x11/xtrace 56. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/python/zpkg Orphaned Packages. 1 package was orphaned this week and requires a new maintainer. This makes a total of 201 orphaned packages. Many thanks to the previous maintainers who contributed to the Free Software community. Please see the [57]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. 57. http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/ * [58]epos -- Text-to-speech system. ([59]Bug#340053) 58. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/epos 59. http://bugs.debian.org/340053 Removed Packages. 35 packages have been [60]removed from the Debian archive during the past week: 60. http://ftp-master.debian.org/removals.txt * libcap2 -- Support for POSIX.1e capabilities [61]Bug#242810: Request of QA, no interest, libcap1 exists * jslaunch -- Joystick button shell command execution/shutdown tool [62]Bug#252152: Request of QA, no interest * bbconf -- Blackbox configuration utility [63]Bug#259581: Request of QA, dead upstream * int-fiction-installer -- Installer for interactive fiction games from the if-archive. [64]Bug#260719: Request of QA, no interest * mmm-mode -- Multiple Major Mode for Emacs [65]Bug#274137: Request of QA, no interest * aggregate -- CIDR network aggregation and filtering [66]Bug#290264: Request of Maintainer, name-conflict with isc's aggregate, not used much * xt-sdf2 -- Programmers tools for manipulating SDF2 formalism [67]Bug#300569: Request of QA, orphaned, no interest * xt-aterm -- Data type (Tree) for exchange in distributed applications [68]Bug#300570: Request of QA, orphaned, no interest * xt-toolbuslib -- C Libraries needed to connect to the ToolBus [69]Bug#300571: Request of QA, orphaned, no interest * xt-toolbus -- Software architecture for distributed applications [70]Bug#300572: Request of QA, orphaned, no interest * python-slang -- Python bindings for S-LANG [71]Bug#314994: Request of QA, orphaned, uninstallable, no upstream activity * woody -- Hierarchic text editor [72]Bug#314996: Request of QA, orphaned, uninstallable, no upstream activity * tuxracer -- Dummy transition package [73]Bug#322069: Request of maintainer, obsolete dummy package * bonobo-activation -- GNOME Bonobo support binaries (dummy package) [74]Bug#330677: Request of maintainer, deprecated * heaplayers -- High-performance memory allocators [75]Bug#332536: Request of QA, orphaned, RC buggy, no interest * irssi-snapshot -- The irssi IRC client (Development version) [76]Bug#336475: Request of QA, outdated, older than regular packages * linuxsampler -- Realtime audio sampler [77]Bug#336568: Request of maintainer, Legal issues * libs11n -- Powerful, extensible C++ serialisation framework [78]Bug#336660: Request of maintainer, obsolete * wdg-html-reference -- WDGs HTML 3.2, HTML 4, and CSS references [79]Bug#337035: Request of maintainer, non-free * gccchecker -- Memory access debugger for C language development [80]Bug#337558: Request of maintainer, dead upstream; functionality superseded by valgrind * ec-fonts-mftraced -- EC PostScript Type1 renderings and TFMs of the EC variants [81]Bug#337890: Request of maintainer, has never been part of a stable release; obsoleted by lilypond 2.6 * gnome-cpufreq-applet -- CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor applet for GNOME [82]Bug#338338: Request of maintainer, superseded by gnome-applets >= 2.10 * db4.1 -- Berkeley v4.1 Database Utilities [83]Bug#338354: Request of maintainer, superseded by db4.3 * libant1.6-java -- Java based build tool like make -- library [84]Bug#338654: Request of maintainer, superseded by ant * licq-plugin-jonsgtk -- Graphical user interface plug-in for Licq using GTK+ [85]Bug#338890: Request of maintainer, dead upstream; alternatives available * libsapdbc7.5.01-java -- JDBC interface to the MaxDB database system [86]Bug#338893: Request of maintainer, superseded by libsapdbc-java * tix8.1 -- Tix library for Tk, version 8.1 -- runtime package [87]Bug#338894: Request of maintainer, superseded by tix * gnumach1 -- GNU version of the Mach microkernel version 1. [88]Bug#339916: Request of maintainer, superseded by gnumach * python2.X-libplot -- Python wrapper for GNU libplot [89]Bug#335524: Request of maintainer, dead upstream, superseded by python2.X-biggles * gnome-pkgview -- Display the version of your GNOME 2 desktop [90]Bug#332917: Request of Maintainer, Obsolete * zope -- Open Source web application server [91]Bug#335488: Request of maintainer, superseded by zope2.7, zope2.8 and zope3 * pts-tetex-cm-super -- TeX font package with CM (EC) in Type1 in T1, T2*, TS1, X2 enc [92]Bug#338629: Request of maintainer, superseded by cm-super * lsh -- Baby shell for novices with DOS compatible commands [93]Bug#338763: Request of maintainer, buggy, dead upstream, namespace conflict * osh -- Operator's Shell [94]Bug#338764: Request of maintainer, RC-buggy * (lib)inti-* -- integrated C++ foundation classes for GTK+ development [95]Bug#334991: Request of maintainer, superseded by gfccore and gfcui 61. http://bugs.debian.org/242810 62. http://bugs.debian.org/252152 63. http://bugs.debian.org/259581 64. http://bugs.debian.org/260719 65. http://bugs.debian.org/274137 66. http://bugs.debian.org/290264 67. http://bugs.debian.org/300569 68. http://bugs.debian.org/300570 69. http://bugs.debian.org/300571 70. http://bugs.debian.org/300572 71. http://bugs.debian.org/314994 72. http://bugs.debian.org/314996 73. http://bugs.debian.org/322069 74. http://bugs.debian.org/330677 75. http://bugs.debian.org/332536 76. http://bugs.debian.org/336475 77. http://bugs.debian.org/336568 78. http://bugs.debian.org/336660 79. http://bugs.debian.org/337035 80. http://bugs.debian.org/337558 81. http://bugs.debian.org/337890 82. http://bugs.debian.org/338338 83. http://bugs.debian.org/338354 84. http://bugs.debian.org/338654 85. http://bugs.debian.org/338890 86. http://bugs.debian.org/338893 87. http://bugs.debian.org/338894 88. http://bugs.debian.org/339916 89. http://bugs.debian.org/335524 90. http://bugs.debian.org/332917 91. http://bugs.debian.org/335488 92. http://bugs.debian.org/338629 93. http://bugs.debian.org/338763 94. http://bugs.debian.org/338764 95. http://bugs.debian.org/334991 Want to continue reading DWN? 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