Arch Linux Newsletter

March 20, 2005
1.0.0
Jason Chu jason@archlinux.org
Ben Mazer blm@groknil.org

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. Devland Update
  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. KDE 3.4.0 in [extra] UPGRADERS PLEASE READ THIS!
    Greetings to all kde users out there.
    kde 3.4.0 packages are now in extra repository.
    KDE 3.4.0 will be announced soon, then the abs PKGBUILDS will work again, when official tarballs are made public by kde.
    Please have a look at the new KDE wiki(especially the upgraders should read it!) at:
    Go to KDE WIKI
    Thanks for your feedback.Enjoy new kde release.Have fun with the new features and please report problems.
    Tell me your opinion about KDE 3.4.0

Devland Update

  1. Filelists are now on the website. As long as your search string starts with a / it will search for it. So if you want to know what package /bin/ls is in, just enter /bin/ls (this one doesn't actually work because of a small filename problem). There are still some things being ironed out of it...
  2. Discussion has started on Java application standardization.
  3. Talk has started about getting rid of xfree86. If you want it, you'd better speak up on the mailing list (and forum?).

Archstats Update

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

Number of registered systems: 942
Date first system was registered: 20031017
Most recent update occurred: 20050320
Longest recorded uptime: 417 days, 10 hours, 22 minutes, 38 seconds.
Average uptime: 6 days, 20 hours, 42 minutes, 19 seconds.
Least packages installed on a system: 44
Average installed packages: 301
Most packages installed on a system: 1197
Slowest recorded CPU (MHz): 198.65
Average CPU speed (MHz): 1625.45
Fastest recorded CPU (MHz): 3749.52

Seti@Home Update

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

Members: 27
Results Received: 14341
Total CPU time: 16.538 years

Forum Highlights

  1. Another debate started on using a DB for pacman. Opinions are mixed. A DB would provide more speed and features, but it adds complexity. Use of SQLite has been considered by the devs.
  2. Adobe has released Acrobat Reader 7.0 for Linux, and a user was nice enough to create a PKGBUILD. Reader 7 is much faster and has more features.
  3. Geekitus has released a PKGBUILD that allows for automatically configuring and patching a custom kernel. It's a very interesting way to try out many different configurations.
  4. TheRaginAsian has released an archified version of a popular wallpaper.
  5. Shaurz has released a long desired patch that provides AND search functionality to pacman.

Mailing List Highlights

The first official Bug Squashing Day was announced March 6. Over 20 bugs were closed. Hopefully we'll see more participation next month. Bug Squashing Day is planned for the first Sunday of every month.

TUR Update

The AUR is still being tested. A few bugs need to be fixed before the final release. The current expected release date is April 1. Exciting.

Package Highlights

  1. GNOME 2.10 was released last week. It features many new features and bugfixes. See the release notes for all the details.
  2. Mozilla Firefox 1.0.1 was released. This fixes some minor bugs and security holes. See the release notes for more information about the security flaws.
  3. XFCE 4.2.1 was released. It fixes many bugs. See the changelog for all the fixes.
  4. NVIDIA has released a new driver. This includes many important fixes. For example, it now works with the latest 2.6 kernel and does not freeze on GeForce4MX cards.

New Packages

FAQ

Q: Why doesn't arch include this special patch to FOOBAR package?
A: Arch generally likes to keep packages "vanilla," relying on the actual coders to choose patches. Occasionally Arch will include a patch because (a) it is needed to make the program run correctly, or (b) because it is a feature that is universally wanted and has no negative effects.

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.