Frugalware Linux Newsletter - Issue 52

...to inform...to educate...to entertain

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they discovered that pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 million developing the ball point pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300C.

When confronted with the same problem, the Russians used a pencil.

Welcome

The newsletter's aim is to keep you up to date with what's happened recently in the world of the Linux distribution 'Frugalware'.

Features of this issue include:

• Gnome 2.28 is now available
• Frugalware's users are people too - DeX77
• Tips and tricks - "Seeing is believing"
• Focus On Package(s) - Celestia and UKopp

Events etc

Here's a selection of events which have occurred since the previous newsletter:

• An ego the size of a whale!

  I have had thousands of email messages from newsletter readers asking why, at the end of each newsletter, I remind everyone that it is I who writes the newsletter. Is it because I have an ego the size of a whale? Believe it or not, I don't do it because I want to take all the credit. Instead I want remind everyone that any errors in the newsletter are entirely my fault and not of the developers or other contributors.

• Gnome 2.28 is now available

  Gnome 2.28 was recently released and the development team has already packaged it and it's now available from the "current" repository. There have been many changes since the previous release, and there are a lot of dependencies, so it is a difficult, time-consuming job to package it all. Many thanks for Bouleetbil and others in the development team for their hard work.

• Don't cry for me, Argentina

  OK - in fact wherever you live, don't cry for Anacreon, Frugalware release 1.0. After all, we have a new stable release in Getorin, Frugalware release 1.1. Anacreon was a good, reliable friend but when a more current model, with even more features comes along, it's hard not to resist. If you're still running release 1.0, please consider upgrading. Anacreon will understand and anyway, all Frugalware releases have a special place in our hearts.

• "Quick Draw" Devil505

  If Devil505 had been a gunfighter in America's Wild West, I would never have challenged him to a gun fight. A Frugalware user recently submitted a bug report for a package named 'wifi-radar'. According to my mail client, this bug was reported at 6:53 pm and Devil505 submitted a patch to fix this bug at 7:36 pm. That's what I call quick! Of course not all bugs get fixed this quickly, but it's good when it does happen.

Frugalware's users are people too

This is the latest in a series of interviews with Frugalware users, in which we get to know a little about the person. Please read on...

What's your name?

Daniel Exner

What's your IRC/forum nickname?

DeX, or DeX77. I'm not 32 but 28, the 77 is just because someone already used 66 :)

In what country do you live?

Germany

In what country were you born?

Germany

What operating system(s) did you use before FW ?

To my shame I have to admit that I used all DOS and Windows versions up to Windows 2000. But then I switched to Slackware :)

When did you start to use Linux (Frugalware)?

head /var/log/pacman-g2.log = [12/19/06 17:56] I guess that's roughly the moment I started to use it :)

What do you like most about Frugalware?

What I like most about Frugalware is the transparency of the build process: most distros provide the tools to create your own packages, and some have even large package provider communities. But none I have found so far that have such a well-documented package building process. What I also like is the policy to provide as minimal patches as possible. That really ties Frugalware close to upstream and I think both sides benefit from that.

What would you like to see changed in Frugalware?

I would like to see more devs! It's a pity to see the weight of maintaining all those packages distributed amongst such a small bunch of people. Although I must admit they do a really good job :)

Do you do something active in order to spread the knowledge of Frugalware?

Sure, I flame about (X|K)ubuntu as much as I can. :) No, just kidding. I try to convince people around me, to at least try the Frugal way and at least some of them now are happy Frugal users.

For what purpose(s) do you use Frugalware?

Given I'm in the IT business I mostly do development with it. But I also use it at home for multimedia, occasional gaming and keeping in touch with the world.

How did you find Frugalware - e.g. a friend/Google search?

Some guy on a German Slackware forum was whining about Slackware missing more modern software and someone else suggested Frugalware as an alternative. As I myself was somewhat frustrated with Slackware at that moment I thought: "Why not? Give it a try" :)

What do you do when you're not using Frugalware?

I'm forced to use Windows ;) I guess you are asking about hobbies with that question? Well that would be watching/reading SciFi and Anime/Manga, swimming, cycling and when there is still time left at the end of the day I remember to do things for my M.Sc. in Computer Science.

Please show us a screenshot of your desktop(s)

Yeah, that's my girlfriend. No we are not (yet) married :)

What's the view from your front door? (please provide a photograph, with no people in view)

That's not a view from my front door but from my office. I guess that's more impressive :)

Getting To Know You

In this section of the newsletter, we get to know Frugalware Linux a little at a time. This is not meant to replace the official documentation but instead make it easier to read. This should suit those those people who, like me, have short attention spans. :)

It's Release Time!

We recently had Frugalware 1.1 released, so now is a good time to talk about the release process. Releases occur six months apart, usually in April and September. Scheduling releases according to time means that everyone involved can schedule their work to suit. If a new release of Gnome occurs shortly before the release date for example, the decision to stay with the Gnome release already in the repositories is easier to make. Making these types of decisions based on other criteria is generally much more difficult, because everyone has different ideas as to when things are ready for release.

Before the final release, several test releases are made - two release candidates and one pre-release. These test the release infrastructure and are an opportunity for everyone to see what the final release will look like and provide feedback. A few days before each release there is a "freeze", when only bug fixes are allowed. Between each test release, most effort goes into fixing reported bugs and making any changes that are required before the final release, but package updates also continue.

New Packages

In this new section of the newsletter I'll highlight some packages which have been added since the previous issue.

Package's Name	Description	Maintainer
roundcube	A free and open source webmail solution with a desktop-like user interface	boobaa
adeskbar	A good-looking application launcher written in Python	jercel
drupal6-support	The Drupal support module provides a basic ticketing system	boobaa

Tips and tricks

Disclaimer - Be aware that the hints & tips provided here have NOT been tested and so come with no warranty.

This section relies on your contributions! If you have some tips and tricks that you would like to be shown in the newsletter, please post them on the forums.

To do, or not to do...

Most of us do not have enough time in which to do all the things we want to do. You might want to achieve world peace or marry Halle Berry. In fact marrying Halle Berry shouldn't be one of your goals because it's one of my goals, but that's not really relevant to my point. Maintaining a "To Do" list is one tool which can help you be more productive because it:

• helps you keep focused on your goals;
• allows you to prioritise your goals;
• can be shared with others, who may be able to help you achieve a specific goal.

It really doesn't matter how you maintain your list, whether it's on a piece of paper, in a notebook, or using any one of numerous 'To Do' applications or web sites available. If you don't have enough items to put on your "To Do" list, contact VMiklos because apparently he has LOTS that he would like to share. :)

"Seeing is believing"

This is an English-language proverb which means that when you see something with your own eyes, you believe it's really happening. In the case of screencasts, seeing can also help you understand something better. Some people - including myself - find it's easier to understand something if it's demonstrated. Screencasts are (usually) brief videos with audio commentary, the aim of which is to teach you something. They can be produced on almost any PC and hosted for free on web sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. A search on a technical topic you're interested in, combined with the word "screencast", will usually return at least a few hits. Screencasts have an advantage over written documentation because, even if you don't understand the language of the audio track, you should still be able to understand what's being shown. If you have never looked at a screencast, search the Internet for topics that interest you because you'll probably be surprised at what you find.

As a starting point, here are links to some popular screencasting web sites:

Focus On Package(s)

Celestia

At some point in their life, everyone has gazed up at the night sky, awed by the seemingly limitless void that is known as "space". This often inspires meaningful questions, such as:

• Is there intelligent life on other planets?;
• What would it be like to travel to the stars and other planets?;
• What might aliens look like and would they be friendly?;
• Would humans live in peace if we lived on other planets?;
• Where did I put my house keys?

Celestia is a space simulator which allows you to navigate through the universe with a first-person view. As described on the Celestia home page, "Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn't confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy. All movement in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. A 'point-and-goto' interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit. Celestia is expandable. Celestia comes with a large catalog of stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and spacecraft. If that's not enough, you can download dozens of easy to install add-ons with more objects."

Anyone who has dreamed of traveling in space, or has an interest in astronomy, should try out Celestia. You too can have the opportunity of "Going where no man (or woman) has gone before."

UKopp

UKopp is a simple, easy-to-use GUI application for backing up files and folders to a USB stick or similar media. You can set up jobs, which are sets of pre-defined configuration items, including source and destination folders, files to include and exclude etc. Each time a backup is run, only files and folders which have been modified since the previous backup are copied. You have the option of keeping old versions of files, allowing you to restore older versions instead of only the previous version. For advanced users of Frugalware, there may be better backup options, but the beauty of UKopp is simplicity and ease of use. It's ideal for people are need an easy, reliable backup method. If you have any friends or family who use Linux, why not introduce them to UKopp? It may be the best thing you've done for yourself! :)

Bug fixes

The following table gives you a overview of activity on bugs and feature requests as at 10 October 2009. In each cell of the table is a link to a detailed list of the relevant bugs or feature requests.

Activity	Bugs	Feature Requests
Open	227	199
Opened since the previous newsletter	21	4
Closed since the previous newsletter	38	1

Security announcements

Remember - According to the normal support arrangements for Frugalware, the release of 1.1 ("Getorin") means that no further security or bug fixes will be released for Frugalware 1.0 ("Anacreon") or earlier releases.

Here is a list of security issues which have been discovered and fixed in the 1.1 release since the previous newsletter.

FSA	Package	FSA Description	Upgrade To
FSA624	drupal6-commentrss	See FSA623 for more info.	drupal6-commentrss-6.x_2.2-1getorin1
FSA623	drupal-commentrss	A vulnerability has been reported in the Comment RSS module for Drupal, which can be exploited to disclose potentially sensitive information	drupal-commentrss-5.x_2.2-1getorin1
FSA622	drupal6	See FSA621 for more info.	drupal6-6.14-1getorin1
FSA621	drupal	Some vulnerabilities have been reported in Drupal, which can be exploited by malicious users to hijack accounts and compromise a vulnerable system, and by malicious people to conduct cross-site request forgery attacks	drupal-5.20-1getorin1
FSA620	drupal-date	A vulnerability has been reported in the Date module for Drupal, which can be exploited by malicious users to conduct script insertion attacks	drupal-date-5.x_2.8-1getorin1
FSA619	horde-webmail	Some vulnerabilities have been reported in Horde Groupware and Horde Groupware Webmail Edition, which can be exploited by malicious people to conduct cross-site scripting and script insertion attacks and by malicious users to compromise a vulnerable system	horde-webmail-1.2.4-1getorin1
FSA618	wireshark	Some vulnerabilities have been reported in Wireshark, which can be exploited by malicious people to cause a DoS (Denial of Service)	wireshark-1.2.2-1getorin1
FSA617	drupal6-devel	A vulnerability has been reported in the Devel module for Drupal, which can be exploited by malicious users to conduct script insertion attacks	drupal6-devel-6.x_1.18-1getorin1

About the newsletter

Author

The Frugalware newsletter is written and edited by Russell Dickenson (AKA phayz). Credit for the Frugalware distribution goes to the development team.

Translations

The newsletter is currently translated into French and Danish by their respective communities. Thanks to all those involved in providing and hosting these translations.

Release

To allow time for review and corrections, each newsletter is written ahead of its release date. Therefore it may not mention events which occurred in the few days before its release - e.g. security fixes. To be sure that you've got the very latest information on these topics, go to the appropriate page of the Frugalware web site.

Feedback

If you have feedback about the Frugalware newsletter - whether good or bad - please provide it via the forums. Your feedback is valuable because we want the newsletter to meet the needs of Frugalware's users.