Planet GNU

autoconf @ Savannah: Autoconf 2.65

Eric Blake — 2009-11-21T20:28:48+00:00

Autoconf 2.65 has been released, see the release announcement:
<http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autoconf/2009-11/msg00040.html>

administration @ Savannah: Coordination and time zones

Sylvain Beucler — 2009-11-20T23:29:57+00:00

We just experimented with the nice pytz/python-tz library, to display the local time in all time zones:
http://savannah.gnu.org/cgi-bin/tz.cgi

What do you think? Do you know about tools that would help people with setting up a meeting time when working from different countries? Probably a good thing to add to Savannah :)

nano @ Savannah: Now on Twitter and Facebook and Happy 10th Birthday nano

Chris Allegretta — 2009-11-20T22:21:39+00:00

You can now follow nano on Twitter (http://twitter.com/gnunano) or become a fan on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/the-GNU-nano-text-editor/51469466761) and receive updates about recent nano releases and our recent 10 year anniversary!

freeipmi @ Savannah: FreeIPMI 0.7.15 Released

Albert Chu — 2009-11-19T17:41:32+00:00

http://ftp.gluster.com/pub/freeipmi/0.7.15/

0.7.15 - 11/19/09
-----------------
o Add "solstatus" workaround to ipmiconsole.
o Support hex codes to event filter sensor type inputs in pef-config.
o In ipmiconsole, handle corner cases surrounding non-default SOL
ports more cleanly.
o In ipmi-oem, support Fujitsu OEM commands.
o Document workarounds for additional motherboards.

Robert Millan: GRUB news

robertmh — 2009-11-18T23:54:13+00:00

This is being a busy month for GRUB. Quick catch-up of GRUB news:

We moved to GNU Bazaar as revision control system.
Pushed out a 1.97.1 bugfix release (whoops)
Crypto framework (for password hashing, LUKS, whatnot…) starts being merged
GRUB gets gettext support

myserver @ Savannah: GNU MyServer 0.9.1 released

Giuseppe Scrivano — 2009-11-18T22:52:09+00:00

New files are available for download here:

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/myserver/0.9.1

and on any mirror sites worldwide. You can find a complete mirrors list here:

http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html

coreutils @ Savannah: coreutils-8.1 released [stable]

Jim Meyering — 2009-11-18T20:29:35+00:00

The announcement is here:
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gnu.core-utils.announce/55

guile @ Savannah: GNU Guile 1.9.5 released!

Ludovic Courtès — 2009-11-18T10:04:44+00:00

We are pleased to announce GNU Guile 1.9.5. It is the sixth pre-release of what will eventually become the 2.0 stable series, featuring a compiler and virtual machine.

This release provides, among other things, support for `case-lambda' (multiple-arity procedures), a more efficient calling convention for procedures with keyword and optional arguments, better support for Emacs Lisp's `nil', and new compiler warnings.

See the announcement at http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2009-11/msg00065.html for details.

gsasl @ Savannah: GNU SASL 1.4

Simon Josefsson — 2009-11-17T23:20:08+00:00

The announcement is here:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-gsasl/2009-11/msg00006.html

libtool @ Savannah: GNU libtool 2.2.6b released

Peter O'Gorman — 2009-11-16T15:35:55+00:00

We are pleased to announce the release of GNU Libtool 2.2.6b.

GNU Libtool hides the complexity of using shared libraries behind a
consistent, portable interface. GNU Libtool ships with GNU libltdl,
which hides the complexity of loading dynamic runtime libraries
(modules) behind a consistent, portable interface.

This release is a bug fix release for version 2.2.6. The following
bugs are fixed:

- Fixed libltdl to no longer attempt to dlopen() the old_library
listed in the .la file. Now will use only the preopen loader to
attempt to load it. This may be a security issue, all users are
advised to upgrade.
- Similarly, don't open module.la from the current directory, this
changes the behavior of libltdl to match the documentation.

libtool-2.2.6b is available now from ftp.gnu.org, along with diffs
against libtool-2.2.6a. Please use a mirror to reduce stress on the
main gnu machine:

http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html

Here are the compressed sources:

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-2.2.6b.tar.gz
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-2.2.6b.tar.lzma

Here are the diffs against libtool-2.2.6a:

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-2.2.6a-2.2.6b.diff.gz

The MD5 and SHA1 checksums are:
libtool-2.2.6b.tar.gz 07da460450490148c6d2df0f21481a25
libtool-2.2.6b.tar.lzma a4b36980765003b47dd75ac9429f4f11
libtool-2.2.6a-2.2.6b.diff.gz a485788eb8fac09f7bb19b9f471ecf16

libtool-2.2.6b.tar.gz 5afa73c8ef9ebe64bbb438a0f8779c9036e43c55
libtool-2.2.6b.tar.lzma 18baaac89eed8be7bd2af2d2181598e176029cc6
libtool-2.2.6a-2.2.6b.diff.gz 161b4f775d2e17890a25fd791c2deb3a69dcf293

This release was bootstrapped with automake-1.11 and autoconf-2.64.

You can fetch the unbootstrapped source code with git by using the
following commands:

$ git clone git://git.savannah.gnu.org/libtool.git
$ cd libtool
$ git checkout v2.2.6b

Please report bugs to <bug-libtool@gnu.org>, along with the verbose
output of any failed test groups, and the output from `./libtool
--config.' The README file explains how to capture the verbose test
output.

Nick Clifton: GNU Toolchain Update November 2009

2009-11-16T10:39:31+00:00

Hi Guys,

There are only a couple of things to report this month:

* GCC now has support for the Lattice Micro32 architecture.

* A new GNU extension has been added to gcc to support "Named Address Spaces". This feature is defined in the N1275 draft of the ISO/IEC DTR 18037 technical report[1]. Essentially it allows variables to be declared as being some special, target specific, method of access. Eg via a runtime library or special machine instructions.

Currently this feature is only implemented for the SPU target, where it is possible to declare a variable with the __ea qualifier like this:

extern int __ea i;

This indicates that the variable is held in the PPU memory and has to be fetched via the __cache_fetch() library function and stored via the __cache_fetch_dirty() library function.

Cheers
Nick

[1] I tried to find this report on the web, but failed. The nearest version I could find was N1005 which does contain a description of Named Address Spaces, but presumably it is out of date with respect to version N1275. Anyway for anyone who is interested the PDF can be downloaded from here:

http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC22/WG14/www/docs/n1005.pdf

Simon Josefsson: Nordic Free Software Award 2009

simon — 2009-11-15T15:13:05+00:00

Last night at FSCONS I was awarded the Nordic Free Software Award, sharing the price with Daniel Stenberg who incidentally (or perhaps not) I have been collaborating with on some projects. Receiving a price like this is a great motivator and I feel humbled when thinking about the many excellent hackers that were attending the FSCONS that cheered me on. Thank you everyone.

Now back to coding.

cgicc @ Savannah: Cgicc 3.2.9

sebastien diaz — 2009-11-14T18:24:05+00:00

Cgicc 3.2.9

I am happy to announce the next release of GNU Cgicc.
This release is numbered 3.2.9 .

Description
===========
GNU cgicc is an ANSI C++ compliant class library that greatly simplifies the creation of CGI applications for the World Wide Web. cgicc performs the following functions:

Parses both GET and POST form data transparently.
Provides string, integer, floating-point and single- and multiple-choice retrieval methods for form data.
Provides methods for saving and restoring CGI environments to aid in application debugging.
Provides full on-the-fly HTML/XHTML generation capabilities, with support for cookies.
Supports HTTP file upload.
Compatible with FastCGI.

Major changes between versions 3.2.8 and 3.2.9
----------------------------------------------
Corrected Bugs
#26003 : CgiEnvironment getenv
#26065 : save function
#26917 : 3.2.8 tar files has sym links to files that don't exist
#27681 : Make building on FreeBSD easier

Major changes between versions 3.2.7 and 3.2.8
----------------------------------------------
Corrected Bugs
#25212 'sort' undeclared
#25211 dns.cpp fails with memcpy undeclared
#25073 query string is incorrectly parsed, when post enctype is multipart/form-data
#24301 CgiEnvironment constructor fails when posts have zero length
#23979 Swapped documentation blocks in CgiUtils.h

Major changes between versions 3.2.6 and 3.2.7
----------------------------------------------
Corrected Bugs
#23341 Instalation cgicc.M4 doesn t support DESDIR
#23316 distribute plain file until symbolic link

diffutils @ Savannah: diffutils now uses git

Jim Meyering — 2009-11-12T08:22:32+00:00

Here's the gitweb link:
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/diffutils.git/

gnun @ Savannah: GNUnited Nations 0.4 released

Yavor Doganov — 2009-11-11T17:08:34+00:00

GNUN 0.4 is available, it includes support for the new SSI server templates layout at gnu.org. For more details, see the announcement at http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/trans-coord-news/2009-11/msg00000.html.

gnuzilla @ Savannah: GNU IceCat 3.5.5 released

Giuseppe Scrivano — 2009-11-09T19:01:49+00:00

This new version includes all the bug fixes present in Firefox 3.5.5.

New files are available for download here:

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuzilla/3.5.5/

and on any mirror sites worldwide. You can find a complete mirrors list here:

http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html

Henrik Sandklef: List of nominated for Nordic Free Software Award published.

hesa — 2009-11-06T22:32:11+00:00

On http://fscons.org/award you can read about the nominated persons/projects for the Nordic Free Software Award.

List of nominated 2009

Qt development team

Simon Josefsson

Daniel Stenberg

Henrik Nordström

Björn Stenberg

Andreas Nilsson

Varnish

Ask Bjørn Hansen

Knut Yrvin

Jari “Rakshasa” Sundell

The award will be presented at FSCONS

Henrik Sandklef: GNU Hackers Meeting and FSCONS

hesa — 2009-11-06T22:24:49+00:00

I fell better this year then any of the two previous years. It’s not only that Jonas Öberg is in charge of FSCONS even though that fact surely adds to the feeling. Sooo many people (if I name one I risk forgetting someone so to all of you, love you!) have done an extreme amount of hard work previous years. The work have been awesome and we can now see the results, e. g we don’t need to spend as much energy on promoting the conference as before. We’ve learned a lot from our (mainly my) mistakes. So thanks to everyone ever involved.

I remember talking to one of the FOSDEM organiser on the Beer event at last year’s FOSDEM. He seemed to be very much OK, but a bit confused. I guess that’s where I am heading in a few days. Land of confusion (as if I ever left that land). He gave me some tickets to get me some beers. So all organisers of Free Software conferences if you’re coming to FSCONS, come over to me (skinny, bearded, tall look confused) and you’ll get beers in return. … just starting a conference next year doesn’t count.

Anyhow, the main reason I feel so much better is that I will attend this years GNU Hackers Meeting, which is held the days before FSCONS at the same venue: ITUniv. It’s going to be great to see some “old” faces and some new. …. and finally I can pay back Simon Josefsson the lunch I ‘forced’ him to pay for me at FOSDEM.

… all in all, it’s gonna be great

denemo @ Savannah: Release 0.8.10 available now

Richard Shann — 2009-11-04T19:27:46+00:00

The new features include:

* Text attached to denemo music: Keep your TODO list/notes on errata in the source etc attached to the relevant place in the music.
* New Bookmark System, integrating Rehearsal Marks
* Augment /Diminish the duration of selected notes.
* Whole Measure rests.
* Anacrusis: the length of the upbeat is determined from the music.
* First and second time Measures in repeats.
* Immediate playback via MIDI - educational games can now output notes on MIDI instruments.
* Custom collections of buttons: any command can be placed, ready to use, on a button bar.
* Changing preferences via script.
* EditObject command (usually right-click or Tab) now gives direct access to any Attributes set on note or chord.
* Cut and Paste fixes: multiple measures across adjacent staffs can now be cut/pasted.
* Better mouse selection of music.
* Many bugs fixed: Import Midi, display after clef changes, crash on dragging mouse off top of display, crash on cancel new staff in initial ...

gnupod @ Savannah: GNUpod back on ftp.gnu.org

Heinrich Langos — 2009-11-03T15:57:08+00:00

After six years of absence GNUpod is back with a current release on ftp.gnu.org. The latest release up there was 0.29-rc1 :-/

So now our current release 0.99.8 gets mirrored again onto a bazillion ftp sites.

cheers
-henrik

BTW: I have officially been dubbed co-maintainer of GNUpod. So now you can officially blame me :-)

gnutls @ Savannah: GnuTLS 2.8.5

Simon Josefsson — 2009-11-03T10:25:16+00:00

The announcement is here:
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.network.gnutls.general/1836

Riccardo Mottola: Theme module for SystemPreferences

Riccardo — 2009-11-03T08:08:24+00:00

I implemented a new preference module for System Preferences. It allows the selection of the preferred theme system-wide for the current user (NSGlobalDefault GSTheme)

This is finally the way an end-user should set his preferred theme, since currently either the command line was needed (defaults write) or only per-application setting was possible.

The module uses themes for GSTheme and they can be created with thematic. It displays a short description, the author, if available the version, the icon and a small theme preview. Since it would be almost impossible to do a preview in a subview, each bundle can carry an image of its preview.

The user can "Apply" the theme which means essentially to set the selected theme to the SystemPreferences application as a sort of preview or to Save, which writes the default permanently.

In the attached screenshot, you can see that the "ThinkDark" theme is applied temporarily and that the user is inspecting the Neos theme. The rest of the system however still runs the standard theme.

Thanks to the dynamic loading capabilities of GSTheme, after saving the theme all application get the new theme immediately.

The Themes module supersedes the Color Schemes control panel which is thus now no longer built and installed by default, although it remains available.

System Preferences 1.1.0 was thus released, combining some other minor code and makefile improvements already present

Up-to-date themes are present in the GAP CVS repository, they will be re-released soon.

GNU Hurd development blog: 2009-10-31

2009-11-02T22:39:00+00:00

A month of the Hurd: new installation CDs, further Git migration, porting. Details.

This month Philip Charles created a new installation CD, the L series, for the Hurd, which brings us a big step towards installing the Hurd from the Hurd (without the need of a Linux-based installer). If you enjoy testing stuff, please give it a try.

On the same front, Michael Banck uploaded a new version of crosshurd that makes it again possible to use this package for creating a GNU/Hurd system image directly from Debian unstable packages.

Also, Thomas Schwinge migrated Sergiu Ivanov's nsmux, Flávio Cruz' cl-hurd (clisp bindings), and Carl Fredrik Hammar libchannel repositories into our new incubator Git repository, making them easier to access for other contributors.

Our bunch of porters continued to make further Debian packages usable on GNU/Hurd: Pino Toscano worked on a lot of packages, and Wesley W. Terpstra made mlton build -- together with Samuel Thibault, who first had to enhance GNU Mach to support allocating more than 1 GiB of RAM to one user-space process, which mlton needs.

On the go, Samuel also fixed a number of other bugs here and there, for example together with Eric Blake and Roland McGrath hashed out a difficile issue in the filesystem servers regarding POSIX conformance and system stability.

Smalltalk development blog: All you should really know about Autoconf and Automake

Paolo Bonzini — 2009-11-02T17:33:56+00:00

So, here is the shortest possible tutorial on the autotools.

The problem with autotools is that it is used for complicated things, and people cut-and-paste complicated things even when they ought to be simple. 99% of people just need a way to access .pc files and generate juicy Makefiles; the portability part is taken care by glib, sdl and so on.

You can use then the following basic autotools setup, which is just 9 lines. You can start from here and add more stuff (including libtool).

configure.ac:

AC_INIT([package], [version])
AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign subdir-objects])

gnupdf @ GNU planet: Spanish translations in gnupdf.org

jemarch — 2009-11-02T13:45:06+00:00

Thanks to Sonia Garcia Tellez gnupdf.org is now translated into Spanish. The spanish homepage is in http://gnupdf.org/Main_Page/es

Many thanks, Sonia!

xboard @ Savannah: XBoard/Winboard 4.4.1 released

Arun Persaud — 2009-10-31T17:51:30+00:00

This release includes several new features and lots of bugfixes.

You can get the source code for XBoard/Winboard at:

http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/

Windows binaries will be available at:

http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/viewforum.php?f=19

Thanks for all the bug-reports we got, if you find some new bugs, please report them in the bug tracker at
https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/ or by email to bug-xboard
(AT) gnu.org.

Arun Persaud (arun@nubati.net)