Subject: Gentoo Weekly Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 13
Newsgroups: gmane.linux.gentoo.weekly-news
Date: 2004-03-30 16:17:00 GMT (5 years, 13 weeks, 5 days, 23 hours and 25 minutes ago)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gentoo Weekly Newsletter http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of March 29th, 2004. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============== 1. Gentoo News ============== Support for multiple MTAs with mailwrapper ------------------------------------------ Since 17 March 2004, Gentoo has slowly been gaining support for having multiple mail transfer agents (MTAs) installed simultaneously by using a version of mailwrapper[1] that has been ported from {Free,Open,Net}BSD to Linux. 1. http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mail-changingmta. html The problem is an old one. Because sendmail was the MTA of choice for so long, many mail clients just expect a /usr/sbin/sendmail program to exist on the system that does the "right thing" when invoked with the usual sendmail command flags. Consequently, every modern MTA installs either a /usr/sbin/sendmail binary or a symbolic link that points /usr/sbin/sendmail to the actual MTA binary. Installing more than one MTA then becomes rather difficult, since each MTA will want to install its own version of /usr/sbin/sendmail (and, in the process, clobbering any already-existing version of /usr/sbin/sendmail). The solution to this problem that mailwrapper provides is to have /usr/sbin/sendmail be a binary that executes the true MTA binary by looking up the location of the desired MTA in an /etc/mailer.conf text file. For example, somebody who has both sendmail and postfix installed might have an /etc/mailer.conf file that contains: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Code Listing 1.1: | | Example /etc/mailer.conf | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |# Postfix | |sendmail /usr/sbin/sendmail.postfix | |send-mail /usr/sbin/sendmail.postfix | |mailq /usr/sbin/sendmail.postfix | |newaliases /usr/sbin/sendmail.postfix | |# Sendmail | |#sendmail /usr/sbin/sendmail.sendmail | |#send-mail /usr/sbin/sendmail.sendmail | |#mailq /usr/sbin/sendmail.sendmail | |#newaliases /usr/sbin/sendmail.sendmail | |#hoststat /usr/sbin/sendmail.sendmail | |#purgestat /usr/sbin/sendmail.sendmail | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- With this version of /etc/mailer.conf, any attempt to run /usr/sbin/sendmail would actually run /usr/sbin/sendmail.postfix. Switching from postfix to sendmail, on the other hand, whould require nothing more than commenting out the postfix lines and uncommenting the sendmail lines in /etc/mailer.conf. Right now the latest unstable (~arch) versions of ssmtp, postfix, exim, and sendmail have been modified to take advantage of mailwrapper. Since each new MTA ebuild installs a default version of /etc/mailer.conf with the lines for that mailer uncommented, most users will be able to upgrade or install one of these mailwrapper-enabled MTA packages without ever having to worry about mailwrapper. For users who want to try out various MTAs, however, support for doing so rather painlessly is either available already, or it will be there soon. Users who have installed or upgraded a recent unstable versions of ssmtp, postfix, exim, or sendmail might have noticed that net-mail/mailwrapper was pulled in as a dependency. The mailwrapper package has been ported to linux from {free,open,net}BSD[2] and it provides a /usr/sbin/sendmail binary that checks /etc/mailer.conf to see which program should actually get executed when /usr/sbin/sendmail (or a symlink to /usr/sbin/sendmail) is called. 2. http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mail-changingmta. html Apache2 upgrade --------------- Apache 2.0.49 has been added to Portage, and marked stable; see below for a GLSA about some security holes in 2.0.48. Users upgrading from apache-2.0.48-r1 and earlier need to note that some files have been moved from /etc/apache2 to /usr/lib/apache2. Specifically, users will need to manually remove these directories once they have emerged apache-2.0.49: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Code Listing 1.1: | | Directories that need to be manually removed | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |/etc/apache2/lib | |/etc/apache2/logs | |/etc/apache2/modules | |/etc/apache2/extramodules | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gentoo Linux seeking a dedicated Apache maintainer -------------------------------------------------- The Gentoo Linux Project is seeking a dedicated Apache maintainer. As this week's GLSA has shown, it's clear that there needs to be at least one Gentoo developer whose main responsibility is to look after the Apache ebuilds and the associated modules in the Portage tree. We're looking for a dedicated developer with a good knowledge of Apache and modules, as well as general development experience. If you're interested, send an email to Stuart Herbert[3] with some background information. 3. stuart <at> gentoo.org ================== 2. Gentoo Security ================== Multiple security vulnerabilities in Apache 2 --------------------------------------------- A memory leak in mod_ssl allows a remote denial of service attack against an SSL-enabled server via plain HTTP requests. Another flaw was found when arbitrary client-supplied strings can be written to the error log, allowing the exploit of certain terminal emulators. A third flaw exists with the mod_disk_cache module. For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[4] 4. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200403-04.xml UUDeview MIME Buffer Overflow ----------------------------- A specially-crafted MIME file (.mim, .uue, .uu, .b64, .bhx, .hqx, and .xxe extensions) may cause UUDeview to crash or execute arbitrary code. For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[5] 5. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200403-05.xml Multiple remote buffer overflow vulnerabilities in Courier ---------------------------------------------------------- Remote buffer overflow vulnerabilites have been found in Courier-IMAP and Courier MTA. These exploits may allow the execution of abritrary code, allowing unauthorized access to a vulnerable system. For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[6] 6. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200403-06.xml Multiple remote overflows and vulnerabilities in Ethereal --------------------------------------------------------- Mulitple overflows and vulnerabilities exist in Ethereal which may allow an attacker to crash the program or run arbitrary code. For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[7] 7. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200403-07.xml oftpd DoS vulnerability ----------------------- A remotely-exploitable overflow exists in oftpd, allowing an attacker to crash the oftpd daemon. For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[8] 8. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200403-08.xml Buffer overflow in Midnight Commander ------------------------------------- A remotely-exploitable buffer overflow in Midnight Commander allows arbitrary code to be run on a user's computer For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[9] 9. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200403-09.xml ========================= 3. Heard in the Community ========================= gentoo-user ----------- Saving space in /usr It can be easy to underestimate how much space /usr/portage may take up, and occasionally moving /usr/portage[10] can be a quick and painless solution! 10. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/72590 Console Eye Candy Check out some of the things some other Gentoo users have done with their shell prompts as well as a handy escape code color table in this thread[11]! 11. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/72360 gentoo-dev ---------- Shell choices. Although bash tends to be the overwhelming standard, perhaps there is some room for choice. Despite some bash dependancies in rc-scripts, there are ways around this.Here[12] is a thread discussing the option of giving a little more choice in this area. 12. http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/17010/ Secure Portage. Something that we are all in great expectation is the securing of our favorite tree with gpg-signatures. However we will have to wait a little longer as some issues have come up that need to be resolved first. To check out what's going on in the process, have a look here[13]. But watch out! It's a long one! 13. http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/16876/ =========== 4. Bugzilla =========== Summary ------- * Statistics * Closed Bug Ranking * New Bug Rankings Statistics ---------- The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[14]) to record and track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the development team. Between 19 March 2004 and 25 March 2004, activity on the site has resulted in: 14. http://bugs.gentoo.org * 571 new bugs during this period * 327 bugs closed or resolved during this period * 14 previously closed bugs were reopened this period Of the 5446 currently open bugs: 129 are labeled 'blocker', 216 are labeled 'critical', and 447 are labeled 'major'. Closed Bug Rankings ------------------- The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period are: * Jeremy Huddleston[15], with 34 closed bugs[16] * AMD64 Porting Team[17], with 30 closed bugs[18] * Gentoo LiveCD Team[19], with 19 closed bugs[20] * Gentoo Gnome Desktop Team[21], with 16 closed bugs[22] * Gentoo KDE Team[23], with 12 closed bugs[24] 15. eradicator <at> gentoo.org 16. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-03-19&chfieldto=2004-03-25&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=eradicator <at> gentoo.org 17. amd64 <at> gentoo.org 18. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-03-19&chfieldto=2004-03-25&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=amd64 <at> gentoo.org 19. livecd <at> gentoo.org 20. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-03-19&chfieldto=2004-03-25&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=livecd <at> gentoo.org 21. gnome <at> gentoo.org 22. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-03-19&chfieldto=2004-03-25&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=gnome <at> gentoo.org 23. kde <at> gentoo.org 24. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-03-19&chfieldto=2004-03-25&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=kde <at> gentoo.org New Bug Rankings ---------------- The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during this period are: * x86 Kernel Team[25], with 25 new bugs[26] * Gentoo Gnome Desktop Team[27], with 17 new bugs[28] * Gentoo KDE Team[29], with 14 new bugs[30] * Core System Packages Team[31], with 14 new bugs[32] * AMD64 Porting Team[33], with 12 new bugs[34] 25. x86-kernel <at> gentoo.org 26. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-03-19&chfieldto=2004-03 -25&assigned_to=x86-kernel <at> gentoo.org 27. gnome <at> gentoo.org 28. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-03-19&chfieldto=2004-03 -25&assigned_to=gnome <at> gentoo.org 29. kde <at> gentoo.org 30. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-03-19&chfieldto=2004-03 -25&assigned_to=kde <at> gentoo.org 31. base-system <at> gentoo.org 32. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-03-19&chfieldto=2004-03 -25&assigned_to=base-system <at> gentoo.org 33. amd64 <at> gentoo.org 34. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-03-19&chfieldto=2004-03 -25&assigned_to=amd64 <at> gentoo.org ================== 5. Tips and Tricks ================== Timezone conversion using date ------------------------------ Many users may already use date to check the time from a console, but this week we're going to show you how it can be used to convert timezones. For example, most Gentoo announcements are timestamped in UTC. To convert a time to your timezone, use the following, which uses /etc/localtime to determine the target timezone: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Code Listing 5.1: | | Converting to the local timezone | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |% date -d '17:00 UTC' | |Sun Mar 28 12:00:00 EST 2004 | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you want to convert to a different timezone, you can set the TZ enviornment variable to the appropriate timezone. There's a pitfall here: if GNU date doesn't find TZ in /usr/share/zoneinfo, it'll fall back to /etc/localtime without warning or error, so be careful. Here's an example of doing the reverse conversion from the previous example: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Code Listing 5.2: | | Converting to UTC | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |% TZ=UTC date -d '12:00 EST' | |Sun Mar 28 17:00:00 EST 2004 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- =========================== 6. 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: * Jodok Batlogg (batlogg) - net-zope, plone * Jason Cox (steel300) - kernel * Jochen Maes (sejo) - ppc * James Maynard (jmaynard) - alpha Changes ------- The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux project: * none this week ==================== 7. Contribute to GWN ==================== Interested in contributing to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter? Send us an email[35]. 35. gwn-feedback <at> gentoo.org =============== 8. GWN Feedback =============== Please send us your feedback[36] and help make the GWN better. 36. gwn-feedback <at> gentoo.org =============================== 9. GWN Subscription Information =============================== To subscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to gentoo-gwn-subscribe <at> gentoo.org. To unsubscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to gentoo-gwn-unsubscribe <at> gentoo.org from the email address you are subscribed under. =================== 10. Other Languages =================== The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages: * Dutch[37] * English[38] * German[39] * French[40] * Japanese[41] * Italian[42] * Polish[43] * Portuguese (Brazil)[44] * Portuguese (Portugal)[45] * Russian[46] * Spanish[47] * Turkish[48] 37. http://www.gentoo.org/news/be/gwn/gwn.xml 38. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml 39. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml 40. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml 41. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml 42. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml 43. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml 44. http://www.gentoo.org/news/br/gwn/gwn.xml 45. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml 46. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml 47. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml 48. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml Yuji Carlos Kosugi <carlos <at> gentoo.org> - Editor AJ Armstrong <aja <at> clanarmstrong.com> - Contributor Brian Downey <bdowney <at> briandowney.net> - Contributor Luke Giuliani <cold_flame <at> email.com> - Contributor Grant Goodyear <g2boojum <at> gentoo.org> - Contributor Aron Griffis <agriffis <at> gentoo.org> - Contributor Stuart Herbert <stuart <at> gentoo.org> - Contributor Kurt Lieber <klieber <at> gentoo.org> - Contributor Rafael Cordones Marcos <rcm <at> sasaska.net> - Contributor David Narayan <david <at> phrixus.net> - Contributor David Nielsen <Lovechild <at> foolclan.com> - Contributor Ulrich Plate <plate <at> gentoo.org> - Contributor Hendrik Eeckhaut <Hendrik.Eeckhaut <at> UGent.be> - Dutch Translation Jorn Eilander <sephiroth <at> quicknet.nl> - Dutch Translation Bernard Kerckenaere <bernieke <at> bernieke.com> - Dutch Translation Peter ter Borg <peter <at> daborg.nl> - Dutch Translation Jochen Maes <linux <at> sejo.be> - Dutch Translation Roderick Goessen <rgoessen <at> home.nl> - Dutch Translation Gerard van den Berg <gerard <at> steelo.net> - Dutch Translation Matthieu Montaudouin <mat <at> frheaven.com> - French Translation Xavier Neys <neysx <at> gentoo.org> - French Translation Martin Prieto <riverdale <at> linuxmail.org> - French Translation Antoine Raillon <cabec2 <at> pegase.net> - French Translation Sebastien Cevey <seb <at> cine7.net> - French Translation Jean-Christophe Choisy <mabouya <at> petitefleure.org> - French Translation Thomas Raschbacher <lordvan <at> gentoo.org> - German Translation Steffen Lassahn <madeagle <at> gentoo.org> - German Translation Matthias F. Brandstetter <haim <at> gentoo.org> - German Translation Lukas Domagala <Cyrik <at> gentoo.org> - German Translation Tobias Scherbaum <dertobi123 <at> gentoo.org> - German Translation Daniel Gerholdt <Sputnik1969 <at> gentoo.org> - German Translation Marc Herren <dj-submerge <at> gentoo.org> - German Translation Tobias Matzat <SirSeoman <at> gentoo.org> - German Translation Marco Mascherpa <mush <at> monrif.net> - Italian Translation Claudio Merloni <paper <at> tiscali.it> - Italian Translation Christian Apolloni <bsolar <at> bluewin.ch> - Italian Translation Stefano Lucidi <stefano.lucidi <at> gentoo-italia.org> - Italian Translation Katuyuki Konno <katuyuki <at> siva.ddo.jp> - Japanese Translation Hiroyuki Takeda <hiro <at> extreme.jspeed.jp> - Japanese Translation Masato Hatakeyama <hatake <at> mx2.ttcn.ne.jp> - Japanese Translation Masayoshi Nakamura <masayang <at> masasushi.com> - Japanese Translation Yasunori Fukudome <yasunori <at> mail.portland.co.uk> - Japanese Translation Tomoyuki Sakurai <web-gentoo-doc-jp <at> trombik.mine.nu> - Japanese Translation Radoslaw Janeczko <sototh <at> gts.pl> - Polish Translation Lukasz Strzygowski <lucass.home <at> pf.pl> - Polish Translation Michal Drobek <veng <at> wp.pl> - Polish Translation Adam Lyjak <apo <at> cyberpunk.net.pulawy.pl> - Polish Translation Krzysztof Klimonda <cthulhu <at> emusearch.net> - Polish Translation Atila "Jedi" Bohlke Vasconcelos <bohlke <at> inf.ufrgs.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Eduardo Belloti <dudu <at> datavibe.net> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation João Rafael Moraes Nicola <joaoraf <at> rudah.com.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Marcelo Gonçalves de Azambuja <mgazambuja <at> terra.com.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Otavio Rodolfo Piske <angusy <at> gentoobr.org> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Pablo N. Hess -- NatuNobilis <natunobilis <at> gentoobr.org> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Pedro de Medeiros <pzilla <at> yawl.com.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Ventura Barbeiro <venturasbarbeiro <at> ig.com.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Bruno Ferreira <blueroom <at> digitalmente.net> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation Gustavo Felisberto <humpback <at> felisberto.net> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation José Costa <jose_costa <at> netcabo.pt> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation Luis Medina <metalgodin <at> linuxmail.org> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation Ricardo Loureiro <rjlouro <at> rjlouro.org> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation Aleksandr Martyncev <amncorp <at> bk.ru> - Russian Translator Sergey Galkin <gals_home <at> list.ru> - Russian Translator Sergey Kuleshov <svyatogor <at> gentoo.org> - Russian Translator Alex Spirin <asp13 <at> mail.ru> - Russian Translator Denis Zaletov <dzaletov <at> rambler.ru> - Russian Translator Lanark <lanark <at> lanark.com.ar> - Spanish Translation Fernando J. Pereda <ferdy <at> ferdyx.org> - Spanish Translation Lluis Peinado Cifuentes <lpeinado <at> uoc.edu> - Spanish Translation Zephryn Xirdal T <ZEPHRYNXIRDAL <at> telefonica.net> - Spanish Translation Guillermo Juarez <katossi <at> usuarios.retecal.es> - Spanish Translation Jesús García Crespo <correo <at> sevein.com> - Spanish Translation Carlos Castillo <carlos <at> castillobueno.com> - Spanish Translation Julio Castillo <julio <at> castillobueno.com> - Spanish Translation Sergio Gómez <s3r <at> fibertel.com.ar> - Spanish Translation Aycan Irican <aycan <at> core.gen.tr> - Turkish Translation Bugra Cakir <bugra <at> myrealbox.com> - Turkish Translation Cagil Seker <cagils <at> biznet.com.tr> - Turkish Translation Emre Kazdagli <emre <at> core.gen.tr> - Turkish Translation Evrim Ulu <evrim <at> core.gen.tr> - Turkish Translation Gursel Kaynak <gurcell <at> core.gen.tr> - Turkish Translation