Frugalware Linux Newsletter - Issue 59

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

"An SQL query goes into a bar, walks up to two tables and asks, "Can I join you?""

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:

• Jump for Frugalware
• Frugalware's developers are people too - Pingax
• FLOSS developers are people too - Marc Kerbiquet
• Tips and tricks - Search and replace text in multiple files

Events

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

Locris is here!

On 8 March 2010, Miklos Vajna announced the release of Frugalware 1.2 - code-name "Locris". It has been a great 6 months since the previous release, with several major improvements. Everyone who contributed to this release - the developers, artists and translators - can be very proud of the results of their hard work. Thanks also to everyone who took the time to report bugs they found, because 1.2 is a better release for your effort.

Icons added to the newsletter

Icons for each main section of the newsletter were recently added to make it look better. This is something I have been wanting to do for several months, but never quite managed to get done. Soon after I added a task for this to the Frugalware Bug Tracking System (BTS), developer Devil505 added them. Since then I have replaced one of the icons and made some formatting adjustments. I believe the newsletter looks better with these icons added, but I would like to hear others' opinions. Thanks to Devil505 for his work in adding the icons, without which it may never have been done. :)

Jump for Frugalware

To celebrate the release of Frugalware 1.2, the entire team has decided to make a skydive together. During the dive they will maneuver themselves into position to spell out the word "Frugalware". Practice has gone well so far, although this has only been in an airport hanger. WebEagle has been given the role of jump master, since he's the only team member with skydiving experience. If the jump goes well the team will have celebrated in style. If the jump doesn't go well then 1.2 will be the last Frugalware release. Keep your fingers crossed! :P

Frugalware's developers are people too

This is the latest in the ongoing series of interviews with Frugalware's developers. This issue's interview is with Pingax, who is a very new member of the team. Please read on...

What's your name?

My name is Anthony but I prefer people call me Tony.

What's your IRC nickname?

You can find me on IRC with the nickname Pingax.

In what country do you live?

I live in France (in Britain, at the west). I've always lived in this country.

In what country were you born?

France.

What do you like the most about where you live (the country and/or town/city)?

I'm near the sea, which is something I really like.

What do you do for the Frugalware project?

For the Frugalware Project, I started to contribute by packaging software (actually only one : dotclear). I'm also a moderator on the French Frugalware community's board. I also translate the project (using Pootle).

What motivates you to work on Frugalware?

The fact that Frugalware is the first distribution which gives me pleasure in learning exactly how a Linux system works. I hope this story will live a long, long time :)

What do you do when you're not working on Frugalware?

When I'm not working on Frugalware, I'm coding my own blog-script (PHP & MySQL) and learning other languages (Python, C/C++).

What's the view from your front door?

For the last question, I've no photo. I've only Internet access at work for the moment. But I can say the view in front of my door is the door of the neighbours ;)

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. Many thanks to all the developers who have agreed to this interview.

Interviews in the next few issues will feature:

• David Siegel - Gnome Do developer;
• Jesse van den Kieboom - gedit developer.

This issue, we have an interview with Marc Kerbiquet, developer of Code Browser.

What's your name?

Marc Kerbiquet.

What FLOSS projects are you involved in?

Mainly Code Browser, a folding text editor. I've also published an XML parser in assembly and a lightweight OpenDocument viewer.

Why did you develop your own programming language?

Because I like to design programming languages. There is a lot of stuff to experiment with in this field. The language I used to develop Code Browser is just one among a lot of other experiments.

What led to you being a FLOSS developer/contributor?

I've written a text editor with a rather unique folding system. I did it for myself but I thought that it would be also useful to other people fed up of long flat text files.

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

I like the feedback I receive from users, it is always interesting to know what they like or what they would like in the application. It can influence the direction of the development and it really motivates me to maintain and improve my applications.

I also like to be my own boss: no deadline, no feature imposed by consumers or by a marketing department.

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

Nothing.

What do you do outside the FLOSS world?

Work on non-free software ;-)

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

Windows XP and Linux. Windows XP is fine when you can manage security issues.

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

They can send me suggestions and bug reports by email. Any help is welcome.

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
simple-scan-0.9.0-1	Simple scanning utility (aimed at the GNOME desktop).	Devil505
openshot-1.0.0-1	An open-source, non-linear video editor for Linux based on the MLT framework.	Devil505
iotop-0.4-1	Program with a top-like UI used to show the I/O associated with each process.	Miklos Vajna

Tips and tricks

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

Search and replace text in multiple files

A few weeks ago I found that I had made an error in most newsletter issues. I had forgotten a word from the same sentence in every issue that had the problem, so I needed to do a search and replace. Thanks to sed - the stream editor - I was able to fix these errors very quickly.

Before I explain how I fixed my errors, here's a description from sed's own man page: "Sed is a stream editor. A stream editor is used to perform basic text transformations on an input stream (a file or input from a pipeline)." sed is powerful as a text transformation tool because of its support for regular expressions. It's a CLI tool and is very useful when you want to perform the same text transformation often, or as in my case, the same text transformation against many files at once. Like many CLI tools, it does one job and does it very well. When it is can be combined with other CLI tools, it can be even more powerful. Real-life examples of sed's use are FrugalBuild files, where it is used most often to manipulate URLs.

To fix my errors, I gave the following command in the directory that contained the newsletter issues:

sed -i 's/wrong_text/right_text/g' *.html

This command will substitute ("s") all instances ("g") of "wrong_text" with "right_text" in every file that matches the file pattern "*.html".

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)

K3B

K3B is a KDE-oriented desktop application for burning CD/DVD/Blu-ray media. Although it is aimed at the KDE desktop environment, it has been used by many GNOME users because of its features and stability. When its developer - Sebastian Trueg - began the project in 1999 he was unhappy with existing applications. K3B is the result of many years' hard work and is a well-respected application in the FLOSS world. Its features include creating CDs and DVDs, also ripping content from existing CDs and DVDs.

Bug fixes

The following table gives you a overview of activity on bugs and feature requests as at 9 March 2010. 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	143	195
Opened since the previous newsletter	5	4
Closed since the previous newsletter	27	2

Security announcements

Remember - According to the normal support arrangements for Frugalware, the release of 1.2 ("Locris") means that no further security or bug fixes will be released for Frugalware 1.1 ("Getorin") or earlier.

Here is a list of security issues which have been discovered and fixed in the 1.2 release since the previous newsletter.

FSA	Package	FSA Description	Upgrade To
FSA637	xar	Braden Thomas from Apple has discovered a signature verification bypass issue in xar	xar-1.5.2-2locris1

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 as soon as possible. Please be patient as it can take some time to translate each issue. 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.