May 2007 - Arch-dev-public - lists.archlinux.org

[arch-dev-public] we want to give x86_64 a new direction
by Andreas Radke 13 May '07

13 May '07

after beeing an official port as a 100% i686 clone with a common cvs we have seen that we can handle the workload with only 2 man in not a bad way but with tons of hours of rebuilding and uploading the packages. but we don't want that anymore. it's simply too much workload and a task we are tired to do. bringing on new packagers is harder than expected. repo cleanups and a possible not to far away start of pacbuild/repoman will not drop down the workload we would need. i686 devs are not able to handle 32bit stuff very well so i don't count on crossbuilds anymore. that's one reason. the other one is beeing an i686 clone depending on its (not well defined) goals makes me sick. i miss any freedom in my work. at least the poor i686 testing procedure is something i don't want to follow anymore. i got more and more afraid how chaotic the developement is going on whithout the possebility to change it. now i see things start changing what is very good. but it seems most devs want to keep i686 the compromise of beeing bleading edge + at least some stability. i haved proved to build a system almost from scratch to the quality we now have. we are no more behind i686. a big part of that goes to the i686 devs and their most times simple and working packages and the easiness to port them. the Arch tools are great. but my personal goals have changed. together with Daniel we have found a few people that would support us if can go our own way. We have worked out some initial goals: - we want Arch x86_64 the more conservative sister distribution of Arch - less bleading edge - still a rolling system with up to date packages - strict rules how packages go through a testing cycle - we expect a significant lower workload due to longer update cycles and less post-release-fixing of broken stuff - only provide a basic core repo by the devs - setup some basic addon repos - open the addon repos to be maintained by the community and reviewed/released by the developers untill community members have proved to do it the same way. that's something where we are not sure where i686 wants to go and if we will adopt it. - it would not be prepared to have an x86 port. but only one x86(i586?) dev would be enough to rebuild that distro with some help by an automated build system. All in all it would be nothing significant different from the port we now have but packages would be more selected and hit the repos later to ensure the improved stability. we want to do this all together with the ArchLinux developers and community. we want to keep using all the great tools and resources Arch already offers. the first step that would need to be done is to splitout our scm. i cannot image to keep working with a common scm. that's what now makes it the clone we don't want to have any longer. if you agree to give us that freedom back, i already have one good candidate for becoming a new x86_64 developer and several community members promised to help out. they all like our goals. at least that we will have some. AndyRTR

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[arch-dev-public] -ARCH package extension
by Paul Mattal 13 May '07

13 May '07

Since pacman 3, makepkg builds: foo-2.9-1-i686.pkg.tar.gz instead of the old foo-2.9-1.pkg.tar.gz What is our migration path for using that in all the repos? More specifically: * How do we tell pacman to start using the new syntax when looking for packages? Do we need to, or do the repo db files take care of that? * How do we synchronize the update of devtools and aurtools? * How do we control/manage the propagating all that via mirrors, since all the filenames will change and each mirror will essentially want to do a full re-download? * Do we announce some time for a flashover and tell devs not to update packages during that time? Maybe someone's already figure this all out, but it would be nice to know how this is going to be handled so we can decide what to do to plan ahead. - P

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[arch-dev-public] thoughts about next release
by Roman Kyrylych 13 May '07

13 May '07

Hi! As Tobias said: "kernel 2.6.21 series is now in testing, it will be the kernel series for next release". According to the schedule published by Paul repositories reorganization will be finished not earlier than in the middle of Summer. And in this announcement http://www.archlinux.org/news/308/ we said that "When the next kernel 2.6.22 is released, we will push out a new ISO image". So, here's how I see variants for next release: 1) release new ISOs based on 2.6.21, using the current scheme (ftp+base+current) additional possible changes: * provide snapshot of extra (and community?) for download via BitTorrent * FTP reorder as described here: http://www.archlinux.org/mailman/private/arch-dev/2007-March/005087.html 2) wait until 2.6.22 (hopefully it will be released after repositories reorganization) or even a bit longer and release new ISO set: core & ftp as CDs and main(extra) + community snapshots as DVDs. Changes that should be done in any case: * remove release version and codename from /etc/issue * remove /etc/arch-release * call new release as "ISO release" or "snapshot" instead of "Arch release" * make users understand that there's no such thing as "release" in Arch Linux. :-) -- Roman Kyrylych (Роман Кирилич)

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[arch-dev-public] pr0n on flyspray!
by Roman Kyrylych 13 May '07

13 May '07

Please ban this user: http://bugs.archlinux.org/user/1906 He just posted a comment with attached pr0n file here: http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/6757#comment16273 (already deleted by me) -- Roman Kyrylych (Роман Кирилич)

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[arch-dev-public] Package cleanup - implementation
by Aaron Griffin 12 May '07

12 May '07

This is a note for the developers. If you haven't seen the busy thread on the general list regarding package cleanup, this wiki page should cover everything: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Package_Cleanup Before the end of the weekend, I'm going to move most of these packages based on what is there. There are a few that are questionable, however, so please voice you opinions if you don't want things touched. Thanks Aaron

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[arch-dev-public] mkinitcpio 0.5.14
by Thomas Bächler 12 May '07

12 May '07

I released mkinitcpio 0.5.14 today. Here is a short, incomplete changelog: - drops you into a fallback shell if the root device couldn't be found - modprobe is now in /sbin instead of /bin. As this is consistent with the main system, we do not have to change it back before calling kinit. Therefore kernel module autoloading can still be done while kinit is running, may fix some rare issues. I also updated klibc-udev, mdadm, cryptsetup and lvm2 to use the new path and added a symlink in /bin just to be sure - a small bugfix to allow shared objects to be used in BINARIES (came up when archboot tried to add portmap, which according to file is not an executable, but a shared object, wtf?). - more bug fixes (and bugfixes to fox bugfixes) This should be on the Duke iso, too. Have fun Thomas

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[arch-dev-public] Driver Maintainers
by Alexander Baldeck 12 May '07

12 May '07

Hey all, as you may have noticed I picked up X.org from Jan to take some load off of his shoulders. I'm very proficient in doing the whole X.org thing since I've done so over a phase of like 3 years in a professional environment. Then again, testing quickly became a problem. I can't possibly come up with all the hardware to actually more than just build-install-test most in x11-drivers. I would suggest that we assign TUs who have these chipsets as testers or even maintainers. We could even drive this further with other packages where we didn't do so yet: * lirc * madwifi * wlan-ng aso. It would further go into the direction of packaging divisions and raise quality of our packages. Opinions? Ideas how this can be implemented without changing our system to much and everybody still being fine with it? Cheers, -I

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[arch-dev-public] [drotschm@linuxtag.org: [LT07-Pro-Announce] Infomail #5, May 11, 2007]
by Christoph Neuroth 11 May '07

11 May '07

Here we go... oh, and remember: theres the IRC meeting tomorrow afternoon... ----- Forwarded message from Wolfgang Drotschmann <drotschm(a)linuxtag.org> ----- Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 14:08:57 +0200 From: Wolfgang Drotschmann <drotschm(a)linuxtag.org> To: projects-announce(a)linuxtag.org Subject: [LT07-Pro-Announce] Infomail #5, May 11, 2007 Dear Projects, we have details about the booths, and... but please read on! o Deailed Booth Planing o Cruising the Area of Messe Berlin for Delivery o Setting up the Booth o Security / Insurance o Advertisement at Sponsored Booths o Application for Sub-Exhibitors o Project Workshops / BoFs o Key Signing o Accommodation o Social Event Thank you for your logos and stuff - we fed it into the pipeline for the catalogue. 1. Detailed Booth Planing Thank to our partner Messe Berlin we have detailed views of quite a number of islands and booths. Those which are mising will appear about noon of May 14th. You can review these sketches here: http://www.linuxtag.org/2007/tmp/aufplanung/ Please tell us until May 15th, 2007 (via mail to projects(a)linuxtag.org) what you think - is everything all right? 2. Cruising the Area of Messe Berlin for Delivery You will see - Messe Berlin is a far and wide area, nearly a planet of its own. If you arrive there for delivery with your vehicle, make sure to have a deposit of 50,- EUR in cash ready at hand. It allows you to drive on the area for one hour. We will send you more detailed information about delivery and unloading with the next Infomail. 3. Setting up the Booth Wednesday, 30th, LinuxTag will open its doors. There will be a kind of opening ceremony, and most likely some VIP will come for this and visit the fair. We all want to give a good impression, so your booth does need to be ready at this morning! We ask you to set up your booth on Monday, 28th, or Tuesday, 29th. With two whole days (from 7 am to 10 pm) we have enough time to sort things out, and are not in a hurry while visitors come to visit your booth. 4. Security / Insurance Let us remind you to take care for your stuff at the booths and islands. We try our best to organise a lockable storage room for your hardware and other things which need not to be at the stand. Please give us time to the middle of next week, when we have a meeting with our partners at Messe Berlin. However you can contract insurance for hardware and stuff, including transportation at your own cost, provided by the "Ausstellungsgut-Versicherung". You can find this document here: http://www.linuxtag.org/2007/fileadmin/linuxtag/downloads/aussteller/mappe/… Generally speaking it may be a good idea to scan through the list of services and order forms, offered by Messe Berlin: http://www.linuxtag.org/2007/en/expo/expo-service.html 5. Advertisement at Sponsored Booths For LinuxTag organization it gets harder to decide for some projects whether it will get a booth (sponsored by LinuxTag) or we have to charge them for it because of its strong commercial background. This decision is not easy to make and differs in each case, but we try to make it fair for everybody. Therefore we have to insist on a special agreement with the projects exhibiting at a booth free of charge: advertising for associated companies is not allowed at project booths sponsored by LinuxTag! It is not allowed to display brochures or price lists or hang-up posters for affiliated companies. Of course you can still present your projects flyers, brochures, DVDs or other promotional material with logos from sponsors. If your company wants to get promoted at your project booth, please encourage it to contact us for information about sponsoring options. Several companies already used this option to advertise at affiliated project booths. If you have any questions, even after reading the FAQ entry, about advertising at your booth feel free to contact us. 6. Application for Sub-Exhibitors While looking at the FAQ... If you plan to host another project at your booth, you need to ask us beforehand. This is usual business at fairs. As long this does not have a commercial background we don't see much problems here. By asking us for permission this project will get known to a wider public, because we require information about this sub-exhibitor to put this on our website, like the other projects, too. 7. Project Workshops / BoFs We still have quite some slots left for workshops. What's up? Keep in mind that LinuxTag has to book rooms for this, the ultimate deadline will be reached next week: Wednesday, May 17th, 2007. 8. Keysigning Party Maybe a good chance to meet people, but definitely perfect to strengthen your Web of Trust! The party will be on Friday, June 1st, at 14:00. Please see http://www.linuxtag.org/2007/en/community/keysigning.html for all the details. Alexander Wirt will organise this event. If you want to participate, please read carefully his instructions for sending in key-ids and such. As usual, the party will be conducted using Len Sassaman's efficient group key signing method. 9. Accommodation We are very sorry but there is no gym available far and wide in the whole urban district. If you belie us, please tell us so. Please insert hints about recommendable accommodation and any other interesting stuff into the LinuxWiki, initiated by Sven Guckes. 10. Social Event We will have a get-together! LinuxNacht will begin on Thursday, May 31th, 2007, from 7:00 p.m. on, at the Umspannwerk in Kreuzberg. For more details please follow this link: http://www.linuxtag.org/2007/en/visitors/linuxnacht.html Community members will have the opportunity to buy sponsored tickets (15 EUR per ticket). Don't wait too long, because we only have a limited number of those! You can order them by sending a mail to the usual projects address and tell us the number (reasonable amounts only). Booked tickets should be available (in return to money) at the projects office on Monday, 28th, 2007. Hey, the event gets closer and closer! Do you feel it, too, geting more and more fidgety ;-) Regards, Susanne Pfeifer, Wolfgang Drotschmann, Marko Jung & Martin Schulte Project Committee LinuxTag 2007 ----- End forwarded message -----

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[arch-dev-public] Archlinux [current] status
by Tobias Powalowski 11 May '07

11 May '07

Hi something is really going wrong at the moment. People claim for having other interests or not time for doing the packaging work. I start here only with [current] first. Jan quit doing maintenance of important parts of our distro and probably also of doing quite some update tirades through current. Let me stress this, from my point of view Jan and me did the most [current] updates the last weeks, even if we didn't use the software for our own stuff, correct me if im wrong. We have inactive package maintainers, no doubt. Judd, Dorphell, Aurelien, Gregor, Woody, Arjan It's time to cleanup [current]. Orphan all packages of Judd, Dorphell, Aurelien, Gregor 1 week of time to grab what packages you wanna have. Keep in mind it's your job then to test and ensure that the package works! Please one of the enablers do this, or give me the permission to orphan them. After that period, look whats left if noone feels responsable for a package make a list of possible drops or try to find one on ML who wants to maintain it. It's better to have 1 maintainer for just 1 package who is active and knows the package well, then 1 who just cross updates because he saw the version bump. come on guys participate it's the base of our distro! Without it Arch cannot work. greetings tpowa -- Tobias Powalowski Archlinux Developer & Package Maintainer (tpowa) http://www.archlinux.org tpowa(a)archlinux.org

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[arch-dev-public] Away for a while
by Tobias Kieslich 11 May '07

11 May '07

Hi, as of Monday evening I will be away from the computer for most of my time as I go visiting home for two weeks. So I shall be back for the developer meeting. Just update my packages a needed I will also get rid of a couple of my packages that I don't use at all and maintain not really very well. They will be about 30-40 By the same time, if everyone agrees, I can pickup officially the xfce stuff since Aurelien seems to be very inactive. -T

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