news 28 Posted May 4, 2009 Fedora Weekly News Issue 174 Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 174[1] for the week ending May 3rd, 2009. This week Announcements suggests reading the release notes for "Fedora 11 (Leonidas)". PlanetFedora highlights some choice posts from Fedora blogs including one on the relevance of PPC as a primary architecture. Ambassadors reports that "Fedora stars at Flisol Caracas". QualityAssurance is packed with information on "Test Days" for SSSD and Virtualization. Developments warns of a "Presto No Go" and shares some "Ext4 fallocate() Happiness". Translation reflects a huge amount of activity including "Documentation Decisions for Fedora 12". Artwork wonders if there will be a Plymouth plugin for Fedora 11 Leonidas. The Weekly Webcomic peeks and pokes at some color preferences! Virtualization includes a look at a new libguestfs release and other salient developments. If you are interested in contributing to Fedora Weekly News, please see our 'join' page[2]. We welcome reader feedback: fedora-news-list ( -at -) redhat.com FWN Editorial Team: Pascal Calarco, Oisin Feeley, Huzaifa Sidhpurwala Contents 1 Fedora Weekly News Issue 174 1.1 Announcements 1.1.1 Fedora 11 (Leonidas) 1.1.2 FUDCons and FADs 1.1.2.1 Fedora Activity Day Malaysia 1.1.2.2 FUDCon Porto Alegre 2009 1.1.2.3 FUDCon Berlin 2009 1.1.3 Upcoming Events 1.2 Planet Fedora 1.2.1 General 1.3 QualityAssurance 1.3.1 Test Days 1.3.2 Weekly Meetings 1.3.3 Special Triage Procedure Requests from Developers 1.3.4 Priority/Severity Proposal Draft 1.4 Developments 1.4.1 Fedora 11 Preview Xorg "Lock-up" 1.4.2 Presto No Go 1.4.3 Fedora 12 Changes to GConf and intltool 1.4.4 Ext4 fallocate() Happiness 1.4.5 NetworkManager in Fedora 11 Preview 1.4.6 Moblin2 Mostly Fedora-derived ? 1.4.7 Fedora 12: How to use DBUS for Terminal Sessions ? 1.4.8 PulseAudio Flamewar Continues 1.5 Translation 1.5.1 Document Colophon 1.5.2 Missing sections from the F11 Release Notes 1.5.3 Fedora 11 Countdown Banner 1.5.4 Fedora Security Guide Now Available 1.5.5 FLP Meeting Scheduled 1.5.6 Freeze break in comps module 1.5.7 Transifex Translation Request 1.5.8 Documentation Decisions for Fedora 12 1.5.9 New Members/Co-ordinators in FLP 1.6 Artwork 1.6.1 FUDCon T-shirts 1.6.2 Closing to the Release 1.7 Fedora Weekly Webcomic 1.8 Virtualization 1.8.1 Fedora Virtualization List 1.8.1.1 Virtualization Test Day 1.8.1.2 New Release libguestfs 1.0.15 1.8.1.3 Install Grub Bootloader on Converted Virtual Images 1.8.1.4 Virt-Manage an Existing Guest 1.9 Ambassadors 1.9.1 Fedora stars at Flisol Caracas 1.9.2 Got Ambassador News? == Announcements == In this section, we cover announcements from the Fedora Project. http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/ http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-announce/ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Events Contributing Writer: Max Spevack === Fedora 11 (Leonidas) === The Fedora 11 Preview was released[3] on April 28th. Be sure to read the release notes[4], and make sure you report any bugs[5] that you find. The final release is just around the corner. Download the Fedora 11 Preview here[6]. 1. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue174 2. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join 3. http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2009-April/msg00011.html 4. http://docs.fedoraproject.org/release-notes/f11preview/ 5. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_file_a_bug_report 6. http://fedoraproject.org/get-prerelease === FUDCons and FADs === This section previews upcoming Fedora Users & Developers Conferences, as well as upcoming Fedora Activity Days. ==== Fedora Activity Day Malaysia ==== Planning is underway for a Fedora Activity Day[1] in Malaysia at the end of May, contingent upon gathering together sufficient Fedora contributors to make such an event worthwhile. If you are in the area and are interested in attending or have some ideas on projects that could be worked on, see the wiki page[2] for more information. 1. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FAD 2. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FAD_Malaysia_May_2009 ==== FUDCon Porto Alegre 2009 ==== FUDCon Porto Alegre[1] will take place June 24-27 in Brazil. About 30 people have signed up so far, and we're hopeful for an attendance of over 100. If you would like more information, and to sign up, please visit the wiki page. 1. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon:LATAM_2009 ==== FUDCon Berlin 2009 ==== FUDCon Berlin[1] will be held from June 26-28, and we're getting close to crossing the 100-person-preregistered mark. Don't forget to pre-register[2] for the event, and also to sign up for lodging[3] if you need it. 1. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon:Berlin_2009 2. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon:Berlin_2009_attendees 3. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon:Berlin_2009_lodging ==== Upcoming Events ==== Consider attending or volunteering at an event near you! May 2: Introduction to FOSS, Fedora workshop in Pradesh, India. May 4-8: VI Foro Mundial de Conocimiento Libre[1] in Mérida, Venezuela. May 9-10: FossComm2[2] in Larissa, Greece. May 10: Akihabara Fedora 10 Distribution[3] in Tokyo, Japan. May 15: Fedora Venezuela Anniversary[4] in Caracas, Venezuela. May 15-16: VCNSL[5] in Caracas, Venezuela. May 22-23: eLiberatica[6] in Bucharest, Romania. May 29-30: III ENSL e IV FSLBA[7] in Salvador, Brazil. 1. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraEvents/FMCL/VI-FMCL 2. http://larisa.fosscomm.gr/ 3. http://www.e-akihabara.jp/en/ 4. http://www.fedora-ve.org/ 5. http://cnsl.org.ve/ 6. http://www.eliberatica.ro/2009/ 7. http://wiki.softwarelivre.org/Festival4 == Planet Fedora == In this section, we cover the highlights of Planet Fedora - an aggregation of blogs from Fedora contributors worldwide. http://planet.fedoraproject.org Contributing Writer: Adam Batkin === General === Daniel Walsh described[1] some recent changes to the way SELinux deals with unconfined domains and users. Tom Callaway explained[2] a few intricacies relating to trademarks. He also explained how he worked with a Fedora rebuild to ensure that Fedora's trademarks were protected. Adam Williamson summarized[3] "The Great Mixer Debate" (see also FWN173) together with nice screenshots. Without going into too many details, the volume control systems in Fedora 11 have been changed and a great debate ensued. Harish Pillay attended[4] a Microsoft Interoperability event in which the topic of software patents was discussed. Heherson Pagcaliwagan showed off[5] some photos from a Geek Camp[6] in Batangas City, Philippines. Richard W.M. Jones wrote[7] a tutorial explaining how to extend libguestfs. James Antill found[8] an interesting way of searching for all "the BugZilla tickets which I've looked at 'recently'" (other than archiving all of the bugzilla mails into a giant folder). Jeremy Katz questioned[9] the relevance of PPC as a primary architecture for Fedora. Lubomir Rintel released[10] shortrpm, a tool to allow rpmbuild to short-circuit already completed parts of a build, instead of starting from scratch every time. Luis Villa shared[11] his thoughts on the pending lawsuit between RealNetworks and the MPAA regarding the legality of Real's RealDVD software. In a later (unrelated) post, Luis Villa posted[12] a response to a recent controversy resulting from potentially offensive slides being presented at a conference. John Poelstra described[13] Test Days, their usefulness and recent successes in the run up to Fedora 11. John Palmieri reached out[14] for donations to the GNOME Foundation in order to continue developments and retain their new Executive Director. 1. http://danwalsh.livejournal.com/27885.html 2. http://spot.livejournal.com/307318.html 3. http://www.happyassassin.net/2009/04/27/the-great-mixer-debate-or-where-did-all-my-sliders-go/ 4. http://harishpillay.livejournal.com/154849.html 5. http://project.azneita.org/2009/04/29/geek-camp-in-pictures/ 6. http://bluepoint.com.ph/index.php?entry=20090419235900&show=album 7. http://rwmj.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/contributing-a-libguestfs-enhancement-with-examples/ 8. http://illiterat.livejournal.com/7125.html 9. http://velohacker.com/fedora-notes/ppc-relevance-in-fedora/ 10. http://v3.sk/~lkundrak/blog/entries/shortrpm.html 11. http://tieguy.org/blog/2009/04/29/me-on-gizmodo-on-the-realdvd-case/ 12. http://tieguy.org/blog/2009/04/30/thoughtlessness-in-open-source/ 13. http://poelcat.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/fedora-11-rains-test-days/ 14. http://www.j5live.com/2009/04/30/the-gnome-foundation-needs-your-help/ == QualityAssurance == In this section, we cover the activities of the QA team[1]. Contributing Writer: Adam Williamson 1. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA === Test Days === This week's Test Day[1] was on SSSD[2], which provide a set of daemons to manage access to remote directories and authentication mechanisms. A good group of interested people turned out to help test the system, and several bug reports were filed. Next week's Test Day[3] will be on virtualization[4], with a particular emphasis on some of the new features in Fedora 11, mainly to do with KVM. The Test Day page already includes a list of test areas, with estimated test times and the number of testers needed for each area, so you can sign yourself up in the list in preparation for the test day. You will need an installed system fully updated to latest Rawhide (you can start by installing the Fedora 11 Preview release). If you're a virtualization enthusiast, please come along and help test! The Test Day will be held on 2009-05-07 (Thursday) in IRC #fedora-qa. 1. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Test_Day:2009-04-30 2. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/SSSD 3. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Test_Day:2009-05-07_Virtualization 4. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Virtualization === Weekly Meetings === The QA group weekly meeting[1] was held on 2009-04-29. The full log is available[2]. Adam Williamson reported on his request for feedback on PulseAudio in Fedora 11 from the forum community. He said the response had been quite small and had not reported any major problems, a good indication that things are quite solid. Will Woods mentioned that the known problems with some Intel chipsets and PA's glitch-free audio feature had now been mostly resolved. James Laska noted that there were several reports indicating the new hard disk failure detection system may be reporting false positives. The group agreed it should keep an eye on this situation and try to determine for certain whether there were bugs in the detection. Will Woods reported on autoqa progress. A trac installation for autoqa is now available[3], but there has been no progress in the code since next week. James Laska suggested setting a goal of finishing the previously agreed-upon to-do list by the time of Fedora 11's release, and Will agreed that this was a sensible target. Will also reported on a planned new version of preupgrade, the tool for helping do smooth in-place upgrades of Fedora systems. It now attempts to find updated versions of all repositories, including third-party ones, and rejects /boot on mdraid. The group then discussed the state of the Fedora 11 blocker bug list, with reference to the impending Fedora 11 RC cycle. They agreed that 2009-05-11 and 2009-05-12 would be set aside for review of the list, divided by component, with each team member working on components with which they are familiar. The group then discussed upgrade methods, with regard to a bug[4] noted by Seth Vidal which would essentially prevent an in-place upgrade using yum from working correctly. Will Woods reiterated that yum-based upgrading is intentionally undocumented and unsupported (i.e. yum's developer does not consider that it should be expected to work, FESco does not expect package maintainers to build their packages such that it works, and QA does not accept responsibility for ensuring it works). The intended method for doing such upgrades is to use the preupgrade tool. James Laska mentioned that he was looking for volunteers to help organize test cases for the upcoming virtualization Test Day[5]. Please contact James if you're interested in helping out with this. The Bugzappers group weekly meeting[6] was held on 2009-04-28. The full log is available[7]. John Poelstra noted that, as the Fedora 11 release nears, it is time for the group to request the regularly scheduled Bugzilla changes that accompany a new release. John then selflessly volunteered to take care of this, with the help of Niels Haase. In the absence of Brennan Ashton, Adam Williamson reported on the progress of the triage metrics project, having met with Brennan the previous weekend. He reported that the code for the project was essentially complete and hosting via the Infrastructure group had already been provisioned, but the code relied on Python 2.5-specific features, while Infrastructure's servers all run Python 2.4. Thus the project was waiting on Brennan, or someone else, to port the Python 2.5-specific code to Python 2.4 before it could be operational. Adam also reported on the status of the Bugzilla priority/severity proposal, and noted he was nearly ready to send the proposal to the development group. John Poelstra reported that the maintainers of the Red Hat Bugzilla installation were interested in feedback from the Bugzappers group on what proposed new features and fixes for Bugzilla would be of most Share this post Link to post
