Gentoo Weekly Newsletter 27 June 2005

Ulrich Plate <[email protected]> Mon, 27 Jun 2005 02:29:15 +0200
Newsgroups gmane.linux.gentoo.weekly-news
Message-ID <[email protected]>
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Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/current.xml
This is the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of 27 June 2005.
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1. Gentoo News
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Gentoo developer wins award for home entertainment system
---------------------------------------------------------
 =20
Congratulations to Gentoo developer Pieter van den Abeele[1] who went to=20
the Freescale Technology Forum in Orlando, Florida -- and away with the=20
"Best of Show" award for his home media entertainment center based on a=20
hardware design prototype by Gentoo-sponsor Genesi's[2], the maker of the=
=20
Open Desktop Workstation[3]. Features worth highlighting include a=20
THX-certified 7.1 audio system, a 256M ATI graphics card, SATA hard disk=20
capacity measured in terabytes, full-screen video conferencing support=20
with Altivec optimized audio codecs, a dual TV tuner, Vacuum Fluorescent=20
Display for system messages, fast DVD writer, smartcard support to protec=
t=20
recordings, for authentication and encryption, and infrared support so yo=
u=20
can run your media center from a remote control just like any old VCR.=20
More details about the show, including video and audio streams can be=20
found at Pieter's blogsite[4].=20

 1. [email protected]
 2. http://www.genesi.lu
 3. http://vendors.gentoo.org
 4. http://metadistribution.org/blog/
=20
Figure 1.1: Pieter and his award: Best of Show at the Freescale Technolog=
y=20
Forum
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20050627_award.jpg
   =20
Gentoo at the German LinuxTag 2005 in Karlsruhe
-----------------------------------------------
 =20
"Linux everywhere", the motto of this year's LinuxTag, held particularly=20
true again for the Gentoo team when PPC developer Lars Weiler[5] was once=
=20
again invited to install Gentoo Linux on a machine at the close-by HP=20
booth in the same exhibition hall. After a Quad-Opteron[6] installation,=20
Pylon this year bootstrapped Gentoo Linux on a sleek Dual Intel Itanium 2=
=20
server, featuring 1.6GHz processors, 4GB RAM and two 73GB=20
Ultra320-SCSI-Platten, of which 36GB were set aside for the Gentoo=20
installation. The machine had a gigabit network card, but no graphics or=20
input devices: serial console and later ssh were the only ways in. From a=
=20
chroot environment in an installed SuSE Linux, a flawless stage1=20
installation was done, including a 2.6.12 kernel that -- interestingly=20
enough -- needed almost no variation from the default config settings.=20
Trying for an ia64 install CD and a catalyst demonstration, fiddling=20
around with the elilo bootloader and some interesting observations kept=20
Lars busy and happy for a day.=20

 5. [email protected]
 6. news/en/gwn/20040628-newsletter.xml#doc_chap1
=20
Figure 1.1: HP's Christian Franck, Gentoo developers Robin Johnson and=20
Lars Weiler hacking away
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20050627_itanium.png
=20
While the total number of visitors to the LinuxTag was somewhat diminishe=
d=20
by the introduction of an entrance fee to be paid by all visitors, the=20
Gentoo booth was as popular as ever. Portability was indeed the main focu=
s=20
of this year's Gentoo presence, with PPC, MIPS and x86 architectures on=20
display at the Gentoo stand, and another HPPA host in the same hall at th=
e=20
Linux Portability stand - a 66MHz HP 735 running KDE 3.3.2... 60 T-Shirts=
=20
were sold, 15 developers and helpers from Germany took care of visitors a=
t=20
the Gentoo booth, backed up by Robin Johnson[7] visiting from Canada.=20

 7. [email protected]
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Figure 1.2: Still smiling on closing day: the Gentoo LinuxTag team 2005
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20050627_linuxtag.jpg
=20
Note: Left to right: Stefan Knoblich (stkn), Marc Herren (dj-submerge),=20
Robin Johnson (robbat2),Lars Weiler (pylon), Michael Imhof (tantive),=20
Sebastian M=C3=BCller (dakjo), Christian Hartmann (ian!), Markus Nigbur=20
(pyrania), Timo Antweiler (azze), Marc Hildebrand (zypher), Stefan=20
Schweizer (genstef)
=20
After the show, the inofficial localized Gentoo XLiveCD that has become=20
sort of a traditional treat for visitors at IT fairs with a Gentoo=20
representation manned by the German NFP "Friends of Gentoo e.V." has been=
=20
made available. Everyone who couldn't buy one of the 120 CDs that went=20
over the table at the booth in Karlsruhe can now download the image from=20
the Fizzlewizzle server[8]or via Bittorrent[9]. x86 is uploaded, the PPC=20
version will follow in a bit.=20

 8. http://fizzlewizzle.net
 9. http://tracker.netdomination.org
=20
Figure 1.3: Cover art by Christian Hartmann (ian!) for the Fizzlewizzle=20
Gentoo XLiveCD
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20050627_fizzlewizzle.jpg
   =20
Developer accounts on donated AMD64 machine now available
---------------------------------------------------------
 =20
Several new development systems are being brought online this week! Named=
=20
pitr, dustball and poseidon,the bulk of the hardware was generously=20
donated by AMD last month[10]. Other donations from various developers an=
d=20
the Gentoo Foundation have facilitated the purchase of parts essential to=
=20
setting up the boxes, including power supplies and hard disks.=20
Specifications for the three new machines are:=20

 10. news/en/gwn/20050530-newsletter.xml
=20
 * poseidon.amd64.dev.gentoo.org: Dual Opteron 844, 4GB ECC/Registered=20
RAM, one 80GB HDD =20
 * pitr.amd64.dev.gentoo.org: Dual Opteron 842, 2GB ECC/Registered RAM,=20
two 120GB drives =20
 * dustpuppy.amd64.dev.gentoo.org: Dual Opteron 842, 1GB ECC/Registered=20
RAM, diskless node=20
=20
Figure 1.1: Named after a character on userfriendly.org: Pitr in all its=20
glory
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20050627_amd64.png
=20
Two of the systems will be deployed for Gentoo/AMD64 testing/development=20
activities, while the third is destined to become a dedicated release=20
engineering platform. Their deployment is neatly timed to coincide with=20
the release cycle for Gentoo 2005.1 - where their significant processing=20
power will contribute towards the construction of stages, hopefully=20
dramatically reducing catalyst build times!=20
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2. Heard in the community
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gentoo-dev
----------
 =20
Splitting one source package into many binaries
=20
Since most other Linux distros have split packages for binaries and=20
headers, why isn't this done in Gentoo? Where does it help and what=20
problems does it cause? Read on to find out=20
=20
 * ebuild splitting [11] =20
 11. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/28954

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Glibc, non-glibc and external libs
=20
As Gentoo/BSD is maturing some problems with the handling of the differen=
t=20
libcs become more pronounced. How does one handle the extra libraries=20
needed on BSD systems to get all glibc function?=20
=20
 * Glibc, non-glibc and external libs [12]=20
 12. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/28900

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3. Gentoo International
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Germany: Gentoo summer camp
---------------------------
 =20
Bring a tent, enough beverages and food to last for two days, and join th=
e=20
happy Gentoo campers at the first German Gentoo summer camp. From 13 to 1=
4=20
August 2005, German and other European Gentooists are meeting on a=20
campsite in Wissen, close to Siegen and Koblenz in the Westerwald forest=20
region. Bring a laptop if you like, too, but the camp is mainly targeting=
=20
real life interaction: just for fun, for getting to know each other and=20
spending a nice weekend a la campagne. Computing -- if at all -- is going=
=20
to be limited to whatever is stored on the campers' disks, as there will=20
be no internet connectivity. Prices are very moderate at 5 EUR per night,=
=20
please register at organiser Slick's website[13] (link in German).=20

 13. http://gentootreffen2005.deruwe.de/voranmeldung/
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4. Gentoo in the press
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eMediawire (24 June 2005)
-------------------------
 =20
Sumo Computer[14], known for their Gentoo-driven Kuro-Box[15], has now=20
taken an Asus Pundit-R Booksize Barebones system and added a 3.2 Ghz=20
Pentium 4 Prescott processor, a GB of memory, 400 GB worth of SATA disk=20
space and a DVD/CD-RW drive -- and again ships the small box with Gentoo=20
Linux preinstalled, says the press release[16] posted on eMediaWire.=20

 14. http://www.sumocomputers.com
 15. news/en/gwn/20050523-newsletter.xml#doc_chap6_sect2
 16. http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/6/emw254188.htm
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5. Moves, adds, and changes
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 =20
Moves
-----
 =20
The following developers recently left the Gentoo team:=20
=20
 * None this week=20
   =20
Adds
----
 =20
The following developers recently joined the Gentoo Linux team:=20
=20
 * Johannes Traub (_bambam) - PPC arch tester=20
   =20
Changes
-------
 =20
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux=20
project:
=20
 * Andrea Barisani (lcars) - Adds sendmail ebuild maintenance to his infr=
a=20
duties=20
   =20
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6. Gentoo security
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cpio: Directory traversal vulnerability
---------------------------------------
 =20
cpio contains a flaw which may allow a specially crafted cpio archive to=20
extract files to an arbitrary directory.=20
=20
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[17]=20

 17. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200506-16.xml
   =20
SpamAssassin 3, Vipul's Razor: Denial of Service vulnerability
--------------------------------------------------------------
 =20
SpamAssassin and Vipul's Razor are vulnerable to a Denial of Service=20
attack when handling certain malformed messages.=20
=20
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[18]=20

 18. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200506-17.xml
   =20
Tor: Information disclosure
---------------------------
 =20
A flaw in Tor may allow the disclosure of arbitrary memory portions.=20
=20
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[19]=20

 19. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200506-18.xml
   =20
SquirrelMail: Several XSS vulnerabilities
-----------------------------------------
 =20
Squirrelmail is vulnerable to several cross-site scripting vulnerabilitie=
s=20
which could lead to a compromise of webmail accounts.=20
=20
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[20]=20

 20. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200506-19.xml
   =20
Cacti: Several vulnerabilities
------------------------------
 =20
Cacti is vulnerable to several SQL injection and file inclusion=20
vulnerabilities.=20
=20
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[21]=20

 21. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200506-20.xml
   =20
Trac: File upload vulnerability
-------------------------------
 =20
Trac may allow remote attackers to upload files, possibly leading to the=20
execution of arbitrary code.=20
=20
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[22]=20

 22. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200506-21.xml
   =20
sudo: Arbitrary command execution
---------------------------------
 =20
A vulnerability in sudo may allow local users to elevate privileges.=20
=20
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[23]=20

 23. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200506-22.xml
   =20
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7. Bugzilla
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 =20
Summary
-------
 =20
 * Statistics=20
 * Closed bug ranking=20
 * New bug rankings=20
   =20
Statistics
----------
 =20
The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[24]) to record and=20
track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the=20
development team. Between 19 June 2005 and 26 June 2005, activity on the=20
site has resulted in:=20

 24. http://bugs.gentoo.org
=20
 * 585 new bugs during this period=20
 * 397 bugs closed or resolved during this period=20
 * 18 previously closed bugs were reopened this period=20
=20
Of the 8396 currently open bugs: 106 are labeled 'blocker', 208 are=20
labeled 'critical', and 597 are labeled 'major'.=20
   =20
Closed bug rankings
-------------------
 =20
The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period=
=20
are:=20
=20
 * Jonathan Smith[25], with 38 closed bugs[26] =20
 * Alastair Tse[27], with 26 closed bugs[28] =20
 * AMD64 Porting Team[29], with 20 closed bugs[30] =20
 * Gentoo Games[31], with 15 closed bugs[32] =20
 * Jeremy Huddleston[33], with 14 closed bugs[34] =20
 * Shyam Mani[35], with 12 closed bugs[36] =20
 * Gentoo Security[37], with 11 closed bugs[38] =20
 * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[39], with 11 closed bugs[40] =20
 25. [email protected]
 26.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chfieldto=3D2005-06-26&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 27. [email protected]
 28.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chfieldto=3D2005-06-26&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 29. [email protected]
 30.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chfieldto=3D2005-06-26&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 31. [email protected]
 32.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chfieldto=3D2005-06-26&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 33. [email protected]
 34.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chfieldto=3D2005-06-26&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 35. [email protected]
 36.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chfieldto=3D2005-06-26&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 37. [email protected]
 38.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chfieldto=3D2005-06-26&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 39. [email protected]
 40.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chfieldto=3D2005-06-26&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]

   =20
New bug rankings
----------------
 =20
The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during=20
this period are:=20
=20
 * Default Assignee for New Packages[41], with 64 new bugs[42] =20
 * Jonathan Smith[43], with 12 new bugs[44] =20
 * Gentoo Web Application Packages Maintainers[45], with 10 new bugs[46] =
=20
 * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[47], with 10 new bugs[48] =20
 * AMD64 Porting Team[49], with 10 new bugs[50] =20
 * Gentoo Sound Team[51], with 9 new bugs[52] =20
 * Chris PeBenito[53], with 9 new bugs[54] =20
 * Net-Mail Packages[55], with 8 new bugs[56] =20
 41. [email protected]
 42.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chf=
ieldto=3D2005-06-26&[email protected]
 43. [email protected]
 44.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chf=
ieldto=3D2005-06-26&[email protected]
 45. [email protected]
 46.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chf=
ieldto=3D2005-06-26&[email protected]
 47. [email protected]
 48.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chf=
ieldto=3D2005-06-26&[email protected]
 49. [email protected]
 50.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chf=
ieldto=3D2005-06-26&[email protected]
 51. [email protected]
 52.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chf=
ieldto=3D2005-06-26&[email protected]
 53. [email protected]
 54.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chf=
ieldto=3D2005-06-26&[email protected]
 55. [email protected]
 56.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2005-06-19&chf=
ieldto=3D2005-06-26&[email protected]

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8. GWN feedback
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  =20
Please send us your feedback[57] and help make the GWN better.=20

 57. [email protected]
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9. GWN subscription information
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To subscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to=20
[email protected].=20
=20
To unsubscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to=20
[email protected] from the email address you are=20
subscribed under.=20
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10. Other languages
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  =20
The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages=
:
=20
 * Danish[58] =20
 * Dutch[59] =20
 * English[60] =20
 * German[61] =20
 * French[62] =20
 * Japanese[63] =20
 * Italian[64] =20
 * Polish[65] =20
 * Portuguese (Brazil)[66] =20
 * Portuguese (Portugal)[67] =20
 * Russian[68] =20
 * Spanish[69] =20
 * Turkish[70] =20
 58. http://www.gentoo.org/news/da/gwn/gwn.xml
 59. http://www.gentoo.org/news/nl/gwn/gwn.xml
 60. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml
 61. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml
 62. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml
 63. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml
 64. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml
 65. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml
 66. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt_br/gwn/gwn.xml
 67. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml
 68. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml
 69. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml
 70. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml

  =20
Ulrich Plate <[email protected]> - Editor
Alex Howells <[email protected]> - Author
Patrick Lauer <[email protected]> - Author
Lars Weiler <[email protected]> - Author

--=20
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