Gentoo Weekly Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 10

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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 March 1st, 2004.
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==============
1. Gentoo News
==============
   
Germany: LinuxTag Chemnitz
--------------------------
  
Gentoo devs Pylon (Lars Weiler), Tuxus (Jan Seidel) and dertobi123 (Tobias 
Scherbaum), plus Mr.Big (Jens Blaesche) from the German forum - four 
activists manning the Gentoo booth, four architectures (x86, Mac, Sparc 
and MIPS) on display! The Chemnitzer Linuxtag[1] on Saturday and Sunday 3 
& 4 March was quite successful, with scores of fresh x86 and PPC LiveCDs 
being handed out to visitors. The devs had prepared a shiny new flyer with 
information about 2004.0 and new features in Portage, but the indisputable 
main attraction at the Gentoo booth was a veritable Silicon Graphics O2 
("visual workstation"), the first O2 ever to be displayed running Linux to 
begin with, and this one even sporting a 2.6.1 kernel and a working 
framebuffer, thanks to Tuxus. 
Figure 1.1: Left to right: Tuxus, dertobi123, Pylon and Mr.Big trying to 
protect the Gentoo booth from the onslaught of visitors
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/chemnitz_crew.jpg

 1. http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/linux/tag/2004/allgemeines/
    
=================================
2. Featured Developer of the Week
=================================
  
Damien Krotkine
---------------
  
Figure 2.1: Damien (dams) Krotkine
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20040308_dams.jpg
 
This week's featured developer is Damien Krotkine[2] (dams), the lead for 
the Gentoo Desktop Research Project[3]. He is also working on improving 
Gentoo's configuration tools, specifically by promoting the libconf[4] 
abstraction layer, a project he also contributes to. He claims these tasks 
are largely administrative, and that he doesn't get much time to code for 
Gentoo. 

 2. [email protected]
 3. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/desktop/research/index.xml
 4. http://www.nongnu.org/libconf/
 
dams (as he prefers to be called), began using Linux in 1998, with Red 
Hat. He progressed through Mandrake before hearing about Gentoo just prior 
to the release of 1.2. After Gentoo's 1.2 LiveCD was released, dams began 
using the new distro. Around the same time, dams had a conversation with 
Daniel Robbins[5] about libconf and the fact that Gentoo didn't really 
have any higher-level configuration tools. The end result was dams role in 
researching improvements and modifications to Gentoo's desktop features 
and tools. 

 5. [email protected]
 
dams works as a Technical Project Leader on multi-platform applications 
using the Mozilla engine - a job he describes as "having fun with cool 
guys doing cool stuff on mozilla and other multi-platform open 
technologies". He is a Mandrakesoft alumnus, having coded the early 
versions of the Mandrake Control Center front-end and the Mandrake Network 
Configuration tool. He went to school in Frankfurt, Germany and later in 
Paris, France, where he studied Computer Science. 
 
Our subject numbers perl[6], emacs[7], screen[8], zsh[9] and firefox[10] 
amongst his favorite tools. He is a vanilla icewm[11] user and reads his 
mail in console gnus[12]. He has a number of ix86-based workstations and 
servers, as well as a "nifty iBook G4 with Gentoo PPC". 

 6. http://www.perl.com/
 7. http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs.html
 8. http://www.guckes.net/screen/
 9. http://www.zsh.org/
 10. http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
 11. http://www.icewm.org/
 12. http://www.gnus.org/
 
dams claims he is a "typical geek", but does enjoy volleyball, 
rollerskating and climbing as well as African percussion music. He lives 
in Paris and spends most of his off-work time with his girlfriend. When 
asked for a favorite quote, he offered "All your base are belong to us.", 
which we think wasn't serious, and "perl rules", which probably was. 
    
==================
3. Gentoo Security
==================
  
Libxml2 URI Parsing Buffer Overflow Vulnerabilities
---------------------------------------------------
  
A buffer overflow has been discovered in libxml2 versions prior to 2.6.6 
which may be exploited by an attacker allowing the execution of arbitrary 
code. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[13] 

 13. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200403-01.xml
    
Linux kernel do_mremap local privilege escalation vulnerability
---------------------------------------------------------------
  
A critical security vulnerability has been found in recent Linux kernels 
by Paul Starzetz of iSEC Security Research which allows for local 
privilege escalations. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[14] 

 14. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200403-02.xml
    
=========================
4. Heard in the Community
=========================
  
gentoo-user
-----------
  
Buggy Gentoo? 
 
As one observant gentoo-user list member pointed out[15] this week, there 
have been more bugs reported than closed every week for quite some time. 
Does this mean Gentoo win drown in bugs? Read and find out. 

 15. http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=gentoo-user&m=107831364419777&w=2
    
gentoo-dev
----------
  
Grading Portage updates.
 
We all love portage for the ease with which it means we can all keep 
up-to-date systems, but have you just wanted to do critical updates, 
without having to recompile {X, KDE, GNOME} in the process? Well that was 
the suggestion made here[16].

 16. http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=gentoo-dev&m=107815541006048&w=2
    
=======================
5. Gentoo International
=======================
   
Japanese Input Methods
 
Gentooists in Japan have started a Wiki trying to get a grip on both the 
general availability of input methods for Japanese text in a Linux 
environment, and on how to install and use them in Gentoo Linux. The thing 
is: there are so many competing, or overlapping, or incompatible, or just 
redundant methods that even the pros are forgetting half of them all the 
time. The collection at gentoo.gr.jp[17] is already impressive and 
includes even some of the more obscure methods, but lacks the popular 
im-ja, for example. Work in progress.

 17. 
http://king.gentoo.gr.jp/pukiwiki/index.php?%5B%5B%C6%FC%CB%DC%B8%EC%C6%FE%
CE%CF%C0%DF%C4%EA%BB%F6%CE%E3%BD%B8%5D%5D
    
===========
6. Bugzilla
===========
  
Summary
-------
  
 * Statistics 
 * Closed Bug Ranking 
 * New Bug Rankings 
    
Statistics
----------
  
The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[18]) to record and 
track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the 
development team. Between 27 February 2004 and 04 March 2004, activity on 
the site has resulted in: 

 18. http://bugs.gentoo.org
 
 * 619 new bugs during this period 
 * 386 bugs closed or resolved during this period 
 * 14 previously closed bugs were reopened this period 
 
Of the 5168 currently open bugs: 140 are labeled 'blocker', 213 are 
labeled 'critical', and 405 are labeled 'major'. 
    
Closed Bug Rankings
-------------------
  
The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period 
are: 
 
 * AMD64 Porting Team[19], with 47 closed bugs[20]  
 * Jeremy Huddleston[21], with 28 closed bugs[22]  
 * Perl Team[23], with 22 closed bugs[24]  
 * Gentoo Games[25], with 17 closed bugs[26]  
 * Gentoo KDE team[27], with 16 closed bugs[28]  
 19. [email protected]
 20. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-02-27&chfieldto=2004-03-04&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]
 21. [email protected]
 22. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-02-27&chfieldto=2004-03-04&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]
 23. [email protected]
 24. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-02-27&chfieldto=2004-03-04&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]
 25. [email protected]
 26. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-02-27&chfieldto=2004-03-04&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]
 27. [email protected]
 28. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-02-27&chfieldto=2004-03-04&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]

New Bug Rankings
----------------
  
The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during 
this period are: 
 
 * Science Related Packages Team[29], with 29 new bugs[30]  
 * Core System Packages Team[31], with 21 new bugs[32]  
 * x86 Kernel Team[33], with 17 new bugs[34]  
 * AMD64 Porting Team[35], with 13 new bugs[36]  
 * Jeremy Huddleston[37], with 12 new bugs[38]  
 29. [email protected]
 30. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-02-27&chfieldto=2004-03
-04&[email protected]
 31. [email protected]
 32. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-02-27&chfieldto=2004-03
-04&[email protected]
 33. [email protected]
 34. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-02-27&chfieldto=2004-03
-04&[email protected]
 35. [email protected]
 36. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-02-27&chfieldto=2004-03
-04&[email protected]
 37. [email protected]
 38. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-02-27&chfieldto=2004-03
-04&[email protected]

===========================
7. 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:
 
 * Bret Curtis - MIPS 
 * Dominik Stadler - KDE 
 * Lim Swee Tat - Java 
    
Changes
-------
  
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux 
project:
 
 * none this week 
    
====================
8. Contribute to GWN
====================
   
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 39. [email protected]
    
===============
9. GWN Feedback
===============
   
Please send us your feedback[40] and help make the GWN better.

 40. [email protected]
    
================================
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================================
   
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===================
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===================
   
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 41. http://www.gentoo.org/news/be/gwn/gwn.xml
 42. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml
 43. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml
 44. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml
 45. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml
 46. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml
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 51. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml
 52. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml

Yuji Carlos Kosugi <[email protected]> - Editor
AJ Armstrong <[email protected]> - Contributor
John Davis <[email protected]> - Contributor
Brian Downey <[email protected]> - Contributor
Luke Giuliani <[email protected]> - Contributor
Kurt Lieber <[email protected]> - Contributor
Rafael Cordones Marcos <[email protected]> - Contributor
David Narayan <[email protected]> - Contributor
David Nielsen <[email protected]> - Contributor
Ulrich Plate <[email protected]> - Contributor
Sven Vermeulen <[email protected]> - Contributor
Hendrik Eeckhaut <[email protected]> - Dutch Translation
Jorn Eilander <[email protected]> - Dutch Translation
Bernard Kerckenaere <[email protected]> - Dutch Translation
Peter ter Borg <[email protected]> - Dutch Translation
Jochen Maes <[email protected]> - Dutch Translation
Roderick Goessen <[email protected]> - Dutch Translation
Gerard van den Berg <[email protected]> - Dutch Translation
Matthieu Montaudouin <[email protected]> - French Translation
Xavier Neys <[email protected]> - French Translation
Martin Prieto <[email protected]> - French Translation
Antoine Raillon <[email protected]> - French Translation
Sebastien Cevey <[email protected]> - French Translation
Jean-Christophe Choisy <[email protected]> - French Translation
Thomas Raschbacher <[email protected]> - German Translation
Steffen Lassahn <[email protected]> - German Translation
Matthias F. Brandstetter <[email protected]> - German Translation
Lukas Domagala <[email protected]> - German Translation
Tobias Scherbaum <[email protected]> - German Translation
Daniel Gerholdt <[email protected]> - German Translation
Marc Herren <[email protected]> - German Translation
Tobias Matzat <[email protected]> - German Translation
Marco Mascherpa <[email protected]> - Italian Translation
Claudio Merloni <[email protected]> - Italian Translation
Christian Apolloni <[email protected]> - Italian Translation
Stefano Lucidi <[email protected]> - Italian Translation
Katuyuki Konno <[email protected]> - Japanese Translation
Hiroyuki Takeda <[email protected]> - Japanese Translation
Masato Hatakeyama <[email protected]> - Japanese Translation
Masayoshi Nakamura <[email protected]> - Japanese Translation
Yasunori Fukudome <[email protected]> - Japanese Translation
Tomoyuki Sakurai <[email protected]> - Japanese Translation
Radoslaw Janeczko <[email protected]> - Polish Translation
Lukasz Strzygowski <[email protected]> - Polish Translation
Michal Drobek <[email protected]> - Polish Translation
Adam Lyjak <[email protected]> - Polish Translation
Krzysztof Klimonda <[email protected]> - Polish Translation
Atila "Jedi" Bohlke Vasconcelos <[email protected]> - Portuguese 
(Brazil) Translation
Eduardo Belloti <[email protected]> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation
João Rafael Moraes Nicola <[email protected]> - Portuguese (Brazil) 
Translation
Marcelo Gonçalves de Azambuja <[email protected]> - Portuguese 
(Brazil) Translation
Otavio Rodolfo Piske <[email protected]> - Portuguese (Brazil) 
Translation
Pablo N. Hess -- NatuNobilis <[email protected]> - Portuguese 
(Brazil) Translation
Pedro de Medeiros <[email protected]> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation
Ventura Barbeiro <[email protected]> - Portuguese (Brazil) 
Translation
Bruno Ferreira <[email protected]> - Portuguese (Portugal) 
Translation
Gustavo Felisberto <[email protected]> - Portuguese (Portugal) 
Translation
José Costa <[email protected]> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation
Luis Medina <[email protected]> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation
Ricardo Loureiro <[email protected]> - Portuguese (Portugal) Translation
Aleksandr Martyncev <[email protected]> - Russian Translator
Sergey Galkin <[email protected]> - Russian Translator
Sergey Kuleshov <[email protected]> - Russian Translator
Alex Spirin <[email protected]> - Russian Translator
Denis Zaletov <[email protected]> - Russian Translator
Lanark <[email protected]> - Spanish Translation
Fernando J. Pereda <[email protected]> - Spanish Translation
Lluis Peinado Cifuentes <[email protected]> - Spanish Translation
Zephryn Xirdal T <[email protected]> - Spanish Translation
Guillermo Juarez <[email protected]> - Spanish Translation
Jesús García Crespo <[email protected]> - Spanish Translation
Carlos Castillo <[email protected]> - Spanish Translation
Julio Castillo <[email protected]> - Spanish Translation
Sergio Gómez <[email protected]> - Spanish Translation
Aycan Irican <[email protected]> - Turkish Translation
Bugra Cakir <[email protected]> - Turkish Translation
Cagil Seker <[email protected]> - Turkish Translation
Emre Kazdagli <[email protected]> - Turkish Translation
Evrim Ulu <[email protected]> - Turkish Translation
Gursel Kaynak <[email protected]> - Turkish Translation

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