Frugalware Linux Newsletter - Issue 70
...to inform...to educate...to entertain
"The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
Welcome
The newsletter's aim is to keep you up to date with what's happened recently in the world of the Frugalware Linux distribution.
Features of this issue include:
- Frugalware 1.3 released
- bouleetbil - is there only one?
- New contributor - Xarkam
- How to make a feature request
- Focus On Package(s) - Talika and etckeeper
Events etc
Here's a selection of events which have occurred since the previous newsletter:
Frugalware 1.3 released
On 23 August 2010, VMiklos announced the release of Frugalware 1.3 - code name 'Haven'. VMiklos listed the technical changes since 1.2, all of which were significant. Just as exciting as the technical changes have been the many non-technical changes, including: new developers, new contributors, new planet software, new forum software and the highest ever number of wallpapers proposed as the default or 1.3. It's been a very exciting 6 months for Frugalware and the next 6 months look even more exciting!
frugal-tweak
Frugalware developer bouleetbil is developing a new, Frugalware-only utility named frugal-tweak. It is a configuration utility, allowing you to easily change or "tweak" many aspects of Frugalware including: change your login manager and Xorg driver, keep up with latest news and check for package updates. It's development is very active so please try it and provide feedback to bouleetbil.
bouleetbil - is there only one?
I have concluded that there are in fact two people named bouleetbil, both who are members of the Frugalware development team. It simply isn't possible for one person to do so much for Frugalware. The summary of committed changes for Frugalware release 1.3 indicates the quantity of work he's doing. In total he made 2,427 commits. Of course bouleetbil was not alone and other developers also made a significant contribution but he got the highest "score". :P
New contributor - Xarkam
Xarkam is a new contributor to Frugalware and has already made some great contributions. He/she created a custom Frugalware design for the new phpBB3-powered forums, also volunteered to maintain the forums and the wiki. Thankyou very much, Xarkam, for all the work you have done so far and we hope you continue contributing.
New contributors are very active
Some of our newest contributors have been active recently, including Slown, CenturiO and kikadf. Each of them have continued to contribute new FrugalBuilds, including: Clementine, Gejengel and gource. Thanks to these people for their great work. You can be sure that we appreciate your efforts in making Frugalware a better distribution.
Python 2.7 is available in current
VMiklos recently updated the Python 2.x series release to 2.7. Since there are many packages which are dependent upon Python, all of them had to be rebuilt to use the newer version.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| drush_make 6.x_2.0_beta8 | An extension to drush that can create a ready-to-use Drupal site | boobaa |
| frugalware-tweak 0.1.4.1 | Utility to tweak Frugalware settings | bouleetbil |
| djl 1.2.20 | A game manager inspired by Steam from Valve software. | Devil505 |
| lightning 1.0b2rc3 | An integrated calendar extension for Mozilla Thunderbird. | Devil505 |
| zeitgeist 0.5.0 | Zeitgeist Framework. | Devil505 |
| calcurse | A text-based calendar and scheduling application. | Kooda (Contributed by Yakulu) |
| 0ad alpha 1 | Cross-platform, 3D and historically-based real-time strategy game. | Devil505 |
| torrent-search 0.8.2 | Looks for torrent files on different websites. | Devil505 |
| gereqi 0.4.0 | A music organiser and player, clone of Amarok-1.4. | exceed (Contributed by centuri0) |
| gejengel 0.1.4 | An audio player which focuses on performance and simplicity. | exceed (Contributed by Slown) |
| deadbeef 0.4.1 | DeaDBeeF is an audio player for GNU/Linux systems with X11 written in C and C++. | exceed (Contributed by kikadf) |
| clementine 0.4.2 | Clementine is a modern music player and library organiser. Port of Amarok 1.4. | exceed (Contributed by centuri0) |
| python-snippets-brz 99 | Lots of Python snippets that can be used to help understand how to code in Python. | Cedynamix |
| wbarconf 0.7.2 | Configuration GUI for wbar written in Python and GTK. | Devil505 |
Tips and tricks
Disclaimer - Be aware that the hints & tips provided here have NOT been tested and so come with no warranty.
How to make a feature request
Feature requests are a type of entry in Frugalware's Bug Tracking System (BTS). Of course they're bugs but instead are requests, perhaps for an extra feature in an application, or a new application. When you make a feature request, please describe briefly why you want the particular feature or application. This gives the development team some idea of how much work is involved in meeting the request, also how important it is to you. Frugalware users feherke recently raised a good example Feature Request - http://bugs.frugalware.org/task/4300 - in which he/she gave quite specific details about what they wanted and a brief reason why they were making the request. Follow these general tips and your request will probably be granted by the magical Frugalware genies.
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)
Talika
Talika is a GNOME panel applet which allows you to switch between open applications via icons. Those who use GNOME may already be aware that there are two other application switching panel applets. This applet is different in that it shows only the application's icon and it shows a live thumbnail when you hover the mouse cursor over each application's icon. The layout uses only a little panel space, making it especially useful for netbooks. Another option improves this even further, allowing you to group icons so that you see just one icon for each application, regardless of how many instances of that application are running. If you are running several terminals, you see just one terminal icon and when you hover the mouse cursor over that icon you see a preview of each of the terminals. Talika is a great addition to any GNOME desktop but is especially good for netbooks.
etckeeper
The /etc directory is perhaps the most critical folder on a Linux system. Since this is where all system configuration files are stored, any damage to files in this directory could stop the system from working. etckeeper is a simple but powerful utility which keeps the /etc directory in a git repository. It integrates with pacman-g2 so that when the installation or removal of a package requires a change to one or more files in /etc, these changes are captured via a git commit. This allows you to undo changes made by the installation or removal of packages. Since it's powered by git, you can also commit changes you make manually (of course you shouldn't be making changes here unless absolutely necessary). So go on - protect your /etc and install etckeeper.
Bug fixes
The following table gives you a overview of activity on bugs and feature requests as at 7 September 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 | 129 | 194 |
| Opened since the previous newsletter | 8 | 4 |
| Closed since the previous newsletter | 73 | 4 |
Security announcements
Remember - According to the normal support arrangements for Frugalware, the release of 1.3 ("Haven") means that no further security or bug fixes will be released for Frugalware 1.2 ("Locris") or earlier.
Here is a list of security issues which have been discovered and fixed in the 1.3 release since the previous newsletter.
| FSA | Package | FSA Description | Upgrade To |
|---|---|---|---|
| FSA693 | openoffice.org | Charlie Miller has discovered two vulnerabilities in OpenOffice.org Impress, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system | openoffice.org-3.2.1-5haven1 |
| FSA692 | phpmyadmin | Some vulnerabilities have been reported in phpMyAdmin, which can be exploited by malicious people to conduct cross-site scripting attacks | phpmyadmin-3.3.5.1-1haven1 |
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.