Arch Linux Newsletter

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

Front Page News

1. openssl 0.9.8 update in testing
   
   Openssl has been updated to latest 0.9.8 series, expect breakage on some apps, we already have a TODO list about the packages that need to be rebuilt, I tried to rebuild the most important ones already.
   
   
2. GCC change in testing, read this when using non-free software
   
   GCC in testing no longer includes the libstdc++.so.5 files that used to be in older versions of the package. The files have been moved to the libstdc++5 package, which means dependencies should get updated to reflect this change.
   
   This affects mostly non-free software like skype, but also open-source software in the repositories or on your system that hasn't been built since the release of GCC 3.4.
   
   
3. Arch 0.7.2 (Gimmick) Released
   
   Arch Linux 0.7.2 (Gimmick) is now available for download. This time, we've provided three different ISO images for you to use: an FTP-only image (13mb), a Base-only image (145mb), and our full image that contains the entire Current repository (519mb).
   
   As always, please use a mirror or a torrent to download. You'll find all the interesting links on our Download page.
   
   Enjoy!
   
   
4. glibc in testin will drop kernel 2.4 support
   
   Somewhere this week glibc 2.4 will enter testing, together with gcc 4.1 and a matching binutils. Glibc 2.4 has not support for linuxthreads, which means kernel 2.4 is no longer supported.
   
   This means, that if you use testing on a 2.4 box, you should not upgrade to packages in testing after the glibc 2.4 package has gone in.
   
   
5. amarok 1.4.0 - fast forward
   
   Important changes in amarok 1.4.0:
   
   
   • amarok-engine now exists as virtual dependency that is provided by any amarok-engine-XXX pkg
     
   • amarok-engine-arts has become obsolete - RIP
   • amarok-engine-gst is under heavy development and not available for 1.4.0 - it will be probably back in 1.4.1
   • amarok-engine-xine is the only engine available at the moment for arch.
   • There exist other engines for amarok that are not yet packaged. Namely they are amarok-engine-helix amarok-engine-nmm and amarok-engine-mas - the requirements for helix are fulfilled by the helixplayer pkg in AUR but we have not yet any NMM or MAS pkgs available - if someone wants to play with them and contribute this amarok-engines, please take the amarok-engine-xine 1.4.0 PKGBUILD as template - discussion on additional amarok-engines > mailinglist
   • additional dependencies to libifp libgpod libmp4v2 for support of iriver and apple portable music players and MP4/AAC format support
   • libvisual is now not mandatory dependency any more (removing gtk2 dependency), but keep in mind that visualizations will not work if you don't have libvisual + libvisual-plugins installed
   
   a detailed view on new feature in amarok 1.4 can be found here
   
   update:
   if you use sqlite db-engine and amarok is not longer able to rebuild your collection, please have a look at bug 4658 for a solution.
   
   
6. vim-7 goes testing
   
   The patches for the new vim pile up very fast. Even if vim was in unstable for a long time, I don't wanna move it straight to current. There are a bunch of significant changes in both the software and our packaging. More explanation you can find here
   
   

Devland

1. We're working on setting up official support for x86_64. Andy is uploading and merging all of the arch64 packages.
2. Testing is in a very large state of flux: glibc, gcc, openssl, db, and gnutls are all in there. Feel free to test it out and share any problems you have with it.

Forum Highlights

1. hollywoodb was looking for what different people put in .bashrc files.
2. motyR made a KDE GUI for pacman.
3. dtw let everyone know of an AUR accident that has been fixed.
4. arooaroo found a nice review about Arch on Newsforge.

Mailing List Highlights

1. Discussion on what people use for managing gpg/pgp keys
2. The use of the "force" option in pacman.
3. With the release of 0.7.2, many suggested future codenames. A very long thread with many clever and funny names.

Package Highlights

• GCC 4.1 and glibc 2.4 have moved into [testing].
• The AUR has approached another milestone. It now has almost 2500 packages in unsupported and nearly 2000 users. Nice job to everyone that makes the AUR such an outstanding achievement!

FAQ

Q: What is the difference between AUR, COMMUNITY, and UNSUPPORTED?

A: AUR(Arch User Repository) is the name of the whole new system which is maintained by the TUs(Trusted Users). It lets anybody that signs up to upload PKGBUILDs to UNSUPPORTED but only TUs have access to COMMUNITY which is a binary repo that you can use with Pacman.

Q: Why aren't all packages in UNSUPPORTED added to COMMUNITY?

A: There are several reasons for that. The most important is that the package hasn't got many votes. It's also important that you vote for packages that already are in COMMUNITY, otherwise they could be disowned by the TUs and moved to UNSUPPORTED. Other reasons could be that the package is unmaintained upstream or has a licensing problem. Last but not least, no TU wants to do it.

Archstats

To Participate, visit: http://www.archlinux.org/~simo/archstats

Number of registered systems: 655
Longest recorded uptime: 461 days, 3 hours, 29 minutes, 25 seconds.
Average uptime: 12 days, 11 hours, 43 minutes, 1 seconds.
Average installed packages: 423
Average system memory: 701MB
Lowest Bogomips: 266.19
Average Bogomips: 3527.24
Highest Bogomips: 6914.04

Seti@Home

To Participate, visit: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_display.php?teamid=116975

Members: 27
Total credit: 295,761.13

folding@Home

Arch Linux Team Page
Extended Team Statistics

Team Number: 45032
Members: 57
Score: 593722
Ranking: 594 of 44186

Bugs

• AUR: Closed 4 - Opened 10
• Arch: Closed 101 - Opened 78

Closing

That's it for this time folks. If you have any opinions on the newsletter or have some things you wanna add, just send us a mail and we'll look into it.
Very best regards / Team Arch