Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #130
John Crawford
johnc4510 at cox.net
Sun Feb 22 20:16:19 GMT 2009
Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #130 for the week
February 15th - February 21st, 2009. In this issue we cover : Ubuntu
9.10 - Karmic Koala, Announcing the Karmic Koala UDS, Jaunty feature
freeze - Alpha 5 freeze ahead, Kubuntu 8.04.2 released, New Ubuntu
Members - Americas Board, A Call for US LoCo Team Mentors, Next Ubuntu
Hug Day, Soon: Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter in Spanish, Global Bug Jams -
Michigan-South Africa-Chicago-Berlin-Florida, New Notifications for
Jaunty, Meet Martin Albisetti, AJAX in Launchpad, Canonical's April
Surprise - More than Ubuntu 9.04, Barcelona - Canonical discusses Ubuntu
Mobile Internet Devices, Meeting Summaries - Technical Board-QA Team-US
Teams, Just for Fun, and much, much more!
== UWN Translations ==
* Note to translators and our readers: We are trying a new way of
linking to our translations pages. Please follow the link below for the
information you need.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Translations
== In This Issue ==
* Ubuntu 9.10 - Karmic Koala
* Announcing the Karmic Koala UDS
* Jaunty feature freeze - Alpha 5 freeze ahead
* Kubuntu 8.04.2 released
* New Ubuntu Members - Americas Board
* A Call for US LoCo Team Mentors
* Next Ubuntu Hug Day
* Soon: Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter in Spanish
* Ubuntu Stats
* Global Bug Jams - Michigan, South Africa, Chicago, Berlin, and Florida
* New Notifications for Jaunty
* Meet Martin Albisetti
* AJAX in Launchpad
* In the Press & Blogosphere
* Canonical's April Surprise - More than Ubuntu 9.04
* Barcelona - Canonical discusses Ubuntu Mobile Internet Devices
* Meeting Summaries - Technical Board, QA Team, and US Teams Project
* Just for Fun
* Upcoming Meetings & Events
* Updates & Security
== General Community News ==
=== Ubuntu 9.10 - Karmic Koala: Mark Shuttleworth ===
Mark Shuttleworth has announce the code name for Ubuntu 9.10 will be
Karmic Koala. Here is an overview of what is in the planning for this
new, "Cuddly Bear" version of Ubuntu.
Server: A good Koala knows how to see the wood for the trees, even when
her head is in the clouds. Ubuntu aims to keep free software at the
forefront of cloud computing by embracing the API's of Amazon EC2, and
making it easy for anybody to setup their own cloud using entirely open
tools. We're currently in beta with official Ubuntu base AMI's for use
on Amazon EC2. During the Karmic cycle we want to make it easy to deploy
applications into the cloud, with ready-to-run appliances or by quickly
assembling a custom image. Ubuntu-vmbuilder makes it easy to create a
custom AMI today, but a portfolio of standard image profiles will allow
easier collaboration between people doing similar things on EC2.
Wouldn't it be apt for Ubuntu to make the Amazon jungle as easy to
navigate as, say, APT?
What if you want to build an EC2-style cloud of your own? Of all the
trees in the wood, a Koala's favorite leaf is Eucalyptus. The Eucalyptus
project, from UCSB, enables you to create an EC2-style cloud in your own
data center, on your own hardware. It's no coincidence that Eucalyptus
has just been uploaded to universe and will be part of Jaunty - during
the Karmic cycle we expect to make those clouds dance, with dynamically
growing and shrinking resource allocations depending on your needs. A
savvy Koala knows that the best way to conserve energy is to go to
sleep, and these days even servers can suspend and resume, so imagine if
we could make it possible to build a cloud computing facility that drops
its energy use virtually to zero by napping in the midday heat, and
waking up when there's work to be done. No need to drink at the energy
fountain when there's nothing going on. If we get all of this right, our
Koala will help take the edge off the bear market. Let me invite you to
join the server team at UDS in Barcelona, when they'll be defining the
exact set of features to ship in October.
First impressions count. We're eagerly following the development of
kernel mode setting, which promises a smooth and flicker free startup.
We'll consider options like Red Hat's Plymouth, for graphical boot on
all the cards that support it. We made a splash years ago with Usplash,
but it's time to move to something newer and shinier. So the good news
is, boot will be beautiful. The bad news is, you won't have long to
appreciate it! It only takes 35 days to make a whole Koala, so we think
it should be possible to bring up a stylish desktop much faster. The
goal for Jaunty on a netbook is 25 seconds, so let's see how much faster
we can get you all the way to a Koala desktop. We're also hoping to
deliver a new login experience that complements the graphical boot, and
works well for small groups as well as very large installations.
For those of you who can relate to Mini Me, or already have a Dell Mini,
the Ubuntu Netbook Edition will be updated to include all the latest
technology from Moblin, and tuned to work even better on screens that
are vertically challenged. With millions of Linux netbooks out there, we
have been learning and adapting usability to make the Koala cuddlier
than ever. We also want to ensure that the Netbook Remix installs easily
and works brilliantly on all the latest netbook hardware, so consider
this a call for testing Ubuntu 9.04. The desktop will have a designer's
fingerprints all over it - we're now beginning the serious push to a new
look. Brown has served us well but the Koala is considering other options.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2009-February/000536.html
=== Announcing the Karmic Koala UDS ===
Hot on the heels of the announcement of the Karmic Koala, Jono is
tickled pink to announce the details of the next Ubuntu Developer Summit
taking place at Palau de Congressos de Catalunya in Barcelona in Spain
from Mon 25th May - Fri 29th May. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDSKarmic
The Ubuntu Developer Summit one of the most important events in the
Ubuntu calendar and at it we discuss, debate and design the next version
of Ubuntu. We bring together the entire Canonical development team and
sponsor a large number of community members across the wide range of
areas in which people contribute to Ubuntu. This includes packaging,
translations, documentation, testing, LoCo teams and more. UDS is an
incredible experience, filled with smart and enthusiastic people, fast
paced and exhausting, but incredibly gratifying to be part of the
process that builds the next Ubuntu.
For every UDS, Canonical sponsors a number of community members to
attend the event. We are looking for those who want to bring some real
insight and expertise in their area of Ubuntu, be it development or
community governance. If you feel you could offer this but can’t afford
to cover your expenses of attending, you should apply for sponsorship.
To request sponsorship:
* Go to summit.ubuntu.com and log in with OpenID. When you have logged
in, click the Request Sponsorship link. http://summit.ubuntu.com/
* On the first page, add your location and use the About yourself box
to tell us why you should be sponsored and tell us about your work on
Ubuntu - here you should tell us your vital stats - tell us your 5-A-Day
numbers, your work on the sponsorship queue, what you have uploaded,
which teams you are in, your LoCo involvement, documentation you have
written, any translation work and other work that you have been involved
in. When you have done this, click the Next button.
* On the final page, answer the questions and then click Finish to
finish your sponsorship request.
Everyone should get their sponsorship requests in by Wed 4th March 2009
to be considered. Good luck!
http://www.jonobacon.org/2009/02/19/announcing-the-karmic-koala-ubuntu-developer-summit/
=== Jaunty feature freeze in effect - Alpha 5 freeze ahead ===
* The Feature Freeze is now in effect for Jaunty. The focus from here
until release is on fixing bugs and polishing. If you believe that a new
package, a new upstream version of a package, or a new feature is needed
for the release and will not introduce more problems than it fixes,
please follow the Freeze Exception Process by filing bugs and
subscribing ubuntu-release or motu-release as appropriate, or by
contacting a designated delegate.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2009-February/000533.html
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FreezeExceptionProcess
* Please also make sure that specs assigned to you for Jaunty are
updated to their current status (which should be at least Beta Available
if not Deferred, or unless granted a freeze exception).
https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/jaunty/
* The next testing milestone, Jaunty Alpha 5, is scheduled for next
Thursday, February 26. Jaunty Alpha 5 will again use a "soft freeze"
for main.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2008-January/000363.html
This means that developers are asked to refrain from uploading packages
between Tuesday and Thursday which don't bring us closer to releasing
the alpha, so that these days can be used for settling the archive and
fixing any remaining show-stoppers. The list of bugs targeted for
alpha-5 can be found at:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/jaunty/+bugs?field.milestone=2213
* Per the policy described at:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RCBugTargetting, this list is used for tracking
bugs that are blockers for the alpha 5 milestone - so as you can see,
the list is currently quite short. If you know of other bugs that
should be considered blockers, please nominate them for release and set
the milestone target for those bugs. If you have questions about
whether a bug should be considered a blocker, please contact a member of
the release team. https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-release/+members
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2009-February/000534.html
=== Kubuntu 8.04.2 released ===
The Kubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Kubuntu 8.04.2, the
second and final maintenance update to Kubuntu's 8.04 release. This
release includes updated desktop, and alternate installation CDs for the
i386 and amd64 architectures. In all, over 200 updates have been
integrated, and updated installation media has been provided so that
fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These
include security updates, and corrections for other high-impact bugs,
with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Kubuntu
8.04. To download Kubuntu 8.04.2 visit:
http://www.kubuntu.org/getkubuntu More information at the link.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/kubuntu-users/2009-February/039118.html
=== New Ubuntu Members - Americas Board ===
The following is to report on the Membership meeting held by the
Membership Board of Americas. The board noted the great amount of
support for the applicants from great people in the community. We are
pleased to present the new members of the Ubuntu Project.
Dave Bush(myrtlebeach) - Dave is an LPI level 1 certified on his way to
UCP certification, and he currently work as a Infrastructure Engineer at
the Myrtle Beach office of a network security company based in Atlanta,
GA. He is an active participant in the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. He
currently takes care of The Blogosphere, In Other News. He had
previously worked with the Security and Updates listings. He is a
member of the Ubuntu South Carolina Team (US team). Launchpad:
https://launchpad.net/~myrtlebeachbums Wiki:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DaveBush2
Kenny McHenry(kennymc0) - Kenny recently graduated in DeVry University
with a Bachelors of Science degree in Electronics Engineering Technology
at the end of October 2008. His significant participation in Ubuntu is
through his Arizona LoCo team work, and his contributions to the Ubuntu
Weekly Newsletter team. He has helped the Arizona Team organize release
parties and other events, and he has also contributed to the teams
website. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~kennymc0 Wiki:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kennymc0
Michael Lustfield(MTecknology) - Michael is the current LoCo team
Contact for Ubuntu South Dakota LoCo Team. He is working hard on
promoting the team and has even set up a website. His contributions are
also noticeable in the LoCo-Drupal project. He is a very active bug
squasher. Michael had applied for membership a couple of months ago, and
he was told to try again in the future. His contributions to Ubuntu have
surpassed the expectations of the Council. Launchpad:
https://launchpad.net/~MTecknology Wiki:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MTecknology
Chris Crisafulli(itnet7) - Chris is the LoCo team contact for the
Florida Team. He is currently very active in participating in events
across the state and the country. He belongs to other LUGs and SIGs
where he actively promotes Ubuntu. He is also working on bugs and he is
encouraging Bug Jams, and other events in his region. Launchpad:
https://launchpad.net/~itnet7 Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/itnet7
The Membership Board of Americas bids welcome, and congratulations to
these great community contributors.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2009-February/000415.html
=== A Call for US LoCo Team Mentors ===
The US Teams Project is officially opening a call for mentor
applications! Mentors are people who are interested in helping other
LoCo Teams in need of a kick start. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoteams
Remember that time when your team was having a hard time getting
started? Well, many teams today in the US are going through those same
growing pains, and could use your help and advice -- all in the spirit
of Ubuntu!
Requirements:
* You must have a signed Ubuntu Code of Conduct:
https://launchpad.net/codeofconduct/1.0.1
* You must be on an approved Ubuntu LoCo Team:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/USTeams/TeamList
US Teams resources:
* Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/USTeams/
* Forum: http://us.ubuntuforums.org/
* IRC: #ubuntu-us on irc.freenode.net
* Mailing list: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us
* US Teams Planet: http://planet.ubuntu-us.org/
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-us/2009-February/000397.html
=== Next Ubuntu Hug Day ===
Here is the information for the next Ubuntu BugDay:
* Date: 26th of February, 2009
* Target: Apport bug with failed traces
* Page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBugDay/20090226
* IRC: #ubuntu-bugs
* Infos: http://wiki.ubuntu.com/HelpingWithBugs/
Remember, you can't contribute if you don't participate. Get involved
and help squash those pesky bugs!
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2009-February/000416.html
=== Soon: Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter in Spanish ===
As you may know the last month there was no UWN in Spanish, but Andres
Rodriguez has announced that it will be back soon. Well… It will be back
for this week. If anyone wants to collaborate in the translation efforts
into spanish, and are willing to commit to it, please contact him ASAP.
He’ll be setting up some wiki pages. Contact Andres at the link by
leaving a comment.
http://roaksoax.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/soon-ubuntu-weekly-newsletter-in-spanish/
== Ubuntu Stats ==
=== Bug Stats ===
* Open (47186) -204 over last week
* Critical (22) -2 over last week
* Unconfirmed (18780) -420 over last week
* Unassigned (39588) -227 over last week
* All bugs ever reported (252176) +1993 over last week
As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started,
please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad
=== Translation Stats Jaunty ===
* Spanish (19100) -1590 over last week
* French (55460) -4090 over last week
* Brazilian Portuguese (64949) -2318 over last week
* Swedish (73807) -3815 over last week
* English (Uk) (79569) -571 over last week
Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope," see
more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/jaunty/
=== Translation Stats Intrepid ===
* Spanish (15881) +94 over last week
* French (61391) +94 over last week
* Swedish (72656) +94 over last week
* Brazilian Portuguese (74364) -488 over last week
* English (UK) (81134) +94 over last week
Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex," see more
at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/intrepid/
=== 5-a-day bug stats ===
==== Top 5 contributors for the past 7 days ====
* hew (123)
* charlie-tca (48)
* crimsun (41)
* dantrevino (38)
* dholbach (31)
==== Top 5 teams for the past 7 days ====
* ubuntu-au (123)
* ubuntu-us-florida (52)
* dcteam (41)
* ubuntu-berlin (40)
* ubuntu-de-locoteam (36)
5-A-Day stats provided by Daniel Holbach. See
http://daniel.holba.ch/5-a-day-stats/
=== Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week ===
* OpenOffice 3.0 takes really too much time to start-up.
* Native Firefox on Ubuntu is even slower than on Wine
* Universal document reader
* People forget to empty their trash and get problems with space
* Ubuntu Developer Network
Ubuntu Brainstorm is a community site geared toward letting you add your
ideas for Ubuntu. You can submit your own idea, or vote for or against
another idea. http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/
== LoCo News ==
=== Ubuntu Michigan's Global Bug Jam ===
The Michigan team had to travel through blizzard conditions to get to
their Bug Jam. They had a slight hitch with the wireless at the library
where the event took place, but a quick hook up of a hub and cables
saved the day. Everyone put a lot of good effort into doing some quality
triage work. They asked lots of good questions, and judging from the
stats at the end of the event, they did a great job. Pictures at the
link below.
http://blog.grossmeier.net/2009/02/21/michigans-global-bug-jam-report/
Another great report from the Michigan Global Bug Jam went like this:
* A guy walked by our conference room and popped his head in, “Hey, is
this a Linux User’s Group?”
* Me, “Yeah, pretty much.”
* Guy notices I am running Ubuntu, “Is this specific to Ubuntu?”
* “Yep, we’re the Michigan Local Community Team for Ubuntu.”
* “Oh, cool!”
* “Yeah, we doing a Bug Jam right now.”
* “Good deal”
* Guy walks away to go be with his kids.
* A little later he walks back by the conference room with his wife
and kids and says “Hey kids, those people in there are who make Ubuntu
better. They’re working on the new release, 9.04.”
http://blog.grossmeier.net/2009/02/21/first-bug-jam-reward-of-the-day/
=== Global Bug Jam - South Africa ===
The event was held in Johannesburg, and although there were only 4 team
members they had an awesome time. With 71 bugs, you will be pleased to
know that the ZA team was 5th on the list! Special kudos to Robyn
(rpenhall), as a first time launchpad user (and even non Linux user!).
She registered a LP account on the morning of the event, and despite not
knowing Linux or Ubuntu at all, did an amazing job. It really just shows
that anyone, doesn't matter what kind of experience you have, is able to
join in, and make a difference.
=== Global Bug Jam Chicago ===
The Ubuntu Chicago Global Bug Jam was held Feb. 20th, 2009. It was a
great day for all, with people still showing up at 8:15 PM. There are
pics at the link below, and more here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nixternal/sets/72157614128315299/
http://blog.nixternal.com/2009.02.20/ubuntu-chicago-global-bug-jam-kicks-off/
=== Global Bug Jam - Berlin ===
Berlin had a great Global Bug Jam and was termed Rockin by some who
attended. Lots of bugs got terminated by the group. Pictures at the link.
http://daniel.holba.ch/blog/?p=368
=== Global Bug Jam - Florida ===
The Ubuntu Florida Global Bug Jam was held Feb. 21st 2009, at Brikolodge
in beautiful Miami. In addition to triaging and closing over 150 bugs,
they seized the opportunity to add new people to the Florida LoCo, and
BugSquad teams. The best part is that they were able to guide several
new people into contributing back to Ubuntu.
As is typical of the Florida group, they wound down the day by meeting
at a local brewery for fun and frolic.
Many thanks to itnet7, thelupine, chuckr, reya276, ryanparrish, erictee,
zbrown, dantreivno, and David for helping to make Florida's first
official Bug Jam a huge success. Thanks to thelupine for hacking
together a nice internet connection sharing script that came in handy.
And special thank to Rod and the Florida Linux Show for sponsoring our
event.
http://www.ubuntu-fl.org/news/1-ubuntu/131-global-bug-jam-miami-2009
== New in Jaunty Jackalope: Mark Shuttleworth ==
=== New Notification ===
Thanks to the concerted efforts of Martin Pitt, Sebastien Bacher and
several others, notify-osd and several related components landed in
Jaunty last week. Notify-OSD handles both application notifications and
keyboard special keys like brightness and volume.
MPT has posted an overview of the conceptual framework for “attention
management” at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NotificationDesignGuidelines,
which puts ephemeral notification into context as just one of several
distinct tools that applications can use when they don’t have the focus
but need to make users aware of something. That’s a draft, and when it’s
at 1.0 we’ll move it to a new site which will host design patterns on
Canonical.com.
There is also a detailed specification for our implementation of the
notification display agent, notify-osd, which can be found at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NotifyOSD and which defines not only the
expected behavior of notify-osd but also all of the consequential
updates we need to make across the packages in main an universe to
ensure that those applications use notification and other techniques
consistently.
There are at least 35 apps that need tweaking, and there may well be
others! If you find an app that isn’t using notifications elegantly,
please add it to the notification design guidelines page, and if you
file a bug on the package, please tag it “notifications” so we can track
these issues in a single consistent way.
Together with notify-osd, we’ve uploaded a new panel indicator which is
used to provide a way to respond to messaging events, such as email and
IRC pings. If someone IM’s you, then you should see an ephemeral
notification, and the messaging indicator will give you a way to respond
immediately. Same for email. Pidgin and Evolution are the primary
focuses of the work, over time we’ll broaden that to the full complement
of IM and email apps in the archive - patches welcome.
There will be rough patches. Apps which don’t comply with the
FreeDesktop.org spec and send actions on notifications even when the
display agent says it does not support them, will have their
notifications translated into alerts. Thanks very much to all involved!
And thanks to David Barth, Mirco Muller and Ted Gould who lead the
development of notify-osd and the related messaging indicator. There is
a screen shot at the link.
http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/265
== Launchpad News ==
=== Meet Martin Albisetti ===
Matthew: What do you do on the Launchpad team?
Martin: I’m in charge of the user interface, making sure that new (and
existing!) features and pages are easy to use and slick. I have been on
board for about six months, so I haven’t managed to fully sink my teeth
into everything yet, but we’re getting there, and the next few months
will be an amazing succession of roll outs of AJAX enhancements
everywhere, which should improve the overall experience dramatically.
Matthew: Can we see something in Launchpad that you’ve worked on?
Martin: Well, if you use Launchpad for a few minutes, you will
inevitably encouter pages that have gone through me before landing. I
don’t get to actually do much coding, although I have recently done a
few improvements to the Launchpad home page, and gave shape to the
in-line text editing that’s already in the wild (although it was a team
work effort with Mark).
Matthew: Where do you work?
Martin: From my office in sunny Buenos Aires.
Matthew: What can you see from your office window?
Martin: A nice garden with very green grass, flowers and palm trees.
Matthew: What did you do before working at Canonical?
Martin: I have a web development company (Pentacorp), so I’ve been doing
almost everything related to web development (php, mysql, design, server
admin) for the past 6 or 7 years. The web fascinates me.
Matthew: How did you get into free software?
Martin: Free software just had better tools for web development, and was
a much nicer and saner enviroment to work in, so I started moving over
until one day I woke up with no proprietary software on my laptop.
Matthew: What’s more important? Principle or pragmatism?
Martin: Oh, you and your hard questions… I’m inclined towards
pragmatism, I like to get things done more than I like being right!
Matthew: Do you/have you contribute(d) to any free software projects?
Martin: I have, it’s almost impossible not to once you start using it.
I’ve done some work on Bazaar, I’ve been co-maintaining Loggerhead for 8
or 9 months, done some bzr-gtk, and have spread around patches on dozen
of projects out there. You have to love the “scratch your own itches”
properties of free software.
Matthew: Tell us something really cool about Launchpad that not enough
people know about.
Martin: Launchpad developers really care deeply about users and user
experience, I was amazed as to how much when I joined Canonical. Also,
merge proposals for code branches. They’re like the best thing ever.
Matthew: Is Argentine steak really the best in the world?
Martin: Yes, and probably in the known universe.
Matthew: Okay, Kiko’s special question! You’re at your computer, you
reach for your wallet: what are you most likely to be doing?
Martin: Moving it to my front pocket, my leg gets numb if I sit down for
too long with my wallet in my back pocket.
http://blog.launchpad.net/meet-the-devs/meet-martin-albisetti
=== AJAX in Launchpad ===
After a few months of working on all the infrastructure changes needed
to start deploying AJAX on Launchpad, the team is now ready to start
developing the mockups they’ve been working on for the past few months
with the User Experience team. http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/239
To make sure the team coordinated the work of 35 distributed developers,
and really got the ball rolling, 10 team members gathered for a sprint
in Berlin. These 10 team members went into full ninja-hacking mode for a
week, while included defining standards and best practices as we went
along. The outcome of the sprint was been amazing (it’s actually still
going on!), and the team is well prepared to roll out all kinds of AJAX
goodies, like “in-line status editing”, “multi-line editing” and “person
pickers” in the next few months. It’s going to be awesome!
The team also decided on YUI3 as their javascript library, and while it
is still not a final version, they are very happy with the decision, as
it has allowed them to do some really cutting edge work, while
maintaining clean and re-usable code. http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/3/
http://blog.launchpad.net/coming-features/ajax-in-launchpad
== In The Press ==
=== Mark Shuttleworth interview - We are our own worst enemy ===
Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth thinks that Linux needs to get more
beautiful. His company Canonical works on that task. In an interview
with Golem.de Shuttleworth talks about MacOS X as a role model and
problems of the Linux desktop. Many see Netbooks as a chance for Linux.
So does Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth. In an interview with Golem.de
he also talks about the ongoing criticism on Canonical and Ubuntu.
Part 1:
http://video.golem.de/desktop-applikationen/1875/mark-shuttleworth-interview-(part-one).html
Part 2:
http://video.golem.de/desktop-applikationen/1876/mark-shuttleworth-interview-(part-two).html
=== Ubuntu 9.04 will not ship with Linux 2.6.29 Kernel ===
Despite the wishes of many people, Ubuntu 9.04 will not ship with the
2.6.29 kernel. Canonical's Tim Gardner had said on the kernel team's
list, "Jaunty will absolutely, positively, and without a doubt, release
with a 2.6.28 kernel." The 2.6.29 kernel is introducing mainline
support for Btrfs, Intel kernel mode-setting support, and various other
new features, but right now it's at -rc4 stage.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzA1OA
=== Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala will eat tasty eucalytus ===
With Jaunty Jackalope's release fast approaching, Mark Shuttleworth is
already looking beyond to the next release, Karmic Koala Ubuntu 9.10.
Enhanced support for cloud computing is slated for the server edition by
creating a set of standard Ubuntu server Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
profiles that will provide a starting point for creating specialized
images. Another is to integrate support for Eucalyptus, an open source
framework, developed by UCSB, for implementing a self-hosted elastic
computing cluster. With the desktop, he's looking for faster startup,
and a flicker-free startup screen. The netbook remix will be
integrating features from Intel's Moblin platform for Atom-based
devices.
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/02/ubuntu-910-is-named-karmic-koala-will-eat-tasty-eucalyptus.ars
=== Linux, nComputing and overheated classrooms ===
Greensburg, Ind., Community School District decided to test nComputing -
a system that shares one computer's processing power across a whole slew
of thin clients - with respect to how it stood up to regular "fat"
clients. Along with the cost savings due to less power consumption,
they noticed that the classrooms were cooler. The thin clients, being
solid state and using passive cooling, were cooler and quieter. For the
test they turned to Ubuntu due to it's focus on education. Past
problems with integration with Active Directory have since been
corrected, and they found a way to run both Windows and Linux clients
off the same server.
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/02/linux_ncomputin.html
== In The Blogosphere ==
=== Does Ubuntu have the "Guts" to beat Apple ===
The author of "Buntfu Bits" examines Ubuntu and Apple's Mac OS X
licensing techniques, and what each has done with the software as a
result. His conclusion is that Apple may have made a mistake in
licensing the way it did, as it prevented the type of growth that Ubuntu
has enjoyed. It is his opinion that the days of having to pay for much
of the software that 90% of the population would use has gone the same
way as having to pay for long distance phone service.
http://www.buntfu.com/news,page,59,topic_id,content_pages
=== Exploring Ubuntu 9.04 ===
Emmett Dulaney takes a look at Jaunty Jackalope and some of its
advantages. Realizing that it has not reached Beta, much less Release
Candidate status, he warns that some things are still missing. Ext4,
the successor to ext3 file system, is available in the 2.6.28 kernel,
but has not yet been made available in gparted. Despite this, his
opinion is that, "if you've never used this distribution in your
environment before and are contemplating doing so, you'll find that 9.04
is as good an implementation as you can select."
http://certcities.com/editorial/columns/story.asp?EditorialsID=352
=== Google Android - Pushing Ubuntu off of Netbooks? ===
Joe Panettieri sees the possibilities of Google Android as being in
competition with Ubuntu. Android has already somewhat undermined
Canonical's MID effort. Now it appears to represent a threat to
Ubuntu's netbook efforts. He appears to see this as a good thing, as,
"There’s nothing better than healthy, heated competition to drive
innovation."
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/02/17/google-android-pushing-ubuntu-off-netbooks/
=== First Look: Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope ===
The author of this post for WorksWithU is conscious of the fact that
Ubuntu 9.04 is still in an alpha state. But despite this and a few
rough spots along the way, he was impressed. One of the rough spots is
the 1.6 X.Org server. Graphics card venders are still coming to grips
with it, as shown by a driver from NVidia causing the system to hang
when it was enabled. However, The new Linux kernel 2.6.28 showed a
significant increase in speed in booting up. Overall, he feels that if
some of the small problems can be ironed out, Jaunty Jackalope looks to
be another must-have upgrade.
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/02/17/first-look-ubuntu-904-jaunty-jackalope/
=== HP to certify Ubuntu Server Edition for ProLiant servers ===
Joe Panettieri explains that Ubuntu certification for the HP ProLiant
servers means that HP will list Ubuntu server edition as a supported
operating system. Efforts to get Ubuntu server edition recognized have
been slow, despite IBM's server team announcing the virtual Ubuntu
desktop effort. He sees Ubuntu's greatest growth in the desktop,
however the Ubuntu server edition on ProLiant hardware shouldn't be
overlooked. He feels that it's a sign of things to come.
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/02/16/hewlett-packard-to-certify-ubuntu-server-edition-for-proliant-servers/
=== Is Ubuntu Jaunty quick enough to beat Windows 7? ===
Alastair Otter demonstrates that timing is important. In this case it's
the time to boot up an operating system. The contenders are Ubuntu
Jaunty Jackalope and Windows 7. Alastair comments that Microsoft may
have the lead in speed on netbooks, already. Likewise, it seems to be
ahead of Ubuntu on a dual-core 2.53GHz desktop. Both Windows 7 and
Ubuntu 9.04 appear to be trying to reach an optimal time of about 15
seconds. http://www.tectonic.co.za/?p=4160
== In Other News ==
=== Canonical's April 2009 Surprise - More than Ubuntu 9.04 ===
When Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) arrives in April 2009, Canonical
plans to introduce a separate surprise as well — a new version of
Landscape. Never heard of Landscape? That will change in April 2009.
Here’s why. For Ubuntu to succeed on a range of corporate and mobile
devices, it needs to be easily managed. Landscape is a SaaS platform and
remote management tool that Canonical plans to more aggressively promote
in 2009. Joe Panettieri traded email with Ken Drachnik, Canonical’s
Business Manager for Landscape, to get a feel for where Landscape is
heading. You can read a summary of their discussion at the link.
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/02/19/canonicals-saas-landscape-upgrade-managing-ubuntu-from-afar/
=== Barcelona - Canonical discusses Ubuntu Mobile Internet Devices ===
During the GSMA Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Canonical was
working behind the scenes — evangelizing Ubuntu-based Mobile Internet
Devices (MIDs) to new and existing customers. The big question: Will
Canonical line up more Ubuntu MID partners, or will MIDs (highly mobile
WiFi devices) remain overshadowed by the netbook craze? Canonical didn't
exhibit at the conference, but the company held meetings behind the
scenes, taking a close look at Moorestown. “We are definitely keen to do
a Moorestown-based MID device,” notes Canonical Marketing Manager Gerry
Carr. “Of course we need a customer to ask us to do it first but we work
very closely with Intel on these initiatives and have been working
towards Moorestown for some time.”
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/02/17/mobile-world-congress-canonical-discusses-ubuntu-mobile-internet-devices/
== Meeting Summaries ==
=== Technical Board Meeting ===
Members present: Colin Watson (acting chair), Mark Shuttleworth, Matt
Zimmerman, Scott James Remnant
* Patent policy
* Assigned to Jono, but no progress to report yet. Still on the radar
because it blocks another TB ruling (ffmpeg).
* Policy for per-package upload permissions
* Emmet Hikory sent a proposal to the Technical Board mailing list,
which was discussed and largely agreed with a few generalizations
(remove language making it specific to small sets of packages and small
numbers of developers, and remove text about the lack of an existing
maintenance team). The Board will deal with final polishing and ratify
the proposal out of band.
* cdrtools
* Mark gave an update on the cdrtools inclusion situation. Joerg
Schilling has declined to grant a specific permission on his CDDL code,
and in the absence of that (or in the absence of a broader discussion
between CDDL and GPL stakeholders to resolve the licence
incompatibility), Eben Moglen of SFLC informs us that we cannot ship
cdrtools. For the time being, the matter is closed.
* Kernel firmware licensing
* The Technical Board was approached with concerns about unclear
licensing on specific firmware components shipped in Ubuntu. The kernel
team has investigated this and has cleared everything except the DVB
firmware, which is still a work in progress. This is on track for 9.04.
In future, Pete Graner will review licences on all new firmware. This
does not represent a change in firmware licensing policy, but rather
simply ensuring that Ubuntu has the legal right to redistribute each
item of firmware.
* Kernel team upload privileges
* Pete Graner asked the Technical Board to consider restricted upload
privileges to kernel packages for Stefan Bader, who is responsible for
kernel maintenance in stable releases. The Board approved Stefan's
application and welcomed him to the development team.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TeamReports/February2009
=== QA Team Meeting ===
* New Testing Day: The QA team is preparing a new testing day, this
time focused on new features that are appearing in next Ubuntu release.
The testing day is scheduled for next Monday, February 23rd. The testing
day wiki is already available at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/UbuntuTestingDay/20090223
* UbuntuBugDay highlights: Last Thursday we had the new bugs without a
package hug day. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBugDay/20090212 There was
a good participation from the community. The QA team would like to thank
the community and specially mangilimic who did a lot of work during that
hug day and mrkanister for creating the page. Some discussions went on
to decide the topic for the Ubuntu Bug Day on February 26th, and finally
it was decided that the next bug day will be about bugs filed with
apport where the retrace failed.
* Call for testing: Checkbox PPA: A new PPA for Checkbox has been
published at https://launchpad.net/~checkbox-dev/+archive/ppa. It
includes some new features as the suspend/resume script. Please, use the
PPA and report back any bugs.
* Launchpad Greasemonkey - pre-filled descriptions: Brian Murray wrote
a Greasemonkey script that pre-fills the bug description. A screen shot
is available at
http://people.ubuntu.com/~brian/greasemonkey/prefilled-description.png.
It was written for the OEM team, but it is going to checked in the bzr
tree of launchpad-gm-scripts, just in case is useful for other teams.
http://blog.qa.ubuntu.com/node/32
=== US Teams Meeting ===
Proceedings:
* Discussed need for !LoCo teams to get on Ubuntu Planet (following up
with Jono)
* Website and planet situation
* Zelut will give the board access once we figure out how the
Canonical Sysadmins go about transferring
* Launchpad
* Added board members as admins
* Added approved teams who hadn't been previously added
* Forums
* Learned that we can contact ubuntu-geek if we need any changes made
to mods on forums
* Discussed deployment of Drupal and other infrastructures for !LoCos,
determined working with upstream (general !LoCo community) is optimal
* Would be nice if Drupal help documents existed to help !LoCos get
started
* We should encourage teams to get involved with TeamReports:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TeamReports
* Mentors
* Repeated requirements of Mentors to be in approved team and to have
signed the CoC
* What do mentors do?
* Get assigned tasks
* Officially assigned to/work with teams
* Jon created a Mentors page where folks can sign up:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/USTeams/Mentors
* We want to do a community push to encourage folks to step up as mentors
* What can people who aren't part of approved teams do, since they
can't be mentors?
* Can be on mailing list, forums and IRC channel and help out
* Focus on their own team getting approved to be an example for others
* Approved team qualification is so we have folks who are familiar
with the approval process and how to have successful events
Conclusion: Our resources are coming together nicely. Major things right
now are getting back in control of our website & planet and getting
Mentors for the team. We'll be hosting our first Mentor approval meeting
on Mar 5, 8pm EST.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/USTeams/Meetings/Minutes/2009-02-18
== Just for Fun ==
With the announcement this week by Mark of the new code name(Karmic
Koala) for version 9.10, it generated a lot of discussion about the
naming process. With the 9.10 version decided there is already
speculation about the 10.4 versions code name. One community member has
set up a site that randomly generates version names starting with the
letter "L". Visit the link to have some fun, who knows maybe the 10.4
versions code name will magically appear. http://www.thomasberends.com/1004/
== Upcoming Meetings and Events ==
=== Monday, February 23, 2009 ===
==== LoCo Council Meeting ====
* Start: 20:00 UTC
* End: 21:00 UTC
* Location: None listed as of publication
* Agenda: None listed as of publication
=== Tuesday, February 24, 2009 ===
==== Technical Board Meeting ====
* Start: 15:00 UTC
* End: 16:00 UTC
* Location: #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: None listed as of publication
==== Server Team Meeting ====
* Start: 16:00 UTC
* End: 17:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerTeam/Meeting
==== Desktop Team Meeting ====
* Start: 16:30 UTC
* End: 17:30 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-desktop
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam/Meeting
==== Kernel Team Meeting ====
* Start: 17:00 UTC
* End: 18:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: Not listed as of publication
=== Wednesday, February 25, 2009 ===
==== Foundation Team Meeting ====
* Start: 16:00 UTC
* End: 17:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: None listed as of publication
==== QA Team Meeting ====
* Start: 17:00 UTC
* End: 18:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/Meetings/
=== Thursday, February 26, 2009 ===
==== Jaunty Alpha 5 ====
==== Ubuntu Bug Day ====
* Location: #ubuntu-bugs
==== Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting ====
* Start: 12:00 UTC
* End: 13:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: None listed as of publication
==== Ubuntu Java Meeting ====
* Start: 14:00 UTC
* End: 15:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: None listed as of publication
==== MC Meeting ====
* Start: 17:00 UTC
* End: 18:00 UTC
* Location: None listed as of publication
* Agenda: None listed as of publication
=== Friday, February 27, 2009 ===
==== REVU Day ====
* Location: http://revu.ubuntuwire.com/
==== Jaunty Weekly Release Meeting ====
* Start: 15:00 UTC
* End: 16:00 UTC
* Location: #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: Non listed as of publication
=== Saturday, February 28, 2009 ===
==== LoCo Team Meeting ====
* Start: 17:00 UTC
* End: 18:00 UTC
* Location: #ubuntu-locoteams
* Agenda: None listed as of publication
== Updates and Security for 6.06, 7.10, 8.04, and 8.10 ==
=== Security Updates ===
* USN-721-1: fglrx-installer vulnerability -
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-721-1
* USN-722-1: sudo vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-722-1
* USN-723-1: Git vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-723-1
=== Ubuntu 6.06 Updates ===
* None Reported
=== Ubuntu 7.10 Updates ===
* None Reported
=== Ubuntu 8.04 Updates ===
* gcc-4.2 4.2.4-1ubuntu4 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-February/012179.html
* linux 2.6.24-24.50 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-February/012180.html
* linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24.16-24.57 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-February/012181.html
* linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24-24.38 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-February/012182.html
* linux-backports-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24-24.31 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-February/012183.html
* gparted 0.3.5-1ubuntu5 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-February/012184.html
* dvd-slideshow 0.7.5-0.0ubuntu1.8.04 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-February/012185.html
* xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.2.1-1ubuntu13.9 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-February/012186.html
* varnish 1.0.3-2ubuntu1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-February/012187.html
* pm-utils 0.99.2-3ubuntu10.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-February/012188.html
* xen-3.2 3.2.0-0ubuntu10.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-February/012189.html
=== Ubuntu 8.10 Updates ===
* linux-meta 2.6.27.12.15 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009673.html
* gparted 0.3.8-1ubuntu3 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009674.html
* dvd-slideshow 0.8.0-0.0ubuntu1.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009675.html
* pm-utils 1.1.2.4-1ubuntu8.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009676.html
* dkms 2.0.20.4-0ubuntu2.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009677.html
* mythexport 1.0.6-0ubuntu0.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009678.html
* libpar-perl 0.980-1ubuntu0.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009679.html
* syncropated 0.2.0-0ubuntu4.1~proposed1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009680.html
* libebox 0.11.99-0ubuntu3.8.10.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009681.html
* ebox 0.11.99-0ubuntu11.8.10.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009682.html
* ebox-usersandgroups 0.11.99-0ubuntu5.8.10.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009683.html
* ytnef 2.6-1ubuntu0.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009684.html
* qtparted 0.4.5-4ubuntu1.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009685.html
* kdesdk 4:4.1.4-0ubuntu1~intrepid1.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-February/009686.html
== Archives and RSS Feed ==
You can always find older Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter issues at:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter
You can subscribe to the Ubuntu Weekly News via RSS at:
http://fridge.ubuntu.com/uwn/feed
== Additional Ubuntu News ==
As always you can find more news and announcements at:
http://www.ubuntu.com/news
and
http://fridge.ubuntu.com/
== Conclusion ==
Thank you for reading the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter.
See you next week!
== Credits ==
The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:
* Nick Ali
* John Crawford
* Craig A. Eddy
* Kenny McHenry
* Liraz Siri
* And many others
== Glossary of Terms ==
1. GSMA - Groupe Speciale Mobile Association.
1. MID - Mobile Internet Device.
1. OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer.
1. PPA - Personal Project Archive.
1. QA - Quality Assurance.
1. SaaS - Software as a Service.
== Ubuntu - Get Involved ==
The Ubuntu community consists of individuals and teams, working on
different aspects of the distribution, giving advice and technical
support, and helping to promote Ubuntu to a wider audience. No
contribution is too small, and anyone can help. It's your chance to get
in on all the community fun associated with developing and promoting
Ubuntu. http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate
== Feedback ==
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