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. Bug Squashing Day 10/15
   
   We're holding a bug squashing day next Sunday, the 15th.
   
   For those of you who don't know what this is, it's simply a day where we make a concentrated effort to close as many bugs as we can.
   
   Everyone is invited to (and should!) join in the fun. Join us in #archlinux-bugs on freenode.net for discussion, there should be at least one developer in there all day to help out.
   
   Happy Hunting.
   
   
2. Gnome 2.16 and dbus 0.93 to Testing
   
   Gnome is finally done and will be in testing soon. Be aware stuff might be broken due to the dbus upgrade. Please report broken packages to bugs.archlinux.org.
   Known issues:
   - kdepim's pda synchronisation is broken
   - mono related packages might be broken
   - no gnome-power-manager yet
   
   
3. Kernel 2.6.18 series / udev 100 moved in to current
   
   Latest kernel changes were:
   - replacing nforce packages with kernel drivers
   - added dma support for parportd
   - added isdn multichannel support
   
   Again, keep in mind this kernel series drops mkinitrd usage and only uses mkinitcpio for initramfs creation.
   
   Please take the rest from this news:
   News
   
   

Devland

1. Yes, I'm aware that python 2.5 was released. I'm trying to figure out how to do the update while not losing any of the 2.4 functionality.
2. tpowa finished his schooling. He's no longer a student, now he's a pharmacist!

Forum Highlights

1. gradgrind released a new larch version, which can build live Archlinux CDs/USB sticks.
2. damjan wanted to know why udev is included in the initramfs image.
3. Winblowz was interested in the usability of Arch Linux as a server.

Mailing List Highlights

1. Adjusting a system to be optimized for multi-tasking.
2. Discussion on ways to create a package browser similar to the archlinux.org one, on Arch Linux sites in different languages.
3. Working on getting OpenOffice.org to build natively on Arch Linux.

Package Highlights

• Vim now uses a cumulative patch.
• Beryl packages have been added to unstable.
• Kernel 2.6.18 and Udev 100 are in current.
• Gnome 2.16 and dbus 0.93 are in testing.

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: 879
Longest recorded uptime: 494 days, 3 hours, 29 minutes, 25 seconds.
Average uptime: 12 days, 1 hour, 22 minutes, 39 seconds.
Average installed packages: 455
Average system memory: 735MB
Lowest Bogomips: 266.05
Average Bogomips: 3512.96
Highest Bogomips: 6807.15

Seti@Home

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

Members: 36
Total credit: 380,913.48

folding@Home

Arch Linux Team Page
Extended Team Statistics

Team Number: 45032
Members: 71
Score: 1093625
Ranking: 437 of 45873

Bugs

• AUR: Closed 0 - Opened 11
• Arch: Closed 67 - Opened 99

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