Arch Linux Newsletter

December 19, 2004
1.0.0
Jason Chu jason@archlinux.org
Ben Mazer ben@benmazer.net

Summary

Welcome to the Arch Linux Newsletter. This document attempts to give you an "at a glance" look at the world of Arch Linux.

Table Of Contents

  1. Front Page News
  2. Dev Land
  3. ArchStats
  4. Seti Update
  5. Forum Highlights
  6. Mailing List Highlights
  7. Tur Update
  8. Package Highlights
  9. New Packages
  10. FAQ
  11. Bugs
    1. Closed Bugs
    2. Opened Bugs
  12. Closing

Front Page News

  1. openoffice 1.1.4 in testing
    hi
    i uploaded new openoffice packages to testing
    here the changelog:
    http://download.openoffice.org/1.1.4rc/release_notes_1.1.4rc.html

    here the forum link for discussion:
    http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?t=8563

    greetings
    tpowa

This Week in Devland

  1. Python 2.4 is in testing. It is a major upgrade from Python 2.3, so if you want to verify that your favourite python package still works you should probably test it out now. Along with that, Python 2.4 has a new site-packages directory so any custom Python modules you may have will need to be rebuilt against it.
  2. AUR development is nearly finished. In fact, we could release the public interface any time. We already have a test site that people can play around with. If you want to try out the user interface, feel free to send me an email (jason@archlinux.org) and I can tell you where to go.
  3. I have started redesigning pacbuild and will probably have some of it implemented before the new year. For those of you who don't know, pacbuild is my automated build daemon. I used to use it to maintain the i586 repo until my i586 hardware blew up. With the planned changes, it will support things like distributed build boxes and multiple build architectures.

Archstats Update

To Participate, visit: http://archstats.coding-zone.com/

Number of registered systems: 772
Date first system was registered: 20031017
Most recent update occurred: 20041219
Longest recorded uptime: 326 days, 10 hours, 22 minutes, 38 seconds.
Average uptime: 6 days, 21 hours, 24 minutes, 29 seconds.
Lowest kernel version: 2.4.21
Highest kernel version: 2.6.9-stefan-ARCH
Least packages installed on a system: 13
Average installed packages: 291
Most packages installed on a system: 1157

Seti@Home Update

To Participate, visit:http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_185479.html

Members: 23
Results Received: 12917
Total CPU time: 4.442 years
Average CPU time per work unit: 3 hr 00 min 44.2 sec

Forum Highlights

  1. punkrockguy318 has released a fastboot patch that allows you to login while daemons are loading in the background (similar to Windows). It's very nice if you boot up a lot.
  2. DP has released a 0.7 Wombat logo. Now you have no excuse not to know what a wombat looks like. Maybe we'll see some wallpapers?

Mailing List Highlights

  1. There was another discussion on a 64bit version of Arch. Although there have been a few people who have volunteered, there is still no usable 64bit/AMD64 version of Arch. Some of the devs have recently received the hardware though, so there could be a port in the future. The port itself, while not impossible, is a good deal of work.

TUR Update

We lost another TU to Ubuntu. We thank Lukas for all his work, and wish him luck. We will be accepting more TUs after we switch over to the AUR. Expect some news about the AUR over Christmas break. We should all have more time to finish it up.

Package Highlights

  1. Namcap 1.5.2 has been released. 1.5.2 fixes a couple of annoying quirks. See the announcement for all the details.
  2. Arch 1.2.1 has been added to CURRENT. Arch is a unique distributed Revision Control System.

New Packages

FAQ

Q: How do I set up PHP + MySQL + Apache?
A: There's a nice Wiki HOWTO available. If you need further help, search the forum, as there are lots of topics on the subject.

Bugs

Bugs Closed

Bugs Opened

Closing

If you are interested in helping out with the newsletter, specifically writing one section every two weeks, please email Jason or myself. We could use some more volunteers.

That's it for this week, stay tuned for more exciting Arch Linux news.