Archive:Weekly news 124
Editors Note
- Welcome to issue # 124 of openSUSE Weekly News. Now the twentieth Week goes to the End, and we are pleased to announce our new issue.
- One of the important things in this week was the Milestone 7 release from 11.3. I´ve just tried it out, and it is very good. If you have some Space on your HD and you would like to test, it would be great. You can make a full Installation or you test it via VirtualBox. If you find a Bug, you can report it to bugzilla.opensuse.org. Through that you can help us to make OUR Distribution better.
- So we're hoping, that you like the new Weekly News. We wish you many joy by reading it...
Announcements
openSUSE News: openSUSE Strategy Meeting
- "For the past few months we, the openSUSE Board, together with the great help from Kurt Garloff, Jan Weber and Andreas Jaeger, held a series of strategy sessions to address the future of openSUSE. We discussed the role of openSUSE as a community and project and looked at data from a variety of sources, including the recent openSUSE 2010 Survey to identify and build a strategy of strength and empowerment within our community, with a goal of establishing a common unified ground for answering the question to ourselves and to the world… “Why openSUSE?” and openSUSE’s role in the operating system market, both today and in the future.
- After much discussion, we’re finally ready to bring together these important bits of information into a cohesive statement that everyone can unify around. As such, we, the members of the Strategy Team, will be meeting in Nuremberg the weekend of May 28th to formalize a draft of our strategy that will be available publicly for open discussion and comment."
Pascal Bleser: How to add the openSUSE 11.3 counter to your site
- "If you have a website/blog, here is the HTML markup to add in order to include the openSUSE release countdown image:
- <a href="http://software.opensuse.org"><img src="http://counter.opensuse.org"/></a> "
Status Updates
Distribution
Javier Llorente: apache2-icons-oxygen is now in Factory
- "For those who don’t know it yet, apache2-icons-oxygen is now in Factory :) Go to www.javierllorente.com/tmp/ to see it in action. If you want to try it out, take a look at README.SuSE included in the rpm package: ..."
Bugzilla
The numbers for all openSUSE project products are this week:
- All Open Reports: 4831 (-78)
- Blocker: 3 (+0)
- Critical: 270 (-4)
- Major: 892 (-9)
- Normal: 2721 (-55)
- Minor: 389 (-1)
- Enhancements: 556 (-9)
- Detailed Bugzilla Report – Submitting Bug Reports – Bug Reporting FAQ
Team Reports
Build Service Team
OBS: Release 1.8.0 RC1 Release Candidate
- "I have put into openSUSE:Tools:MeeGo a release Candidate of OBS 1.8.0.
It is done from the current 1.8 branch in OBS Git repository (and from master "osc" and "build" scripts)."
Build Team Meeting
- Meeting Minutes
Build Service Statistics
The Build Service now hosts 12820 (+131) projects, 93757 (+228) packages, 22410 (+309) repositories by 23196 (+88) confirmed users.
Mono Team
MonoDroid - Mono for Android Beta Program
- "We are hard at work on MonoDroid -- Mono for Android -- and we have created a survey that will help us prioritize our tooling story and our binding story.
- If you are interested in Monodroid and in participating on the beta program, please fill out our Monodroid survey."
openFATE Team
Q7Basic
Better maintenance of src.rpm changes
auto remove unused dependencies using YaST and zypper
GUI for reviewing and analysing solver testcases
Statistics
Feature statistics for openSUSE 11.3:
- total: 647 (+7)
- unconfirmed: 407 (+6)
- new: 14 (+0)
- evaluation: 98 (+0)
- candidate: 5 (-1)
- done: 38 (+0)
- rejected: 66 (+0)
- duplicate: 19 (+0)
Testing Team
Larry Finger: openSUSE-Testing Report for the Weekly News - May 22
- "The Testing Core Team meeting that was planned for May 24 has been postponed until May 31 due to a late bug that prevents systems installed from DVD or Live CD from booting. See https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=607480 for details.
- As the NET install is not affected, I have used this method to perform both full installs and updates to a production machine and some sandboxes.
- My kudos to Team member Bernhard M. Wiedemann for his testing of installation and the detection of problems. His efforts should improve the details of a user's first look at a release.
- As the full release of 11.3 M7 will be available next week, I should have more information regarding bugs and stability in the May 30 newsletter."
Translation Team
Localization
- Daily updated translation statistics are available on the openSUSE Localization Portal.
- Trunk Top-List – Localization Guide
Wiki-Team
Rajko Matovic: Wiki structure: New tools
- "or basic inventory of what we have.
- Temporary openSUSE Wiki is created few moths ago to allow test of new tools and content reorganization without disrupting daily operation of openSUSE Wiki. It is running on MediaWiki version 1.15.1. The basic software is already much better then the old version 1.5, but the goal is not only to have one time cleanup, but also to organize wiki that will provide benefits for all involved parties: visitors, writers and maintainers. To achieve this we added few extensions to the basic MediaWiki listed here.
- Semantic MediaWiki is complex extension that has its own extensions.It can become one of our flagships, but at the time of this post I don't know much about it."
In the Community
Andrew Wafaa: Community Discussion - Part 8
- "It has been mentioned that the Geeko is somewhat of a schizophrenic at times, and do you know what I kind of have to agree. The difference is I disagree on how the schizophrenia affects our dear friend. Most people think that the multiple personalities are desktop related - you know, KDE vs GNOME vs XFCE vs $DE. I on the other hand feel it is to with audience - Enterprise vs Consumer. Now don't get me wrong, the Geeko does a great job at both. The problem is there doesn't seem to be a great deal of interaction between the two personalities."
Events
Past:
- May 18, 2010: openSUSE Marketing IRC Meeting
- May 19, 2010: openSUSE Board Meeting
- May 20, 2010: openSUSE Conference Meeting
Upcoming:
- May 26, 2010: German Wiki Team Meeting
- May 27, 2010: openSUSE KDE Team meeting
- May 29, 2010: openSUSE Weekly News Team Meeting
- June 2, 2010: openSUSE Project Meeting
- June 2, 2010: openSUSE Board Meeting
- June 9-12, 2010: LinuxTag Berlin
- You can find more informations on other events at:
- openSUSE News/Events – Local events
openSUSE for your ears
- The openSUSE Weekly News are available as Livestream or Podcast in the German Language. You can hear it or download it on http://blog.radiotux.de/podcast.
openSUSE in $COUNTRY
- "Details"
Communication
lists.opensuse.org has 37240 (+16) non-unique subscribers to all mailing lists.
The openSUSE Forums have 45895 (+212) registered users - Most users ever online was 30559, 08-Jan-2010 at 13:06.
Contributors
4651 (+17) of 11986 (+38) registered contributors in the User Directory have signed the Guiding Principles. The board has acknowledged 402 (+7) members.
New/Updated Applications @ openSUSE
Packman: worldwind 0.6.312.12849-0.pm.4.5 (openSUSE 11.2/noarch)
- "World Wind SDK for Java.
- With this SDK, developers can embed World Wind technology in their own applications."
Petr Mladek: OpenOffice_org 3.2.1 rc1 available for openSUSE
- "I’m happy to announce OpenOffice.org 3.2.1 rc1packages for openSUSE. They are available in the Build Service OpenOffice:org:UNSTABLE project, are based on the upstream 3.2.1-rc1 sources and include many Go-oo fixes and improvements. Please, look for more details about the openSUSE OOo build on the wiki page.
- The packages are release candidates and have not passed full QA cycle yet. They might include even serious bugs. Therefore they are not intended for data-critical usage. A good practice is to archive any important data before an use, …
- As usual, we kindly ask any interested beta testers to try the package and report bugs. See also the list of known bugs."
Miro 3.0.1-1.pm.1.7 (openSUSE 11.2/x86_64)
- "Miro is a free application that turns your computer into an internet TV video player.
- It's a free, open source Internet TV and video player that can automatically download videos from RSS-based channels. Features a built-in BitTorrent client."
Security Updates
To view the security announcements in full, or to receive them as soon as they're released, refer to the openSUSE Security Announce mailing list.
Kernel Review
h-online/Thorsten Leemhuis: The H Week - Linux 2.6.34 approaches
- "This week, The H has monitored progress on the next Linux kernel version and looked at how Linus Torvalds manages that development. The H also reported on large scale attacks on WordPress, on MeeGo's selection of the Btrfs file system, on delays in Fedora 13, confirmed Mandriva is up for sale and alerted readers to a Safari zero-day flaw."
h-online/Thorsten Leemhuis: What's new in Linux 2.6.34
- "Two new file systems, improved support for the power saving techniques offered by modern hardware, and many new or extended drivers are only some of the hundreds of advancements that characterise the new kernel version."
Rares Aioanei: Kernel Review with openSUSE Flavor
- "Guest Blog from Rares Aioanei. Kernel Review with openSUSE Flavor"
Tips and Tricks
For Desktop Users
How to use media in OpenOffice.org's Impress
- "Movie on blip.tv"
For Commandline/Script Newbies
Pascal Bleser: GNU Screen: open new window with same working directory
- "I do this many, many times every single day, and I finally found how to implement it: a shell function to open a new window in screen which is automatically in the same directory as where you call that function.
- Here is the bash code to add to your ~/.bashrc:
function dupscreen { screen bash -c "cd \"$PWD\" && exec $SHELL --login" } alias ,d=dupscreen
- When I'm in screen and I need another shell in the same directory (e.g. because I'm opening a spec file in vim and need another shell to test the build of the RPM package with osc), I then just type ,d !"
Linux.com/mfillpot: Understanding Linux File Permissions
- "Although there are already a lot of good security features built into Linux-based systems, one very important potential vulnerability can exist when local access is granted - - that is file permission based issues resulting from a user not assigning the correct permissions to files and directories. So based upon the need for proper permissions, I will go over the ways to assign permissions and show you some examples where modification may be necessary."
For Developers and Programmers
The Geek Stuff/Balakrishnan Mariyappan: Perl Debugger Tutorial: 10 Easy Steps to Debug Perl Program
- "Earlier we discussed the basics of how to write and execute a perl program using Perl Hello World Example.
- In this article, Let us review how to debug a perl program / script using Perl debugger, which is similar to the gdb tool for debugging C code."
Vittorio Cagnetta: easybashgui
- "EasyBashGUI is a bash function library that aims to give scripters simple GUI functions using kdialog, zenity, Xdialog or (c)dialog depending on KDE or GNOME running or not, Xdialog installed or not and, eventually, X server running or not ( (c)dialog is the minimum )."
For System Administrators
Fred Blaise: Counting documents in Alfresco
- "Here is a rough and raw SQL procedure to count the documents in Alfresco 3.2, per type.Of course, change your database name and type correct document types."
Linux Magazine/Dmitri Popov: Monitor Servers from Your Android Device with httpmon
- "Checking whether a specific Web server is up and running is as easy as issuing the ping command in the terminal, but if you are looking for a more versatile tool that you can use while on the move, try httpmon for Android. For starters, this nifty tool lets you set up multiple monitoring profiles, which can come in handy when you want to keep an eye on several servers. Besides ping, httpmon supports other monitoring options, such as response time, response code, and specific header and content strings. Better yet, you can specify multiple criteria; for example, you can configure httpmon to ping a specific server and check its response time in one go."
Planet SUSE
Vincent Untz: GNOME Foundation Elections 2010
- "Next month, the GNOME Foundation membership will vote to elect a new board. It's that time of the year where we think about how the Foundation is doing, where it's going, and who should help run it. Yeah, we all have to plug our brains for a few weeks :-)
- I first want to highlight two important points:
- * as many probably didn't notice, I want to remind everybody that the deadline to announce candidacies is May 23rd. That's next Sunday. You can see the full timeline in the announcement.
- * the Membership & Elections committee will again do an amazing job organizing the elections. So a big thank to them for their unsung actions!"
openSUSE Forums
Grub Problem
- "This is an epic Grub problem. I often wonder how on earth folk ever get in such a mess. Will it be solved by the time this news is released? Wait and see."
Accessing Package Manager Failed
- "A common issue this. But the solution is simple.One to commit to memory incase it happens to you."
Wireless Networking Not working
- "Is it ever? If we can just get people to follow directions, hopefully all will work out."
Samba / Win7 Issue
- "A Samba problem of on an epic scale. Hopefully one of the forum admin @swerdna can give help here."
On the Web
Announcements
New Podcast: KDE and the Masters of the Universe
- "As some of you may know, I stared a new podcast called KDE and the Masters of the Universe (KDEMU for short). It is an *all* KDE podcast that will cover a wide range of KDE topics, releases, interviews with developers, etc. Our premier episode with Aaron Seigo and has just been released Today!"
Alvaro Soliverez (Hei_Ku): KMyMoney announces release candidate for KDE platform 4
- "After a year of hard work on a version for the KDE platform 4, the KMyMoney team is happy to announce the immediate availability of the first release candidate. Unlike previous versions, this one is recommended for general use. The feedback provided by previous beta releases makes us confident that it is as stable and rock-solid as previous stable versions."
Call for participation
h-online: OpenOffice.org Conference 2010: Call for Papers
- "This year's OpenOffice.org Conference will take place from the 31st of August to the 2rd of September in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. The 10th anniversary event for the free open source office suite is open to users, developers and contributors and will focus on a number of topics, such as the OpenDocument Format (ODF), development and interoperability."
Reports
Tom Albers: Akonadi Meeting Day 3: Productivity is amazing..
- "Day 2 ended with a little bit of pleasure. It all started when Matthew was trying to input some text to his laptop in a way where he treated his laptop more like an old fashioned typewriter. Making a lot of noise and finally banging his fists on the table out of frustration. Thomas then asked on a very interested and calm tone ‘So, did it work out?’. After that we used the beamer to look at all the Knut Yrvin YouTube movies and of course we replayed the Qt4 dance while we were there. We decided that it was not as much fun as going to the karaoke bar with Aaron, but it came pretty close :)"
InfoWorld/Paul Krill: Suse Linux gets virtualization, high availability, and desktop boosts
- "With the unveiling of a comprehensive service pack Wednesday, Novell will bolster virtualization, clustering, and desktop capabilities in its Suse Linux product family.
- Available June 2, the Suse Linux Enterprise 11 SP1 (Service Pack 1) is optimized for IT infrastructures, including physical, virtual, and cloud, Novell said. The service pack contains upgrades to the following Suse Linux Enterprise products: Server, Desktop, High Availability Extension, Point of Service, and Virtual Machine Driver Pack."
LWN: VirtualBox 3.2 released
- "Version 3.2 of VirtualBox (now "Oracle VM VirtualBox(TM)") has been released. New features include support for Mac OS X guests, a memory balloon driver, memory deduplication, CPU hotplugging, large page support, and more; see the changelog for details."
ComputerWeekly/Cliff Saran: How BMW virtualised with SuSE Linux and Xen
- "BMW is using the Xen para virtualisation tool in SuSE Linux Enterprise Server to run test and development production systems. The company has deployed Xen to replace its ageing PA-Risc, Sun Sparc and IBM Power 4/5 Unix server hardware with industry-standard PC servers.
- The car maker worked with Novell to replace 1,400 Unix servers with Linux systems. It chose Xen over VMware because native products where the virtualisation is supported within the operating system are easier to maintain, according to Andreas Poeschel, IT specialist at BMW Group."
It runs on Linux: Google TV Platform introduced
- "At the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco (USA), several leading industry players announced the development of Google TV – an open platform that merges the web and TV. It will be based on the Linux based Android platform and runs the Google Chrome web browser.
- Intel, Sony, and Logitech, together with Best Buy, DISH Network and Adobe, joined Google to announce their support for Google TV.
- Here's an extract of the recent press release"
Reviews and Essays
ghacks/Jack Wallen: What IS Linux (and what it should be)?
- "I do a lot of writing about Linux – for Ghacks and for other sites. One of the issues I come across often is how Linux is perceived and what it needs to do to continue to grow. It’s a very complex issue based on a lot of pre-determined opinions and deeply embedded history. Often I reach out and try to bring to light issues that can serve to push Linux into new territory and light. It’s not often that I do so on this site, but sometimes I find it necessary to pull out my soap box and attempt to bring a little enlightenment to the masses."
25 Fresh and Cool Linux Wallpapers
- "It's been a long time since we've featured here some cool Linux wallpapers.(...)
- Hence I feel that it's about time to have another list of fresh and cool Linux wallpapers to customize your desktop. Most of the wallpapers that I’m about to show to you are new and may have never been seen before by most of you, so enjoy and feel free to download some of those that you like: ..."
nixCraft/Vivek Gite: The Novice Guide To Buying A Linux Laptop
- "All major laptop (notebook) hardware is supported by Linux. The important things to take into account when looking to buy a Linux powered laptops are as follows to avoid any hardware compatibility problems. Selecting correct specification is important. In this first part, I will cover what to look out for when buying a Linux powered laptop."
Windows 7 Geeko Theme Pack
- "license: Used Novell images - hope there is no licensing issues.
- I got tired of using the same boring Windows 7 themes so when I found these cool graphics files for Geeko creatures on Novell's web site I created a themepack using them. I also created a new login splash screen using one of them using a free tool called tweakslogon which I found on the net."
Feedback / Communicate / Get Involved
Do you have comments on any of the things mentioned in this article? Then head right over to the news.opensuse.org story comment section and let us know! Communicate with or get help from the wider openSUSE community -- via IRC, forums, or mailing lists -- see Communicate.
If you would like to be a part of the openSUSE Weekly news, then please send an email over to opensuse-marketing@opensuse.org (you need to subscribe first). Or you can go to the channel #opensuse-newsletter on irc.freenode.net.
Credits
- saigkill Talk - Contributions Sascha Manns (Editor in Chief)
- Dl9pf Talk - Contributions Jan-Simon Möller (Second Editor in Chief, Main-Newsletter)
- STS301 Talk - Contributions Sebastian Schöbinger (Tips/Tricks)
- HeliosReds Talk - Contributions Satoru Matsumoto (Editorial Office)
- Caf4926 Talk - Contributions Carl Fletcher (Main-Newsletter, Forums Sec.)
- Okuro Talk - Contributions Thomas Hofstätter (Events & Meetings)
- add translators