Gentoo Weekly Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 11

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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 15th, 2004.
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==============
1. Gentoo News
==============
  
Release 2004.1 Information
--------------------------
  
With the release of Gentoo Linux 2004.0 at the end of February, planning 
and work on release 2004.1 have already begun. The goals for this release 
include: 
 
 * Clear and concise guidelines so that the release goes much more 
smoothly and enjoyably. 
 * A better use of infrastructure by revamping the current way releases 
are coordinated to be put on the mirrors. 
 * Catalyst enhancements and bugfixes. 
 * Better communication from releng to the arch release coordinators, and 
vice-a-versa. 
 * Internet-based GRP for Portage's binary download and install 
functionality. 
 * Completion of all items on the 2004.1 Feature Request list. 
 
The 2004.1 Feature Request list[1] includes items like "emerge security" 
functionality, which would integrate GLEPs into Portage so that 
security-related updates can be installed, and a Bootable X GameCD for 
Unreal Tournament 2004.

 1. 
http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/releng/release/2004.1/releng/feature-request.
xml
 
The tentative release date for 2004.1 is April 28, 2004. For more 
information on release 2004.1 and other releases, see the Release 
Engineering[2] page. 

 2. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/releng/
     
=================================
2. Featured Developer of the Week
=================================
   
Caleb Tennis
 
Figure 2.1: Caleb Tennis
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20040315_caleb.jpg
 
This week, we feature Caleb Tennis[3] (caleb), who works on maintaining 
the KDE[4] and related ebuilds, including such things as Qt[5]. His main 
tasks are ensuring that the KDE packages are up to date with the upstream 
versions, testing and debugging for various architectures, and the 
ubiquitous dev task of troubleshooting and clearing bug reports -- a 
daunting task with packages as complex and popular as KDE. 

 3. [email protected]
 4. http://www.kde.org/
 5. http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt/index.html
 
Caleb began using various Unices in the early 1990s, and was introduced to 
Slackware Linux by our very own Corey Shields[6] in 1996. He has been 
using Linux extensively in his job since 2001. Caleb's work includes 
configuring and administrating a large number of custom workstations . 
After struggling with package dependencies and install processes under Red 
Hat, he moved the computers to the source distro Linux From Scratch (LFS). 
This worked better but proved difficult to manage when multiple versions 
of source packages and compile options were being used on various 
computers. After some research, he settled on Gentoo as a solution that 
would allow him to compile from source yet still have good package 
management. He completed the migration of his workplace in early 2003. 

 6. [email protected]
 
Caleb became a Gentoo dev when Dan Armak[7] put out a call for assistance 
on maintaining the KDE ebuilds. As Caleb puts it: "Since I use Gentoo and 
KDE at work, and have a vested interest in it continuing working, I 
volunteered." In addition to his Gentoo work, Caleb was the release 
co-ordinator for the 3.x release of KDevelop[8] as well as a contributor 
of code or documentation to other KDE projects, including the comedi[9] 
control and measurement device interface. Caleb frequently contributes 
patches and bug fixes he encounters in his work and spends significant 
time keeping Gentoo's KDE maintained as well as responding to forum 
queries. He comments that this "is what the community is about". 

 7. [email protected]
 8. http://www.kdevelop.org/
 9. http://www.comedi.org
 
Caleb works for a small research and development company specializing in 
diesel engine technology. Among his tasks at work was the development of a 
GUI-based data acquisition system that is used for dynamic control and 
testing of engines. He also teaches classes in Linux Systems 
Administration and Solid State Electronics at his local university. He 
holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering, and is working on his Master's at 
Purdue, focusing on Control Systems design. He is an avid mountain biker 
and water skier, and plays piano. His time at such pursuits is somewhat 
limited by a hectic work week, teaching night courses, and his own studies 
(not to mention an apparently patient girlfriend). 
 
Caleb took the opportunity to share some thoughts on Qt and KDE bug 
reports: "Qt and KDE are two of the most compilation resource-intensive 
sets of programs that an end user will install in Gentoo - due to the fact 
that they're written in C++. As such, many users experience build failures 
due to bugs in the C++ compiler or local hardware problems, and not due to 
anything related to KDE itself. The easiest fix, and one that works 90% of 
the time, is to simply use less aggressive compiler optimizations 
(CFLAGS). Remember, Gentoo is all about customization, and gives the end 
user a lot of freedom in how they do things - but in the end, we're all 
still limited by the abilities of the software and the hardware. Sometimes 
the only way to make things work is to not push them to their limits. I 
implore all users who have problems to go to the forums or IRC first, and 
file a bug report only after they don't find a solution." He was frank in 
admitting that "sometimes [he] breaks things", when attempting to keep 
things current on such a complex set of packages, despite testing. But, 
after all, he's both human and a volunteer. He concluded with his favorite 
quotation: "tact is for people who don't understand sarcasm". 
    
==================
3. Gentoo Security
==================
   
No new security announcements were posted this week. 
    
=========================
4. Heard in the Community
=========================
  
Web Forums
----------
  
udev, Gentoo Style 
 
Gentoo Linux used to be one of the rare Linux distributions to adopt the 
devfs device file system structure across the board. Naturally, since 
devfs has been obsoleted for the 2.6 kernel series, Gentooists are 
experiencing an above average level of confusion when it comes to 
switching to udev. The fact that the latter is still somewhat a work in 
progress leads to interesting results at times... Check the central "udev, 
now what?" thread at the forums, it has been going for three months 
already, but hasn't lost any of its entertainment value: 
 
 * Got udev working, now what?[10] 
 10. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=115096

gentoo-user
-----------
  
Gentoo in a distro shootout
 
One gentoo-user list member has decided to pick up the gauntlet and 
support Gentoo in his local LUG "distro shootout". This week, he asked[11] 
the list to help him with topics he can touch on. Help support our 
favorite distro!

 11. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/70836
 
Root mounting twice!
 
One reader this week was having some odd problems with his root partition 
-- it was mounting twice! Read up here[12] for a helpful tip on why this 
was happening, and also a quick lesson on /etc/fstab formatting!

 12. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/70700
    
===========
5. Bugzilla
===========
  
Summary
-------
  
 * Statistics 
 * Closed Bug Ranking 
 * New Bug Rankings 
    
Statistics
----------
  
The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[13]) to record and 
track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the 
development team. Between 05 March 2004 and 11 March 2004, activity on the 
site has resulted in: 

 13. http://bugs.gentoo.org
 
 * 553 new bugs during this period 
 * 336 bugs closed or resolved during this period 
 * 10 previously closed bugs were reopened this period 
 
Of the 5246 currently open bugs: 137 are labeled 'blocker', 206 are 
labeled 'critical', and 425 are labeled 'major'. 
    
Closed Bug Rankings
-------------------
  
The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period 
are: 
 
 * AMD64 Porting Team[14], with 32 closed bugs[15]  
 * Gentoo KDE Team[16], with 24 closed bugs[17]  
 * Sven Vermeulen[18], with 20 closed bugs[19]  
 * Gentoo Games[20], with 20 closed bugs[21]  
 * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[22], with 17 closed bugs[23]  
 14. [email protected]
 15. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-03-05&chfieldto=2004-03-11&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]
 16. [email protected]
 17. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-03-05&chfieldto=2004-03-11&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]
 18. [email protected]
 19. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-03-05&chfieldto=2004-03-11&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]
 20. [email protected]
 21. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-03-05&chfieldto=2004-03-11&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]
 22. [email protected]
 23. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-03-05&chfieldto=2004-03-11&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]

New Bug Rankings
----------------
  
The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during 
this period are: 
 
 * Core System Packages Team[24], with 16 new bugs[25]  
 * x86 Kernel Team[26], with 13 new bugs[27]  
 * Desktop Misc. Team[28], with 11 new bugs[29]  
 * Media-Video Herd[30], with 10 new bugs[31]  
 * Gentoo KDE team[32], with 9 new bugs[33]  
 * Portage Team[34], with 9 new bugs[35]  
 24. [email protected]
 25. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-03-05&chfieldto=2004-03
-11&[email protected]
 26. [email protected]
 27. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-03-05&chfieldto=2004-03
-11&[email protected]
 28. [email protected]
 29. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-03-05&chfieldto=2004-03
-11&[email protected]
 30. [email protected]
 31. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-03-05&chfieldto=2004-03
-11&[email protected]
 32. [email protected]
 33. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-03-05&chfieldto=2004-03
-11&[email protected]
 34. [email protected]
 35. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-03-05&chfieldto=2004-03
-11&[email protected]
    
==================
6. Tips and Tricks
==================
   
Reading binary data with strings
 
This week's tip shows you how to extract ascii content from binary data 
using strings. This program is useful for determining the contents of 
non-text files such as core or other binary error files. 
 
Use strings filename to print the strings of printable characters in the 
file.
 
For more information, see man strings.
    
===========================
7. Moves, Adds, and Changes
===========================
  
Moves
-----
  
The following developers recently left the Gentoo team: 
 * Brad House (brad_mssw) amd64, kernel 
 
Adds
----
  
The following developers recently joined the Gentoo Linux team:
 
 * Stephen P. Becker (geoman) - MIPS 
 * Geoff Cant (archaelus) - dev-lisp 
 * Joel Martin (kanaka) - media-sound 
 * Scott Taylor (swtaylor) - hardened 
    
Changes
-------
  
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux 
project:
 
 * none this week 
    
====================
8. Contribute to GWN
====================
   
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 36. [email protected]
    
===============
9. GWN Feedback
===============
   
Please send us your feedback[37] and help make the GWN better.

 37. [email protected]
    
================================
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Yuji Carlos Kosugi <[email protected]> - Editor
AJ Armstrong <[email protected]> - Contributor
John Davis <[email protected]> - Contributor
Brian Downey <[email protected]> - Contributor
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Kurt Lieber <[email protected]> - Contributor
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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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