Gentoo Weekly Newsletter 11 September 2006

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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 11 September 2006.
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1. Gentoo news
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New Gentoo Council elected
--------------------------
 =20
The Gentoo Council[1] is the elected governing body of Gentoo and decides=
=20
on global issues and policies that affect multiple projects in Gentoo. It=
=20
also serves as an appeal court for disciplinary decisions. The Council=20
members are elected for a year and must hold monthly public meetings.=20

 1. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/council/
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The new council for the coming year has been elected. The polls were open=
=20
for a one-month voting period, to allow all developers a chance to vote o=
n=20
their elected representatives. The winners of this year's council vote ar=
e=20
as follows:=20
=20
 * Diego Petten=C3=B2 (Flameeyes)=20
 * Mike Doty (KingTaco)=20
 * Danny van Dyk (Kugelfang)=20
 * Bryan =C3=98stergaard (kloeri)=20
 * Robin H. Johnson (robbat2)=20
 * Mike Frysinger (vapier)=20
 * Chris Gianelloni (wolf31o2)=20
=20
Of the new council, only Mike Frysinger is returning for another tour. Th=
e=20
GWN staff wishes to congratulate all of the new council members and wishe=
s=20
them a productive year.=20
   =20
Donation from Cloanto: Amiga Forever CD
---------------------------------------
 =20
This week, Gentoo received a donation of the Amiga Forever CD[2] from=20
Cloanto. The Amiga[3] is the family of personal computers developed=20
initially by Amiga Corporation and later by Commodore International. Thes=
e=20
computers had great success due to their graphics and sound, which were=20
far ahead of their time. Therefore, Amiga received its nickname, the=20
ultimate games machine. These computers are in the past, but fortunately,=
=20
the power of modern PC hardware has made it possible to emulate Amiga=20
software and games. Gentoo provides two Amiga emulators app-emulation/uae=
=20
and app-emulation/e-uae. However, to make full use of these programs, one=
=20
must have access to an image of the Amiga Kickstart ROM. To properly=20
maintain these packages, access to the Amiga Kickstart ROM is required fo=
r=20
Gentoo developers.=20

 2. http://amigaforever.com
 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga
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The Amiga Forever CD is the award-winning Amiga preservation, emulation,=20
and support package, made by Cloanto, Amiga developers since 1986. Cloant=
o=20
has made this CD available to all Gentoo developers to aid in the=20
maintenance of the Amiga emulation programs.=20
=20
Gentoo would like to thank Cloanto for this generous donation.=20
   =20
Monolithic X no longer supported
--------------------------------
 =20
Developer Donnie Berkholz[4] wrote to the gentoo-dev mailing list about=20
the discontinuation of support for the monolithic X ebuilds. This means=20
there will be no more fixes added to the monolithic packages, including n=
o=20
more security fixes. Package maintainers will begin removing dependencies=
=20
for the monolithic ebuilds from their packages. Donnie hopes to move the=20
monolithic X ebuilds into an overlay soon.=20

 4. [email protected]
=20
Users still using the old monolithic ebuilds should upgrade to modular X=20
using the  Migrating to Modular X HOWTO[5] instructions.=20

 5. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/desktop/x/x11/modular-x-howto.xml
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2. Developer of the week
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"Gentoo, it's what all the cool kids are doing." -Joshua Nichols
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 =20
Figure 2.1: Joshua Nichols, aka nichoj
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20060911_nichoj.jpg
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Developer Joshua Nichols, aka nichoj, resides in Boston, MA - known for=20
their baked beans and tea parties... OK, one in particular. He graduated=20
last spring from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a dual degree in=20
Computer Science and Psychology. At 23, Josh shares an apartment with=20
three friends and one phantom roommate. They have no pets, but Josh=20
considers himself a dog lover and hopes to have a German Shepard when he=20
has more time and a bigger place.=20
=20
Josh works for Banta Corporation, a print and supply chain management=20
company, not that anyone knows what that means. His office develops web=20
applications, both internal and external. Josh works with a team=20
developing modular web applications, primarily with Java and J2EE (like=20
Eclipse, Tomcat, Spring, JDO, web services, etc).=20
=20
Nichoj claims some fairly canon interests as far as geekery goes. He=20
enjoys reading, mostly sci-fi and fantasy, and some occassional technical=
=20
reference, for a bit of light reading. He also really enjoys watching=20
Adult Swim, but don't we all? When Josh manages to get out of the house,=20
it may be for some rollerblading or hackey sack, but will inadvertently=20
end up like many Boston festivities... having a few drinks with friends a=
t=20
one of the many Boston drinking establishments.=20
=20
Josh started using Gentoo back in his freshmen year at college. He had=20
been a Linux user for years but found that hand configuring things quickl=
y=20
became hard to maintain and discovered that using Gentoo helped him=20
maintain his computer the way he wanted. About a year ago, Josh decided=20
that he wanted to be more involved with open source software. He started=20
attending the LUG's, actively reporting bugs, and helping people on IRC.=20
He was becoming rather proficient with Java, and was quickly recruited by=
=20
karltk. Josh's current role with Gentoo is one that he rather enjoys, as=20
the Java Project Lead.=20
=20
Perhaps the Gentoo achievement Josh is most proud of is his contribution=20
to the new Java system, which was released a few months ago. While it was=
=20
mostly developed by the time Josh joined the team, they did quickly=20
realize that all of their 400+ Java packages would have to be updated.=20
Josh is very proud to have contributed to the planning and execution, as=20
well as working through the inevitable rough edges upon rolling it to the=
=20
~arch masses. Of noteworthy mention, Josh received his first 'hate mail'=20
while working on this project; he must have been doing something right.=20
;-)=20
=20
Josh's primary desktop is an AMD64 box, sporting an X2 4400+, 4GB of RAM,=
=20
and a 7800GT connected to a 24" LCD. He also has two Dell x86 laptops, an=
=20
Athlon XP file server, and a G5 desktop for some PPC goodness. His first=20
apps launched? Compiz and CGWD of course, shortly followed by GAIM,=20
Firefox, and Thunderbird.=20
=20
Josh's parting words were that of wisdom: "It may be obvious, but you=20
should enjoy what you do. This can be both applied to work within open=20
source projects or with a job. If you're doing something you can't enjoy,=
=20
or even worse, hate, well, that's bad mmmkay. It'll make your hair grey=20
prematurely, and you might even poke your own eyes out in frustration. I=20
don't know about you, but I like having both eyes. But seriously, I feel=20
fortunate to be able to thoroughly enjoy both my work for Gentoo and my d=
ay
job."
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3. Heard in the community
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forums
------
 =20
A graphical program for creating ebuilds
=20
A suggestion to create a graphical program, an IDE of sorts for the=20
purpose of creating ebuilds has been proposed on the forums. Those in=20
favor claim that a program could substantially reduce the effort in=20
writing ebuilds from scratch, as it will ask the user for the information=
=20
required. Those against the idea cite that the complexity of options in=20
ebuilds would make such a program impossible to create without limiting=20
the options or providing an ill-thought out interface. Whether you suppor=
t=20
the idea or not, this is not the first time such a program has been=20
proposed. Efforts in the past were made by Pythonhead, a Gentoo developer=
,=20
in the now stagnant Abeni package.=20
=20
 * https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-496403.html=20
 * http://abeni.sourceforge.net/=20
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4. Gentoo International
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Australia: Software Freedom Day, Canberra
-----------------------------------------
 =20
Canberra Software Freedom Day[6], on the 9th of September, was an event=20
talking about software freedom, encouraging people to give Linux a go and=
=20
handing out Gentoo, Ubuntu[7], and TheOpenCD[8]. After the event, 48=20
people have a new Gentoo Linux 2006.1 x86 LiveCD, and 23 have a 2006.1=20
amd64 LiveCD.=20

 6. http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/
 7. http://www.ubuntu.com/
 8. http://www.theopencd.org/
=20
Figure 4.1: The Software Freedom Day team
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20060911_sfd.jpg
=20
Note:  Left to Right: Rainer Klein, Neill Cox, Daniel Black (dragonheart)=
,=20
Brian Bishop, Pascal Klein, David Symons, and Evan Leybourn -- Missing:=20
Steve Walsh, Troy Newell=20
=20
All participants had a lot of fun meeting interesting people watching the=
=20
Elephants Dream[9] production. People were interested in alternatives to=20
avoid spyware/viruses, making their old PC hardware useful again as=20
backup/storage servers and making old laptops usable again.=20

 9. http://orange.blender.org/
   =20
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5. Gentoo in the press
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 =20
LinuxPlanet (7 Sep)
-------------------
 =20
This week, LinuxPlanet covers Sectoo[10], a security-focused distribution=
=20
based on Gentoo Linux. Sectoo is a LiveCD-based distribution designed to=20
aid in penetration testing, and also to be a useful toolbox for network=20
administrators interested in securing their own networks.=20

 10. http://www.sectoo.org/
=20
 * Sectoo--A Live Look at Gentoo[11]=20
 11. http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reviews/6307/1/

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6. Gentoo developer moves
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 =20
Moves
-----
 =20
The following developers recently left the Gentoo project:=20
=20
 * none this week=20
   =20
Adds
----
 =20
The following developers recently joined the Gentoo project:=20
=20
 * Javier Villavicencio (The_Paya) Gentoo/FreeBSD=20
 * Mike Kelly (pioto) creandus/GLEP27/vim=20
 * Vlastimil Babka (Caster) Java=20
   =20
Changes
-------
 =20
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo project=
:=20
=20
 * Krzysiek Pawlik (nelchael) joined PPC/Java=20
 * Jorge Manuel B. S. Vicetto (jmbsvicetto) joined UserRel=20
   =20
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7. Gentoo security
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  =20
Streamripper: Multiple remote buffer overflows
----------------------------------------------
 =20
Streamripper is vulnerable to multiple remote buffer overflows, leading t=
o=20
the execution of arbitrary code.=20
=20
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[12]=20

 12. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200609-01.xml
   =20
GTetrinet: Remote code execution
--------------------------------
 =20
GTetrinet is vulnerable to a remote buffer overflow, potentially leading=20
to arbitrary code execution.=20
=20
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[13]=20

 13. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200609-02.xml
   =20
OpenTTD: Remote Denial of Service
---------------------------------
 =20
The OpenTTD server is vulnerable to a remote Denial of Service.=20
=20
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[14]=20

 14. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200609-03.xml
   =20
LibXfont: Multiple integer overflows
------------------------------------
 =20
A buffer overflow was discovered in the PCF font parser, potentially=20
resulting in the execution of arbitrary code.=20
=20
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[15]=20

 15. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200609-04.xml
   =20
OpenSSL, AMD64 x86 emulation base libraries: RSA signature forgery
------------------------------------------------------------------
 =20
OpenSSL fails to properly validate PKCS #1 v1.5 signatures.=20
=20
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[16]=20

 16. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200609-05.xml
   =20
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8. 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[17]) to record and=20
track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the=20
development team. Between 03 September 2006 and 10 September 2006,=20
activity on the site has resulted in:=20

 17. http://bugs.gentoo.org
=20
 * 929 new bugs during this period=20
 * 565 bugs closed or resolved during this period=20
 * 38 previously closed bugs were reopened this period=20
=20
Of the 11040 currently open bugs: 38 are labeled 'blocker', 124 are=20
labeled 'critical', and 530 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
 * Gentoo's Team for Core System packages[18], with 31 closed bugs[19] =20
 * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[20], with 26 closed bugs[21] =20
 * AMD64 Project[22], with 25 closed bugs[23] =20
 * Gentoo Games[24], with 20 closed bugs[25] =20
 * Gentoo Security[26], with 18 closed bugs[27] =20
 * mips team[28], with 18 closed bugs[29] =20
 * Java team[30], with 18 closed bugs[31] =20
 * Gentoo X-windows packagers[32], with 13 closed bugs[33] =20
 18. [email protected]
 19.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chfieldto=3D2006-09-10&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 20. [email protected]
 21.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chfieldto=3D2006-09-10&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 22. [email protected]
 23.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chfieldto=3D2006-09-10&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 24. [email protected]
 25.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chfieldto=3D2006-09-10&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 26. [email protected]
 27.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chfieldto=3D2006-09-10&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 28. [email protected]
 29.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chfieldto=3D2006-09-10&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 30. [email protected]
 31.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chfieldto=3D2006-09-10&=
resolution=3DFIXED&[email protected]
 32. [email protected]
 33.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DRESOLVED&bug_status=3DCLO=
SED&chfield=3Dbug_status&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chfieldto=3D2006-09-10&=
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[34], with 42 new bugs[35] =20
 * Gentoo Sound Team[36], with 15 new bugs[37] =20
 * AMD64 Project[38], with 15 new bugs[39] =20
 * Default Assignee for Orphaned Packages[40], with 14 new bugs[41] =20
 * Gentoo KDE team[42], with 9 new bugs[43] =20
 * Gentoo net-im Herd[44], with 8 new bugs[45] =20
 * Java team[46], with 8 new bugs[47] =20
 * Robin Johnson[48], with 6 new bugs[49] =20
 34. [email protected]
 35.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chf=
ieldto=3D2006-09-10&[email protected]
 36. [email protected]
 37.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chf=
ieldto=3D2006-09-10&[email protected]
 38. [email protected]
 39.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chf=
ieldto=3D2006-09-10&[email protected]
 40. [email protected]
 41.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chf=
ieldto=3D2006-09-10&[email protected]
 42. [email protected]
 43.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chf=
ieldto=3D2006-09-10&[email protected]
 44. [email protected]
 45.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chf=
ieldto=3D2006-09-10&[email protected]
 46. [email protected]
 47.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chf=
ieldto=3D2006-09-10&[email protected]
 48. [email protected]
 49.=20
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=3DNEW&bug_status=3DASSIGNED=
&bug_status=3DREOPENED&chfield=3Dassigned_to&chfieldfrom=3D2006-09-03&chf=
ieldto=3D2006-09-10&[email protected]

   =20
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9. GWN feedback
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  =20
Please send us your feedback[50] and help make the GWN better.=20

 50. [email protected]
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10. GWN subscription information
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To subscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank e-mail to=20
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To unsubscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank e-mail to=20
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11. Other languages
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  =20
The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages=
:=20
=20
 * Chinese (Simplified)[51] =20
 * Danish[52] =20
 * Dutch[53] =20
 * English[54] =20
 * German[55] =20
 * Greek[56] =20
 * French[57] =20
 * Korean[58] =20
 * Japanese[59] =20
 * Italian[60] =20
 * Polish[61] =20
 * Portuguese (Brazil)[62] =20
 * Portuguese (Portugal)[63] =20
 * Russian[64] =20
 * Spanish[65]  =20
 51. http://www.gentoo.org/news/zh_cn/gwn/gwn.xml
 52. http://www.gentoo.org/news/da/gwn/gwn.xml
 53. http://www.gentoo.org/news/nl/gwn/gwn.xml
 54. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml
 55. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml
 56. http://www.gentoo.org/news/el/gwn/gwn.xml
 57. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml
 58. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ko/gwn/gwn.xml
 59. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml
 60. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml
 61. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml
 62. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt_br/gwn/gwn.xml
 63. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml
 64. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml
 65. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml

  =20
Ulrich Plate <[email protected]> - Editor
Mark Kowarsky <[email protected]> - Author
Daniel Black <[email protected]> - Author
Peter Volkov <[email protected]> - Author
Chrissy Fullam <[email protected]> - Author
Chris Gianelloni <[email protected]> - Author



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