Sep 12, 2009
vrms
Got caught by a meme bug from Planet Ubuntu, so Mr vrms, here goes:
zakame@perlis:~/blog/memes$ vrms
Non-free packages installed on perlis
autoconf-doc automatic configure script builder documentation
emacs23-common-non-dfsg GNU Emacs shared, architecture independent, non-DFSG i
firmware-iwlwifi Binary firmware for Intel Wireless 3945, 4965 and 5000
make-doc Documentation for the GNU version of the "make" utilit
4 non-free packages, 0.3% of 1524 installed packages.
This is on my laptop running Debian Sid. Here's my /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ sid main
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ sid main
I installed the non-free packages manually. As seen on the list, its just mainly non-free GFDL documentation for the GNU tools (oh, the irony,) and firmware files for perlis' Intel 3945 wireless. Interestingly, there's no corresponding -doc package for automake, due to its documentation having no invariant sections and cover texts, passing muster to vrms' (nee Debian's) interpretation of the GFDL.
Tags: community, debian, free, non-free. | Posted at: 06:56 | 2 Comments/Trackbacks.
Sep 01, 2009
Returning to the fold
Hi again, blog. Its been a long time. Like, almost a year.
How was I? Great, I guess. Mostly out of touch with the rest of the worlds I used to visit, being at work, but after leaving work (and searching for a new one now,) that's going to change. Hopefully. :)
I've started by updating some stuff for Debian I should have updated long ago. In the process, I've reformatted my laptop to be Windows-free, containing only Debian sid and OpenBSD-current, and its been very pleasant so far.
I've also taken up a couple of new old stuff for Debian, fixing them up, and getting comfortable with their insides^Wcode. So much so that I'm even in the process of fixing a 5-year-old wishlist bug, although it still needs testing.
I'm looking forward to rejoining the communities I once missed, and maybe joining a new one too.
Tags: c, community, debian, git, openbsd, plan9. | Posted at: 13:05 | 0 Comments/Trackbacks.
Sep 24, 2008
Broken Comment Posting Fixed; New #olpc-ph Grassroots Group
Thanks to Wolfger for pointing out an HTTP 500 while trying to greet me by comment. :D I totally forgot about upgrading Net::Akismet to the new version that comes with my patch, as described previously. All the while I was thinking Net::Akismet was doing too good of a job keeping out comment spam, when it may as well have kept out all comments :( But its my fault, really.
Among other things, Jerome has finally started a new grassroots group for the OLPC effort here in the Philippines, fresh from the success at the recently-concluded SFD. There's now an IRC channel up too, with logs available locally (text-only, until I can set up a web and fileserver frontend.) I'm personally interested on running a port of Inferno and perhaps help out on the TODOs for it.
Tags: community, inferno, life, olpc, perl, www. | Posted at: 00:31 | 0 Comments/Trackbacks.
Sep 21, 2008
Saving Tagalog from d-i Translations Removal
Thanks to pabs's and bubulle's notice on both IRC and planet, I got wind on Tagalog's impending removal from the Debian-Installer translations. Having been quite inactive on my Debian work for a while, this provided me an opportunity to get back to it, even if it were only small stuff (compared to packaging.)
In the nick of time, I submitted updates to sublevels 1 (505 translations) and 2 (511 translations) of the d-i tl_PH translations; doing it twice due to my first run missing out the fuzzy translation strings. I was fortunate that the missing and fuzzy string needing translation weren't many; most of the work has already been done by pusakat and the rest of the Debian-TL team. Kudos for them on starting this in the first place!
There's still a lot of work to be done, and even in d-i itself there are the other sublevels needing Tagalog translation (3 and 5.) Kung may alam ka sa Tagalog at gusto mong gamitin itong wika sa Debian, wag mahiyang kunin ang mga talakdang kailangang isalin! Others (even fellow Filipinos) may find it impractical, but I think its a worthwhile effort, to make it as accessible as possible to our fellowmen having difficulties in English.
All in all, it feels good to contribute again. :)
Tags: community, debian. | Posted at: 10:01 | 0 Comments/Trackbacks.
May 14, 2008
Where's the Open?
Ok, so it seems that the whirlwind on OpenSSL has settled down a bit. Posts about it are coming from everywhere, ranging from rants on package maintenance to blame-pointing on both upstream and packager sides. And, of course, Slashdot.
Where does all this leave the end user with? Well, probably not much except to
regenerate weak SSH keys with the new openssh-server (now enhanced with
openssh-blacklist, see the new advisory) and hope to $DEITY all gets
well soon. And maybe, just maybe, a minor suspicion that other Debian-packaged
software may be "tainted" with a similar blemish (that being having patches
that are supposed to fix something, applied with upstream's blessing, and yet
not really audited enough to ensure functionality AND security of the
system is maintained.)
Obviously, there's going to be some adjustments to be made on the Debian side.
But I do hope to $DEITY that major revamps ought to happen on the OpenSSL side
as well, in particular on clarifying their public channels to reaching upstream
developers (read: publish openssl-team@openssl.org in a legitimate way, being
the legitimate upstream contact endpoint it is,) and keeping a closer eye on
the vendors who package their software (yeah, it may not be an obligation at
all for OpenSSL, but heck, their vendors are users, too!) Upstream may be
free not to partake on a social contract like Debian's, but it shouldn't
escape from them the fact that vendors nevertheless aggregate continuing and
potential users (aside from being users themselves) for their benefit.
More importantly though, is that delivering FOSS is a community effort. Sure, its easy to put blame now, but in the end, the blame isn't as important as the real cause and effects of the problem/bug/issue are. Better to move on and work together towards a real fix, rather than the bickering that currently passes as FOSS entertainment.
Tags: community, debian, linux, openssh, openssl. | Posted at: 11:31 | 2 Comments/Trackbacks.