Attached is a git patch for Frugalware newsletter issue 27. If I have made any factual or grammatical errors, please tell me and I'll correct them. Otherwise, please push this when you can.
May you always be Frugal, Russell Dickenson (AKA phayz)
Table of Contents
- Welcome
- Events
- Frugalware's developers are people too! - phayz
- Help! Frugalware needs YOU!
- Tips and tricks - Keep your pacman(-g2) cache tidy
- Focus on package(s) - Mrxvt
- Bug fixes
- Security announcements
- About the newsletter
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'.
This issue of the newsletter features some changes. I've added a table to the "Bugs" section which gives you an overview of activity in the BTS. I've also reformatted into a table the list of security announcements. If you look at the source of this newsletter you can easily tell that I'm not a web developer. :( I really need to improve the way in which I have formatted this information. For the moment though, it works and that's all I'm worried about.
Features of this issue include:
- Frugalware's developers are people too! - phayz
- Skype plugin for Bitlbee has been upgraded to verson 0.6.0
- ryuo's looking after older PCs
- Feature - Help! Frugalware needs YOU!
- Focus On Package(s) - Mrxvt
Events
Here's a selection of events which have occurred since the previous newsletter:
-
Skype plugin for Bitlbee has been upgraded to verson 0.6.0
The Skype plugin for Bitlbee - and its package - has recently been upgraded. Of course many packages have been recently upgraded but this one is special - it was developed by VMiklos, founder of Frugalware. This version contains changes which had to be made to match API changes in Bitlbee itself. For those that don't know, Bitlbee allows any IRC client to connect to other Instant Messenger networks, allowing for multi-protocol chat sessions.
-
Frugalware's security is constantly being improved
Thanks to those Frugalware developers who deal with vulnerabilities in software packaged with Frugalware, our system's security is constantly being improved. These people are notified of security vulnerabilities, patch the affected software and release updated packages. You can easily identify packages which have been re-released for the latest version of Frugalware. These packages contain the release's code name - at the moment it's "Kalgan".
-
ryuo's looking after old PCs
ryuo has recently been busy packaging various software, including some which is particularly suited to "older" PCs. In the last newsletter I mentioned the ROX desktop environment. In addition to these he's been packaging or updating the following software in the current repository:
- IceWM - a window manager which is light on system resources
- tint - a basic taskbar
- stalonetray - a window manager-independent system tray
- termit - a basic, tabbed terminal emulator
Frugalware's developers are people too!
In this feature of the newsletter, Frugalware's developers reveal a little about themselves. The aim is to show that "Frugalware's developers are people too!" I thank the developers for taking the time to answer the questions. There will be one interview per newsletter (until we run out of developers).
phayz
This issue's interview is with phayz, who is the author and editor of the Frugalware newsletter. Please stand and hum the Australian national anthem - with a beer in one hand - while you read his interview.
- What's your name?
Russell Dickenson
- What's your IRC nickname?
phayz. There's no meaning behind my nickname, it was the first name that I thought of.
- In what country do you live?
Australia
- In what country were you born?
Australia
- What do you like the most about where you live?
Locally I like the area that I live in because all that my family and I need is very close. In terms of the country I live in, I like the quite relaxed way in which people live their lives, also the natural beauty of the country.
- What do you do for the Frugalware project?
I first need to point out that I'm a contributor to Frugalware, not technically a developer. Anyway, I'm the author and editor of the Frugalware newsletter. I started doing this after AlexExtreme, who did it before, decided to leave the project. I have also done some minor editing work on Frugalware's documentation. I hope to do more of this in the future but at the moment, simply don't have the spare time.
- What motivates you to work on Frugalware?
I really like the distribution itself because it seems to "fit my brain" well. :) The community is also very positive and friendly. I hope that my contribution somehow helps the overall project.
- What do you do when you're not working on Frugalware?
I work as a Windows system administrator in a government department. When I'm not at work I enjoy spending time with my young family (which also involves a lot of work). When I'm not doing any of those things I'm listening to Linux-related podcasts or reading detective or adventure fiction.
- What's the view from your front door?
Because my house is at the end of the street, the view from my front door looks down the street. Anyway, why not open the door and have a look.
Help! Frugalware needs YOU!
Yes - Frugalware needs your help. Regardless of your technical skill or area of interest, there are many ways to help the project, including:
- producing artwork
- translating documentation, the web site, also Frugalware-specific applications - installer, pacman-g2, gfpm
- assisting others in the forums or in the IRC channels
- reporting any bugs you find, whether in normal use or testing.
In the English-language forum, BobW recently said "Installing Frugalware on many PCs is my only contribution." That's a great contribution. Testing Frugalware on many PCs means there's a better chance of finding bugs affecting different hardware combinations.
My own and only contribution is writing and editing this, the Frugalware newsletter. I took over this role from AlexExtreme because I had enjoyed reading his newsletters and I wanted it to continue. It doesn't take much of my time, although other things sometimes have to take priority. I've had some positive feedback from several people, which I really appreciate. While I'm currently the only author and editor of the newsletter, I don't want it to always be that way. Contributions from others are always welcome and I'd be happy to share the work with others.
If there's some part of Frugalware that you'd like to change or add to, tell everyone about it via the mailing list(s) or Bug Tracking system. The developers must approve any changes and additions but, believe me, they're a very friendly and welcoming group.
Tips and tricks
Disclaimer - Be aware that the hints & tips provided here have NOT been tested and so come with no warranty.-
Keep your pacman(-g2) cache tidy - submitted by 'phayz'
Every package downloaded by pacman-g2 is contained in a directory called the cache (/var/cache/pacman-g2/pkg by default). As time goes by, this cache directory can get quite large. It's a good idea to regularly check the size of this directory. If you want to tidy it up, the first step should be to have pacman-g2 remove from its cache those packages' files which have been replaced by newer versions. You do this with the following command as the root user:
pacman-g2 -Sc
To delete ALL packages contained in the cache directory, enter the following command as the root user:
pacman-g2 -Scc
This section relies on your contributions! If 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)
Mrxvt
"Mrxvt (previously named materm) is a lightweight, powerful multi-tabbed terminal emulator for the X window system. mrxvt is based on rxvt version 2.7.11 CVS and aterm. It implements many useful features seen in some modern X terminal emulators (like gnome-terminal and konsole) but aims to be fast, lightweight and independent of standard toolkits or desktop environments (e.g. Gnome / KDE).
- Multi-tab support
- Run time changeable per-tab titles / backgrounds / colors
- Session support for each tab
- Input broadcasting to all tabs
- Customizable keyboard shortcuts
- Translucency and pseudo transparency support
- JPEG / PNG / XPM background support
- Off-focus background fading
- Xft support
- Text shadow
- Menubar / popup menus
- XIM and multi-language (Chinese/Japanese/Korean) support
- Five different scroll bar styles
- Small and fast
- Does not depend on GTK / Qt / Gnome / KDE.
- Available on multiple platforms
- utmp/wtmp/lastlog logging"
Especially interesting is its concept of profiles. An Mrxvt profile is a pre-defined group of settings. Each profile can be launched from either within Mrxvt or the command line, allowing them to be launched on startup. Since Mrxvt is a tabbed terminal emulator, each profile appears as a tab. One example use would be to have on launching Mrxvt, one tab being a "plain" terminal, another running the mc file manager and yet another running weechat (an IRC client).
Like similar terminal emulators - urxvt, rxvt, aterm etc - it's very configurable. Just about every aspect of its operation is configurable, resulting in a long man page. :) All these features come in a very small package, with just 0.64 MB of disk space used when it's installed.
Bug fixes
The following table gives you a overview of activity on bugs and feature requests as at 5 July 2008.
| Activity | Bugs | Feature Requests |
|---|---|---|
| Open | 154 | 207 |
| Opened since the last newsletter | 32 | 10 |
| Closed since the previous newsletter | 38 | 19 |
Security announcements
Remember - According to the normal support arrangements for Frugalware, the release of 0.8 ("Kalgan") means that support for the previous release has ended. This means that no further security or bug fixes will be released for Frugalware 0.7 ("Sayshell").
Here is a list of security issues which have been discovered and fixed in the 0.8 release since the previous newsletter.
| FSA | Package | FSA Description | Upgrade To |
|---|---|---|---|
| FSA485 | courier-authlib | A vulnerability has been reported in the Courier Authentication Library, which can be exploited by malicious people to conduct SQL injection attacks | courier-authlib-0.60.6-1kalgan1 |
| FSA484 | xorg-server | Some vulnerabilities have been reported in X.org X11, which can be exploited by malicious, local users to cause a DoS (Denial of Service), disclose potentially sensitive information, or to gain escalated privileges | xorg-server-1.4.0.90-6kalgan2 |
| FSA483 | apache | A vulnerability has been reported in the Apache mod_proxy module, which potentially can be exploited by malicious people to cause a DoS (Denial of Service) | apache-2.2.8-2kalgan1 |
| FSA482 | net-snmp | A vulnerability has been reported in Net-SNMP, which can be exploited by malicious people to spoof authenticated SNMPv3 packets | net-snmp-5.4.1-4kalgan2 |
| FSA481 | horde-webmail | Some vulnerabilities have been reported in various Horde products, which can be exploited by malicious users to conduct script insertion attacks and by malicious people to conduct cross-site scripting attacks | horde-webmail-1.1.1-1kalgan1 |
| FSA480 | exiv2 | A vulnerability has been reported in Exiv2, which potentially can be exploited by malicious people to crash an application using the library | exiv2-0.16-2kalgan1 |
| FSA479 | kernel | A vulnerability has been reported in the Linux Kernel, which can be exploited by malicious people to cause a DoS (Denial of Service) and potentially compromise a vulnerable system | kernel-2.6.24-4kalgan3 |
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. The French translation is provided by the French Frugalware community. The Danish translation is provided by the Danish Frugalware community. 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 occured 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.
_______________________________________________ Frugalware-devel mailing list [email protected] http://frugalware.org/mailman/listinfo/frugalware-devel
