Frugalware Linux Newsletter - Issue 68
...to inform...to educate...to entertain
"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will." Vince Lombardi
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:
- New Frugalware package contributor
- Kernel 2.6.35
- Tips and tricks - What's contained in package X?
- Focus on Package(s) - Googsystray and gst123
Events etc
Here's a selection of recent events and other items that you might find interesting:
New Frugalware package contributor
Frugalware user Slown recently submitted a FrugalBuild for Talika, a GNOME panel applet which allows you to switch between windows via icons. Thanks to Slown for his/her contribution because new contributors are always welcome. We hope this is just the start and that you choose to package even more interesting applications for Frugalware.
If you find an application that you would like packaged for Frugalware, you don't have to do this yourself. Instead you can add a Feature Request in the Frugalware Bug Tracking System (BTS), giving the name of the application, its home page and a short explanation as to why you would like it packaged.
Kernel 2.6.35
VMiklos recently upgraded the kernel version available in 'current' to 2.6.35. Frugalware release 1.3 is due soon, so this makes the very latest kernel in our latest release, a fantastic combination.
Frugalware web site changes
Frugalware developers Devil505 and Kooda have been making some changes to the homepage, with changes to colours, the logo and minor changes to the page's layout. More improvements are likely to be made soon, so be sure you look at the home page often. Thanks to Devil505 and Kooda for their work.
GUI interface is added to Frugalware
I know you may be thinking "We already have a GUI interface for Frugalware" but please read on. GUI in this case means "Gamers' User Interface", or in this case the joystick. Frugalware developer Devil505 recently added package rejoystick, which allows you to assign actions to joystick movements.
To properly explain how this works, it's best to use a few examples. To select an item from your desktop's menu, you might use the following sequence on the joystick.
- Left
- Fire 1
- Up
- Up
- Fire 2
- Fire 2
This is not limited to your desktop though. Here's an example of how you might enter your nickname in your IRC client.
- Left
- Right
- Down
- Up
- Up
- Fire 1
- Down
- Up
- Fire 2
- Fire 1
I think you'll agree that this is much easier and quicker than using either the mouse or keyboard. :P Many thanks to Devil505 for adding this to Frugalware.
New Packages
Below are details of some of the packages which have been added to Frugalware since the previous newsletter.
| Package's Name | Description | Maintainer |
|---|---|---|
| turpial-1.3.3 | A multi-interface Twitter client written in Python. | Devil505 |
| cclive-0.6.4 | A command line video download tool for Youtube and similar websites. | Kooda |
| scummvm-tools-1.1.1 | The ScummVM tools enable you to convert, compress and decode game datafiles for ScummVM. | Devil505 |
| worldofpadman-1.2 | Cartoon-style multiplayer first-person shooter. | Devil505 |
| libnfo-1.0.0 | An NFO file parser/writer library. | bouleetbil |
| rejoystick-0.8.1 | A program that maps joystick events to keypresses. | Devil505 |
| gtodo-0.16.0 | A gtk2 todo list manager. | Devil505 |
| gtk+2-tools-emul-2.20.1_3 | GTK+2 commandline tools. (32bit emul). | bouleetbil |
| pinta-0.4 | Pinta is a drawing/editing program modeled after Paint.NET. | bouleetbil |
| talika-0.49 | A gnome panel applet to switch between open windows using icons. | bouleetbil (Contributed by Slown) |
Tips and tricks
Disclaimer - Be aware that the hints & tips provided here have NOT been tested and so come with no warranty.
What's contained in package X?
Many of the things that we use every day are packaged so that they look good on the outside but are actually complex machines underneath. Cars, televisions, clocks are all designed to look attractive, but we don't usually know what's contained inside. Frugalware's packages exist so that we can install and remove them without needing to know what they contain. Sometimes though, you might want to know what's inside a particular package. Maybe there's a game which contains some graphics you want to use for another purpose, but you don't know where it's stored in your PC. To find out the contents of a package, simply enter the following command at a command prompt:
pacman-g2 -Ql [package_name]
This command gives you a list of every file contained in the package. If you are looking for files by name, you can search the command's output by piping it into a grep command.
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)
Googsystray
Google's services - mail, calendar, RSS feed reader - are just so good that many of us use them regularly. If you use them then Googsystray will almost certainly be useful to you. It's a system tray applet which notifies you of events which occur in any of the configured Google services and provides direct access to some of the basic services. For example, Googsystray can provide a count of the number of unread messages in your In box. Below is an example screenshot of this in action, where you can see the GMail icon overlaid with the number of unread email messages. Of course there are other applications which can do this, but this is just an example. Try it out with those Google services you use and you probably won't have to load your web browser quite as often.
gst123
This is quite interesting because gst123 is a command-line media player. Although there are many command-line audio players, I haven't seen many which can also play video. It was inspired by applications such as ogg123 and mpg123 but unlike them it's based on GStreamer, which is the reason for "gst" in the name. Being console based, it doesn't have a GUI interface but it's still easy to understand, and keyboard controls are used to operate the various functions. For playback of multiple files, you can list files on the command line, provide a playlist or specify a directory, in which case gst123 will search recursively through the directory for files. If you don't really need a media player with a GUI interface, try gst123. It's so very easy to use and simply "gets the job done".
Below is a screenshot which gives some idea of its user interface in a terminal. Please forgive the poor example audio files but they were all I had available at the time. :)
Bug fixes
The following table gives you a overview of activity on bugs and feature requests as at 8 August 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 | 187 | 193 |
| Opened since the previous newsletter | 4 | 2 |
| Closed since the previous newsletter | 9 | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FSA676 | wireshark | Some vulnerabilities have been reported in Wireshark, which can be exploited by malicious people to cause a DoS (Denial of Service) or potentially compromise a vulnerable system | wireshark-1.2.10-1locris1 |
| FSA675 | mantis | A vulnerability has been discovered in Mantis, which can be exploited by malicious users to conduct script insertion attacks | mantis-1.2.2-1locris1 |
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.