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Frugalware Newsletter Issue 20

Table of Contents

Welcome

The newsletter's aim is to keep you up to date with what's happened recently in the world of the Linux distribution 'Frugalware'.

Features of this issue include:

  • You can call me *MR* Bouleetbil!
  • Frugalware - A new slogan?
  • Frugalware's developers are people too!

Events

Here's a selection of events which have occurred since the previous newsletter:

    You can call me *MR* Bouleetbil!

    On 31 March 2008, bouleetbil was accepted into the prestigious club of Frugalware developers. VMiklos actually proposed via the development mailing list that bouleetbil become a developer. Since no-one objected, he was granted all rights normally granted to a developer, including full access to the git repository. Those who don't subscribe to the development mailing list may not know that bouleetbil has been submitting package build scripts for some time now. With the help of other developers - particularly VMiklos and crazy, he quickly improved his packaging skills. Congratulations to bouleetbil for his hard work and his reward in becoming a developer. We look forward to many more packages to come.

    Frugalware - A new slogan?

    Devil505 and bouleetbil have quite recently become Frugalware developers through hard work. jedifox has also been submitting package build scripts and may become a developer in the near future. One common thing amongst all these people is that they live in France. Therefore it's been suggested that a new slogan for Frugalware might be required to honour the country which has the most developers. The slogan proposed is "Frugalware - let's make things French!". Another option would be to have a slogan for each country - the Australian slogan proposed is "Frugalware - let's all have another beer!"

    I'm an April Fool :(

    On 1 April 2008, boobaa sent an email to the development mailing list announcing his resignation. On the evening of that day, I read this message and immediately thought it was genuine. I then logged on to the IRC channel and said I was sad at hearing of his resignation. This caused many people to laugh, possibly while rolling on the floor. In my defence all I can say is it was night when I read his message. I didn't think to take into account the difference in time zones. Anyway I'm looking forward to next year when I'll probably again be made a fool. :)

    Firefox 3.0 Beta 5

    voroskoi has packaged Firefox 3.0 Beta 5 in his personal repository so that those that want to can test it. To get the package via pacman-g2, you'll first need to specify voroskoi's repository to /etc/pacman-g2.conf as a custom package repository. The URL is ftp://ftp.frugalware.org/pub/other/people/voroskoi/voroskoi/frugalware-i686/

Frugalware's developers are people too!

In this feature of the newsletter, Frugalware's developers reveal a little about themselves. The aim is to show that "Frugalware's developers are people too!" I thank the developers for taking the time to answer the questions. There will be one interview per newsletter (until we run out of developers).

priyank

This issue's interview is with priyank, whose roles in the Frugalware development team include: packaging (especially Xfce and related applications) and development of GUI tools - e.g. GFpm, FUN etc. Please stand and hum the Indian national anthem while you read his interview.

What's your name?
Priyank Gosalia
What's your IRC nickname?
priyank
In what country do you live?
India
In what country were you born?
India
What do you like the most about where you live?
I live in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. People call it a city that never sleeps. The people living here have migrated from all over the country. The city is an island and there are some good places to see like the beaches, forts and historic buildings. The food is just amazing, it's a mix of various cuisines. I enjoy the various festivals celebrated throughout the year. Though Mumbai is one of the most populated cities in the country, the place where I live is very peaceful and far away from the city's hustle and bustle.
What do you do for the Frugalware project?
I started as a package maintainer when I joined Frugalware, but recently I've been doing a lot of programming too. I wrote some GUI configuration tools like GFpm, GNetconfig and FUN. Currently, I'm working on gService - a replacement for frugalrledit. I also maintain the Xfce group and a bunch of other packages.
What motivates you to work on Frugalware?
I was an average Linux user when I joined Frugalware. I knew a bit about packaging from my archlinux days. So, after a few package contributions, I was included in the developer team. One thing that makes this distro distinct is that everything just *works*. The quality of packages is really good, and not to forget, Frugalware has a huge repository of packages. Working on projects like GFpm, Gnetconfig etc has really helped me sharpen my programming skills. Truly this distro has made me learn a lot. Last but not least, the development team is very friendly, always helpful and fun to work with.
What do you do when you're not working on Frugalware?
Studies have occupied most of my time. I am studying computer engineering at DJSCOE, Mumbai. Though, in my free time, if I'm not working on Frugalware, I go out to pubs, watch movies etc with friends. I enjoy reading books, mostly sci-fi. Ah, and my day is incomplete without listening to some good music. These days, I'm also working on a rewrite of my music player Gimmix.
What's the view from your front door?
Well, It's just buildings and skyscrapers on all sides. Not an exciting view definitely. But one thing I like is the coconut trees surrounding my house. Open the door and have a look.

Tips and tricks

Disclaimer - Be aware that the hints & tips provided here have NOT been tested and so come with no warranty.

  • Don't run unnecessary services - submitted by 'phayz'

    It's generally considered best practice to ensure that you're running only those services that you genuinely need. If you're logging on to a PC via its own keyboard and mouse (e.g. at a desktop PC), you probably don't need to be running SSH.

This section relies on your contributions! If you have some tips and tricks that you would like to be shown in the newsletter, please post them on the forums in the Tips and Tricks section!

Focus On Package(s)

WINE

The name of the WINE application is an acronym for "Wine is not an Emulator". According to the official web site, "Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X, OpenGL, and Unix. Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code, however Wine can optionally use native Windows DLLs if they are available. Wine provides both a development toolkit for porting Windows source code to Unix as well as a program loader, allowing many unmodified Windows programs to run on x86-based Unixes, including Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Solaris." Wine can be used for many purposes, but is particularly useful if you've migrated to Linux but still need to run a few applications intended mainly for Windows.

Bug fixes

A list of bugs closed since the previous newsletter is available here.

Security announcements

Remember - According to the normal support arrangements for Frugalware, the release of 0.8 ("Kalgan") means that support for the previous release has ended. This means that no further security or bug fixes will be released for Frugalware 0.7 ("Sayshell").

Here is a list of security issues which have been discovered and fixed in the 0.8 release since the previous newsletter.

  • FSA408 - wireshark: Some vulnerabilities have been reported in Wireshark, which can be exploited by malicious people to cause a DoS (Denial of Service). Please upgrade to wireshark-1.0.0-1kalgan1.
  • FSA407 - seamonkey: Some vulnerabilities and weaknesses have been reported in Mozilla SeaMonkey, which can be exploited by malicious people to bypass certain security restrictions, disclose potentially sensitive information, conduct cross-site scripting and phishing attacks, and potentially compromise a user's system. Please upgrade to seamonkey-1.1.9-1kalgan1.
  • FSA406 - firefox: Some vulnerabilities and weaknesses have been reported in Mozilla Firefox, which can be exploited by malicious people to bypass certain security restrictions, disclose potentially sensitive information, conduct cross-site scripting and phishing attacks, and potentially compromise a user's system. Please upgrade to firefox-2.0.0.13-1kalgan1.
  • FSA405 - openssh: A vulnerability has been discovered in OpenSSH, which can be exploited by malicious, local users to disclose sensitive information. Please upgrade to openssh-4.7p1-4kalgan1.
  • FSA404 - phpmyadmin: im Hermann has discovered a vulnerability in phpMyAdmin, which can potentially be exploited by malicious users to disclose sensitive information. Please upgrade to phpmyadmin-2.11.5.1-1kalgan1.
  • FSA403 - horde-webmail: A vulnerability has been reported in various Horde products, which can be exploited by malicious users to disclose sensitive information and potentially compromise a vulnerable system. Please upgrade to horde-webmail-1.0.6-1kalgan1.
  • FSA402 - mplayer: k`sOSe has discovered a vulnerability in MPlayer, which potentially can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system. Please upgrade to mplayer-1.0rc2-4kalgan1.
  • FSA401 - j2sdk: Some vulnerabilities have been reported in Sun Java, which can be exploited by malicious people to cause a DoS (Denial of Service), to bypass certain security restrictions, or to compromise a vulnerable system. Please upgrade to j2sdk-6-8kalgan1.
  • FSA400 - bzip2: A vulnerability has been reported in bzip2, which can be exploited by malicious people to cause a DoS (Denial of Service). Please upgrade to bzip2-1.0.5-1kalgan1.

About the newsletter

Author

The Frugalware newsletter is written by Russell Dickenson (AKA phayz). Credit for the Frugalware distribution goes to the development team.

Translations

The newsletter is currently translated into French and Danish. The French translation is provided by the French Frugalware community. The Danish translation is provided by the Danish Frugalware community. Thanks to all those involved in providing and hosting these translations.

Release

To allow time for review and corrections, each newsletter is written ahead of its release date. Therefore it may not mention events which occurred in the few days before its release - e.g. security fixes. To be sure that you've got the very latest information on these topics, go to the appropriate page of the Frugalware web site.

Feedback

If you have feedback about the Frugalware newsletter - whether good or bad - please provide it via the forums. Your feedback is valuable because we want the newsletter to meet the needs of Frugalware's users.

© 2003-2010. The Frugalware Developer Team