Archive:Weekly news 81
Welcome to issue # 81 of openSUSE Weekly News
In this Week:
- Call for openSUSE Core Test Team
- Hackweek IV
- Linux.com/Rob Day: The Kernel Newbie Corner: Building and Running a New Kernel
- openSUSE Forums: How to Recover Home Partition?
- Ubuntuforums.org/Leif Sandvik: Howto; Firefox profile in RAM for increased speed and stability
Announcements
- Holger Sickenberg: Call for openSUSE Core Test Team
- "In addition to well-developed code, testing is a major part of ensuring a rock-solid openSUSE Linux distro. To make sure testing of openSUSE 11.2 (and beyond) are done in a well-organized way, we’re improving the way the openSUSE Core Test Team works together to ensure top quality for openSUSE.
- In the next couple of days Milestone 4 of openSUSE 11.2 will be available. This is a very good moment to have a closer look into the next openSUSE release: some new features are already implemented and there is enough time to fix reported problems."
- LinuxTag Videos Online - openSUSE Day at LinuxTag 2009
- "Thanks to Jürgen we now have all presentations (documents and videos) from openSUSE day at LinuxTag online. This time Jürgen managed it with his unbeatable charm to get a direct line to the microphone and therefor the audio quality is superb this time. Thanks to Jürgen who made again talks of an openSUSE event accessible for a very large audience. Most of the talks were given in German but 2 in English as well - marked on the page. Have fun to listen to informative talks about AppArmor, openSUSE 11.2 and the opening of Factory, SUSE Studio, Wine and more. ..."
In the Community
- Klaas Freitag: Hackweek: Application Directory Interface for OBS
- "Frank Karlitschek is joining us here in Nürnberg to work with us through the Hackweek. First project is to build and integrate an interface where webapps like www.kde-apps.org can get information from about binary packages that exist on the openSUSE Buildservice. That will make it very easy for upstream developers who build their package for several distros in OBS to get a list of available binaries in the application directory application. In kde-apps.org which will use this first you just need to enter the name of OBS project and package and the download links for rpms or deps will appear automagically. That takes away the pain to maintain lenghty lists of links to rmps :-) ..."
- Jakub Steiner: HackWeek IV
- "One of the greatest things about openSUSE is happening again this week. Hackweek time seems to also be the only time I have something worthwhile to put on my blog. ..."
- Cornelius Schumacher: Creating a KDE SDK
- "Last week I had written about my ideas for the fourth openSUSE Hackweek. I got quite some feedback and most people seem to think that the KDE SDK is the most useful idea. So I'm going to work on this for the hack week.
- My goal is to create a software development kit for KDE, which makes it as easy as possible to write KDE applications. The main target audience are third party developers, who want to create desktop applications. The entry barrier should be as low as possible. There should no special knowledge about KDE, development processes on Linux, or familiarity with the community be required."
- Joe Brockmeier: OSCON so far
- "OSCON has a major problem: There’s way too much to do! So far, this week has been chock full of excitement. Though not part of the “official” OSCON program, the Community Leadership Summit started on Saturday. Lots of people from OSCON were in attendance, but also a fair number of people from communities that have nothing to do with open source. This was a pretty good mix. A few hundred people showed up Saturday morning, and a smaller crowed turned up Sunday. ..."
- Andreas Jaeger: Some Impressions from Hackweek
- "I just wanted to introduce briefly two projects that I found interesting while talking yesterday with developers: Richard Günther has been looking into making factory updates smaller. He writes in the Wiki that his first milestone has been reached - the %{release} macro does not contain the rebuild number and therefore instead of syncing out all RPMs of a package, we can limit it to those that have changed. His next task is creating debuginfo packages for each subpackage instead of a single one that accompanies all packages."
- Andreas Jaeger: Further Hackweek IV Impressions
- "I spend quite some time today going through the offices in Novell’s Nürnberg office and talked with engineers what they are doing for hackweek. There were a lot of interesting projects and ideas and I decided to write about some of them. I look forward to see many of the changes in openSUSE 11.2. Some people have entered their Hackweek projects in openFATE and we have created an openFATE start page for Hackweek. ..."
- Marcus Hüwe: GSoC - summary of this week’s meeting
- "During the past few weeks I spend most of my time on implementing a basic user interface to manage oauth tokens. Again I’m quite impressed about this powerful rails framework :)
- Additionally I worked on the “Accept-Authentication” stuff (see my last post for the details). ..."
- Andreas Schneider: Hack Week: kio_sftp in action!
- "The openSUSE Hackweek is over and I have a working kio_sftp implementation using libssh. There is still work which needs to be done. I have to cleanup the code and test all the features (resume of files, recursive deletion). Today I’ve copied successfully the first files to my webserver!"
- Jakub Steiner: Hackweek Fail
- "Failure IS an option for hackweek ;). While things looked fairly optimistic on the icon theme/font front, the actual results don’t look so good.
- While the chopping script is working fairly well, it’s hardly elegant and really suffers from insanely slow startup time of Inkscape. The “crop” is done thanks to Inkscape’s verbs and requires Inkscape to be called once per icon. Even worse, to clean it up and remove some cruft for the Fontforge import, it needs to be called once again."
- Ben Kevan: SUSE Studio Detailed Guide
- "While wondering around in the vast cloud known as the Internet(s) I came across a very good article regarding SUSE Studio and thought I’d share it with the people who have yet to come across it: Here’s an excerpt from the site: ..."
Status Updates
Distribution
- Katarina Machalkova: Do you want to search the packages with me?
- "It is already quite some time since I blogged about YaST frontend to webpin package search, which enables user to search packages in online repositories and install them via one-click handler later. I proposed some solutions of integrating it with the rest of YaST, but did not particularly like any of them (that's the perfectionist side of me ...). After being (just a little bit :)) poked by some openSUSE users, I decided to implement two of the less perfect solutions ;-) in the first part of Hackweek IV. ..."
- Alberto Passalaqua: OpenFOAM Live USB with SUSE Studio
- "I have recently prepared an OpenFOAM(r) Live USB image using SUSE Studio to try Studio functionalites, and I was really impressed by the ease of use, the clean interface and its capabilities. You find a detailed description of what I did in the slides I prepared. In the slides you will see how to build a personalized version of openSUSE, add OpenFOAM to it and complete the system with some CFD tools like NETGEN and enGrid. In the end, the system is tested in real time on SUSE Studio servers."
- openSUSE 11.2 deadlines ahead
- "Hi, As many may not read opensuse-factory carefully enough, I would like to post a little reminder on the roadmap: ..."
Build Service
- Stephen Shaw: iFolder Appliance 0.0.9
- "Well, its been a month. I figured its about time to push out another iFolder appliance with the latest and greatest. The change log information since the last release on the iFolder Release Stuff page. There are only two changes in the appliance: The latest packages of ifolder and I changed the version of the 64bit images to match the 32ibt images."
- Andreas Jaeger: Build Service for Package Testing - and Making Factory Updates Smaller
- "I’ve blogged already about the work done by Coolo and Michael on reducing the size of factory updates. Looking into some of the packages that did not get filtered out due to timestamps, I decided to use that as my hackweek project - and learn some more about the openSUSE Build Service.
- Coolo told me that I could create a small project in OBS with packages I wanted to look at and with my testing version of build-compare. So, I created a project and set it up to build against openSUSE:Factory and linked some packages from factory into the project. ..."
- openSUSE KDE meeting 20090723
- Minutes from the Meeting
Tips and Tricks
- Linux.com/Rob Day: The Kernel Newbie Corner: Building and Running a New Kernel
- "This week, we're going to take a bit of a detour from building and loading modules to discuss how to configure, build, install and reboot a new kernel since, very soon, we'll be covering debugging and there's only so much you can do without being able to configure and reboot under a new kernel with extra debugging features. And while most of you have probably already done this once or twice, I'll try to throw in a couple surprises even for the hardened veterans out there. ..."
- Arvin Schnell: Introducing Libstorage
- "Libstorage is a C++ library for managing Linux storage devices. So far it was developed as part of YaST but since a few weeks it is an independent project. ..."
- Linux.com/Gianluca Masone: Moblin4Children - How-To Install GCompris on a Moblin Production Image
- "Last post has shown how to compile GConmpris under the Moblin Development Image. This post talks about the installation of GCompris in a Moblin Offical Image (this one installed on your netbook). ..."
- Domnic Mendes: Vi Editor Tips
- "Domnic Mendes shares some tips on how to open multiple files in panes, and how to replace text quickly with Vi Editor."
- Sascha Manns: HowTo: Regular cleanup the Tempfolders
- "If you would like to cleanup regularly your System, we presenting the following Steps!"
- Linux.com/Mary Riley: khtml2png - Take Command Line Web Screenshots on Linux
- "khtml2png is a helpful tool for capturing an image of a webpage with ease. It's nice to use because it will get the entire length of the site, no matter whether it is fully visible in the browser. And, it sure beats shell scripting Firefox to open on a different display and capturing an image with Imagemagick, which is a royal pain in the butt. ..."
New/Updated Applications @ openSUSE
- Google Chrome 3.0.195.1 Released
- "The newest release of the Chrome Unstable browser is upon us.. I’m not sure what fixes this build brings us, but I know we still don’t have basic features like plugins etc."
- GeneralUser 1.43-0.pm.1
- "GeneralUser GS is a GM and GS compatible SoundFont bank for composing or playing MIDI files. For owners of Sound Blaster audio cards, GeneralUser GS can greatly enhance the sound quality of GM/GS compatible MIDI files when loaded into the sound card's RAM. Compared with the default SoundFonts that Creative Labs ships with their sound cards, the instrument sounds in GeneralUser GS are far more realistic.
- Although GeneralUser GS was designed for use with compatible Sound Blaster audio cards, it also sounds quite good on many softsynths available, although not all are guaranteed to sound fully correct."
- tor 0.2.0.35-0.pm.1
- "Tor is a software project that helps you defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security. Tor protects you by encrypting your communications and bouncing them around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the Internet's TCP protocol."
- mp 5.1.2-0.pm.1
- "A text editor for programmers. Features Fully scriptable using a C-like scripting language."
- New Package: kpassgen 0.2
- "Generates a set of random passwords of any length that can include the letter a-z, A-Z any number and symbols. Download via http://packages.opensuse-community.org/index.jsp?searchTerm=kpassgen"
- firefox-3.5.1
- "Update to firefox-3.5.1. Download via: http://packages.opensuse-community.org/index.jsp?searchTerm=firefox"
Planet SUSE
- Novell OpenPR Blog: Microsoft Delivers Code to the Linux Kernel – with help from Novell
- "Today Microsoft made a major announcement that has surprised many in the open source world: it has submitted device driver code to the Linux Community under the the GNU General Public License (version 2). The drivers will be available to the Linux Community and customers alike, and will enhance the performance of the Linux operating system when virtualized on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V or Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V. This is the first time Microsoft has made such a submission and is a radical departure from their previously expressed views on GPL. ..."
openSUSE Forums
- how-do-i-build-make-custom-driver-into-kernel
- "Maybe you have thought about it, but decided against it. It's not as difficult as it sounds and Malcolm certainly helps to show this as he helps one of our forum members out here."
- Multi-Booting Windows 2000, XP and Linux
- "Bit of a Dig In here with @swerdna and @caf4926 confirming the possibilities available to those that Multi-Boot. Some really valuable info here."
- How to Recover Home Partition?
- "You find an interesting and educating read here. One for the bookmarks I think. And goes to show Moderators don't have all the answers: a common misconception."
- Distro Hoppers Guide to the Galaxy
- "All this distro hopping, does it do you any good. Apparently not really, at least not as far as most of the comments here go. Stick with ONE (openSUSE of course) and learn the ropes properly."
On the Web
- Linux.com/Rex R. Djere: C++ Programming With Emacs
- "I am starting work on a computer science Master's Degree next month. To get a head start, I have started to brush up on my C++ programming skills. On youtube, there are excellent C++ programming tutorials, but most of them use Dev + as their programming environment. When I was in college, I dismissed the university's proprietary programming solution, Microsoft Visual C++. I found Emacs, and I fell in love Emacs as a development environment. I run Fedora 11 on my laptop, which features ..."
- Ubuntuforums.org/Leif Sandvik: Howto; Firefox profile in RAM for increased speed and stability
- "This howto is based on the discussion from a forumthread over at the Gentoo Forums and this guide from verot.net Credits goes to stevenrobertson at the Gentoo Forums for the original post One of the problems that will disappear after completing this guide is based on the following"
- Lydia Pintscher: We’re testing the water for everyone
- "Amarok finally switched to git today after many weeks of discussion and preparation. Our part of KDE SVN has been made read-only and commits should be made to the repository at http://gitorious.org/+kde-developers/amarok/amarok from now on. ..."
- Petri Järvenpää: Beginner's guide to Linux: openSuSE 11.1 installation guide
- "It is evident from the earlier blog entries, that I've been into making screencasts lately. I've started a series of screencasts called "Beginners's guide to Linux", in which I use openSuSE 11.1 to demonstrate how to install and use a modern Linux operating system. Of course the choice of Linux distribution and the desktop environment can be argued to infinity, I've decided to use what I use currently myself and following videos will feature openSuSE 11.1 with KDE4 desktop. ..."
- K.Mandia:The wrong reasons to use Linux
- "Everybody has a list of reasons to use Linux; I have my own, more or less, spread out over the length and breadth of this blog. Still, aside from the misinformation spewed forth by Redmond, I believe there are “wrong” reasons to use Linux. Which is to say, I think there are things that attract people to trying Linux, but I would not use as a selling point. Up front though, I should say that whatever draws you to Linux is your business, and not my concern at all. ..."
- Bnet/Michael Hickins: Google Wave: 'Like Real-Time E-Mail. On Crack.'
- "Developers are finally getting their hands on the developer preview of Google’s Wave, which means we can finally get some first-hand accounts of what it’s really like to use, unfiltered by Google’s own programmers. Wave, demonstrated by Google at its I/O developer conference in May of this year, allows customers to create a customizable communications and [...]"
- First Issue of Open Source Database Magazine (OSDBZine)
- The MySQL Magazine was restructured. From now on we find free and OpenSource Databases like SQLite, PostgreSQL, CouchDB und HadoopDB.
- CNET/Mary Jo Foley: Pigs are flying low: Why Microsoft open-sourced its Linux drivers
- "The pigs are still in the air. Microsoft really did release not one, but two, pieces of code under the formerly Microsoft-hated GNU General Public License (GPL) this week. And it still seems the Linux drivers it put under the GPL on July 20 are on their way to becoming incorporated into the next version of the Linux kernel. ..."
Past Events & Meetings
Upcoming Events & Meetings
Security Updates
To view the security announcements in full, or to receive them as soon as they're released, refer to the openSUSE Security Announce mailing list.
- SUSE Security Announcement: Linux Kernel (SUSE-SA:2009:038)
- Package: kernel
- Announcement ID: SUSE-SA:2009:038
- Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:24:28 +0200
Statistics
Numbers in brackets show the changes compared to the previous week.
opensuse.org
Communication
lists.opensuse.org has 36966 (+2) non-unique subscribers to all mailing lists.
The openSUSE Forums have 31266 (+312) registered users - Most users ever online was 3270, 22-Jul-2009 at 20:00.
Contributors
3202 (+36) of 7916 (+127) registered contributors in the User Directory have signed the Guiding Principles. The board has acknowledged 330 (+20) members.
Build Service
The Build Service now hosts 7187 (+104) projects, 72077 (+4) packages, 13373 (+235) repositories by 16194 (+150) confirmed users.
openFATE
Feature statistics for openSUSE 11.2:
- total: 349 (+15)
- unconfirmed: 38 (+11)
- new: 9 (+0)
- evaluation: 133 (+0)
- candidate: 20 (+0)
- done: 28 (+4)
- rejected: 103 (+0)
- duplicate: 18 (+4)
Bugzilla
The numbers for all openSUSE project products are this week:
- All Open Reports: 4780 (+45)
- Blocker: 4 (+0)
- Critical: 246 (-3)
- Major: 844 (+4)
- Normal: 2684 (+53)
- Minor: 383 (-2)
- Enhancements: 619 (-7)
- Detailed Bugzilla Report – Submitting Bug Reports – Bug Reporting FAQ
Localization
- Daily updated translation statistics are available on the openSUSE Localization Portal.
- Trunk Top-List – Localization Guide
openSUSE for your ears
- The openSUSE Weekly News are available as Livestream or Podcast in the German Language. You can hear it or download it on http://blog.radiotux.de/podcast .
Feedback / Communicate / Get Involved
Do you have comments on any of the things mentioned in this article? Then head right over to the news.opensuse.org story comment section and let us know! Communicate with or get help from the wider openSUSE community -- via IRC, forums, or mailing lists -- see Communicate.
If you would like to be a part of the openSUSE Weekly news, then please send an email over to opensuse-marketing@opensuse.org (you need to subscribe first). Or you can go to the channel #opensuse-newsletter on irc.freenode.net.
Credits
- Jan-Simon Möller (Chief-Editor)
- Sascha Manns (Second Chief-Editor, Main-Newsletter)
- Carl Fletcher (Main-Newsletter, Forums Sec.)
- Динар Валеев (GNOME Section in New/updated Applications @ openSUSE)
- Sebastian Schöbinger (Tips/Tricks)
- add translators
