Fedora Weekly News Issue 93
Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 93[1] for the week of June 17th through June 23rd, 2007. The latest issue can always be found here[2] and RSS Feed can be found here[3] .
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue93
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/LatestIssue
[3] http://fedoranews.org/cms/FWN/feed
Announcements
In this section, we cover announcements from various projects.
Contributing Writer: ThomasChung
FESCo elections
BrianPepple announces in fedora-devel-list,
"This is a reminder that we are still in the self-nominations phase for the upcoming FESCo election[2] . If you are interested in being part of the committee that oversees the engineering side of Fedora, you might want to consider running for a seat."
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02047.html
[2] http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Extras/SteeringCommittee/Nominations
Planet Fedora
In this section, we cover a highlight of Planet Fedora - an aggregation of blogs from world wide Fedora contributors.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Planet
Contributing Writers: ThomasChung
Fedora Remixed (a YouTube Video)
GregDeKoenigsberg points out in his blog[1] ,
"The kids in the hall have been busy. Presenting the story behind Fedora Remixed[2] ."
[1] http://gregdek.livejournal.com/13778.html
[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bs8vZgTURw
Custom Kernels in Fedora
SamFolkWilliams points out in his blog[1] ,
"When Fedora moved to the 2.6 kernel years ago some instructions on how to build the kernel from the source RPM were added to the release notes. And there they stayed for years, largely untouched. For the Fedora 7 release notes I moved those instructions to a new document, and worked with the folks on fedora-kernel-list to refine the instructions. This effort is here[2] ."
[1] http://samfw.blogspot.com/2007/06/custom-kernels-in-fedora.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/CustomKernel
Fedora Board Elections
MaxSpevack points out in his blog[1] ,
"Just a reminder that we're in the nomination[2] phase for the Fedora Board elections. If you are interested in being a part of the top-level decision making body for Fedora, and you have a strong history of contributions to the Fedora Project, you may want to consider running for a seat. We have 3 seats to fill in this election cycle."
[1] http://spevack.livejournal.com/20980.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Board/Elections/Nominations
FUDCon F8 Update
MaxSpevack points out in his blog[1] ,
"Here's what we *do* know: FUDCon[2] will be Friday August 3rd - Sunday August 5th. It will be similar to the February FUDCon, in the sense that Saturday and Sunday will be a hackfest, and Friday will be a BarCamp."
"The only problem is location, and that is what we still need to confirm. At first we wanted to do it in Raleigh, but I've heard from a bunch of the Red Hat engineers that travel from Boston at the time we're looking at is going to be very complicated, so from the perspective of getting a critical mass of people at the event, we might need to do it up in Boston again."
[1] http://spevack.livejournal.com/20486.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon/FUDConF8
Marketing
In this section, we cover Fedora Marketing Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing
Contributing Writer: ThomasChung, KarstenWade
Max Spevack's Interview on LWN
RahulSundaram reports in fedora-marketing-list[1] ,
"In what is surely one of the best interviews of the year, Fedora's Max Spevack talks to LWN about the just released Fedora 7, the upcoming changes in the project's development infrastructure, and the new features in Fedora 8: "We're looking at a far less ambitious Fedora 8. With so much new stuff in Fedora 7, we'd like to give all of our infrastructure changes a chance to settle in and get some polish, and also give some of the contributors who have been going non-stop on Fedora for the last few months a development cycle that is a bit less stressful. But that doesn't mean we don't have some things planned. The best thing for people who are interested in Fedora 8 to do is look at our Wiki, where we will be tracking potential features over the course of the release cycle." Don't miss it[2] "
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-June/msg00158.html
[2] http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20070618#news
The Limits of Freedom
This week saw an interesting discussion on the marketing list about the potential and real limits on freedom in Fedora[1] .
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-marketing-list/2007-June/msg00142.html
Developments
In this section, we cover the problems/solutions, people/personalities, and ups/downs of the endless discussions on Fedora Developments.
http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
Contributing Writer: OisinFeeley
Install-Created Users Added Automatically To Sudoers?
A long-standing feature suggestion[1] from MattMiller was to allow a fine-grained method of delegating some root execution privileges to administrative applications without prompting for the root password. Matt had produced patches to userhelper (which uses PAM), which tested whether the user was a member of an allowed group and then prompted for the user-password. These patches were incorporated by JindrichNovy in 2004. Their usefulness was shown when "Axel" suggested[2] that a nice feature would be to add the user created by firstboot during the install to the /etc/sudoers file.
[1] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=86188
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01903.html
CaioMarcelo refined[3] the idea of creating a specific group for these users in /etc/sudoers, suggesting that the already existing %wheel administrative group could be used.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01917.html
IgnacioVazquezAbrams and CaioMarcelo recognized[3] that Matt's patches laid the groundwork for disabling access to the root account and prompting instead for a password required by sudo. This could be done by simply tweaking the /etc/security/console.apps/* files. Matt thought[4] that this approach would indeed work, and had the advantage of allowing a transparent transition to using PolicyKit in the future.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01982.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02062.html
Although there seemed to be strong general agreement that some sort of change like this would be good, and similar approaches were thought to have been shown to be useful in other distros (specifically Mac OSX and Ubuntu), there were some clear arguments against it. RahulSundaram was concerned[5] about the suggestion that automatically enabling a sudo account would be done depending on whether a workstation or server install was chosen. Rahul argued that this was presenting too many choices and would mean that the documentation would need an extensive rewrite both to separate and clarify the use of "sudo" as opposed to "su -c". ChrisBrown thought[6] that Rahul's post was patronizing and ended up[7] volunteering to write all the documentation needed. Matt showed[7a] how the /etc/sudoers file could be set up so that members of the wheel group could be authenticated using their user passwords, while non-members would be prompted for the root password.
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02088.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02106.html
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02126.html
[7a] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02207.html
In the course of the discussion "n0dalus" made some forceful and detailed objections to the general idea being espoused. His primary objection, expressed[8] in discussion with MattMiller and with ChrisBrown[9] , was that there was no clear benefit in a single-user workstation environment, and the change would result in the creation of another avenue through which root access could be gained.
[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02048.html
[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02110.html
In response DanYoung tacitly agreed with n0dalus' objection and invoked the idea (also mentioned above) of locking the root account. n0dalus asked that this be proposed specifically and itemized[10] what seemed to be the current options. ChrisBrown was in strong disagreement[11] with n0dalus that sudo was only useful in a multi-administrator scenario and argued that an important benefit was that newbies would understand the concept of root better and it would allow temporary privilege escalation without having to remember to exit the root shell. The response[12] was that preventing users running everything as root was an orthogonal problem not solved by sudo, but rather by disabling root logins. RuiMiguelSilvaSeabra mused[13] that the ease-of-use and logging resulting from sudo was benefit enough.
[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02123.html
[11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02125.html
[12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02133.html
[13] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02212.html
Matt summarized[14] some of the changes which may need to be made, including modifying system-config-securitylevel to manage /etc/security/console.apps and doing some more stringent password quality checking.
[14] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02086.html
Splitting Python Out Of Core Libraries Into Subpackages
An inquiry[1] from YanokoKaneti as to whether there were objections to splitting out some more python subpackages from core libraries was met[2] with curiosity from JesseKeating. Yanoko had stated being able to remove python from minimial installs as one of the motivations for doing this work and Jesse wondered if yum was not going to be included in the minimal install.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02263.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02267.html
A sample usage case was advanced[3] by JeffOllie in which updates would be carried out using only a new Live Media image which would be used to do a reinstall. Yanoko replied[4] directly to Jesse, pointing out that an rpm-based distribution did not need yum, and Jesse emphasized that he was simply curious.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02269.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02271.html
Another example of a yum-less install was provided[5] by MatthiasSaou who had started off by unselecting the Base group.
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02272.html
Encrypting The Root Filesystem
ThomasSwan followed up[1] with a new patch to mkinitrd to provide an encrypted root filesystem. The last public discussion of this (see FWN#85 "Root Filesystem Encryption Patch"[2] ) revealed some specific issues identified as problems by BillNottingham, namely not using mkinitrd's existing configuration file and hard-coding device names in a way that would break hotplugged/re-ordered devices. Thomas had incorporated this feedback into his new patch and sought further advice.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01987.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue85
The first response[3] came from KarstenHopp, who pointed out that Thomas' bash-shell method of finding the root filesystem UUID might not be needed because Karsten had submitted a patch upstream to e2fsprogs. Further discussion between Thomas and Karsten clarified[4] that Karsten's patch allowed LUKS-encrypted partitions to be probed.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01997.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02011.html
BrunoWolff specifically responded[5] to Thomas' question as to when the user should be prompted during installation. Bruno had the opinion it should be the same time as when the user picks the file system-type. At this point JeremyKatz raised[6] the awkward question of how i18n and l10n could be taken into account, specifically how keymaps and locales would be handled.
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02008.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02018.html
Jeremy pointed out[7] the very concrete problems faced by non-English speakers, and the impracticality of seeming workarounds such as cycling through the available keymaps. Bruno was keen[8] to get on with incorporating this exciting and useful new feature and while agreeing that there might be problems for some users (especially with suspend/resume), he also thought that it could be refined and fixed.
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02030.html
[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02032.html
TonyNelson wondered if the last keymap and locale could be used for the suspend/resume case but PeterJones identified[9] some hurdles to be cleared. Later in response to Thomas, Peter laid out[10] a set of prerequisites to solve the problem, which include getting video-mode setting into the kernel.
[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02078.html
[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02143.html
While agreeing with Peter's list, KarstenHopp also agreed[11] with BrunoWolff that it might be just as well to go ahead with Thomas's solution and debug/fix it even if it meant that some users would not have access to it. BillNottingham argued[12] that this wasn't good engineering practice.
[11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02166.html
[12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02190.html
Official Presto Repositories For Rawhide
The development of Presto continued apace with the request[1] from JonathanDieter (one of the lead developers) to start creating deltarpms for rawhide and presenting them in the repositories.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02001.html
Response were generally very positive. JesseKeating asked whether there were scriptable tools to create presto repositories and what the impact on mirrors would be. Jonathan supplied[2] a link to the two tools for creating deltarpm repositories and the information that the only effect mirrors should notice are an increase in storage size and a decrease in bandwidth.
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02007.html
JeremyKatz wondered[3] where in the whole process should deltarpms be generated. In discussion with AxelThimm, Jeremy seemed to settle[4] on the choice of generating deltarpms for each 'nevra'[4] in a manner similar to the way koji handles package signatures (with outside information being fed into koji about each deltarpm). These would be generated for the updates, updates-testing, and rawhide repositories.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02035.html
[4] rpmtags: name,epoch,version,release,architecture
The inclusion of rawhide generated[5] some disquiet on the part of ClarkWilliams as he suspected that the massive jumps in e.g. toolchains as opposed to gradual, iterative changes in updates would make adding a new mechanism even more unstable. Jeremy responded that complete, full testing of presto through rawhide was the aim, not saving rawhide users bandwidth, and Clark assented[6] that this seemed like good practice.
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02100.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02103.html
FESCo Elections
Following in the wake of the disagreements[1] over the extent of community control in the new Fedora world of merged Core/Extras, BrianPepple made sure[2] that everyone was kept fully informed about the upcoming elections to the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee (FESCo), including posting links to the voting policy[2a] and candidates[2b] .
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue91#head-83e6bceef94ccd4c5981023141980970c0ff8ecd
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02047.html
[2a] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Extras/Policy/FESCoElections
[2b] http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Extras/SteeringCommittee/Nominations
The criteria for candidate eligibility led JohnPoelstra to seek clarification about membership of the cvsextras group. ToshioKuratomi provided[3] it along with the information that FESCo was no longer confined to packaging decisions, but also to making all technical decisions about Fedora.
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02117.html
FlorianLaRoche and JoshBoyer smoothed the path[4] for John to become a member of cvsextras as a co-maintainer, and concerns about accepting a non-package maintaining member were eased when BrianPepple pointed out[5] that the recent implementations of ACLs allowed precisely this sort of inclusion of new members while limiting the amount of damage they might cause.
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02145.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02161.html
A discussion between JoshBoyer, PatriceDumas, and RalfCorsepius on the subject of whether it made sense to have people elected to a technical as opposed to a political committee saw Ralf pose the rhetorical question[6] of whether it would make sense to elect, for example, tax officials. PatriceDumas noted [7] that some such officials were elected in the USA and agreed with Ralf's analogy that the Fedora Advisory Board (FAB) was the government and FESCo its administration which did not take really important decisions. KarstenWade thought[7a] that these meatspace analogies were imposing constraints that didn't exist in the Fedora Project.
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02227.html
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02228.html
[7a] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02299.html
ToshioKuratomi and KarstenWade were interested in expanding the franchise. This discussion led NigelJones to ask whether FESCo had lost its way and BrianPepple to respond[8] that new responsibilities (which Brian listed) were being assumed and they included packaging, release-engineering, and quality-assurance. PeterJones pointed out that there was little danger of someone without an established reputation attracting votes[9] . Agreeing with Brian's list of responsiblities ToshioKuratomi espoused[10] the principle that "[...] you should be able to vote if you are under FESCo's authority. You should not be able to vote if you are not." Karsten responded[10a] with the objection FESCo decisions affect the whole community and that being split into voting pools instead of allowing all FAS seemed to have no good basis[10b] , he also reiterated his doubts about the value of simply assuming that there was one form of democracy.
[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02136.html
[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02141.html
[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02154.html
[10a] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02298.html
[10b] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02344.html
No More 586 Kernels
DaveJones announced[1] that he had made the 686 kernel bootable on 586 machines with the purpose of not having to build the 586 specific kernel. The snag in this plan was that rpm refused to install the kernel on a 586 because it checked the arch. Dave sought opinions on whether making the 686 kernel an i386 package was a good idea. All sorts of disagreement resulted.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02167.html
SethVidal was sure that yum was going to choke[2] on this change, and Dave supplied[3] the alternatives of either undoing the change, or else leaving what he thought was a small number of 586 users to look after themselves.
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02170.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02173.html
Although there were several objectors including PeteZaitcev (citing a VIA C3), DennisGilmore (who wanted a 586 kernel for a Soekris board), and BenLewis, one of the strongest was AlanCox. Alan had multiple grounds for objection. The first[4] was that there was no reasonable basis to suppose that there were so few 586 users, and it turned out that Dave's estimate was based on information gathered with smolt. DavidMacKay gave[5] a concrete example of how smolt would not have reported an install he had just completed on a firewall/router.
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02218.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02265.html
Alan also stated that if he were left without a 586 kernel build then he'd probably just change distros because that would avoid the maintenance nightmare of maintaining two distros on his machines. A brief, but sharp exchange[6] followed in which DaveJones characterized Alan's objection as "teddy throwing" and in turn was accused of name-calling.
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02198.html
A suggestion[7] from MikeChambers that simply changing the architecture name to e.g. "x86" might solve the problem was admitted[8] as technically feasible by JeremyKatz (once a were added to yum, rpm etc) but BillNottingham pointed out[9] that the change would have to be propagated for ever.
[7] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02200.html
[8] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02201.html
[9] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02203.html
Going straight to the root of the problem[10] , BillNottingham wanted to patch RPM. (In an aside DaveJones noted the complexity of the RPM code maintained by PaulNasrat and KevinKofler thanked[11] PanuMatilainen for all the RPM work he and Paul had been doing.)
[10] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02187.html
[11] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02211.html
AlanCox explained[12] that RPM was indeed the source of the trouble, as it had been hacked way back in the day to get around a GCC error. The result was that RPM thinks that "686 + cmov" is 686 and "686 - cmov" is 586. Alan suggested "fix gcc and you can fix rpm and you get back to the world as intended".
[12] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02196.html
Further discussion between DaveJones and Alan seemed to result in an impasse[13]
[13] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02199.html
x86_64 Live Media Is NOT A LiveCD
After unsuccesful attempts to create an x86_64 "LiveCD" image, "eah" asked[1] why it was larger than the x86 image.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01973.html
JesseKeating made the correction[2] that it was NOT a LiveCD, but Live Media, and was larger because of multilib. Jesse suggested putting the Live Media image on a USB key or DVD. In response MichaelWeiner[3] and TillMaas[4] thought that the name should be changed to something less confusing.
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01975.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01976.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02094.html
"eah" asked how k3b could be persuaded to burn the image to a DVD instead of the CD-R which it preferred by default and was given[5] helpful instructions by ManuelWolfshant.
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01983.html
An interesting response from KevinKofler suggested[6] that it might be possible to cram the 800MB onto a CD-R if "Mode 2"[7] were chosen instead of the normal "Mode 1"
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01985.html
[7] http://www.mscience.com/faq62.html
PAM_KEYRING Gets GDM And KDM Into Bed
The release of an updated PAM_KEYRING by JonNettleton was reported[1] by DenisLeroy to fix problems he had experienced in F7. PAM_KEYRING is a module that makes gnome_keyring more accessible by other programs and removes the inconvenience of having to unlock one's keyring immediately after logging-in to the desktop.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01902.html
Denis was also seeking to start a wider discussion of how to avoid having to manually edit /etc/pam.d/gdm in order to reap the full benefits of PAM_KEYRING. One possibility was to use a %post scriptlet and KevinKofler expanded[2] the scope of the problem by pointing out that gnome_keyring was also used by programs running under KDM. JonNettleton had already coded[3] an addition to authconfig to modify /etc/pam.d/gdm but was intrigued[4] by KevinKofler's report of such risque mixed-desktop carry-on and agreed that if authconfig were modified to integrate these changes then the sensibilities of KDE users would need to be considered.
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01906.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01907.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01908.html
A fairly strong opinion against using %post scriptlets to edit the pam config files was expressed[5] by JeremyKatz and SethVidal. BillNottingham backed[6] the idea of modifying authconfig as suggested by Jon and others.
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02017.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02024.html
F8: Review Hiding Partitions With HAL
OttoRey wondered[1] why the default HAL policy for hiding fixed drives was needed. Otto suggested that if the purpose was to provide security then a better approach would be to use ACLs. RichardHughes was in agreement and argued[2] that the policy should be used for RHEL only, noting in passing that any system bootable from a LiveCD was insecure and that DavidZeuthen's PolicyKit would hopefully solve all this. (David had posted back in March, within a thread about HAL policies[3] , about the work he was doing on this.)
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01927.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01928.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-March/msg01019.html
Pining for the good old days, KevinKofler suggested[4] that /etc/fstab was the appropriate place to let the system know about the mounting of fixed disk partitions. NicolasMailhot agreed[5] that there was wonkiness with the current system (three places where a mount can be set up), and JefSpaleta, while dreaming of Utopia, thought[6] that in the present reality an editable /etc/fstab was necessary.
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01935.html
[5] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01939.html
[6] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg01938.html
Bugzilla: "FedoraCore" And "FedoraExtras" Products Merged to "Fedora"
An announcement[1] of the result of a lot of hard work completing the Core/Extras merge in bugzilla was posted by ToshioKuratomi.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02092.html
Toshio noted that one of the effects might be that some previous package owners would now be listed as co-owners and he provided a way to check with CVS. This led JoshBoyer to jokingly ask Toshio to stop living in the cvs past, which led to a more serious discussion with TillMaas about how the wiki is outdated[2] . Josh and Till both updated some of the information.
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-June/msg02096.html
Maintainers
In this section, we cover Fedora Maintainers, the group of people who maintain the software packages in Fedora
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-maintainers
Contributing Writer: MichaelLarabel
Libraw1394 Notice For F7 Xen Users
JochenSchmitt alerted users[1] in the fedora-maintainers-list this week about the libraw1394 update in Fedora 7. This package requires the 2.6.21-1.3194.fc7 kernel or later, but in the case of Xen it's currently at version 2.6.20-2925.9.fc7. Fortunately, however, the libraw1394 package maintainer can push out an update that solves this problem and JesseKeating is working with the respective maintainers.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-June/msg00563.html
Portaudio & SDL_gfx Updates
Version 19 of Portaudio[1] has entered Fedora 7. Portaudio, an open-source cross-platform audio API, breaks ABI compatibility in this new stable version, but the Fedora espeak package that depends upon portaudio is being updated accordingly. MatthiasSaou has also updated SDL_gfx to version 2.0.16[2] .
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-June/msg00599.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-June/msg00601.html
Documentation
In this section, we cover the Fedora Documentation Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject
Contributing Writer: JonathanRoberts
New POTBASE definition
PaulFrields writes to the docs-list to announce that he's updated Makefile.common, with a capacity for a new "POTBASE" variable. This is useful in the event that the POT file for a module needs to be named differently to ${DOCBASE}, making it easier for the L10N team to do their work[1] .
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00110.html
Candidate Documentation Schedule
A candidate schedule for the Docs Project was posted to the wiki[1] , and announced on the list[2] with an invitation for comments included. Significant in this announcement was the fact that there is about 6 weeks left to gather information for the first one sheet release notes that accompanies the first testing release. No information was included in this about deadlines for guides[3] , which was intentional to encourage debate about the release schedule for guides[4] , as a re-organisation of this is being considered.
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Schedule/8
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00112.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00113.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00117.html
Why Write Documentation
JohnBabich posted a link to a set of results from an interesting survey carried out by O'Reilly, asking people why they write FOSS documentation[1] .
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00124.html
Fedora Documentation Steering Committee Meeting
A summary of the FDSCo meeting of the 12th June was posted to the docs-list[1] . The log was also posted separately[2] .
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00125.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00136.html
Tool Help
KarstenWade posted a request for help to the docs-list with re-enabling language auto-selection of the release notes, requiring changes to the Makefile[1] . This feature is being re-enabled as a bug in Firefox preventing this has been fixed.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00133.html
Tasks!
The DocsProject's tasks page[1] has been updated with a list of links to different stub pages for each of the tasks that needs achieving[2] . It is hoped that guide writers will fill out these pages with 3-10 tasks, this way new contributors can easily identify what needs doing and jump straight in. If you're interested in helping with the DocsProject, this is a great place to start.
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Tasks
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00141.html
As part of organising the tasks, it has also been suggested that the DocsProject team works on one guide at a time, with a proposed order sent to the list by KarstenWade[1] .
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00152.html
Starting DocBook XML
A lot of the DocsProject's documents are kept in CVS in the DocBook XML format, which can be a hurdle to contributing. If you're interested in starting on the documentation project but have been put off by this, PaulFrields has sent a message to the docs-list that is for you[1] . In it, he explains the best resources to get you started, and invites anyone with any further questions, or suggestions on how this document could be improved, to send a message to the list.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00162.html
Documentation
In this section, we cover the Fedora Documentation Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject
Contributing Writer: JonathanRoberts
New POTBASE definition
PaulFrields writes to the docs-list to announce that he's updated Makefile.common, with a capacity for a new "POTBASE" variable. This is useful in the event that the POT file for a module needs to be named differently to ${DOCBASE}, making it easier for the L10N team to do their work[1] .
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00110.html
Candidate Documentation Schedule
A candidate schedule for the Docs Project was posted to the wiki[1] , and announced on the list[2] with an invitation for comments included. Significant in this announcement was the fact that there is about 6 weeks left to gather information for the first one sheet release notes that accompanies the first testing release. No information was included in this about deadlines for guides[3] , which was intentional to encourage debate about the release schedule for guides[4] , as a re-organisation of this is being considered.
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Schedule/8
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00112.html
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00113.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00117.html
Why Write Documentation
JohnBabich posted a link to a set of results from an interesting survey carried out by O'Reilly, asking people why they write FOSS documentation[1] .
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00124.html
Fedora Documentation Steering Committee Meeting
A summary of the FDSCo meeting of the 12th June was posted to the docs-list[1] . The log was also posted separately[2] .
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00125.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00136.html
Tool Help
KarstenWade posted a request for help to the docs-list with re-enabling language auto-selection of the release notes, requiring changes to the Makefile[1] . This feature is being re-enabled as a bug in Firefox preventing this has been fixed.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00133.html
Tasks!
The DocsProject's tasks page[1] has been updated with a list of links to different stub pages for each of the tasks that needs achieving[2] . It is hoped that guide writers will fill out these pages with 3-10 tasks, this way new contributors can easily identify what needs doing and jump straight in. If you're interested in helping with the DocsProject, this is a great place to start.
[1] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/Tasks
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00141.html
As part of organising the tasks, it has also been suggested that the DocsProject team works on one guide at a time, with a proposed order sent to the list by KarstenWade[1] .
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00152.html
Starting DocBook XML
A lot of the DocsProject's documents are kept in CVS in the DocBook XML format, which can be a hurdle to contributing. If you're interested in starting on the documentation project but have been put off by this, PaulFrields has sent a message to the docs-list that is for you[1] . In it, he explains the best resources to get you started, and invites anyone with any further questions, or suggestions on how this document could be improved, to send a message to the list.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/2007-June/msg00162.html
Infrastructure
In this section, we cover the Fedora Infrastructure Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure
Contributing Writer: JasonMatthewTaylor
IPTables
The Infrastructure team, specifically LukeMacken, SethVidal and xDamonx completed work on an IPtables[1] firewall solution for the fedora project.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-June/msg00244.html
Fedora SCM
MikeMcGrath started discussion[1] this week about whether or not to keep current configuration management or look into something different.
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-June/msg00245.html
Ticket System
SethVidal, after pondering it for a bit had some comments[1] about the current ticket system
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-June/msg00331.html
Making Infrastructure Requests
A long discussion came from a request for resources (RFR) for Fedora Magazine[1] . MikeMcGrath noted[2] that the long discussion was a good experience for all; he is watching out for time drains on the Infrastructure team, and wants to sure of incoming ideas/requests.
[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-June/msg00230.html
[2] http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2007-June/msg00308.html
Artwork
In this section, we cover Fedora Artwork Project.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork
Contributing Writer: JonathanRoberts
Echo Icon Theme Development
Work has now restarted on Echo icons. The latest icon to be added is the gnome-palm icon, and was well received[1] . Also this week with Echo, a small fix was suggested to the quick-add icon to make it symmetrical[2] .
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-June/msg00175.html
[2] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-June/msg00174.html
Banners
A request was sent in to the list asking where you can find the source files for the banners, as features on various wiki pages[1] . It was pointed out that it is available on the Art Team's design page[2] , and, after a request was then made for a banner for the newly planned Fedora Magazine, it was pointed out that there is also a request form available on this site[3] . A few banner designs were provided, however[3] [4] .
[1] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-June/msg00176.html
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/DesignService
[3] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-June/msg00181.html
[4] https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2007-June/msg00184.html
Daily Package
In this section, we recap the packages that have been highlighted as a Fedora Daily Package.
http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com
Contributing Writer: ChrisTyler
ISO Master - CD/DVD Image Editor
Productive Mondays highlight a timesaving tool. This Monday[1] we covered ISO Master[2] :
"ISO Master is a graphical tool for editing ISO image files. It presents a two-pane view of your local filesystem (top) and an ISO image (bottom) and enables you to move files between the two. You can also delete files from the ISO image, create new directories, and add a boot record. Isomaster will constantly update the image size estimate; when you're ready, hit File>Save As and a new image file will be created."
[2] http://littlesvr.ca/isomaster
QIV - Quick Image Viewer
Artsy Tuesdays highlight a graphics, video, or sound application. This Tuesday[1] Qiv[2] was featured:
"Qiv is a quick image viewer. The name says it all: qiv displays images quickly and simply. But it is also capable of running slideshows, selectively deleting images, zooming, adjusting brightness/contrast/gamma, setting the root window image, and more. Qiv is perfect for displaying images from a shell script, creating a slideshow quickly, or reviewing a large batch of images."
[1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/73-Artsy-Tuesday-Qiv-Quick-image-viewer.html
[2] http://www.klografx.net/qiv
The Skeleton
The Wednesday Why article[1] was on the Fedora skeleton[2] :
"Your Fedora system has a skeleton in its closet! Well, actually, it's in the /etc directory. /etc/skel is a directory that contains files which are copied to the home directory of each new user."
[1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/74-Wednesday-Why-The-skeleton.html
Cssed - CSS Editor
GUI Thursdays highlight a software that provides, enhances, or effectively uses a GUI interface. This Thursday[1] , Cssed[2] was discussed:
"Editing cascading style sheet files (CSS) can be a huge chore. Cssed is a text editor for CSS files. It includes on-line references, syntax highlighting, and auto-completion."
[1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/75-GUI-Thursday-Cssed-CSS-Editor.html
[2] http://cssed.sourceforge.net/
Fortune - Random Wit & Wisdom
Friday Fun highlights fun, interesting, and amusing programs. This Friday[1] covered fortune-mod[2] :
"For years, many Unix and Linux systems have greeted text-mode users with a piece of random wisdom or wit each time they log in. This daily smile is provided by the fortune program, which is in the fortune-mod package."
[1] http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/76-Friday-Fun-Fortune-Random-wit-wisdom.html
[2] http://www.redellipse.net/code/fortune
Advisories and Updates
In this section, we cover Secuirity Advisories and Package Updates from fedora-package-announce.
Contributing Writer: ThomasChung
Fedora 7 Security Advisories
- 2007-06-21 [SECURITY] fail2ban-0.8.0-9.fc7 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/F7/FEDORA-2007-0621
- 2007-06-20 [SECURITY] denyhosts-2.6-5.fc7 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/F7/FEDORA-2007-0589
- 2007-06-18 [SECURITY] iscsi-initiator-utils-6.2.0.865-0.0.fc7 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/F7/FEDORA-2007-0543
- 2007-06-18 [SECURITY] thunderbird-2.0.0.4-1.fc7 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/F7/FEDORA-2007-0544
Fedora Core 6 Security Advisories
- 2007-06-18 [SECURITY] freetype-2.2.1-17.fc6 - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA/FC6/FEDORA-2007-561
Events and Meetings
In this section, we cover event reports and meeting summaries from various projects.
Contributing Writer: ThomasChung
Fedora Board Meeting Minutes 2007-MM-DD
- No meeting
Fedora Documentation Steering Committee (Log) 2007-06-19
Fedora Engineering Steering Committee Meeting 2007-06-21
Fedora Infrastructure Meeting (Log) 2007-06-21
Fedora Packaging Committee Meeting 2007-06-19
Fedora Release Engineering Meeting 2007-06-18
Fedora Translation Project Meeting 2007-06-19
Feedback
This document is maintained by the Fedora News Team[1] . Please feel free to contact us to give your feedback. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Fedora Weekly News, please see the Join[2] page to find out how to help.