Arch Linux Weekly Newsletter

Jason Chu and Ben Mazer

Opening

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

News

Front Page News

1. srcpac to support source building: Imagine if you could use pacman to install binary packages as well as build those same packages from source (with your own optimizations). Not only that, but upgrades remembered which packages were precompiled and which were compiled on the spot.

   Now, imagine that pacman didn't actually handle it, because the hard-core KISS people would complain too much and you wouldn't be able to think while you watch gcc output fly by. Imagine instead a wrapper around pacman that handled it for you.

   Enter srcpac. Lights brighten, music comes to a peak, close up!

   srcpac acts exactly the same as pacman (well, it should anyway), except you get this little extra flag -b (or -build) tacked on to -S (-sync) to build from source instead of install from a binary package.

   Let's see an example:

   srcpac -Sb w3m will compile w3m, install it, and remember that it was compiled

   srcpac -Sybu will upgrade all the packages that need upgrading by building them and remember that they were compiled (be careful with this one, it will include packages that weren't previously compiled).

   srcpac -Syu will upgrade all binary packages by installing binaries and upgrade all source packages by compiling from source.

   srcpac -Qi w3m adds an extra line too, "Source", with a simple yes or no.

   You can install srcpac with pacman -S srcpac. From then on you want to use srcpac instead of pacman.

   I've also added the support for package configs. Have a look at the example /etc/srcpac.conf entry.

   The released version also adds the -o option to -S. This will apply config changes and less the PKGBUILDs without doing any building.

   BEWARE: the -r option isn't fully implemented and may install to / in some cases, I'm pretty sure I don't ever write to / when -r is specified, but I can't be sure.

   http://www.archlinux.org/news.php#75

This Week in Dev Land

1. Implementation discussion continues related to the new package submital system.
2. A remote install document has been added to the wiki. Tobias wrote it.
3. Lou rolled back the old working kde packages, so kde is fixed. He is also trying to get access to the new 3.2.3 packages to upgrade to those.

ArchStats Updates

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

Number of registered systems: 440
Date first system was registered: 20031017
Most recent update occurred: 20040606
Longest recorded uptime: 175 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes, 55 seconds.
Average uptime: 4 days, 22 hours, 25 minutes, 44 seconds.
Least packages installed on a system: 44
Average installed packages: 261
Most packages installed on a system: 733

Discussions

Forum Highlights

1. JGC has started a GNOME 2.7 repository. It's unofficial, but JGC has a good reputation for stability. Try them out here: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?t=4866.

2. KalephOne has created Waimea and libsvg PKGBUILDS for use with Cairo. Waimea is the recently resurrected window manager that now uses Cairo for rendering. Read the thread here: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?t=4944.

3. Rasat has released an update to HWD, the Knoppix hardware detection scripts. Grab the packages here: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?t=580.

Packages

Package Highlights

1. Blender 2.33a was packaged this week. It adds many new enhancements, such as the return of the game engine. Read all about it here: http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Blender_2_33.66.0.html

2. Mono Beta 2 was released this week. This mostly fixes bugs, attempting to bring more stability to the 1.0 release. Read the Release Notes here: http://www.go-mono.com/archive/beta2/beta2.html.

New Packages

pal 0.3.4-1
cdrtools-devel 2.01a31-1
srcpac 0.2-1
php 4.3.7-1
kismet 2004_04_R1-1
tpb 0.6.2-1
kdemultimedia 3.2.2-3
kdelibs 3.2.2-4
vsftpd 1.2.2-2
fam 2.6.10-3
clamav 0.72-1
nicotine 1.0.8rc1-1
openvpn 1.6.0-1
mono 0.95-1
gaim 0.78-1
eclipse 3.0RC1-1
galeon 1.3.15-1
sane 1.0.14-3
i8kmon 1.25-2
gkrellmms 2.1.20-1
xscreensaver 4.16-2
ethereal 0.10.4-3
mysql 4.0.20-2
net-tools 1.60-8
samba 3.0.4-2
alsa-oss 1.0.5-1
alsa-utils 1.0.5-1
alsa-driver 1.0.5-1
alsa-lib 1.0.5-1
binutils 2.15-1
gimp-rawphoto 0.7-1
gimp-refocus 0.9.0-1
ftgl 2.0.9-1
bogofilter 0.91.0-1
dcraw 1.194-1
blender 2.33a-1
binutils 2.15-2t1
cgoban2 2.6.1-1
sylpheed-iconset 20040525-1

STAGING Listing

To get access to this, and other repos, visit http://tur.archlinux.org
kmyfirewall 0.9.6.2-s1
ether-wake 1.09-1
gxmame 0.34b-1
libofx 0.6.4-1
fortune-mod-dune-quotes 2.0.1-s1
gtk-sharp 0.91.1-s1
lwm 1.2.0-1
nvidia 1.0.5336-s1
materm 0.1-1
lablgtk 1.2.6-s1
monopd 0.9.0-s1
mp3burn 0.3.1-1
ntfsprogs 1.9.2-s1
ocaml 3.07pl2-s1
parse-yapp 1.05-1
kshutdown 0.1.7-s1
pixieplus 0.5.4-1
ooqstart 0.8.3-s1
muine 0.6.1-s1
replace 2.22-s1
prizm 0.2-s1
pychecker 0.8.13-s1
pygtkglext 1.0.1-s1
bittornado 0.3.1-s1
scribus-docs 1.0.1-s1
seahorse 0.7.3-2
shaaft 0.5.0-1
supertux 0.1.1-s1
synaptics 0.13.2-s1
spe 0.4.2c-s1
gifsicle 1.40-1
texmacs 1.0.3.3-s1
tse3 0.2.7-1
unison 2.9.1-s1
universalkopete 0.1-1
streamtuner-xiph 0.1.0-s1
streamtuner-python 0.1.1-s1
xml-dom 1.43-1
xml-regexp 0.03-1
xml-xql 0.68-1
logjam 4.4.0-s2
xtermset 0.5.1-s1
xv 3.10a-1
xymms 0.9.1-s1
sip 3.10.1-s1
qscintilla 1.2-s1
tnftp 20030825-1
imms 1.1-s1
adns-python 1.0.0-1
digikam 0.6.1-s1
htmldoc 1.8.23-1
si3d 1.2-1
xfree86-freefonts-fonts 0.10-1
pil 1.1.4-s1
esmtp 0.5.0-1
gkrellm_amiconnected 0.6-1
gkrellmseti 0.7.0b-1
meld 0.9.1-1
msmtp 0.7.1-1
nautilus_thumbnailers 0.0.3-1
njam 1.00-1
dosemu 1.2.1-s1
digikamplugins 0.6.1-s2
scribus-devel 1.1.6-s1
pyxml 0.8.3-s1
skencil 0.6.16-s1
bfilter 0.9.3-1
opera 723-2
wtf 0.0.4-s1
amule 1.2.6-s2
jack-audio-connection-kit 0.91.1-2
fbpager 0.1.4-s1
mpd 0.10.3-s1
py-libmpdclient 0.10.0-s1
cups-pdf 1.4.2a-s1
3ddesktop 0.2.5-s1
sip 4.0rc3-s1
pyqt 3.11-s1
qalculate 0.5.1-s1
soundtracker 0.6.7-s1
tla 1.2-s1
pycrypto 1.9a6-s1
emelfm2 0.0.7-s2
sylpheed-gtk2 0.9.9-s2
gnome-cups-manager 0.17-2
lyx-qt 1.3.4-s1
kradio 0.3.0-2
eric 3.4.1-s1

Problems

Bugs

Bugs Closed This Week

976 Include boot splash to kernel
975 Incorect dependencies definitio in m4 and bison packages
950 kde soundserver problems
954 arts needs to be recompilled
969 Error when launching k3b after kdelibs update
904 kernel 2.6.5-2 locks on boot hdc IRQ lost
972 add demaon startscript to vsftpd
965 Wrong homepage for iptables
960 fam 2.6.10 fails to build with gcc3.4 (w/ fix)
806 Pinball game is hardcoded and doesn't load
971 k3bsetup requires kdesu
902 Kaffe and j2re can't co-exist
968 galeon pkg depends on linc pkg
925 Critical packages not in perl @INC
943 ethereal and xscreensaver: non-root ownership
891 Segfault with pacman -S
961 samba 3.0.4-1 is missing samba.pam in source array
957 netstat -M does not work
956 iputils won't build
955 add /etc/rc.d/mysql to backup for the mysql package
959 Cgoban2 needs update

Bugs Opened This Week

974 screem dependencies and build patch
973 Most packages shouldn't depend on linc
970 k3bsetup requires kdesu
967 gnome-spell crash
966 xscreensaver not available in gnome desktop preferences menu
963 avm capi drivers for stock kernel 2.6
962 kdelibs-3.2.2-3 doesn't apply patch correctly before build

Closing

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

About this document ...

Arch Linux Weekly Newsletter

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The translation was initiated by Jason Chu on 2004-06-06