Gentoo Weekly Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 27

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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 July 5th, 2004.
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==============
1. Gentoo News
==============
  
Gentoo announces web redesign contest
-------------------------------------
  
The Gentoo Foundation has announced plans to redesign the various web 
sites that are part of the Gentoo community with a new, universal theme. 
Being a community-based distribution, we decided to solicit submissions 
for the new look and feel from our users. 
 
We are officially opening the Gentoo Foundation Web Redesign Contest[1]. 
This contest gives you, as a Gentoo user, the ability to design the new 
look and feel that will define Gentoo Linux for the imediate future. The 
winning design will be selected by the community via an open voting 
process. For full details, please see our contest guidelines[2]. 

 1. /proj/en/infrastructure/redesign-guidelines.xml
 2. /proj/en/infrastructure/redesign-guidelines.xml
    
Bootsplash now working on PPC
-----------------------------
  
We're very pleased to announce that bootsplash is now working in PPC. 
Bootsplash[3] is a kernel patch that allows images to be displayed during 
the boot seqeunce in addition to or in lieu of traditional boot messages. 
Thanks to developer Michael Januszewski[4]'s hard work, bootsplash is now 
independent of vesa-framebuffer. The latest ebuild 
(media-gfx/bootsplash-0.6.1-r4) is now ~ppc-masked, and the 
bootsplash_patch works on development-sources (the patch will be included 
in gentoo-development-sources soon). For more information, see the bug 
report[5] and forum discussion[6]. 

 3. http://www.bootsplash.org/
 4. [email protected]
 5. http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55877
 6. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=192895
    
==================
2. Gentoo Security
==================
  
mit-krb5: Multiple buffer overflows in krb5_aname_to_localname
--------------------------------------------------------------
  
mit-krb5 contains multiple buffer overflows in the function 
krb5_aname_to_localname(). This could potentially lead to a complete 
remote system compromise. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[7] 

 7. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200406-21.xml
    
Pavuk: Remote buffer overflow
-----------------------------
  
Pavuk contains a bug potentially allowing an attacker to run arbitrary 
code. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[8] 

 8. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200406-22.xml
    
Esearch: Insecure temp file handling
------------------------------------
  
The eupdatedb utility in esearch creates a file in /tmp without first 
checking for symlinks. This makes it possible for any user to create 
arbitrary files. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[9] 

 9. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-01.xml
    
Linux Kernel: Multiple vulnerabilities
--------------------------------------
  
Multiple vulnerabilities have been found in the Linux kernel used by 
GNU/Linux systems. Patched, or updated versions of these kernels have been 
released and details are included in this advisory. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[10] 

 10. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-02.xml
    
Apache 2: Remote denial of service attack
-----------------------------------------
  
A bug in Apache may allow a remote attacker to perform a Denial of Service 
attack. With certain configurations this could lead to a heap based buffer 
overflow. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[11] 

 11. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-03.xml
    
Pure-FTPd: Potential DoS when maximum connections is reached
------------------------------------------------------------
  
Pure-FTPd contains a bug potentially allowing a Denial of Service attack 
when the maximum number of connections is reached. 
 
For more information, please see the GLSA Announcement[12] 

 12. http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200407-04.xml
    
=================================
3. Featured Developer of the Week
=================================
   
Joshua Kinard
 
Figure 3.1: Joshua Kinard
http://www.gentoo.org/images/gwn/20040705_kumba.jpg
 
This week, we feature Joshua Kinard[13], who goes by kumba due to a 
fascination with the "Kumba" roller coaster at Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay. 
Joshua serves as the team leader for the MIPS project[14], although he 
describes that role as being just "another part of the MIPS teams ...we 
all work together to keep Gentoo running on what some might consider the 
strange MIPS architecture." Some readers may be more familiar with MIPS as 
a processor architecture that powers the Silicon Graphics workstation. 
Joshua has also contributed some porting work for the Sparc processor, and 
serves as a member of the embedded[15], base-system[16] and toolchain 
herds. Joshua's work for the MIPS project consists of maintaining the 
mips-sources kernel tree ebuilds, porting ebuilds, recruiting developers, 
building the netboot images and contributing to the Cobalt port. He also 
works on the Sparc toolchain, and contributed the crossdev script for 
building cross-compiler environments. 

 13. [email protected]
 14. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/mips/index.xml
 15. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/embedded/index.xml
 16. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/index.xml
 
Joshua first heard about Linux six or seven years ago, although at the 
time he confesses he and his friends "thought it was some kind of Windows 
add-on." After learning more, he was intrigued and purchased a boxed 
version of Red Hat 5.2. He also had access to a remote server shell 
account, which gave him the opportunity to become familiar with the Linux 
command line. In late 2001, he acquired a Sun Blade-100 System that he 
intended to install Linux on. Red Hat's Sparc port was defunct, so he was 
shopping for a distro for the new system. He remembered "an obscure 
distribution mentioned in an IRC channel" and installed it. He's been 
using Gentoo ever since. In 2003, his interest in helping Jan Seidel[17] 
implement a MIPS port was noticed, and he was asked to join the team as a 
developer. This was not his first Open Source project - he is also the 
author of Program Killer[18], a Windows application for blocking spyware, 
P2P, IM traffic or other applications, based on administrative settings. 

 17. [email protected]
 18. http://sourceforge.net/projects/progkill/
 
Given his role as a developer, Joshua's eclectic collection of computers 
should provoke no surprise. In addition to the Sun Blade mentioned 
earlier, he has an SGI Indigo2 , an SGI Indy, a SGI O2 and a Cobalt 
Microserver - all running Linux. Two other SGI boxen and a Sun 
SPARCstation are currently not in use. His collection is rounded out by a 
dual PIII system running Windows 2000. Under Linux, he claims the tools he 
uses are fairly prosaic. He does confess to a fondness for Mozilla 
Mail[19], the StormLab[20] doppler radar information client and the art of 
Greg Martin[21]. 

 19. http://www.mozilla.org/mailnews/
 20. http://www.interwarn.com/sldesc.html
 21. http://www.artofgregmartin.com
 
Joshua recently completed a degree in Computer and Information Sciences at 
the University of Maryland University College. He also worked at a local 
College Computer lab providing user support and system administration. He 
has commenced the usual post-graduation job search, hoping for a job where 
he "can apply [his] computing/Linux knowledge." He is a "bona fide geek", 
with few non-computer related hobbies. This is reflected in his use of 
Middle Earth place names for his servers. He also confesses to the common 
geek fondness for Babylon 5, and quoted the former Centauri Emperor for a 
favorite saying: "The past tempts us, the present confuses us, the future 
frightens us. Our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that terrible 
in between." 
    
=========================
4. Heard in the Community
=========================
  
Web Forums
----------
  
Flavour of the Week: 3D Desktops 
 
Reading the hardware requirements (2 GHz CPU and 512 RAM minimum) may turn 
off many veteran Linux users, but Sun's new desktop Looking Glass[22] was 
put under the GNU public license last week, reason enough to be cheered on 
by many Gentoo Forum posters. Sailing in the wake of Sun's mother ship, a 
somewhat lighter French 3D solution called Metisse[23], based on a virtual 
X server and a modified FVWM window manager , is being discussed almost as 
enthusiastically: 

 22. https://lg3d.dev.java.net/
 23. http://insitu.lri.fr/~chapuis/metisse/index.html
 
 * Looking Glass GPLed[24] 
 * Metisse[25] 
 24. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=191216
 25. http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=191930
    
gentoo-user
-----------
  
Mailing List Etiquette 
 
A plea[26] from one mailing list member started a good thread on standard 
mailing list etiquette. A good read if you are new to email lists! 

 26. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/87530
 
The Mail Client Thread 
 
Gentoo offers a wide variety of mail clients for its users. This large 
thread[27] tackled the topic of the eternal question: "Which one is best?" 

 27. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/87340
 
Multibooting 2.4 and 2.6 Kernels 
 
Check out this[28] comprehensive thread for multibooting with 2.4 and 2.6 
kernels. 

 28. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.user/86980
    
=======================
5. Gentoo International
=======================
   
USA: Linux World Expo in San Francisco 
 
Four more weeks to go before the Californian franchise of the Linux World 
Expo[29] opens its gates, at the Moscone Center[30] in downtown San 
Francisco, from 2 to 5 August 2004. Just like last year, Gentoo will be 
present inside the exposition hall, this year at booth number 270 (floor 
plan available as PDF[31]). Besides the exhibition, you will not want to 
miss Greg Kroah-Hartman, udev maintainer and Gentoo developer in his own 
right, battle it out with Andrew Morton, Timothy Widham from OSDL and 
three open source evangelists from Apple in an OSS trivia quiz called the 
"Golden Penguin Bowl". Corey Shields from the Gentoo infrastructure team 
is on the speaker's list, with a presentation on "High Performance Linux 
Storage Management", and he has also set up a Gentoo Community Meeting[32] 
on day two of the show (3 August 2004 from 17:30 to 19:00): a BoF (Birds 
of a Feather) gathering for all Gentoo afficionados, developers and users 
alike, which will also include a GPG keysigning party. Contact Corey[33] 
for details about the procedure. 

 29. http://www.linuxworldexpo.com
 30. http://www.moscone.com
 31. http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/live/images/other/12SFO04A_Floorplan.pdf
 32. 
http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/live/12/events/12SFO04A/conference/tracksessi
ons//QMONYA04LRY6
 33. [email protected]
    
===========
6. Bugzilla
===========
  
Summary
-------
  
 * Statistics 
 * Closed Bug Ranking 
 * New Bug Rankings 
    
Statistics
----------
  
The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org[34]) to record and 
track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the 
development team. Between 26 June 2004 and 02 July 2004, activity on the 
site has resulted in: 

 34. http://bugs.gentoo.org
 
 * 641 new bugs during this period 
 * 363 bugs closed or resolved during this period 
 * 15 previously closed bugs were reopened this period 
 
Of the 6706 currently open bugs: 138 are labeled 'blocker', 183 are 
labeled 'critical', and 515 are labeled 'major'. 
    
Closed Bug Rankings
-------------------
  
The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period 
are: 
 
 * AMD64 Porting Team[35], with 22 closed bugs[36]  
 * PPC64 Architecture Team[37], with 20 closed bugs[38]  
 * Gentoo Games[39], with 16 closed bugs[40]  
 * Net-Mail Packages[41], with 15 closed bugs[42]  
 35. [email protected]
 36. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-06-26&chfieldto=2004-07-02&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]
 37. [email protected]
 38. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-06-26&chfieldto=2004-07-02&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]
 39. [email protected]
 40. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-06-26&chfieldto=2004-07-02&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]
 41. [email protected]
 42. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=CLOSED&ch
field=bug_status&chfieldfrom=2004-06-26&chfieldto=2004-07-02&resolution=FIX
ED&[email protected]

New Bug Rankings
----------------
  
The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during 
this period are: 
 
 * AMD64 Porting Team[43], with 22 new bugs[44]  
 * Java Team[45], with 18 new bugs[46]  
 * Mozilla Gentoo Team[47], with 12 new bugs[48]  
 * Gentoo Linux Gnome Desktop Team[49], with 12 new bugs[50]  
 * Core System Packages Team[51], with 12 new bugs[52]  
 43. [email protected]
 44. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-06-26&chfieldto=2004-07
-02&[email protected]
 45. [email protected]
 46. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-06-26&chfieldto=2004-07
-02&[email protected]
 47. [email protected]
 48. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-06-26&chfieldto=2004-07
-02&[email protected]
 49. [email protected]
 50. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-06-26&chfieldto=2004-07
-02&[email protected]
 51. [email protected]
 52. 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_s
tatus=REOPENED&chfield=assigned_to&chfieldfrom=2004-06-26&chfieldto=2004-07
-02&[email protected]
    
==================
7. Tips and Tricks
==================
   
Tips and Tricks is on hiatus this week. 
    
===========================
8. 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:
 
 * Eldad Zack (eldad) - netmon 
 * Matt Jarjoura (eklipse) - PPC 
    
Changes
-------
  
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux 
project:
 
 * None this week 
    
====================
9. Contribute to GWN
====================
   
Interested in contributing to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter? Send us an 
email[53].

 53. [email protected]
    
================
10. GWN Feedback
================
   
Please send us your feedback[54] and help make the GWN better.

 54. [email protected]
    
================================
11. GWN Subscription Information
================================
   
To subscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to 
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To unsubscribe to the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, send a blank email to 
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===================
12. Other Languages
===================
   
The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is also available in the following languages:
 
 * Danish[55] 
 * Dutch[56] 
 * English[57] 
 * German[58] 
 * French[59] 
 * Japanese[60] 
 * Italian[61] 
 * Polish[62] 
 * Portuguese (Brazil)[63] 
 * Portuguese (Portugal)[64] 
 * Russian[65] 
 * Spanish[66] 
 * Turkish[67] 
 55. http://www.gentoo.org/news/da/gwn/gwn.xml
 56. http://www.gentoo.org/news/be/gwn/gwn.xml
 57. http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/gwn.xml
 58. http://www.gentoo.org/news/de/gwn/gwn.xml
 59. http://www.gentoo.org/news/fr/gwn/gwn.xml
 60. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ja/gwn/gwn.xml
 61. http://www.gentoo.org/news/it/gwn/gwn.xml
 62. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pl/gwn/gwn.xml
 63. http://www.gentoo.org/news/br/gwn/gwn.xml
 64. http://www.gentoo.org/news/pt/gwn/gwn.xml
 65. http://www.gentoo.org/news/ru/gwn/gwn.xml
 66. http://www.gentoo.org/news/es/gwn/gwn.xml
 67. http://www.gentoo.org/news/tr/gwn/gwn.xml

   
Yuji Carlos Kosugi <[email protected]> - Editor
AJ Armstrong <[email protected]> - Contributor
Brian Downey <[email protected]> - Contributor
Kurt Lieber <[email protected]> - Contributor
David Narayan <[email protected]> - Contributor
Ulrich Plate <[email protected]> - Contributor
Sven Vermeulen <[email protected]> - Contributor
Simon Holm Thagersen <[email protected]> - Danish Translation
Jesper Brodersen <[email protected]> - Danish Translation
Arne Mejlholm <[email protected]> - Danish Translation
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
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
Lukasz Strzygowski <[email protected]> - Polish Translation
Karol Goralski <[email protected]> - Polish Translation
Atila "Jedi" Bohlke Vasconcelos <[email protected]> - Portuguese 
(Brazil) Translation
Eduardo Belloti <[email protected]> - Portuguese (Brazil) Translation
Jo??o Rafael Moraes Nicola <[email protected]> - Portuguese (Brazil) 
Translation
Marcelo Gon??alves 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
Jos?? 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
Jes??s Garc??a Crespo <[email protected]> - Spanish Translation
Carlos Castillo <[email protected]> - Spanish Translation
Julio Castillo <[email protected]> - Spanish Translation
Sergio G??mez <[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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