December 2009 - Arch-general - lists.archlinux.org

[arch-general] A universal Operating System API - why don't we have it?
by RedShift 22 Dec '09

22 Dec '09

Hi all It dawned on my that lots of industries have standards and companies generally keep to them. For example slabs of aluminium have standard sizes, building materials have well defined specifications, or take electrical components: there's a huge list of standardized components. You can expect between 220 and 240 VAC from your wall socket, fuses have standard formats and ratings, 1 meter here is exactly the same as 1 meter in another country, etc... Even CD's, which have been around for decades by now, have always been created using the same format (albeit extended somewhat, over time, but a normal CD pressed now should still play in a CD player that's 20 years old). It allows for a very competitive market where choices are made based on price, quality, availability, etc... Why doesn't the computer business have something similar? Sure processors are interchangeable in a limited way, we use standardized RAM, standard interfaces for accessing our peripherals, etc... But not when it comes to software. Why don't we have one universal API that works on every operating system? Yes there is libc, the language C is defined "in some way", but I'm talking about stuff that would make applications 100% portable. Things like enumerating all hardware devices, configuring a network interface, drawing a window, ejecting the CD-ROM drive, getting notified about new hardware plugged in, etc... It's different on every operating system. You cannot write a driver for Linux and expect it to work on FreeBSD. You cannot write an application for windows and expect it to work on Linux. When you buy a piece of hardware you usually hope for the best that it'll work out-of-the-box including all "extra" features. So why is that? Why hasn't someone stepped up and even try and create a universal operating system API? Is it because the computer business is still a "child" in some way, compared to other industries? Just a thought. Glenn

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[arch-general] Kernel 2.6.32
by Frank Hale 22 Dec '09

22 Dec '09

I was using the testing kernel 2.6.32 without an issue but then when the kernel went to core my system would no longer boot. It would start to boot half way then just go dead. I don't have any error messages to post because the screen went blank. Grub was working fine as far as I can tell. I had to use the Arch live CD to revert kernels back to an earlier version. Has anyone been having issues with the stable kernel 2.6.32? Like I said, 2.6.32 from testing worked fine. Thanks.

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Re: [arch-general] [arch-dev-public] [signoff] nano 2.2.1-1
by Heiko Baums 21 Dec '09

21 Dec '09

Am Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:09:05 +0100 schrieb Andreas Radke <a.radke(a)arcor.de>: > note: since 2.2.0 nano failed to open PKGBUILDs for me. after removing > old /etc/nanorc and replacing it with the new one it works again. I'm answering to arch-general because I can't write to arch-dev-public. This issue is with the file /usr/share/nano/arch.nanorc. I haven't looked at it but after disabling it nano works again. Greetings, Heiko

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[arch-general] [signoff] kernel 2.6.32.2-1
by Tobias Powalowski 21 Dec '09

21 Dec '09

Hi guys, Upstream changes: http://kernelnewbies.org/LinuxChanges Arch Linux bugfixes/feature requests: http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/16855 # added CONFIG_PM_DEBUG http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/17106 # added CONFIG_MMIOTRACE Arch Linux changes: - splitted kernel-headers to extra package If you want to build external modules please install: pacman -S kernel26-headers Please change your PKGBUILDS to makedepend on this package. - added xen support to 64bit kernel - changed intel kms enabled by default - changed to new firewire subsystem: http://ieee1394.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Juju_Migration Please signoff both arches, greetings tpowa -- Tobias Powalowski Archlinux Developer & Package Maintainer (tpowa) http://www.archlinux.org tpowa(a)archlinux.org

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[arch-general] Automount
by Baho Utot 21 Dec '09

21 Dec '09

New install using the latest USB install image. I am having trouble with automounting in KDE both usb and dvd/cd roms This is the error from an error dialog box Rejected send message, 1 matched rules; type="method_call", sender=":1.9" (uid=1000 pid=4563 comm="kded [kdeinit] --new-startup) interface="org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.Volume" member="Mount" error name="(unset)" requested_reply=0 destination="org.freedesktop.Hal" (uid=0 pid=4323 comm="/usr/sbin/hald)) I have looked at the wiki Hal and haven't figured this out, I am of the option that this is related to consolekit, Is there a wiki entry for consolekit ? I havn't found one. Also the newer version of cups doesn't allow me to setup the duplexer on my HP LaserJet 2300d, the older one always worked. Thanks for your help

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[arch-general] Thunderbird bugging with Lightning + Enigmail
by Paulo Santos 20 Dec '09

20 Dec '09

Hello list, After doing the last Thunderbird update from 3.0-1 to 3.0-2 (x86_64), with the added Lightning add-on, my menus don't work very well [1]. If I disable either Lightning or Enigmail they work, they just don't work when the add-ons are loaded together. I've started up Thunderbird from the console to see if I get any output and enabled debug on Enigmail but apparently nothing goes wrong. The problem is that I have no idea where to file a bug report... Arch, Enigmail, Lightning or Thunderbird? Is anyone having this issue? Best regards, Paulo Santos [1] http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/442/thunderbirdbug.png

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[arch-general] Good press at distrowatch.com
by David C. Rankin 19 Dec '09

19 Dec '09

Guys, Probably old news to most, but I was very pleased to see the good press Arch got from distrowatch.com this week. See: http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20091214#news The article reads: <quote> With Arch Linux having become such a popular distro, often praised for its rolling-release model of installing once and keeping it updated forever, we thought it would be a good time to take another look at Archiso-live. Archiso-live is an Arch Linux live CD that boots into an Xfce desktop and has a graphical system installer. In the earlier releases the installer did not work correctly, but the more recent ones come with a much improved version. We installed in on a test machine and can confirm that it was able to transfer the entire live CD onto a hard disk partition with no problems. Of course, if you install Arch Linux this way, you'll be "cheating", since easy, click-and-point installation isn't part of the "Arch way" of doing things. Nevertheless, as a method of testing this exciting distro, the "Archiso-live way" is a great time-saver. The latest version at the time of writing is 20091208 and it can be downloaded from here: archiso-live-2009-12-08.iso (685MB, MD5). </quote> Good job guys. Another testament to wise decision making, good distro management, and smart devs ;-) -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com

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[arch-general] New Thunderbird build 3.0-2 installs lightning by default
by Jürgen Hagemann 19 Dec '09

19 Dec '09

The new TB update from today enables and installs lightning by default. Bugreport: http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/17510?project=1&pagenum=1 This is a bad idea, because some people don´t want it. Mozilla doesn´t recommend to set the calendar flag on building... Another point is, that the builtin calendar extension is not localized. So, on non-english systems people have a "language mix" in TB... -- Regards Juergen

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[arch-general] Firefox Themes Will Not Install / Disabled - Unsecure Extenstion Updates
by David C. Rankin 18 Dec '09

18 Dec '09

Guys, After the latest firefox updates, most of my themes were disabled and new themes would not install. After the automatic update check tried to install the Foxide Graphite theme, I found out why. During the install, I received a messages telling me that firefox would not install the theme because it did not provide a secure update path. Digging a little bit disclosed the following: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_install_themes_or_extensions_-_Firefox Unsecured updating Firefox 3 and above: Starting in Firefox 3, if an add-on does not provide a secure method of auto-updating then, by default, Firefox will refuse to install the add-on. If you have add-ons already installed that are insecure in this way, they will be automatically disabled. [6] Add-ons from AMO (https://addons.mozilla.org/) and other secured sites are not a problem; for add-ons that do provide a secure updating method, advanced users can add the preference extensions.checkUpdateSecurity (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Extensions.checkUpdateSecurity) and set it to false (not recommended). See this article: http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Extension_Versioning%2C_Update_and_Com… and bug 378216 (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=378216) for more information. For testing purposes only, I added extensions.checkUpdateSecurity (booleen = false) to about:config and magically, all of my themes were working again. (Note: this is not advisable due to security concerns, use with discretion) (ps - I know this is a cross post ;-) -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com

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Re: [arch-general] Kernel 2.6.32 and Radeon KMS
by David C. Rankin 18 Dec '09

18 Dec '09

On 12/17/2009 07:52 PM, crdaley(a)gmail.com wrote: > Are you sure the problem lies within the driver itself? The fact that > you can't locate a regression with git bisect leads me to believe the > issue would be with some other software, and with so much graphics work > being done in so many different area areas it would very well be > possible. Off the top of my head it could also be in mesa, the kernel, > or X.Org. Yes, I'm sure it is the driver. I haven't completed the bisecting despite having spent hours on it. With the driver there is no way to automate the process other than building, installing, restarting X and checking and then marking good/bad. To my shagrin, there were only 90+ commits within the good/bad window I have. -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com

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