Subject: Gentoo Weekly Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 29
Newsgroups: gmane.linux.gentoo.weekly-news
Date: 2004-07-19 12:52:47 GMT (4 years, 5 weeks, 4 days, 22 hours and 12 minutes ago)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gentoo Weekly Newsletter http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of July 19th, 2004. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============== 1. Gentoo News ============== Gentoo News ----------- "Apple, we have a problem" - Gentoo MacOS X Released Figure 1.1: Derived from Apple's 'Redmond, we have a problem' campaign: The Gentoo MacOS announcement http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20040719_macos_problem.png Almost exactly one year after the idea of porting Portage to MacOS X came up - and the joint Metapkg initiative[1] between Fink, Darwinports and Gentoo took off - a 20-head-strong developer team around Pieter van den Abeele[2] (strategic lead) and Daniel Ostrow[3] (operational) is now ready to release an extraordinary beast into the wild: Gentoo MacOS. They deliver on a promise no other Linux distribution has been daring enough to make yet: Portage on MacOS is now fully operational, seamlessly integrated as a package manager in a non-Linux operating system. It initially serves the main purpose of an SDK for inclusion of new packages, testing and patching. Granted, KDE isn't ported yet, but make no mistake: Gentoo MacOS is ready for consumption by Macintosh users who want, say, scientific DTP via TeX, something they will now be able to simply emerge in OS X just like they'd do in Gentoo Linux."Right now it's a tool to install lots of commonly requested applications on OS X", explains Pieter van den Abeele. "But in a few months, we'll have a port system that builds Darwin from scratch, provides a standardised lookup and installation routine for Dashboard widgets[4], enhancements and tools like the Desktop Manager[5] and many, many more popular OS X applications." Downloading the Gentoo MacOS Installer provides users with a patched portage, its tree, and the Python modules. It sets environment variables and demands a bootstrapping shell script to be run before the first emerge that detects the operating system (Panther or Tiger), chooses the relevant profiles and injects every application it finds already installed in MacOS X. 1. http://www.metapkg.org 2. pvdabeel <at> gentoo.org 3. dostrow <at> gentoo.org 4. http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/dashboard.html 5. http://wsmanager.sourceforge.net/ Figure 1.2: Taming the Tiger with a double-click: The Gentoo MacOS Installer http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20040719_macos_installer.png Since Gentoo's own GCC ebuild for MacOS X isn't ready yet, compiling is currently done using the Xcode development tools[6] which include GCC 3.3 provided by Apple. "People already on Tiger can experiment with GCC 3.5", adds Pieter. Tiger, the new release of MacOS X, is due in 2005 with its brandnew database filesystem Spotlight[7], modernised video services and many other features. The Gentoo MacOS developers are busy polishing the knobs (a Cocoa user interface is part of the plan), getting iSync[8] integration to work (emerge an application on one machine, automatically replicate onto all other Macs in a LAN), right down to making Catalyst produce Darwin LiveCDs... "But first the cool stuff, then Darwin", chuckles strategic lead Pieter. Even though his team is already larger than the entire Gentoo Linux PPC developer group, they still train new devs almost daily, and whoever wants to help with the project is very welcome to get in touch. The public Wiki[9] holds installation instructions and serves as a reporting tool for packages outside of Portage that already compile without bombing out. The Gentoo MacOS Installer can be downloaded from here[10]. 6. http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/xcode.html 7. http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/spotlighttech.html 8. http://www.apple.com/isync/ 9. http://gentoo-wiki.com/Gentoo_MacOS 10. http://www.metadistribution.org/macos/ Full size (1024x768) screenshots of the Gentoo MacOS installation procedure: * Installer starts[11] * Detection of OS version and installed software[12] * Still busy injecting detected applications, 'emerge info'[13] * First 'emerge --pretend --verbose system' on MacOS X 10.4 (Tiger)[14] * Pulling in and unpacking sources...[15] * Configuring...[16] * Compiling...[17] * Merged![18] * Modified make.conf to accomodate the alien kernel and userland environment[19] 11. http://www.metadistribution.org/macos/1.png 12. http://www.metadistribution.org/macos/2.png 13. http://www.metadistribution.org/macos/3.png 14. http://www.metadistribution.org/macos/4.png 15. http://www.metadistribution.org/macos/5.png 16. http://www.metadistribution.org/macos/6.png 17. http://www.metadistribution.org/macos/7.png 18. http://www.metadistribution.org/macos/8.png 19. http://www.metadistribution.org/macos/9.png ================== 2. Gentoo Security ================== rsync: Directory traversal in rsync daemon ------------------------------------------ Under specific conditions, the rsync daemon is vulnerable to a directory traversal allowing to write files outside a sync module. For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[20] 20. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-10.xml wv: Buffer overflow vulnerability --------------------------------- A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the wv library that can allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running the vulnerable application. For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[21] 21. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-11.xml Linux Kernel: Remote DoS vulnerability with IPTables TCP Handling ----------------------------------------------------------------- A flaw has been discovered in 2.6 series Linux kernels that allows an attacker to send a malformed TCP packet, causing the affected kernel to possibly enter an infinite loop and hang the vulnerable machine. For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[22] 22. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-12.xml PHP: Multiple security vulnerabilities -------------------------------------- Multiple security vulnerabilities, potentially allowing remote code execution, were found and fixed in PHP. For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[23] 23. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-13.xml ================== 3. Projects Update ================== Portage The portage team is currently working on readying portage-2.0.51 for public testing and stable releases in the near future. The features of 2.0.51 are mostly internal, but there will be some obvious changes related to FHS compliance and better handling of virtual and 'any of these' dependencies. There will be some changes in the caches as the migration to 2.0.51 starts, but as long as users are currently on at least portage-2.0.50-r7, they won't notice. Devrel The recruiters team have suspended plans to implement a formal copyright assignment process, pending legal counsel and some issues with wording, the status of developers younger than the age of majority, and the legal status of non-U.S. development. For now, ebuilds are specifically assigned copyright to the Gentoo Foundation, but there is no formal contract. There is also now a Developer Away[24] page which will document developers who are away or out-of-contact for a variety of reasons. 24. http://dev.gentoo.org/devaway/ Gentoo-Alt Pieter van den Abeele[25] (strategic lead) and Daniel Ostrow[26] (operational) will be heading up the new MacOS[27] project to support the implementation of portage on Macintosh computers. See the News section for details on this initiative. 25. pvdabeel <at> gentoo.org 26. dostrow <at> gentoo.org 27. http://gentoo-wiki.com/Gentoo_MacOS Hardened The Hardened Gentoo team is currently getting ready for a parallel release with the 2004.2 Live CD. Infrastructure The infrastructure team are currently testing eGroupWare[28]'s suitability for use by Gentoo developers for communication and project management. 28. http://www.egroupware.org/ Releng The Release Engineering team are hard at work gearing up for the release of the 2004.2[29] Live CD,currently scheduled for the 26th of this month. 29. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/releng/release/2004.2/2004.2.xml ================================= 4. Featured Developer of the Week ================================= Featured Developer is on hiatus this week. ========================= 5. Heard in the Community ========================= Web Forums ---------- Portage, not Portage First anniversary of one of the most popular threads in the forums: Gentoo developer Pythonhead started a list of portage utilities that aren't in Portage exactly a year ago that's been spoon-fed with suggestions by many users since then. The list is constantly updated and has grown to currently 37 tools, including esoteric shell script like license2kill (gets rid of every package not covered by an Open-Source-Initiative-approved license) and hands-on helpers like Pythonhead's own "bumper" (bumps ebuilds when a new source version is available for download and doesn't require a totally modified ebuild) and a handful of replacements or modifications of standard portage features like updating config files, downloading and emerging things. Some of the tools have actually made it into Portage already, some will never stand a chance of inclusion in the tree. Take your pick: * Portage utilities not in portage[30] 30. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=67849 gentoo-user ----------- Using ~x86 All the Time? Should you use the ~x86 flag for everything on your system? Some claim it is too unstable, and others claim that it is more stable than not setting any keywords. Check out the interesting arguments both ways in this[31] thread. 31. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/89149 Gentoo-Sources What is your opinion on using gentoo-sources for the kernel? A few people believe that there are too many patches applied in the gentoo-kernel, but there are also good arguments for them as well. The thread is here[32]. 32. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/89620 Send-only Mail Server Have the need to allow a server to send mail, but not receive it? This thread[33] opened up discussion on such a topic using Postfix. 33. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/89735 ======================= 6. Gentoo International ======================= UK: Gentoo Meet-Up Looking for Organizing Committee Gentoo developer Stuart Herbert[34] is seeking volunteers who would be willing to organize a meeting for UK-based Gentoo developers and users in September or early October 2004. The initial venue is to be Manchester, conveniently placed at the geographic center of England, Wales and Scotland. Help is now needed to organize a venue, internet access, accomodation and the conference programme, along with publicity around the event. If you're interested in participating, post your availability to this thread[35] on the Forums. 34. stuart <at> gentoo.org 35. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=197906 =========== 7. Bugzilla =========== Summary ------- * Statistics * Closed Bug Ranking * New Bug Rankings Statistics ---------- The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[36]) to record and track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the development team. Between 10 July 2004 and 16 July 2004, activity on the site has resulted in: 36. http://bugs.gentoo.org * 665 new bugs during this period * 397 bugs closed or resolved during this period * 19 previously closed bugs were reopened this period Of the 6802 currently open bugs: 138 are labeled 'blocker', 177 are labeled 'critical', and 530 are labeled 'major'. Closed Bug Rankings ------------------- The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period are: * PPC64 Architecture Team[37], with 51 closed bugs[38] * AMD64 Porting Team[39], with 29 closed bugs[40] * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[41], with 18 closed bugs[42] * Mike Frysinger[43], with 17 closed bugs[44] * Java Team[45], with 15 closed bugs[46] 37. ppc64 <at> gentoo.org 38. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-07-10&chfieldto=2004-07-16&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=ppc64 <at> gentoo.org 39. amd64 <at> gentoo.org 40. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-07-10&chfieldto=2004-07-16&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=amd64 <at> gentoo.org 41. gnome <at> gentoo.org 42. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-07-10&chfieldto=2004-07-16&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=gnome <at> gentoo.org 43. vapier <at> gentoo.org 44. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-07-10&chfieldto=2004-07-16&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=vapier <at> gentoo.org 45. java <at> gentoo.org 46. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-07-10&chfieldto=2004-07-16&resolution=FIX ED&assigned_to=java <at> gentoo.org New Bug Rankings ---------------- The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during this period are: * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[47], with 17 new bugs[48] * media-video Herd[49], with 11 new bugs[50] * Gentoo Science Related Packages[51], with 10 new bugs[52] * Mozilla Gentoo Team[53], with 10 new bugs[54] * Gentoo Games[55], with 10 new bugs[56] 47. gnome <at> gentoo.org 48. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-07-10&chfieldto=2004-07 -16&assigned_to=gnome <at> gentoo.org 49. media-video <at> gentoo.org 50. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-07-10&chfieldto=2004-07 -16&assigned_to=media-video <at> gentoo.org 51. sci <at> gentoo.org 52. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-07-10&chfieldto=2004-07 -16&assigned_to=sci <at> gentoo.org 53. mozilla <at> gentoo.org 54. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-07-10&chfieldto=2004-07 -16&assigned_to=mozilla <at> gentoo.org 55. games <at> gentoo.org 56. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-07-10&chfieldto=2004-07 -16&assigned_to=games <at> gentoo.org ================== 8. Tips and Tricks ================== Using bash history If you have ever typed a long command and needed to repeat it, or you need to repeat a series of commands, try using history instead of re-typing. The history command allows you see (and execute) previous commands. Type history to see the last few commands you've entered. It will show you the command and a number. To execute the command use history !number where number is the number of the command listed. (e.g. history !234). =========================== 9. 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: * Thomas Matthijs (axxo) - java * Bernie Lees (twk-b) - ppc * Rob Holland (tigger) - sparc, wasabi * Tom Knight (tomk) - net-mail * Chris White - sound, video, security Changes ------- The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux project: * None this week ===================== 10. Contribute to GWN ===================== Interested in contributing to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter? Send us an email[57]. 57. gwn-feedback <at> gentoo.org ================ 11. GWN Feedback ================ Please send us your feedback[58] and help make the GWN better. 58. gwn-feedback <at> gentoo.org ================================ 12. 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Other Languages =================== The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages: * Danish[59] * Dutch[60] * English[61] * German[62] * French[63] * Japanese[64] * Italian[65] * Polish[66] * Portuguese (Brazil)[67] * Portuguese (Portugal)[68] * Russian[69] * Spanish[70] * Turkish[71] 59. http://www.gentoo.org/news/da/gwn/gwn.xml 60. http://www.gentoo.org/news/be/gwn/gwn.xml 61. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml 62. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml 63. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml 64. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml 65. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml 66. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml 67. http://www.gentoo.org/news/br/gwn/gwn.xml 68. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml 69. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml 70. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml 71. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml Yuji Carlos Kosugi <carlos <at> gentoo.org> - Editor AJ Armstrong <aja <at> gentoo.org> - Contributor Brian Downey <bdowney <at> briandowney.net> - Contributor Kurt Lieber <klieber <at> gentoo.org> - Contributor David Narayan <david <at> phrixus.net> - Contributor Ulrich Plate <plate <at> gentoo.org> - Contributor Sven Vermeulen <swift <at> gentoo.org> - Contributor Simon Holm Thagersen <simon <at> lysbro.net> - Danish Translation Jesper Brodersen <broeman <at> gentoo.org> - Danish Translation Arne Mejlholm <aaby <at> gentoo.org> - Danish Translation 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 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 Shigehiro Idani <datam <at> anet.ne.jp> - Japanese Translation Masayoshi Nakamura <masayang <at> masasushi.com> - Japanese Translation Tomoyuki Sakurai <web-gentoo-doc-jp <at> trombik.mine.nu> - Japanese Translation Lukasz Strzygowski <lucass <at> gentoo.pl> - Polish Translation Karol Goralski <gooroo <at> gentoo.pl> - Polish Translation Atila "Jedi" Bohlke Vasconcelos <bohlke <at> inf.ufrgs.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Eduardo Belloti <dudu <at> datavibe.net> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Jo??o Rafael Moraes Nicola <joaoraf <at> rudah.com.br> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation Marcelo Gon??alves 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 Jos?? 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 Guillermo Juarez <guillermo.juarez <at> hispalinux.es> - Spanish Translation Fernando J. Pereda <ferdy <at> ferdyx.org> - Spanish Translation Juan Diego Guti??rrez Gallardo <andy <at> enreas.com> - Spanish Translation Nicolas Silva <nsilva <at> purdue.edu> - 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