Frugalware Linux Newsletter - Issue 55

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

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."  Calvin, from the popular American comic series "Calvin and Hobbes".

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:

• The wiki is back!
• Happy birthday to Devil505
• FLOSS developers are people too
• Let's all go to Monaco
• Getting to know you - Dependencies

Events

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

• Gimmix is upgraded

  Priyank recently packaged a newer version of Gimmix, a GTK-based MPD client. It's light on resources but has a great range of features. Gimmix is rather special because Priyank is its developer as well as the maintainer of its package. After all, who knows a baby better than its father or mother? If you want a GUI MPD client, please try it.

• The wiki is back!

  As I reported in newsletter issue 53, the Frugalware wiki unfortunately went offline weeks ago. The original wiki was lost, but it's contents had been backed up by VMiklos. To restore the wiki required a new installation, review of content and copying all content into the new wiki, all done by VMiklos, Bouleetbil and Devil505. Many thanks to them for their work. When I last checked, the wiki had a total 1,025 pages from 12 contributors.

  The Frugalware wiki - also known as "FrugalWiki" - is based on MediaWiki, the wiki platform used by the famous Wikipedia, as well as other sites. Frugalware is used by people from many countries - and we're proud of that - and this means we need a multi-language wiki. MediaWiki doesn't allow wiki pages with the same titles, so how can we have pages on the same topic in different languages? Our answer is to include a reference to the language in the title page. For details of this and other rules for editing the wiki, please refer to the FrugalWiki tutorial.

• Happy birthday to Devil505

  Devil505 recently celebrated his 2nd birthday. "What!?", I hear you say. "Do we really have a developer who is 2 years old? The answer is, "Yes" and "No". I'm quite certain Devil505 is not 2 years old in real life, although I don't know his real age. I do know that 2 years ago, he was accepted into the Frugalware developer team. He's made a great contribution to Frugalware over that time, helping not only by packaging applications (mostly games), but also community activities, such as the wiki and the artwork team. Congratulations, Devil505, and we look forward to a lifetime of Frugalware-ing. That's right - one you're "in", you're in for life!

  To all other developers, I apologise. I promise I'll find out your Frugalware birthday, mark it on the calendar, and mention it in the newsletter.

• What difference does two characters make?

  If you subscribe to the #frugalware group's messages on Identi.ca, you will often have seen URLs which have been shortened by the bit.ly service. Like other URL shortening services, it takes a "normal" URL and converts this into a short URL. When you click on the shortened version, bit.ly redirects your web browser to the full URL. These services exist for at least two reasons: (1) it's easier to communicate a short URL, and (2) it's easier to fit a short URL into the 140-character limit of web services like identi.ca and Twitter. In an interesting move, bit.ly now has a new name - j.mp. Both services will remain active, but the j.mp domain name is to eventually replace the bit.ly domain name. If I understand correctly, the change of domain name was made so that URLs were shortened by 2 characters. I can understand the change, but wow - just two characters? I don't know when or if we will switch to the j.mp domain name. Keep watching, though.

• Could all big games please put their hand up?

  After a discussion amongst the Frugalware developers, it has been decided that all games which are bigger than 100 MB will no longer be available directly from the repository. Instead they will be "nobuild" packages, which means that they will be installed using 'repoman' instead of pacman-g2. There were several reasons for this change, the major ones being:

  • reducing the amount of disk space required by each release - on the release ISOs and the build servers;
  • reducing the amount of time taken in checking daily the integrity of the packages' files.

Getting To Know You

Dependencies

Everyone has dependencies - food, sleep, caffeine. Frugalware's packages also have dependencies, although caffeine isn't one of them, thankfully. Applications written to the GTK toolkit are dependent upon it. Applications written to the Qt toolkit are dependent upon it. Each package's dependencies are detailed in its FrugalBuild and can be either build or runtime dependencies. You might have looked at a package's dependency list, found just one package listed, then wondered why many packages were installed when you issued the command "pacman -S [package_name]". It was because the package's dependencies also had dependencies and so these also had to be installed.

You might have heard of the term "dependency hell". This is a problem where you can't install both packages A and B because they have conflicting dependencies. Frugalware does its best to avoid the chance of this occurring because a package cannot be built if its dependencies can't be met. The reverse of dependencies are those cases where packages may conflict and so can't co-exist. Again such conflicts are detailed in the package's FrugalBuild and pacman-g2 won't allow a package to be installed if it conflicts with another. A variation of package conflict is where a package replaces another one. The official NVidia driver packages, for example, contain their own GL libraries and so replace the functionality of the LIBGLX and LIBGL packages. When you install one of the nvidia driver packages, you are told about this and asked if you want to continue. If you answer "Yes", pacman-g2 will install the NVidia package and remove the other packages, avoiding any conflict been libraries that have the same functionality.

pacman-g2 is very intelligent, but this "intelligence" is based on information contained in each package's FrugalBuild. Therefore pacman-g2 can never be more intelligent than the developers. That's a good thing when you think about it, because otherwise we could be in a situation like that of Dave in "2001: A Space Odyssey":

        User: pacman-g2 -S tetris
        pacman-g2: I'm sorry, Dave, but I can't do that. You shouldn't be playing games.

FLOSS developers are people too

Without developers, we wouldn't have the Linux kernel and all the software that we run on the platform. What motivates FLOSS developers? Why does anyone choose to spend their time writing software when they don't get paid to do so? What do developers do when they're not writing software? These questions and more are the inspiration behind this new section of the newsletter.

In interviews with FLOSS developers, we get to know them a little better as people, and what motivates them in their quest for better software. I'm very excited by this new series because I admire their work very much. I'm also very grateful to them for taking the time to reply to my requests.

Interviews in the next few issues will feature:

• The developer of Code Browser;
• Jeff Bailes - developer of Whaaw! Media Player;
• Ali Abdallah - Xfce developer & Parole developer;
• Jesse van den Kieboom - gedit developer.

This issue, we have an interview with Michael Cornelius - developer of fotoxx, UKopp, picpuz and much more. I think Michael has a very interesting story to tell and I hope you enjoy reading it. As a native English-language speaker, I can honestly say that the quality of Michael's writing is better than mine. I wonder if I could persuade him to write for the newsletter? :)

What's your name?

Michael Cornelison. I am a retired American living in Germany with a German wife.

What FLOSS projects are you involved in?

I write code only for the projects on my web site. I contribute bug reports to other projects, esp. Ubuntu and Gnome. I sometimes write in web forums, but this is minor.

What led to you being a FLOSS developer/contributor?

I became aware of the FLOSS movement in 2006 and got interested. "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" was influential. Before that I had written software for Windows and DEC VAX (now HP) mainframes. The low ethics of Microsoft has long been a problem for me. I wanted a low-cost and open development environment for myself, and I wanted something to keep me busy and productive during my retirement. I am now 66.

What do you like about being a FLOSS developer/contributor?

The openness, freedom, collaborative nature, abundance of people who are ready to help and contribute. I like the mission: provide free and open software for the world to use and benefit from.

What don't you like about being a FLOSS developer/contributor?

I recently wrote an essay summarizing my opinions on Linux and the FLOSS movement, "Enduring Roadblocks to Linux Acceptance". It was published a few weeks ago in Linux Forums: http://www.linuxforums.org/articles/enduring-roadblocks-to-linux-acceptance_417.html

It is also on my web site: http://kornelix.squarespace.com/linux-opinion/.

Please read the essay (3 minutes). In short: I dislike the chaos, lack of standards, lack of planning, redundant/competing technologies, the sometimes poor quality of code and documentation. I did not mention another factor in the above essay: the elitism and condescending attitude of some FLOSS heavyweights. When I was starting out and trying to find my way in web forums, I got put down for being an ignorant newbie. This problem seems to be diminishing over time (are the heavyweights becoming less elitist?).

What motivates you to work on your projects?

Technical interest and a desire to provide useful tools for others.

What do you do outside the FLOSS world?

Since retiring, my wife and I have done extensive traveling and I have focused on photography. Other than that, it is a fairly normal life of socializing with friends, reading, watching films, etc. I help others with computer problems, both Windows and Linux. I have persuaded a few friends to convert to Linux - their main concern being malware and the lack of security with Windows.

What operating system(s) do you use and why?

I use only Linux. I keep Windows up to date in order to stay current and be able to help others.

If people are interested in helping your project(s), how might they do this?

My e-mail address is published on my web site and in the user guides that come with my programs. I encourage others to pass on their bug reports or ideas for improvement. I have gotten many ideas this way. I have also gotten several GUI translations for fotoxx and some other programs from complete strangers. The user guide for fotoxx has only been translated into French, and that has not been kept up to date. It is large and would require several days of work to translate, so it is understandable that no one volunteers. Unfortunately, the technical computer world is not very open for those without good English.

New Packages

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

Package's Name	Description	Maintainer
assaultcube-1.0.2-1	A First-Person Shooter-style game, based on the Cube engine.	Devil505
bmpanel2-2.1pre1-1	Nice NETWM-compatible panel for X11. Editor's note: bmpanel2 is theme-able and wow! it comes with some good-looking themes.	ryuo
udpcast-20091031-1	A file transfer tool that can send data simultaneously to many destinations on a LAN.	exceed
tmux-1.1-1	A terminal multiplexer with a BSD license.	jercel (requested by LGee, FrugalBuild submitted by Laszlo Papp)
epidermis-0.4.1-1	Epidermis is a Gnome application which allows you to easily apply complete themes to the desktop environment. By "theme" I mean GTK theme, mouse cursor theme, splashscreen, icons etc.	bouleetbil
vdrift-2009_06_15-1	VDrift is a cross-platform, open source driving simulation made with drift racing in mind.	Devil505
mysql-workbench-oss-5.2.8-1	MySQL Workbench is a cross-platform, visual database design tool developed by MySQL.	bouleetbil
gadmin-openvpn-server-0.1.1-1	GADMIN-OPENVPN-SERVER -- A GTK+ administration tool for the OpenVPN server.	bouleetbil
gadmin-openvpn-client-0.0.8-1	GADMIN-OPENVPN-CLIENT -- A GTK+ administration tool for the OpenVPN client.	bouleetbil
hedgewars-0.9.12-1	Free Worms-like turn based strategy game	devil505
monaco_linux-20061101-1	Monospaced Macintosh system font	exceed (FrugalBuild submitted by Laszlo Papp)
minitube-0.8.1-1	Watch YouTube videos without Flash Player	devil505
genshi-0.5.1-1	Python toolkit for generation of output for the web	bouleetbil

Tips and tricks

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

Keyboard or mouse?

The combination of keyboard and mouse as input for PCs is not very efficient, but it's the best we have at the moment. You can often improve your efficiency if you learn the keyboard shortcuts of your favourite applications. Many applications have cheat sheets available, which are one-page handy references of features and functions, including keyboard shortcuts. If you keep one of these near your PC, it makes the task of learning a little easier.

What's your status? (in 140 characters or less)

Microblogging services like Twitter and identi.ca are a great way of getting a brief message to one person, or many people. It's most often used for communicating personal messages, but it's also an excellent way of sending non-personal messages, such as the status of services. For example, you might set up automated monitoring which tells subscribers of a server's status changes. People who want to receive these messages subscribe (or "listen") to the group. Using a method like this, you don't have to maintain a list of people to be notified of messages, which could quickly be out of date. Of course the microblogging service identi.ca is recommended over Twitter because identi.ca is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).

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.

Focus On Package(s)

Everyone... start your engines...3...2...1...go!

In keeping with his unofficial title as "The Games Master", Frugalware developer Devil505 has added a new game to the current repository. "VDrift is a cross-platform, open source driving simulation made with drift racing in mind.

"This game is in the early stages of development but is already very playable. Currently the game features:

• Over 20 tracks, almost 30 cars;
• Simple networked multi-player mode (currently disabled, waiting to be rewritten);
• Very realistic physics;
• Mouse/joystick/gamepad/wheel/keyboard support;
• Fully modeled tracks, scenery and terrain;
• Several different camera modes".

If you have ever felt the need... the need for speed, then you should try VDrift.

Let's all go to Monaco

Frugalware contributor Laszlo Papp recently submitted a FrugalBuild for a monospace font named Monaco. It's commonly used on the Mac platform as the default monospace font, but it fits just as well on Linux. It's a little different to most monospace fonts because it has serifs. If you're not quite happy with your current monospace font, please try Monaco. Visiting the city of the same name might be more fun, but you would probably just lose a lot of money.

The Widget Factory

For anyone who, like me, loves to try out GTK themes, The Widget Factory is something you should have installed. It's a simple GTK-based application which consists of all the available GTK components. Via the menu you can select an installed GTK theme and The Widget Factory then has the selected theme applied. It's only purpose is to allow you to preview GTK themes.

Bug fixes

The following table gives you a overview of activity on bugs and feature requests as at 5/12/2009. 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	149	197
Opened since the previous newsletter	5	2
Closed since the previous newsletter	8	6

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.

None

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.