Fedora Weekly News Issue 161

Welcome to Fedora Weekly News Issue 161 for the week ending February 1,
2009.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue161

This week's FWN goodness offers a very special update from the Fonts SIG
to bring us up to date on their work leading up to Fedora 11. You may
also notice that we are tweaking the wiki formatting to take advantage
of the cite module and other features in MediaWiki, and employing User:
references for links to named Fedora folk. We'd love to hear your
feedback on these changes. Also in this week's intrepid issue details on
the upcoming Fedora monthly public meeting, updates on upcoming events
with a Fedora presence, and news updates from around the Fedora Planet.
In Developments, details on a slight delay to F11 Alpha and Electronic
Automation Tools updates. Translation news brings updates from the
latest FLP meeting and website translation updates, along with more
Fedora 11 plans. A couple brief updates from the Infrastructure Team,
including discussion of possible automation of fedora hosted requests.
The Artwork beat paints a lovely picture with details on Fedora 11
visual details, and we're brought up to date with the latest security
advisories for Fedora 9 and 10. The issue completes with updates from
the various virtualization projects, including details on a new libvirt
and virt-manager, as well as meaty updates on the Fedora Xen list.
Enjoy, everyone!

We are currently looking for a new writer to cover the Fedora
Ambassadors for FWN. The work chiefly involves summarizing each's week's
traffic on the Fedora Ambassadors' list, and is likely a time
committment of perhaps one hour per week.

If you are interested in contributing to Fedora Weekly News, please see
our 'join' page[1]. We welcome reader feedback: fedora-news-list@redhat.com

FWN Editorial Team: Pascal Calarco, Oisin Feeley, Huzaifa Sidhpurwala

== 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/

Contributing Writer: Max Spevack

=== Fedora Board Meeting ===

Paul Frields wrote[2] that "the Board is holding its monthly public
meeting on Tuesday, 3 February 2009, at 1900 UTC on IRC Freenode."

* Join #fedora-board-meeting to see the Board's conversation. This
channel is read-only for non-Board members.

* Join #fedora-board-public to discuss topics and post questions.
This channel is read/write for everyone.

1. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/NewsProject/Join
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2009-January/msg00018.html

=== Legal ===

Tom Callaway announced [1] that "after talking with Red Hat Legal about
how we should be handling trademarks in package summaries and
descriptions, we came to the conclusion that it would be far easier (and
less risky for Red Hat) if we did not use "(TM)" or "(R)" notations at all."

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-announce/2009-January/msg00012.html

=== Fedora 11 ===

Fedora 11 Alpha is likely to be delayed for a few days (originally
scheduled for February 3) due to a GUI checkbox bug in Anaconda and a
problem with nfs-utils that prevented installs over NFS.

See the links [1] [2] [3] below for all the technical details.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-announce/2009-January/msg00013.html
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-announce/2009-January/msg00014.html
3. ↑ https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=483375

=== Upcoming Events ===

Fedora will have a presence at several events in the next few weeks.
Feel free to join us,

February 6 - 8: Free and Open Source Developers European Meeting (FOSDEM)[1]

February 20 - 22: Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE)[2][3]

Also, people are encouraged to register for Fedora or JBoss.org related
speaking slots at LinuxTag 2009.[4]

1. ↑ https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraEvents/FOSDEM/FOSDEM2009
2. ↑ https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SCALE7X_Event
3. ↑ https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_Activity_Day_at_SCaLE_7x
4. ↑ https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LinuxTag_2009_talks

== Special Report: Fonts SIG ==

Contributing Writer: Nicolas Mailhot

Since Fedora 11 Alpha is quickly approaching, here is a much-delayed
edition of the fonts SIG irregular status report. You may recall FWN
covered the font surveys in FWN #153[1]. The following special report is
largely in addition to that previous report.

I should probably have done one for Fedora 10 release, but (silly me)
expected then that the new font packaging guidelines would be adopted
quickly. After all, they only reworded existing rules and added material
already presented and discussed on the fonts and devel lists.

Of course various instances decided to celebrate F10 by taking a break,
then there was some bike-shedding, then we had the Christmas vacations,
then FUDCON and more bike-shedding. Live and learn. At least after being
hammered to death the result is clear and clean.

Anyway, to the report.

1. ↑ https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue153#Fonts_Survey

=== New fonts packaging guidelines ===

After much anguish and unexpected developments FPC and FESCO approved
the complete set of fonts packaging changes that we had submitted.[1]

The end result is:

1) a completed and clarified policy page[2]

2) two new packaging templates[3] [4]

3) a helper package with rpm macros, documentation, plus fontconfig and
spec templates[5]

1. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-announce/2009-January/msg00007.html
2. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:FontsPolicy
3. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Simple_fonts_spec_template
4. ↑
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fonts_spec_template_for_multiple_fonts
5. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_fonts_policy_package

=== Distribution-wide font auditing and repackaging ===

Some innocent repoqueries revealed a distressing number of source
packages (>130) that made us ship fonts while completely ignoring our
previous fonts packaging guidelines and existing licensing rules. So
applying new font guidelines twists quickly turned into
distribution-wide operation.

1) Its advancement is now tracked[1]

2) A (long) FAQ was published to help packagers with no fonts experience[2]

3) To make sure documentation, QA and other groups are aware and help
implement the changes they've been proposed as a Fedora 11 feature[3]

1. ↑ https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=477044
2. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Shipping_fonts_in_Fedora_(FAQ)
3. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/Repackaging_of_Fedora_fonts

=== Wishlist status ===

Our wishlist stood at 56 entries for last report. It has now reached 76
entries [1]. The current fonts packagers are clearly unable to cope with
Fedora demands, fresh blood is needed before it moves into 100+ numbers.

At the same time the respected lwn.net is running a front page
article[2] listing more indispensable free or open fonts, some of them
being neither in Fedora nor in our wishlist yet.

Volunteers to package those or at least add them to our wishlist are
welcome. The free and open font landscape is really moving now, and the
quality and breadth of its font offerings is now a distribution
differentiator.

1. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Category:Font_wishlist
2. ↑ http://lwn.net/Articles/315872/

=== Review status ===

At this time there are no un-reviewed font packages in Fedora bugzilla.
However, several reviews have been open for quite a long time with their
requesters not acting on review comments.

Please do respond to review comments. Reviewing packages is tedious
ungrateful work and getting no response after one is demotivating.

=== New packages ===

Ignoring renamings ctan-musixtex-fonts,
dustin-dustismo-roman-fonts,dustin-dustismo-sans-fonts, hanazono-fonts,
google-droid-sans-fonts, google-droid-sans-mono-font,
google-droid-serif-fonts, serafettin-cartoon-fonts, and unikurd-web-font
are now available in the repository.

The most user-visible of those are probably the Droid fonts, but Dustimo
had been waited for a long time.

Several other fonts previously hidden deep inside apps have now been
exposed as part of the ongoing F11 auditing and repackaging. The
complete set of changes is documented as usual[1]

Several new packagers worked on those and on other packages not pushed
yet and I want to thank them publicly for their contribution to a better
Fedora.

1. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fonts_inclusion_history

=== Web font surveys ===

Fedora 10 shipped with an openjdk plugin that should be complete enough
to run web font surveys. There is no reason left for Fedora users not to
participate in them, and help web designers select fonts that work well
with Fedora browsers. Please take the time to contribute to these[1]

1. ↑
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Linux_fonts_on_the_web:_CSS_and_font_surveys

=== Better fonts whiteboard ===

The desktop team has added a whiteboard page[1] to the wiki to help
identify the software changes needed to improve Fedora fonts and text
handling.

Please contribute comments and complements to this page to help make
Fedora better.

1. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Desktop/Whiteboards/BetterFonts

=== Font autoinstallation ===

Rumors on IRC are that the feature is advancing fast. Hopefully we'll
have finished cleaning up our font packages before they need to be
rebuild to add auto-install metadata[1]. Automating this operation
requires clean packages free of historic cruft.

1. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/AutomaticFontInstallation

And that's all for this issue, thank you for reading it to its end.

== 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 ===

Chris Ball posted[1] a video and brief description of some patches to
the Vino VNC server to support the multiple pointers on X over VNC, so
there will be no more fighting over the mouse cursor when connecting
into another computer.

Mark J. Wielaard wrote[2] about what he does for a living at Red Hat,
including a link to a LWN article that he wrote that provides a
high-level overview of Systemtap.

John J. McDonough described[3] some of the upcoming changes to the
Fedora Docs project, including its leadership. Karsten Wade chimed in[4]
with some more details including some additional history.

Matthew Garrett discussed[5] some of the issues associated with power
management under Linux and how "to make it sufficiently useful and
inobtrusive that manual configuration is almost never required."

Gary Benson shared[6],[7],[8],[9],[10] a series of articles that he
wrote about the internals of Zero and Shark (projects which extend
OpenJDK to let it run on new platforms without additional and often
cumbersome low-level CPU-specific support).

Martin Sourada developed[11] a set of scripts "which are intended to
ease the life of echo-icon artist - they create new icons from template,
are able to add icons/symlinks to echo icon theme and add manage their
local git repository."

Matthew Daniels mused[12] on the topic of "Social Responsibility" and
getting technology out into people's hands everywhere and making all of
this social hardware and software accessible.

Jonathan Roberts posted[13],[14] some thoughts about how some of the
upcoming major Gnome 3.0 changes might be able to handle things like
locating information ("Ubiquitous Search") and saving information
automatically.

Richard Hughes created [15] a nice graphical UI front-end for Powertop.

Adam Williamson expressed[16] some frustrations with the fact that the
drivers for the Intel GMA 500 (Poulsbo) graphics chip (most notably used
in the Dell Mini 12) don't seem to compile cleanly or integrate well
with anything, and in fact only work on Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

John Palmier proposed[17] "10 thoughts on what is needed for the Linux
Desktop to win".

1. ↑
http://blog.printf.net/articles/2009/01/26/multi-pointer-remote-desktop
2. ↑
http://gnu.wildebeest.org/diary/2009/01/29/what-are-you-working-on-systemtap/
3. ↑
http://wb8rcr.multiply.com/journal/item/87/The_relentless_march_of_change
4. ↑
http://iquaid.org/2009/01/31/leading-from-the-comfort-of-my-armchair/
5. ↑ http://mjg59.livejournal.com/106581.html
6. ↑ http://gbenson.net/?p=116
7. ↑ http://gbenson.net/?p=118
8. ↑ http://gbenson.net/?p=119
9. ↑ http://gbenson.net/?p=121
10. ↑ http://gbenson.net/?p=122
11. ↑
http://mso-chronicles.blogspot.com/2009/01/developing-new-library-for-icon-artists.html
12. ↑ http://danielsmw.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/social-responsibility/
13. ↑
http://jonrob.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/gnome-30interfaces-in-general/
14. ↑
http://jonrob.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/gnome-30interfaces-in-general-part-2/
15. ↑
http://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/2009/01/30/gnome-power-manager-and-processor-wakeups/
16. ↑
http://www.happyassassin.net/2009/01/30/intel-gma-500-poulsbo-graphics-on-linux-a-precise-and-comprehensive-summary-as-to-why-youre-screwed/
17. ↑
http://www.j5live.com/2009/02/01/10-thoughts-on-what-is-needed-for-the-linux-desktop-to-win/

=== How-To ===

Ian Weller offered[1] some tips on moving pages around on the Fedora
Project Wiki as part of the new Wiki Tip of the Week[2] series.

Kulbir Saini explained[3] "How to setup gitweb on Fedora/CentOS".

Ding-Yi Chen provided[4] some quick instructions on how to sync between
Evolution and a Sony Ericsson K510i phone.

Steven Moix wrote[5] instructions on how to configure a GSynaptics
touchpad (which is included with many laptops these days) now that there
is no xorg.conf file for the GSynaptics utility to modify.

1. ↑
http://ianweller.org/2009/01/26/wiki-tip-for-the-week-of-jan-26-2009-moving-pages-with-ease/
2. ↑ User:Ianweller/Wiki_tip_of_the_week
3. ↑ http://fedora.co.in/content/how-setup-gitweb-fedoracentos
4. ↑ http://dingyichen.livejournal.com/9382.html
5. ↑
http://www.alphatek.info/2009/01/29/gsynaptics-touchpad-on-fedora-10-hal/

== Developments ==

In this section the people, personalities and debates on the
@fedora-devel mailing list are summarized.

Contributing Writer: Oisin Feeley

=== Fedora 11 Alpha May Be Delayed ===

Jesse Keating reported[1] that the Fedora 11 Alpha release date might
slip due to some anaconda bugs which manifested themselves late in his
testing on some architectures. A later post suggested[2] that
installation using NFS was broken and that "[t]his likely means a slip,
perhaps only a two day slip, of Alpha." More info to come either later
this weekend or early next week. A bugzilla comment[3] from Warren
Togami on a side-effect of trying to fix this problem by reverting to an
earlier nfs-utils version warned "People should be aware that NFS as a
server in F11 Alpha is broken. That is all." As of going to press on
2009-02-01 there was no further information available.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02394.html
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02395.html
3. ↑ https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show.bug.cgi?id=483375#c2

=== GCC: Default ISA Flags and Glibc ===

Jakub Jelinek asked[1] whether the minimum CPU which would run code
compiled by Fedora 11's GCC should be re-evaluated. A follow-on question
was whether the minimum supported kernel version in glibc could be
bumped to 2.6.29. Jakub held out the promise of potentially increased
speed and decreased shared library sizes.

A problem raised[2] by Kevin Kofler was that mock builds would no longer
be able to run on older Fedora releases and that some VPSs would not be
able to upgrade at all. Gerd Hoffman agreed[3]: "We just can't make the
huge jump from .9 to .29. We have to do it smaller steps, considering
kernel versions at least in supported Fedora versions, maybe also latest
RHEL."

Josh Boyer seemed[4] to believe that the required mass rebuild with
GCC-4.4 would be difficult but possible. Mike McGrath outlined[5] the
amount of work which would be needed.

See this same FWN#161 "Dropping Support for i586 Architecture" for a
related discussion.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01661.html
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01668.html
3. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01813.html
4. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01680.html
5. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01696.html

=== RPM Packagers: Too Many Unowned Directories ===

Michael Schwendt raised[1] the problem of unowned directories installed
as a result of packagers unfamiliar with "how to include files vs.
directories in RPM package %files lists."

Colin Walters remembered[2] discussions which had suggested that if RPM
were able to reference count directories there could be a technological
fix. Separately Richard W.M. Jones made[3] a similar argument. Panu
Matilainen seemed[4] willing to move this task to the top of his queue
if it were sufficiently important.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02326.html
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02335.html
3. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02400.html
4. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02350.html

=== Lack of Update Information ===

A can of worms was opened[1] by Rahul Sundaram when he noticed that the
update information provided by package maintainers was often unhelpful.
He cited generic messages of the form "Update foo to upstream x.y.z" as
a common problem and wondered if guidelines could improve the situation.

Following some questions Rahul expanded[2] on the problem pointing out
that package maintainers had the knowledge to tersely explain what
upstream changes implied for ordinary users. He emphasized that he was
concerned with the "description that is part of bodhi update and not the
changelog which can be very brief."

Chris Weyl put[3] forward the counter-argument that package maintainers
had a difficult enough life already.

Richard W.M. Jones wondered[4] if rpm could be altered to allow it to
reference upstream changelogs which could be pulled out by other tools.
Panu Matilainen averred[5] that while rpm was alterable Richard's
proposed change would just dump the information into the rpm payload and
it would thus not be available to users until after they had installed
it. Further brainstorming seemed[6] to run into various practical dead ends.

Subsequently Rahul published[7] a draft guideline which fanned the
flames back to life. ThorstenLeemhuis asked[8] "Don't we have way [too]
many guidelines and policies already? [...] Note that I don't disagree
with the text that was proposed. My 2 cent: Put it as text into the wiki
somewhere, write "best practices" on top of it (avoid the words "rules"
and "guidelines") and add a link to the bodhi UI ("best practices for
filling this box with information")." Rahul appeared to agree that this
was the best course for the present and deferred to FESCo for the
ultimate decision.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01643.html
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01648.html
3. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01742.html
4. ↑
htts://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01687.html
5. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01703.html
6. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01737.html
7. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01842.html
8. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg01845.html

=== Electronic Design Automation Content Without Tools ? ===

Chitlesh Goorah redirected[1] a debate on Electronic Design Automation
(EDA)[2] tools from FESCo to @fedora-devel. Chitlesh is the prime mover
behind the Fedora Electronic Lab Spin[3]. He was concerned that FESCo
had decided that packages in the OVM[4] format were barred from Fedora
on the grounds that there was no FLOSS tool which could use them
although they were licensed acceptably.

Jef Spaleta explained[5] that there were subtle problems in the
discussion as "[OVM] is code of some sort. The problem is we don't have
a compiler or interpreter that can process the instructions. In the
context of Fedora its code that can't be used." Kevin Kofler supplied[6]
the appropriate guideline.

Kevin Fenzi expressed[7] appreciation for Chitlesh's work on the Fedora
Electronics Lab and asked if there was any use for OVM besides hooking
it up with a non-Free simulator? Manuel Wolfshant argued[8] that OVM was
i[...] interesting for a subset of the people interested in EDA" and
that it should be provided for them. Horst von Brand disliked[9] the
idea of mirrors carrying such a little-used package around and suggested
that Manuel could just set up his own repository.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02364.html
2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_design_automation
3. ↑ http://chitlesh.fedorapeople.org/FEL/
4. ↑ http://www.ovmworld.org/overview.php
5. ↑
htts://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02369.html
6. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02377.html
7. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02470.html
8. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02480.html
9. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02489.html

=== Dropping Support for i586 Architecture ? ===

Following FESCo discussions[1] Bill Nottingham reported[2] that the
supported architecture list was going to change. Important changes
include building binaries only for i686 and above. There are concerns
that older thin clients based on i586 hardware and the AMD Geode-based
XO laptops may then be unsupported or unstable. Bill characterized the
discussions as a follow-up to the compiler flag discussions (see this
same FWN#161"GCC: Default ISA Flags and Glibc") and summarized the main
points as:

- install x86.64 kernel on 32-bit OS where appropriate
- install PAE kernel on other 32-bit OS installs where appropriate
- build only i686 and above for Fedora

Jeremy Katz added[3] anecdotal reassurance that the XO should probably
be fine with the i686 kernel and glibc.

Robert Scheck wondered[4] what the definition of "where appropriate" was
and what mechanism would be used to make this determination.

Dominik 'Rathann' Mierzejewski predicted[5] "[t]here's going to be some
screaming from VIA C3 and AMD K6 users about this." His suggestion was
true during an older similar discussion (see FWN#93[6]) in 2007 which
concerned plans to drop shipping an i586 kernel. Suggested attempts to
compensate by making the i686 kernel bootable on i586 architectures were
thwarted as rpm balked at installing a kernel which violated its
architecture check. Alan Cox was one of the strongest objectors to the
possibility of thus losing support for i586 as he had many thin clients
using that architecture. Doubt was cast during that thread as to whether
the smolt statistics were believable. However, Alan has recently become
an Intel employee (following other ex-Red Hat luminaries David Woodhouse
and Arjan van de Ven) and did not contribute to the thread. The smolt
statistics listed[7] on the feature page suggest that there are only 130
i586 users.

Josh Boyer clarified[8] that no decision had yet been made by FESCo and
that a vote would take place next week.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02328.html
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02345.html
3. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02382.html
4. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02355.html
5. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02378.html
6. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue93#No_More_586_Kernels
7. ↑
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/ArchitectureSupport#What_about_the_i586_users_3F
8. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02383.html

=== Blinking Cursor Wastes Power ===

Matthew Garrett asked[1] for comments on the idea that the cursor should
default to not blinking. The rationale was that several less Watts of
power would be consumed.

The suggestion seemed generally popular but Dominik `Rathann'
Mierzejewski wished to retain the blinking cursor and expressed[2] a
desire for more information on the methodology which Matthew had used.
Bill Nottingham reminded[3] that it would still be possible to turn the
cursor back on from this new default. Matthew provided[4] some of the
requested details.

Matthias Clasen suggested[5] changing a GTK setting which disables
cursor blinking after a timeout. Josh Boyer worried[6] about other
desktop environments and vttys.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02265.html
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02309.html
3. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02320.html
4. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02387.html
5. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02268.html
6. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-January/msg02287.html

== Translation ==

This section covers the news surrounding the Fedora Translation (L10n)
Project.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N

Contributing Writer: Runa Bhattacharjee

=== FLP Meeting held on 27th January 2009 ===

The first meeting of FLP for the year 2009[1] was held on 2009-01-27 at
18:00 UTC. The discussion centered[2] around the current bugs and issues
being faced by the L10n infrastructure.

1. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/L10N/Meetings#agenda
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2009-January/msg00131.html

=== Website Translation Process Update ===

Ricky Zhou reminded[1] the list about the requirement of notification to
be sent to the fedora-websites team for the inclusion of translations
for a new language. It is to be noted, that for new languages the
relevant language code is also required to be added to the LINGUAS file.
However, the notification sent to the fedora-websites team ensures that
the apache configuration is modified to activate the translations for
the new language.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2009-January/msg00119.html

=== System-Config-Printer branch 1.1.x to be used for Fedora 11 ===

Tim Waugh announced[1] that the branch 1.1.x of System-Config-Printer is
to be used for submitting translations. This branch has been activated
for submission on translate.fedoraproject.org by Dimitris Glezos.
Additionally, the obsolete branches for System-Config-Printer have been
removed[2] from the submission interface.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2009-January/msg00135.html
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2009-January/msg00133.html

=== Fedora 11 Release Schedule Plans ===

John Poelstra has drafted[1] the Documentation and Translation Schedules
for the upcoming Fedora 11 Release. The Translation Schedule has been
based upon the Documentation Schedule. FLSCo member Noriko Mizumoto
provided[2] feedback from the FLP about the Translation Schedule.
Earlier during the week, Dimitris Glezos attended[3] the Fedora 11 Alpha
Readiness Meeting.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2009-January/msg00130.html
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2009-January/msg00103.html
3. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2009-January/msg00116.html

=== Anaconda bug due to UTF characters ===

Ville Pekka Vainio mentioned the presence of a bug[1] in Anaconda
caused[2] by the presence of UTF-8 characters more than 2 bytes wide. As
a result the translated interface is damaged.

1. ↑ https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=466644
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2009-January/msg00159.html

=== L10n Infrastructure Roadmap Proposal ===

In response to the earlier discussions about the problems faced by the
L10n infrastructure, Asgeir Frimannsson sent[1] in a proposal for a
review roadmap of the current infrastructure[11]. He explained that
based upon the outcome of this discussion, further plans can be
determined about restructuring the infrastructure.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2009-February/msg00000.html

=== New Member in FLP ===

Daniele joined[1] the Italian translation team in the FLP this week.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-trans-list/2009-January/msg00143.html

== Infrastructure ==

This section contains the discussion happening on the
fedora-infrastructure-list

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Infrastructure

Contributing Writer: Huzaifa Sidhpurwala

=== Automating hosted projects? ===

Paul W. Frields asked[1] on the @fedora-infrastructure-list if it was
possible to automate the creation of projects on the fedorahosted.org
site. Since some potential contributors may need more immediate results
and not wait for an admin to create the project.

To this Seth Vidal replied[2] that a part of the benefit of this being
manual is that the admin can do a bit of sanity check before the project
is created.

1. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2009-January/msg00124.html
2. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2009-January/msg00125.html

=== CSI (Security Policy) ===

Mike McGrath said[1] on the @fedora-infrastructure-list that he had put
the security policy CSI docs in the standard place[2]

1. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-infrastructure-list/2009-January/msg00172.html
2. ↑ http://infrastructure.fedoraproject.org/csi/security-policy/en-US

== Artwork ==

In this section, we cover the Fedora Artwork Project.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork

Contributing Writer: Nicu Buculei

=== Fedora 11 Visual Concepts ===

With the first milestone[1] for the Fedora 11 visual concept closing on
February 1st, Máirí­n Duffy posted[2] on @fedora-art a first mockup "I'm
thinking maybe somewhere more mountainous with some mists, and with some
vines/plants growing up the columns with some sunbeams on them", which
was warmly received by the rest of the team, which opted still for a
more lively image, as Luya Tshimbalanga put it[3] "I think of desolation
when I see that image with a ruins from old Greek temple (tend to get
bored so easily) and a very dry land. That picture would mean Fedora
after collapse. Greece is famous with its olive field so the land needs
to be green. I see mountain that look like Olympia and the sky appears
to be a god/goddess land. That image needs to be live, not dead."

Following this "lively" concept, Konstantinos Antonakoglou came[4] with
a photographic collage "I just want to point out the main concept, which
is the combination of ancient Greece and nature (water, mountains with a
lot of green)" and Bill Nottingham advanced the idea of using
photographs[5] "is it possible/should we look for a full photo
(appropriately licensed) that can be used?"

At the same time, Samuele Storari tried[6] a different concept in the
same Grecian spirit "For this theme I try to work on the Spartan
'Leonidas' idea, I work on the Acient Helm so we don't have discussion
on violence or other not connected idea."

1. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/F11#Key_Milestones
2. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2009-January/msg00106.html
3. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2009-January/msg00109.html
4. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2009-January/msg00111.html
5. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2009-January/msg00113.html
6. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-art-list/2009-January/msg00118.html

== Security Advisories ==

In this section, we cover Security Advisories from fedora-package-announce.

https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-package-announce

Contributing Writer: David Nalley

=== Fedora 10 Security Advisories ===

* dia-0.96.1-9.fc10[1]
* kernel-2.6.27.12-170.2.5.fc10[2]
* vnc-4.1.3-1.fc10[3]
* glpi-0.71.5-1.fc10[4]
* gedit-2.24.3-3.fc10[5]

1. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-January/msg00984.html
2. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-January/msg01001.html
3. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-January/msg01018.html
4. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-January/msg01157.html
5. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-January/msg01193.html

=== Fedora 9 Security Advisories ===

* vnc-4.1.3-1.fc9[1]
* kernel-2.6.27.12-78.2.8.fc9[2]
* dia-0.96.1-7.fc9[3]
* glpi-0.71.5-1.fc9[4]
* gedit-2.22.3-3.fc9[5]

1. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-January/msg01025.html
2. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-January/msg01045.html
3. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-January/msg01065.html
4. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-January/msg01095.html
5. ↑
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-January/msg01195.html

== Virtualization ==

In this section, we cover discussion on the @et-mgmnt-tools-list,
@fedora-virt, @fedora-xen-list, and @libvirt-list of Fedora
virtualization technologies.

Contributing Writer: Dale Bewley

=== Enterprise Management Tools List ===

This section contains the discussion happening on the et-mgmt-tools list

=== New Release virt-manager 0.6.1 ===

Cole Robinson announced[1] a new image:Echo-package-16px.pngvirt-manager
release, version 0.6.1.

Virtual Machine Manager provides a graphical tool for administering
virtual machines for KVM, Xen, and QEmu. Start, stop, add or remove
virtual devices, connect to a graphical or serial console, and see
resource usage statistics for existing VMs on local or remote machines.
Uses libvirt as the backend management API.

New features:

* VM disk and network stats reporting (Guido Gunther)
* VM Migration support (Shigeki Sakamoto)
* Support for adding sound devices to an existing VM
* Enumerate host devices attached to an existing VM
* Allow specifying a device model when adding a network device to
an existing VM
* Combine the serial console view with the VM Details window
* Allow connection to multiple VM serial consoles
* Bug fixes and many minor improvements.

[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2009-January/msg00067.html

=== New Release virtinst 0.4.1 ===

Cole Robinson announced[1] a new virtinst release, version 0.4.1.

image:Echo-package-16px.pngpython-virtinst is a module that helps build
and install libvirt based virtual machines. Currently supports KVM, QEmu
and Xen virtual machines. Package includes several command line
utilities, including virt-install (build and install new VMs) and
virt-clone (clone an existing virtual machine).

New features:

* Add virt-image -> vmx support to virt-convert, replacing
virt-pack (Joey Boggs)
* Add disk checksum support to virt-image (Joey Boggs)
* Enhanced URL install support: Debian Xen paravirt, Ubuntu kernel
and boot.iso, Mandriva kernel, and Solaris Xen Paravirt (Guido Gunther,
John Levon, Cole Robinson)
* Expanded test suite
* Numerous bug fixes, cleanups, and minor improvements

[1] http://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2009-January/msg00068.html

=== Fedora Virtualization List ===

This section contains the discussion happening on the fedora-virt list.

=== Fedora Virt Status Update ===

True to his word, Mark McLoughlin posted[1] another weekly update on the
status of virtualization development in Fedora. Some highlights included:

* F11 Alpha Blockers - Workaround found for "unsynchronized TSC"
issue[2] which caused guests on certain hosts to hang or crash.
* New release of image:Echo-package-16px.pnglibvirt coming very
soon. It's out now.
* The KVM PCI Device Assignment[3] feature for F11 "received a very
positive reception from FESCo", and "basic device assignment seems to be
working."
* "Related to PCI device assignment are Intel VT-d issues that have
been reported recently. Basically, on some machines ... VT-d support is
causing serious [problems] and, in one case, data loss."
* New F11 feature page created for sVirt.[4] "sVirt integrates
SELinux with the Fedora virtualization stack".
* New patches from Jeremy Fitzhardinge reduce the overhead of
enabling paravirt_ops on bare-metal by 75% in testing.
* Bug count climbed from 186 to 191.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-virt/2009-January/msg00063.html
2. ↑ https://bugzilla.redhat.com/475598
3. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/KVM_PCI_Device_Assignment
4. ↑
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/SVirt_Mandatory_Access_Control

=== Fedora Xen List ===

This section contains the discussion happening on the fedora-xen list.

=== Xen Users Future on Fedora ===

Evan Lavelle might have struck a nerve when wondering[1] if those who
have invested years in image:Echo-package-16px.pngxen on Fedora have
been "shafted". "Xen isn't flavour of the month around here, but I
assumed there were good reasons for that. Now, rather belatedly, I've
found" that Red Hat acquired Qumranet and
image:Echo-package-16px.pngKVM. (FWN #143)[2]

Neil Thompson thought[3] not. "Shafted?...I don't think so. We're just
in a blip at the moment." Neil pointed out that "RHEL5, which has a
number of years left, includes xen - I don't think Red Hat are going to
mess their corporate clients around by removing it. The problem with F8
is that the image:Echo-package-16px.pngkernel people could no longer
drag an obsolete (2.6.21) kernel around just for xen, and decided to
concentrate on helping get it into the mainstream kernel. This[4] has
taken longer than expected."

Jan ONDREJ was also concerned[5] that, "KVM is still not a replacement
for paravirtualized machines and I think fully virtualized KVM will be
slower like a paravirtualized XEN."

Richard W.M. Jones countered[6] "KVM is a great replacement for Xen.
It's much easier to use for a start -- no more rebooting into a
completely separate kernel hypervisor. As long as you have the virtio
drivers in the guest, which is the default for all new Linux distros,
performance is roughly the same."

Apropos to the topic, but on another list, Mark McLoughlin explained[7]
"Para-virtualization isn't always better. KVM uses full virtualization,
meaning that it uses the processor's support for virtualization. This
means you can run an unmodified guest OS on KVM. If you can modify the
guest OS, then KVM does allow you to use paravirtualization for some
performance sensitive operations - so e.g. we've got pvclock, pv MMU and
virtio devices. Don't get tied up in marketing terminology - try both
and decide for yourself which works best for you."

Support for dom0 is targeted[8] for kernel 2.6.29, but the changelogs[9]
for the release candidates don't seem to indicate completion yet. Gerd
Hoffmann confirmed[10] that "...most of the dom0 stuff missed the boat.
Some prelimary stuff might be in though..." adding that "The pv_ops/dom0
kernel has some not-yet debugged storage issues (disk controller either
fails after a while or doesn't work at all), which is the major
stumbling block right now."

Daniel P. Berrange, of Red Hat Engineering, detailed the history of Xen
on Fedora and explained "while it is definitely unfortunate that we
don't have a Xen Dom0 kernel in Fedora 9/10, we are *not* trying to
shaft anyone & will re-introduce Xen Dom0 kernels to Fedora when they
become available." ... "It [is] still hard to say just when these will
be accepted upstream, but there is a semi-reasonable [chance] we'll be
able to turn Xen Dom0 back on in Fedora 11 kernels."[11]

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-January/msg00031.html
2. ↑
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue143#Red_Hat_Acquires_Makers_of_KVM.2C_Qumranet_Inc
3. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-January/msg00033.html
4. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/XenPvopsDom0
5. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-January/msg00032.html
6. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-January/msg00041.html
7. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/et-mgmt-tools/2009-January/msg00063.html
8. ↑ http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/XenParavirtOps
9. ↑
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/testing/ChangeLog-2.6.29-rc2
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/testing/ChangeLog-2.6.29-rc1
10. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-January/msg00056.html
11. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-January/msg00036.html

=== Migrating Xen DomU to KVM Guest ===

Talk of the future of Xen on Fedora led to talk of migrating guests to
KVM. Fortunately, migrating a virtual machine from Xen to KVM is
straight forward. Well, more or less.

Richard W.M. Jones explained[1] "Install a recent Linux kernel in the
guest, adjust the [libvirt] configuration file, and reboot."
Alternatively, image:Echo-package-16px.pngxenner will enable running
"the Xen PV guest unchanged (ie. without installing a new guest kernel)."

* Ensure the guest image:Echo-package-16px.pngkernel is new enough
to support virtio network drivers (kernel >= 2.6.25)
* change the domain <type>, <os>, and <emulator> fields[2] - 'virsh
edit <domname>'
* "tell[3] the host to give the guest a virtio network card -
change the NIC <model type='virtio'/>"

Richard finally noted[4] "For newly installed guests, recent anaconda
just works everything out for you and puts the correct drivers into
initrd." Mark McLoughlin provided the mkinitrd command to build the
appropriate initrd in existing guests: 'mkinitrd --with virtio_pci
--with virtio_blk -f /boot/initrd-$(kernelversion) $(kernelversion)'
"You only need to do this once. After that, if a new kernel is installed
while you're booted off a virtio disk, then mkinitrd will include the
modules automatically."

Emre Erenoglu noted[5] "You will also need to specify /dev/vdX on the
kernel root= line and make sure your init script inside your initrd
triggers the virtio drivers at boot so that the /dev/vdX are created."

Mark McLoughlin added[6] a caveat. "the F9 x86_64 xen kernel didn't have
support for running 32 bit binaries like grub, so the bootloader would
never have been installed into the MBR. That works fine for pygrub, but
not with KVM's real BIOS."

Also see this[7] guide to converting to virtio drivers.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-January/msg00041.html
2. ↑ http://libvirt.org/drvqemu.html
3. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-January/msg00048.html
4. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-January/msg00053.html
5. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-January/msg00058.html
6. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2009-January/msg00078.html
7. ↑ http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Virtio

=== Libvirt List ===

This section contains the discussion happening on the libvir-list.

=== New Release libvirt 0.6.0 ===

Daniel Veillard announced[1] a new image:Echo-package-16px.pnglibvirt
release, version 0.6.0.

Libvirt is a C toolkit to interact with the virtualization capabilities
of recent versions of Linux (and other OSes).

New features:

* thread safety of the API and event handling (Daniel Berrange)
* allow QEmu domains to survive daemon restart (Guido Gunther)
* extended logging capabilities
* support copy-on-write storage volumes (Daniel Berrange)
* support of storage cache control options for QEmu/KVM (Daniel
Berrange)

Improvements:

* driver infrastructure and locking (Daniel Berrange)
* Test driver infrastructure (Daniel Berrange)
* parallelism in the daemon and associated config (Daniel Berrange)
* virsh help cleanups (Jim Meyering)
* logrotate daemon logs (Guido Gunther)
* more regression tests (Jim Meyering)
* QEmu SDL graphics (Itamar Heim)
* add --version flag to daemon (Dave Allan)
* memory consumption cleanup (Dave Allan)
* QEmu pid file and XML states for daemon restart (Guido Gunther)
* gnulib updates (Jim Meyering and Dan Berrange)
* PCI passthrough for KVM (Jason Krieg)
* generic internal thread API (Daniel Berrange)
* RHEL-5 specific Xen configure option and code (Markus Armbruster)
* save domain state as string in status file (Guido Gunther)
* add locking to all API entry points (Daniel Berrange)
* new ref counting APIs (Daniel Berrange)
* IP address for Xen bridges (John Levon)
* driver format for disk file types (Daniel Berrange)
* improve QEmu/KVM tun/tap performances (Mark McLoughlin)
* enable floppies for Xen fully virt (John Levon)
* support VNC password settings for QEmu/KVM (Daniel Berrange)
* qemu driver version reporting (Daniel Berrange)

There were also dozens of cleanups, documentation enhancements,
portability and bug fixes.

1. ↑
http://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/2009-January/msg00863.html

==== end FWN 161 ====

-----
Pascal Calarco, Fedora Ambassador
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Pcalarco

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