Frugalware Linux Newsletter - Issue 45

...to inform...to educate...to entertain

"IRC is just multiplayer notepad."  A geek

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:

• X.org 7.4 and kernel 2.6.30 upgrades
• Xfce 4.6.1 is available in current
• Priyank's got a new baby!
• Frugalware's developers are people too - Cedynamix
• Getting To Know You - pacman-g2's "--ask" parameter

Events

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

• X.org 7.4

  X.org has been upgraded to the very latest version - 7.4 - in the current repository. This release of X was more modular than the previous version so many packages had to be rebuilt. Tests by those development team members involved in the upgrade have all passed. Be aware though, that there could be packages in the current repository which have been broken by the upgrade. If you want to avoid problems, you might want to wait at least a few days before applying any upgrades from the current repository. Thanks to everybody involved in this upgrade.

• Kernel 2.6.30

  The X.org upgrade required an upgrade to the kernel, so the Linux kernel in the current repositories has also been upgraded - to version 2.6.30.

• Xfce 4.6.1 is available in current

  Priyank has packaged Xfce 4.6.1 and its various applications and plugins and it's now available in the current repository. Thanks to Priyank for his hard work. Changes since Xfce 4.4 include:

  • xfce-mcs-manager and xfce-mcs plugins are replaced by xfce4-settings
  • libxfce4mcs is replaced by xfconf
  • gfpm-mcs-plugin is now xfce4-gfpm-plugin
  • gnetconfig-mcs-plugin is now xfce4-gnetconfig-plugin
  • New package(s): xfce4-power-manager and gigolo (tool for mounting remote filesystems)

• 10 + 10 = ?

  If your first thought was - "Are those numbers in the decimal, hex or binary numbering system?", well done - you passed this exam. Seriously, though, Voroskoi recently announced that he's preparing for exams and so can't devote much time to Frugalware until they're complete. To Voroskoi and anyone else who's preparing for exams - good luck.

• Priyank's got a new baby!

  Priyank, if you're reading this, it isn't what you think. :) He's recently been busy creating a GFpm plugin for both Nautilus (the default file manager of the Gnome desktop) and Thunar (the default file manager of the Xfce desktop). The plugin allows you to view the properties of a pacman-g2 package (fpm file) simply by right-clicking on the file and selecting "Properties" from the context menu. Thanks, Priyank, for adding such a useful feature to these file managers.

• An improved newsletter

  I have recently been working to improve the newsletter, mainly correcting spelling errors and improving its validity. These are each small improvements but I believe they improve the quality of the newsletter. Each newsletter issue goes through 5 checks before it's released. Unfortunately the fifth check was added only recently, and that's the spelling check. :( I'm embarrassed when I find spelling errors in past newsletters, but everyone makes mistakes. My goal is to find these mistakes before they're published. Regarding the HTML validity of the newsletter itself, there's quite a lot of work to do there. They won't happen overnight but I hope to have these improvements made soon.

Updates

Frugalware's developers are people too

Here is the latest in the series of interviews with Frugalware's developers.

What's your name?

I'm Cédrick Hannier, 32 years old, and am responsible for a workshop in the automotive sector.

What's your IRC nickname?

Cedynamix

In what country do you live?

I live in France near Angers.

In what country were you born?

I was born in Cherbourg, in the region of Normandy, France.

What do you like the most about where you live (the country and/or town/city)?

Tranquillity, wine and weather is always pleasant in every season.

What do you do for the Frugalware project?

I am a package maintainer. I'm currently testing the integration of notify-osd in FW. Otherwise I also do some graphics - I created 2 wallpapers (a little too late for the release of Anacreon) and right now I'm working on a theme for Gnome and a new wallpaper.

What motivates you to work on Frugalware?

The passion simply. I have had a computer since I was 13 years. I switched to Linux 5 years ago with a distro that likes the color brown. And then I discovered the universe that surrounds FW 8 months ago. I loved the community, the philosophy and the ability to be able to contribute to the improvement and evolution of the distribution.

What do you do when you're not working on Frugalware?

I look after my family. I tinker a lot inside and outside my house.

What's the view from your front door?

Editor's comment: Cedynamix provided two photos but since they're equally nice I decided to include both.

Getting To Know You

In this section of the newsletter, we get to know Frugalware Linux a little at a time. This is not meant to replace the official documentation but instead make it easier to read. This should suit those those people who, like me, have short attention spans. :)

pacman-g2's "--ask" parameter

pacman-g2 will ask you questions under certain circumstances - e.g. a package's file is corrupt, the local version is already up to date, and so on. These questions are necessary to ensure that pacman-g2 does what you want it to do. If you always give the same response to the same question, it can get annoying to answer every time. To resolve this problem, pacman-g2 has an "--ask" switch. If you want pacman-g2 to avoid installing packages which are already up to date, you would use the command "pacman-g2 -S --ask 32 <package>". The number '32' means - if any packages are already up to date, don't install them. Refer to pacman-g2's man page for full details of the "--ask" parameter.

Tips and tricks

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

• Keep your work under version control

  Version control systems such as CVS, Subversion, Bazaar and git were developed to make it easier to manage the many changes that are made during software development. They can also be used to manage changes to other files - e.g. config files, documents. Instead of constantly using the "Save as" function and keeping files named "file1.odf", "file1-backup1.odf", "file1-backup2.odf" and so on, you commit the file(s) each time you change them. There are several advantages to this method, including -

  • you can tag each modification with a description (i.e. a commit message) that's as long as you like. This makes it easier to identify each version, instead of having to maintain a separate list of each file's version;
  • systems such as Bazaar and git store only the differences between committed files, so they're much more space efficient than the "Save as" method;
  • you can schedule commits, with a utility such as 'cron', so that you can be sure changes are committed, even if you forget.

• "C shell run. Run, shell, run."

  There are many shells available to Linux users - including BASH, zsh, csh - and they each have their own scripting language. When you start a terminal emulator, you're also starting an instance of your default shell and every command you type is handled by the shell. If you run a script, though, it doesn't have to be written in the language of your default shell. If you find a useful script written in zsh for example, you can run it even though your default shell is BASH. If the first line of a script is "#!/bin/sh" then it will assume the script is to be run by your default shell. Otherwise the first line must specify the shell to be used - e.g. "#!/bin/zsh".

• Read some blogs

  Frugalware's developers each have their own blogs but their content is gathered together in one place - http://planet.frugalware.org/. These blogs are not too busy, so it's quite easy to keep up with their content. There's some quite interesting content, including some hints and tips, so be sure to take a look.

  Many of the French-language Frugalware community also have their own blogs, including Devil505 and Bouleetbil. They're very active in blogging and there's some great content. The site http://planet.frugalware-fr.org/ gathers together various blogs' content and presents it at one site. Of course these blogs are in the French language, but with the help of Google's translator, you should still be able to read them.

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.

Focus On Package(s)

ObTheme

"ObTheme is a GUI theme editor for openbox. Among its features are a live preview mode, a built-in xbm image button editor and a palette for changing colors globally." OpenBox is a window manager, and in keeping with the Unix philosophy of "each application does a specific job and does it well", that's all it does. OpenBox's themes mainly use colours, with bitmaps (XBMs) used only to decorate toolbar buttons. ObTheme is a recent addition to Frugalware, thanks to jercel. If you use OpenBox, try ObTheme and you'll soon have your desktop looking just as you like it.

Bug fixes

The following table gives you a overview of activity on bugs and feature requests as at 20 June 2009. In each cell of the table is a link to a detailed list of the relevant bugs or feature requests.

Security announcements

Remember - According to the normal support arrangements for Frugalware, the release of 1.0 ("Anacreon") means that no further security or bug fixes will be released for Frugalware 0.9 ("Solaria") or earlier releases.

Here is a list of security issues which have been discovered and fixed in the 1.0 release since the previous newsletter.

About the newsletter

Author

The Frugalware newsletter is written and edited 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.