Issue103

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## This document contains numerous comments to help make getting
## involved with the UWN easy and to help set some guidelines/standards.

## By contributing, you understand that your contribution may be appended to,
## modified, deleted, moved, copied, and redistributed without further
## consultation. Please feel free to add comments to help explain changes
## and/or additions to the UWN to other editors.

## Final revision will be approved and mailed by Corey Burger (Burgundavia),
## Martin Albisetti (beuno) or Cody Somerville (somerville32).

## For more information, please contact ubuntu-marketing@lists.ubuntu.com or
## visit #ubuntu-marketing on irc.freenode.net

## Good Luck from Cody Somerville, Corey Burger, Melissa Draper and Martin Albisetti.
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## Edit the following to include issue number, date info, and a short list
## of the top articles in this release.

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #103 for the week August 3rd - August 9th, 2008. In this issue we cover ...


## Translations are welcome by anyone. Once you've finished yours, please remove the "Start one!" text.
## Feel free to add any other languages.		 Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #103 for the week August 3rd - August 9th, 2008. In this issue we cover: Intrepid Alpha-4 ahead, Ubuntu Studio looking for help, SRU needs you, New Ubuntu Members, MOTU news, Ubuntu Kernel Next, Bar``Camp Chicago, Ubuntu Love Day Manila, Encrypted Private Directories, Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop, Unison, Alfresco Labs, Internet Labs in Ecuador, Linux Foundation Apt``Checker tool, Ubuntu and Rep``Rap, and much, much more!
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## In this section, list major topics of interest using bullets.
## Format: * <Topic name>
## Ex: * Ubuntu overtakes Microsoft with 90% market share		  * Intrepid Alpha-4 ahead
 * Ubuntu Studion looking for help
 * SRU needs you
 * New Ubuntu Members
 * MOTU news
 * Ubuntu Kernel Next
 * Ubuntu Stats
 * Lo``Co News
 * Encyrpted Private Directories
 * Launchpad News
 * In the Press & Blogosphere
 * Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop
 * Unison
 * Alfresco Labs
 * Internet Labs in Ecuador
 * Linux Foundation Apt``Checker tool
 * Upcoming Meetings & Events
 * Updates & Security
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=== Intrepid Alpha-4 ahead ===

The expected release date of Intrepid Alpha 4 is this Thursday, August 14. Intrepid Alpha 4 will again use a "soft freeze" for main. 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,

The list of bugs targeted for alpha-4 can be found at: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bugs?field.milestone%3Alist=1322

For a full review of what's still needed, please visit the link. https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2008-August/000464.html
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The number of stable release updates sitting in -proposed is getting larger[1]. Thank you to all of you who worked on getting SRU bug fixes prepared and uploaded! The number of stable release updates sitting in -proposed is getting larger[1]. Thank you to everyone who has worked on getting SRU bug fixes prepared and uploaded!
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Paul Tagliamonte is Creator of Sabre (a Bluetooth plugin for amaroK) Designed and tested for Ubuntu. He is also de creator of Qube (a CLI into libnotify) allowing shell scripters to use the attractive notification daemon. He is a Member of the Ubuntu Forum's Beginner's Team. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~paultag Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Paultag Paul Tagliamonte is the creator of Sabre (a Bluetooth plugin for amaroK) designed and tested for Ubuntu. He is also the creator of Qube (a CLI into libnotify) allowing shell scripters to use the attractive notification daemon. Paul is also a Member of the Ubuntu Forum's Beginner's Team. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~paultag Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Paultag
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Charles Davis is a Forum staff member and active member of the Ubuntu Forums Beginners Team / Unanswered Posts Team. He is also active in the Launchpad Beginner Team for Ubuntu. He is a member of the Ubuntu Documentation Students Team. hH is currently working to improve the quality of Ubuntu's help system and Community Wiki Pages. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~charles.davis Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Old_soldier

Joe Barker has been a member of the Ubuntu Forums since the end of August 2007 and is now a Member of the Beginners Team, and the Unanswered Posts team, and just recently he became a Forum Moderator. He has also participated in the Sabre project (http://launchpad.net/sabre). Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~Joeb454 Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Joeb454

Bryan Quigley is a long standing volunteer for the New Jersey LoCo team and has been to almost every event. He has helped triage bugs, answered many support questions (more off than on launchpad), and made several blueprints. He is a very active advocate of free software (check
reference of participation in events). Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~gQuigs Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Gquigs

Ted Gould has participated in the Desktop team, He has given promotion talks on Ubuntu at several FOSS orientes events ( SCaLE, Ubuntu Open Week, OSCON). he has also participated in packaging and maintenance for GNOME Power Manager and GNOME Screensaver in ubuntu. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~ted-gould Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TedGould

Emma Jane Hogbin is a very active member of the FOSS community. Her participation ranges from a member of the Ubuntu Women team. Conference Speaker (Drupal``Con, Lug``Radio Live, amongst others) she has chaired conferences and participates in Hardware recycling programs. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~emmajane Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EmmaJane		 Charles Davis is a Forum staff member and active member of the Ubuntu Forums Beginners Team/Unanswered Posts Team. He is also active in the Launchpad Beginner Team for Ubuntu, and a member of the Ubuntu Documentation Students Team. Paul is currently working to improve the quality of Ubuntu's help system and Community Wiki Pages. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~charles.davis Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Old_soldier

Joe Barker has been a member of the Ubuntu Forums since the end of August 2007. He is now a Member of the Beginners Team/Unanswered Posts team, and just recently he became a Forum Moderator. Paul has also participated in the Sabre project (http://launchpad.net/sabre). Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~Joeb454 Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Joeb454

Bryan Quigley is a long standing volunteer for the New Jersey Lo``Co team and has been to almost every event. He has helped triage bugs, answered many support questions, and made several blueprints. Bryan is a very active advocate of free software (check reference of participation in events). Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~gQuigs Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Gquigs

Ted Gould has participated in the Desktop team. He has given promotional talks on Ubuntu at several FOSS orientes events (SCaLE, Ubuntu Open Week, OSCON). Ted has also participated in packaging and maintenance for GNOME Power Manager and GNOME Screensaver in ubuntu. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~ted-gould Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TedGould

Emma Jane Hogbin is a very active member of the FOSS community. Her participation ranges from being a member of the Ubuntu Women team, conference speaker (Drupal``Con, Lug``Radio Live, amongst others), chairing conferences and participation in Hardware recycling programs. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~emmajane Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EmmaJane
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James Westby (james_w) is now an Ubuntu Universe Contributor. Please join us in welcoming our very own MOTU School Dean, to the Ubuntu Universe Contributors team. James has been
active in development for some time, has restored MOTU School to an institution of learning, and much, much more. Launchpad: https://edge.launchpad.net/~james-w Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JamesWestby		 James Westby (james_w) is now an Ubuntu Universe Contributor. Please join us in welcoming our very own MOTU School Dean to the Ubuntu Universe Contributors team. James has been active in development for some time, has restored MOTU School to an institution of learning, and much, much more. Launchpad: https://edge.launchpad.net/~james-w Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JamesWestby
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Normally in Ubuntu's development cycle, work on the kernel doesn't begin for a release until that release opens for development. This time around however, the kernel team is starting something new. Now that 2.6.26 is released, and the kernel in Intrepid/8.10 (our current development cycle) is pretty stable, we have opened up a new git tree called
ubuntu-next. Do not confuse this with linux-next, they are different concepts.

The team will not spending a lot of time adding features to this tree. It is basically a rebase of all of the patches on top of the latest kernel in linux-2.6 upstream git. Our patches are consolidated and given some consistency (and a few pushed upstream). At regular intervals, binary packages of this tree will be made available (usually at -rc milestones from upstream). In fact, the first installment of these are now available at: http://kernel.ubuntu.com/pub/next/2.6.27-rc2/

There are somje things to remember when using this kernel, and they can be found here: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/kernel-team/2008-August/002868.html


## Make each article a subsection, via ===
## These are big articles that don't fit within another section		 Normally in Ubuntu's development cycle, work on the kernel doesn't begin for a release until that release opens for development. This time around however, the kernel team is starting something new. Now that 2.6.26 is released, and the kernel in Intrepid/8.10 (our current development cycle) is pretty stable, they have opened up a new git tree called ubuntu-next. Do not confuse this with linux-next, they are different concepts.

The team will not be spending a lot of time adding features to this tree. It is basically a rebase of all of the patches on top of the latest kernel in linux-2.6 upstream git. Patches are consolidated and given some consistency (and a few pushed upstream). At regular intervals, binary packages of this tree will be made available (usually at -rc milestones from upstream). In fact, the first installment of these are now available at: http://kernel.ubuntu.com/pub/next/2.6.27-rc2/

There are some things to remember when using this kernel, and they can be found here: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/kernel-team/2008-August/002868.html
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## Bug stats only take a second to do.
## Data can be found at: http://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+bugs
## See last week's UWN to calculate change over last week.
## NOTE: To be done ONLY on the release date of the UWN (or latter if late).

    * Open (#) +/- # over last week
    * Critical (#) +/- # over last week
    * Unconfirmed (#) +/- # over last week
    * Unassigned (#) +/- # over last week
    * All bugs ever reported (#) +/- # over last week		  * Open (46760) -416 # over last week
 * Critical (26) +1 # over last week
 * Unconfirmed (22266) -680 # over last week
 * Unassigned (37622) -464 # over last week
 * All bugs ever reported (200126) +1986 # over last week
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=== Infamous Bugs ===

## Delete if no infamous/funny bugs for this week.
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## Translation stats only take a second to do.
## Data can be found at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy (or current release)
## See last week's UWN to calculate change over last week.
## NOTE: To be done ONLY on the release date of the UWN (or latter if late).
## List the top 5 untranslated languages.

 1. Language (#) +/- # over last week
 2. Language (#) +/- # over last week
 3. Language (#) +/- # over last week
 4. Language (#) +/- # over last week
 5. Language (#) +/- # over last week		  * Spanish (11958)
 * English-UK (32228)
 * French (39151)
 * Brazilian Portuguese (50113)
 * Swedish (52880)
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=== 5-a-day bug stats ===

Top 5 contributors for the past 7 days

 * odd-rationale (250)
 * nick.ellery (108)
 * kennym-safe-mail (101)
 * jibel (101)
 * mcisternas (82)

Top 5 teams for the past 7 days

 * club-ubuntu (152)
 * ubuntu-michigan (108)
 * indian-team (15)
 * motuscience (13)
 * ubuntu-us-or (12)

=== Global Bug Jam stats ===

Top 5 teams for the past 7 days

 * club-ubuntu.org-GBJ08 (464)
 * global-august-08-chile (176)
 * global-august-08-pdx (53)
 * global-august-08-michigan (49)
 * GBJ-Aug08-India (38)

5 A Day and Global Bug Jam stats provided by Daniel Holbach. See http://daniel.holba.ch/5-a-day-stats/
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==== BarCamp Chicago! ====

August 16th and 17th, Chicago is holding its annual Bar``Camp Chicago event. It will start Saturday and run all the way through Sunday evening. FREE FOOD AND DRINK! Great talks and a lot of super cool IT people all getting together and hanging out. Last year was awesome! So if you are able to next week, go and hang out with the various area user groups and the Ubuntu Chicago Lo``C0. http://blog.nixternal.com/2008.08.09/barcamp-chicago/
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## Make each article a subsection, via === Section name ===
## Add notes about new locoteams, changed ones, meetings, etc.
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Do you have sensitive data on your computer? Perhaps a file containing all of your passwords? Financial spreadsheets or GPG/SSH keys? Are you concerned about someone reading these files should your PC or laptop be stolen? In Ubuntu’s Intrepid Ibex development cycle, the Ubuntu Server Team is implementing support for an encrypted private directory in each user’s home. The underlying technology is a cryptographic virtual filesystem in the Linux kernel called eCryptfs.

Testers wanted! Most of the integration of Encrypted Private Directories has been completed in Intrepid, and now we’re looking for some proactive Ubuntu users to test this functionality before the legions of Ubuntu users begin trusting this technology with their personal data. With your help, hopefully we can shake out any remaining functionality or usability issues.		 Do you have sensitive data on your computer? Perhaps a file containing all of your passwords? Financial spreadsheets or GPG/SSH keys? Are you concerned about someone reading these files should your PC or laptop be stolen? In Ubuntu’s Intrepid Ibex development cycle, the Ubuntu Server Team is implementing support for an encrypted private directory in each user’s home. The underlying technology is a cryptographic virtual file system in the Linux kernel called eCryptfs.

Testers wanted! Most of the integration of Encrypted Private Directories has been completed in Intrepid, and now the team is looking for some proactive Ubuntu users to test this functionality before the legions of Ubuntu users begin trusting this technology with their personal data. With your help, hopefully the team can shake out any remaining functionality or usability issues.
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## This list is pulled by Corey Burger and dumped here in raw form for parsing.
## Choose a something you wish to write about a write a short piece about what
## has changed since the last version in Ubuntu. This might mean several upstream
## releases. To find this data, use the changelog in the package and look on the web.
## If you cannot find a usable changelog, simply drop that package. Try and group packages
## together logically, such as X, the kernel or GNOME.

## After all the package sections are written, organize them logically, based
## on desktop or server, GNOME, KDE, or Xfce4, etc.

## Sometimes bigger changes, such as a new development policy or a major new
## thing will be mentioned under a seperate heading
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=== Inside the new Launchpad web service API ===

If you’ve been wanting to integrate Launchpad into your development tools, or create scripts that read and write Launchpad’s dataset, your wait is over. Launchpad released the initial version of our RESTful web service API to the beta testing team. Now you can integrate with Launchpad using our Python library or by making simple HTTP requests. Right now, the web service provides basic access to Launchpad’s people and bugs. The team is working now to expose more of Launchpad’s data–projects, milestones, and so on–and to improve the usability of the Python client. Read more about the exciting new features here: http://news.launchpad.net/cool-new-stuff/inside-the-new-launchpad-web-service-api

=== Survey about Launchpad’s upstream bug workflow ===

One of the cool things about Launchpad’s bug tracker is that it can link bugs together, regardless of whether they’re tracked in Launchpad or an external bug tracker. This is great for Ubuntu, where people report issues against an Ubuntu package of an upstream project. Jorge Castro works on Ubuntu’s community team and wants to know how Launchpad could improve this for upstream projects. If you’re from an upstream project and have an opinion on how to improve the workflow between Launchpad and your external bug tracker, take Jorge’s survey. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Grb6rCLEZaCZWhRpOveeaw_3d_3d

http://news.launchpad.net/general/survey-about-launchpads-upstream-bug-workflow
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 * Linux World Expo Awards(Best Desktop Solution: Ubuntu Desktop Edition 8.04 LTS) - Judged by a group of respected industry experts, the Linux``World Product Excellence Awards recognize product and service innovations by Linux``World® and Next-Generation Data Center™ (NGDC™) Conference & Expo exhibitors. The winners were recognized during a ceremony at the event on Tuesday, August 5. http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/live/12/media//news/CC969855

 * Ubuntu attracts the lion's share of Linux``World's smaller crowds - Michael Hatamoto noted that the Ubuntu booth seemed to attract more people than other booths. Their presentations and training sessions were heavily attended in a year when overall attendance was sparse. See a pic of the Canonica/Ubuntu booth at the link. http://www.betanews.com/article/Ubuntu_attracts_the_lions_share_of_LinuxWorlds_smaller_crowds/1218146689		  * Linux World Expo Awards (Best Desktop Solution: Ubuntu Desktop Edition 8.04 LTS) - Judged by a group of respected industry experts, the Linux``World Product Excellence Awards recognize product and service innovations by Linux``World® and Next-Generation Data Center™ (NGDC™) Conference & Expo exhibitors. The winners were recognized during a ceremony at the event on Tuesday, August 5. http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/live/12/media//news/CC969855

 * Ubuntu attracts the lion's share of Linux``World's smaller crowds - Michael Hatamoto noted that the Ubuntu booth seemed to attract more people than other booths. Their presentations and training sessions were heavily attended in a year when overall attendance was sparse. See a pic of the Canonical/Ubuntu booth at the link. http://www.betanews.com/article/Ubuntu_attracts_the_lions_share_of_LinuxWorlds_smaller_crowds/1218146689
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 * Leadership Lessons: Passion, Smarts and What Open Source Can Learn About Management - Esther Schindler spoke to Mark Shuttleworth from Ubuntu and Jon Sobel (Source``Forge group president) and Ross Turk (community manager for Source``Forge.net) about management and the open source community. One of the things that Ms. Schindler discovered is that there doesn't appear to be any training for managers in open source projects. And now it's time for open source to step up and innovate new methods of managing and training managers. http://advice.cio.com/esther_schindler/leadership_lessons

 * Giving new life to old computers - C.M. Boots-Faubert raises the age-old question: what do you do with a computer that no longer suits your needs? The answer, of course, is to give it to a child that has none, loaded with a secure operating system like Xubuntu which makes it appear to run faster than it ever did before. Not only that, but it comes with email and web browser, Abiword for doing homework and, oh yes, games. http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/BIZ/808050303		  * Leadership Lessons: Passion, Smarts and What Open Source Can Learn About Management - Esther Schindler spoke to Mark Shuttleworth from Ubuntu, Jon Sobel (Source``Forge group president) and Ross Turk (community manager for Source``Forge.net) about management and the open source community. One of the things that Ms. Schindler discovered is that there doesn't appear to be any training for managers in open source projects. And now it's time for open source to step up and innovate new methods of managing and training managers. http://advice.cio.com/esther_schindler/leadership_lessons

 * Giving new life to old computers - C.M. Boots-Faubert raises the age-old question: What do you do with a computer that no longer suits your needs? The answer, of course, is to give it to a child that has none, loaded with a secure operating system like Xubuntu which makes it appear to run faster than it ever did before. Not only that, but it comes with email and web browser, Abiword for doing homework and, oh yes, games. http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/BIZ/808050303
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Unison is a Small to Midsized Business (SMB) server and desktop solution for unifying communications. The Unison server, accessed through the Unison desktop, combines email, instant messaging, a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) phone system, contacts and calendaring. Currently available from the Unison Web site [1], it will soon be available at the Canonical Store [2].

[1] http://www.unison.com

[2] http://shop.canonical.com

http://www.ubuntu.com/news/unison-unified-communications		 Unison is a Small to Midsized Business (SMB) server and desktop solution for unifying communications. It integrates all major communications onto a single – Unison Server – which powers e-mail, instant messaging, a PBX, contacts and calendaring. Users access the server via Unison Desktop, a native application for Ubuntu or Windows, which gives them all communications in one place. With Unison Desktop, business workers are more productive because they waste less time managing and searching for messages and instead focus on their work. Running on a single Ubuntu server, Unison is more reliable and cost-effective, and because it includes an integrated PBX, e-mail and instant messaging system, companies do not need to purchase and maintain multiple expensive servers in order to communicate. The software is initially targeted at small and mid sized businesses (SMBs) with 20 to 1000 staff and will be available through the partners repositories. http://www.ubuntu.com/news/unison-unified-communications
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Alfresco, the open source Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system is coming to the Ubuntu partner repositories. Said Malcolm Yates, Global ISV manager at Canonical. “Users have a great opportunity to assess Alfresco on Ubuntu and see the benefits these two great Open Source solutions can bring organizations. We will jointly deliver a pre-packaged enterprise version of Alfresco later in the year.” Alfresco and Canonical will be demonstrating this solution at Linux``World in San Francisco, stand # 716. http://www.ubuntu.com/news/alfresco-enterprise-content-management

=== IBM, Canonical/Ubuntu, Novell, Red Hat to Deliver Microsoft-Free Desktops Worldwide ===

IBM, Canonical/Ubuntu, Red``Hat and Novell are teaming up to deliver Microsoft-free desk-top computing to the world by 2009. The hardware would com pre-loaded with the Linux operating system of each distributor as well as IBM's Open Collaboration Client Solution (OCCS). OCCS includes Lotus Notes, Lotus Symphony and Lotus Sametime. Also included will be the ability to choose to develop applications using Lotus Expeditor, based on the open source Eclipse programming model. The units would be branded by the local IT firms that bring it to market. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ibm-canonicalubuntu-novell-red-hat/story.aspx?guid={F6BECEDE-0833-4FA6-83D7-4EBA7A79337E}&dist=hppr		 Alfresco Software, Inc. and Canonical are teaming up to offer Alfresco Labs 3 within a pre-built software download as part of its partner repository. Using the simple apt-get command, end-users can execute a full installation, with all drivers and relevant dependencies pre-packaged. This move provides Alfresco with a new platform from which to reach a rapidly expanding Ubuntu user-base. Alfresco has seen major adoption of its open source ECM system throughout the world. With this partnership, users will have a great opportunity to assess Alfresco on Ubuntu, and see the benefits these two great Open Source solutions can bring to organizations. http://www.ubuntu.com/news/alfresco-enterprise-content-management

==== IBM, Canonical/Ubuntu, Novell, Red Hat to Deliver Microsoft-Free Desktops Worldwide ====

IBM, Canonical/Ubuntu, Red``Hat and Novell are teaming up to deliver Microsoft-free desk-top computing to the world by 2009. Citing shifting market forces and the growing demand for economical alternatives to costly Windows and Office-based computers, the four leaders sense an ideal set of circumstances allowing Linux-based desktops to proliferate in the coming year. The four leaders are working with their local business partners in markets around the world to build and distribute a pre-loaded PC offerings that features IBM's Open Collaboration Client Solution, including Lotus Notes, Lotus Symphony and Lotus Sametime; the Linux operating system of each distributor; and software applications and installation services from the local partners in each market. These solutions would be tailored to the needs of customers in specific industries and sectors http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ibm-canonicalubuntu-novell-red-hat/story.aspx?guid={F6BECEDE-0833-4FA6-83D7-4EBA7A79337E}&dist=hppr
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App``Checker, now in Beta 3, gives you the opportunity to test an application for compatibility with different versions of the Linux Standard Base (LSB) and against all the Linux distributions in the LSB Database. The results are presented in a report showing the compatibility of the application with the various distributions, and what libraries and interfaces it uses. It will even allow you to put your program in for LSB certification straight from the test program. Amanda Mc``Pherson warns, "This is a beta program and there's no guarantee, but yes, if App``Checker says your program should work with, say, Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04, then your application should work on these distributions. The results can get very granular. It will tell you this library or this interface isn't available in this distribution. It can also recommend some replacements." App``Checker is not a debugger, but it does provide the programmer with information that could make the application more portable.  http://www.linux.com/feature/144170

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jul/03/copy.machine.reprap (Ubuntu is supposedly the OS in the picture. I can't really tell)

== Meeting Summaries ==

## Any news from any Ubuntu Team listed here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TeamReports/January2008 be sure to udate to current month.		 App``Checker, now in Beta 3, gives you the opportunity to test an application for compatibility with different versions of the Linux Standard Base (LSB) and against all the Linux distributions in the LSB Database. The results are presented in a report showing the compatibility of the application with the various distributions, and what libraries and interfaces it uses. It will even allow you to put your program in for LSB certification straight from the test program. Amanda Mc``Pherson warns, "This is a beta program and there's no guarantee, but yes, if App``Checker says your program should work with, say, Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04, then your application should work on these distributions. The results can get very granular. It will tell you this library or this interface isn't available in this distribution. It can also recommend some replacements." App``Checker is not a debugger, but it does provide the programmer with information that could make the application more portable. http://www.linux.com/feature/144170

=== Ubuntu and RepRap ===

As reported in the UWN #95, Rep``Rap 1.0 "Darwin" is a rapid prototyping machine that is capable of making the majority of its own component parts. As a follow up of that article, here is a link to UWN #95, and some pictures showing Rep``Rap running the Ubuntu OS.

 * Original UWN article: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue95
 * Pic #1-Rep``Rap running Ubuntu: http://reprap.org/pub/Main/WebHome/reprap.jpg
 * Pic #2-Rep``Rap running Ubuntu: http://reprap.org/pub/Main/WebHome/pc-va.jpg

http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome
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## Data pulled from mailing lists and http://fridge.ubuntu.com
## Either use bullets or sub-headings to organize content.
## Format:
##
## === Friday, March 16, 2007 ===
##
## ==== MOTU Meeting ====
## * Start: 10:00
## * End: 12:00
## * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
## * Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Meetings

== Community Spotlight ==

## Specification Spotlight

## This section highlights an approved specification that is going to be implemented
## in Feisty. See the list at https://blueprints.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/feisty
## In general, choose user visible features, as the audience are mostly end users.
## Also try and group specs together that belong together, such as network or X.

## Feature of the week

## Pick a feature, piece of software, or package that you'd like to feature.
## Give a brief description, whats so special about it, who works on it,
## where to find it/install it, etc.

## Team of the week

## Pick a team (a ubuntu team) that you'd like to feature.
## Give a brief description of the team, what they work on, what they've
## accomplished, who is involved, how to get involved/join, etc.		 === Tuesday, August 12, 2008 ===

==== Server Team Meeting ====

 * Start: 15:00 UTC
 * End: 16:00 UTC
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Agenda: Not listed as of publication

=== Wednesday, August 13, 2008 ===

==== QA Team Meeting ====

 * Start: 17:00 UTC
 * End: 18:00 UTC
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Agenda: Not listed as of publication

==== Platform Team Meeting ====

 * Start: 22:00 UTC
 * End: 23:00 UTC
 * Location: IRC Channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Agenda: Not listed as of publication

=== Thursday, August 14, 2008 ===

==== Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting ====

 * Start: 12:00 UTC
 * End: 13:00 UTC
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Agenda: Not listed as of publication

==== Desktop Team Meeting ====

 * Start: 13:00 UTC
 * End: 14:00 UTC
 * IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Agenda: Not listed as of publication

==== Ubuntu Java Team Meeting ====

 * Start: 14:00 UTC
 * End: 15:00 UTC
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Agenda: Not listed as of publication

==== Ubuntu Classroom Session ====

 * Start: 22:00 UTC
 * End: 23:00 UTC
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-classroom
 * Agenda: How to merge from Debian - Hosted by Nathan Handler
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## http://www.ubuntu.com/usn
## List all security advisories since last UWN.
## Format: * USN-###-#: <package name> vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-###-#
## Ex: * USN-389-1: GnuPG vulnerability - [WWW] http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-389-1

=== Ubuntu 6.06 Updates ===

## https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes
## List all uploads since last UWN.
## Format: * <packagename> - <link to mailing list message>
## Ex: * postgresql-8.1_8.1.11-0ubuntu0.6.10.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2008-January/008478.html		  * [USN-626-2] Devhelp, Epiphany, Midbrowser and Yelp update - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-security-announce/2008-August/000739.html

=== Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Updates ===

 * xine-lib_1.1.1+ubuntu2-7.9 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2008-August/012738.html
 * sun-java5 1.5.0-16-0ubuntu0.6.06 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2008-August/012739.html
 * amsn 0.95-1ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2008-August/012740.html
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## https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes
## List all uploads since last UWN.
## Format: * <packagename> - <link to mailing list message>
## Ex: * lvm2 2.02.06-2ubuntu3.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2007-March/008083.html		  * postfix-policyd 1.80-2.1ubuntu0.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2008-August/008985.html
 * xine-lib_1.1.4-2ubuntu3.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2008-August/008986.html
 * amsn 0.96+dfsg1-0ubuntu2.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2008-August/008987.html
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## https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gutsy-changes
## List all uploads since last UWN.
## Format: * <packagename> - <link to mailing list message>
## Ex: * tzdata 2007h-0ubuntu0.7.10 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gutsy-changes/2007-October/009951.html		  * aide 0.13.1-7ubuntu1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gutsy-changes/2008-August/010289.html
 * postfix-policyd 1.80-2.2ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gutsy-changes/2008-August/010290.html
 * amsn 0.97RC1+dfsg-0ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gutsy-changes/2008-August/010291.html
 * xine-lib_1.1.7-1ubuntu1.3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gutsy-changes/2008-August/010292.html
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## https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/
## List all uploads since last UWN.
## Format: * <packagename> - <link to mailing list message>
## Ex: * tzdata 2007h-0ubuntu0.8.04 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/009951.html


== UWN #: A sneak peek ==

## Articles that should have made it into this release but have been deferred should be listed here.
## Delete if unnecessary.		  * linux-backports-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24-20.23 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011915.html
 * linux-backports-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24-20.22 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011914.html
 * aide 0.13.1-8ubuntu2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011916.html
 * mnogosearch 3.3.6-1ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011917.html
 * siproxd 1:0.5.13-1ubuntu2.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011918.html
 * nss 3.12.0.3-0ubuntu0.8.04.4 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011920.html
 * nspr 4.7.1+1.9-0ubuntu0.8.04.5 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011919.html
 * openjdk-6 6b11-2ubuntu2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011921.html
 * devhelp_0.19-1ubuntu1.8.04.3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011922.html
 * epiphany-browser_2.22.2-0ubuntu0.8.04.5 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011923.html
 * midbrowser_0.3.0rc1a-1~8.04.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011924.html
 * yelp_2.22.1-0ubuntu2.8.04.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011925.html
 * writer2latex 0.5-6ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011926.html
 * linux-restricted-modules-envy-2.6.24 2.6.24.503-503.30 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011927.html
 * qtpfsgui 1.9.0-1ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011928.html
 * gnumed-client 0.2.8.10-1~hardy1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011929.html
 * openldap2.3 2.4.9-0ubuntu0.8.04.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011930.html
 * amsn 0.97+final-0ubuntu5.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011931.html
 * zdesktop 0.90.1249beta-hardy1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011932.html
 * initramfs-tools 0.85eubuntu39.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011933.html
 * xine-lib_1.1.11.1-1ubuntu3.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011934.html
 * ubuntu-vm-builder 0.4-0ubuntu0.4 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011935.html
 * app-install-data-commercial 9.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011936.html
 * sun-java5 1.5.0-16-2ubuntu2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011938.html
 * sun-java6 6-07-3ubuntu2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011937.html
 * solfege 3.9.3-4ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011939.html
 * vlc_0.8.6.release.e+x264svn20071224+faad2.6.1-0ubuntu3.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011940.html
 * vim-latexsuite 20060325-4.1ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011941.html
 * slack 0.14.1-2ubuntu1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011942.html
 * deskbar-applet 2.22.3.1-0ubuntu1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011943.html
 * libsoup2.4 2.4.1-1ubuntu1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011944.html
 * glib2.0 2.16.4-0ubuntu3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011945.html
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## The following list is in chronological order.
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 * Your Name Here  * Dave Bush
 * Arlan Vennefron
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## Common acronyms  1. PBX - Private branch exchange: a telephone exchange that serves a particular business or office.

Contents

  1. UWN Translations
  2. In This Issue
  3. General Community News
    1. Intrepid Alpha-4 ahead
    2. Ubuntu Studio is looking for help.
    3. SRU needs you!
    4. New Ubuntu Members
      1. Americas Board
    5. MOTU News
    6. Kernel Team
      1. Ubuntu Kernel Next
  4. Ubuntu Stats
    1. Bug Stats
    2. Translation Stats Hardy
    3. 5-a-day bug stats
    4. Global Bug Jam stats
  5. LoCo News
      1. BarCamp Chicago!
    2. Ubuntu Love Day Manila 2008
  6. New in Intrepid Ibex
    1. Encrypted Private Directories
  7. Launchpad News
    1. Inside the new Launchpad web service API
    2. Survey about Launchpad’s upstream bug workflow
  8. Ubuntu Forums News
  9. In The Press
  10. In The Blogosphere
  11. In Other News
    1. Announcements
      1. Canonical to Offer Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop through Ubuntu Partner Repository
      2. Unison™ released for Ubuntu: bringing unified communications to Linux
      3. Canonical To Offer Alfresco Labs Pre-Packaged through Ubuntu Partner Repository
      4. IBM, Canonical/Ubuntu, Novell, Red Hat to Deliver Microsoft-Free Desktops Worldwide
    2. Internet Labs opened by Ecuador President Rafael Correa
    3. Linux Foundation launches killer development tool
    4. Ubuntu and RepRap
  12. Upcoming Meetings and Events
    1. Tuesday, August 12, 2008
      1. Server Team Meeting
    2. Wednesday, August 13, 2008
      1. QA Team Meeting
      2. Platform Team Meeting
    3. Thursday, August 14, 2008
      1. Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting
      2. Desktop Team Meeting
      3. Ubuntu Java Team Meeting
      4. Ubuntu Classroom Session
  13. Updates and Security for 6.06, 7.04, 7.10, and 8.04
    1. Security Updates
    2. Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Updates
    3. Ubuntu 7.04 Updates
    4. Ubuntu 7.10 Updates
    5. Ubuntu 8.04 Updates
  14. Archives and RSS Feed
  15. Additional Ubuntu News
  16. Conclusion
  17. Credits
  18. Glossary of Terms
  19. Feedback

newspaper-icon.jpg 

WORK IN PROGRESS

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #103 for the week August 3rd - August 9th, 2008. In this issue we cover: Intrepid Alpha-4 ahead, Ubuntu Studio looking for help, SRU needs you, New Ubuntu Members, MOTU news, Ubuntu Kernel Next, BarCamp Chicago, Ubuntu Love Day Manila, Encrypted Private Directories, Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop, Unison, Alfresco Labs, Internet Labs in Ecuador, Linux Foundation AptChecker tool, Ubuntu and RepRap, 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

  • Intrepid Alpha-4 ahead
  • Ubuntu Studion looking for help
  • SRU needs you
  • New Ubuntu Members
  • MOTU news
  • Ubuntu Kernel Next
  • Ubuntu Stats

  • LoCo News

  • Encyrpted Private Directories
  • Launchpad News

  • In the Press & Blogosphere

  • Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop
  • Unison
  • Alfresco Labs
  • Internet Labs in Ecuador

  • Linux Foundation AptChecker tool

  • Upcoming Meetings & Events

  • Updates & Security

General Community News

Intrepid Alpha-4 ahead

The expected release date of Intrepid Alpha 4 is this Thursday, August 14. Intrepid Alpha 4 will again use a "soft freeze" for main. 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,

The list of bugs targeted for alpha-4 can be found at: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bugs?field.milestone%3Alist=1322

For a full review of what's still needed, please visit the link. https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2008-August/000464.html

Ubuntu Studio is looking for help.

If you have an interest in multimedia applications, such as Inkscape, Ardour, Blender, Audacity, GIMP, etc., then Ubuntu Studio would like to hear from you. They are looking for people who can package, or would like to learn packaging, people who can help design the look of the website and people who have documentation skills. Join the team at #ubuntustudio-devel, or introduce yourself on the mailing list:https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-studio-devel

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-studio-devel/2008-August/000749.html

SRU needs you!

The number of stable release updates sitting in -proposed is getting larger[1]. Thank you to everyone who has worked on getting SRU bug fixes prepared and uploaded!

Packages in -proposed are ready to be moved to -updates after one week in -proposed and 2 positive verifications (as comments in the bug report) and no negatives. This means verification is often the bottleneck and why we're asking for help. A short howto is:

  • read the SRU bug report and verify that you can reproduce the bug. Many reports should have explicit test cases you can follow.
  • install the package(s) from -proposed
  • repeat step 1 and verify that the bug is fixed
  • add both positive and negative results on the SRU bug report

If you have any questions on SRU verifications please ask in #ubuntu-testing. Steve Beattie (sbeattie) is the teams SRU rock star and would love to help you get started.

[1] http://people.ubuntu.com/~ubuntu-archive/pending-sru.html

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2008-August/000463.html

New Ubuntu Members

Americas Board

Paul Tagliamonte is the creator of Sabre (a Bluetooth plugin for amaroK) designed and tested for Ubuntu. He is also the creator of Qube (a CLI into libnotify) allowing shell scripters to use the attractive notification daemon. Paul is also a Member of the Ubuntu Forum's Beginner's Team. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~paultag Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Paultag

Michael Rooney is an active participant in the Bugsquad and Bugcontrol teams, he also manages the irc bot Eeebotu, which resides in #ubuntu-bugs-announce and announces bugs in Ubuntu as they come in. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~michael Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MikeRooney

Charles Davis is a Forum staff member and active member of the Ubuntu Forums Beginners Team/Unanswered Posts Team. He is also active in the Launchpad Beginner Team for Ubuntu, and a member of the Ubuntu Documentation Students Team. Paul is currently working to improve the quality of Ubuntu's help system and Community Wiki Pages. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~charles.davis Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Old_soldier

Joe Barker has been a member of the Ubuntu Forums since the end of August 2007. He is now a Member of the Beginners Team/Unanswered Posts team, and just recently he became a Forum Moderator. Paul has also participated in the Sabre project (http://launchpad.net/sabre). Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~Joeb454 Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Joeb454

Bryan Quigley is a long standing volunteer for the New Jersey LoCo team and has been to almost every event. He has helped triage bugs, answered many support questions, and made several blueprints. Bryan is a very active advocate of free software (check reference of participation in events). Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~gQuigs Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Gquigs

Ted Gould has participated in the Desktop team. He has given promotional talks on Ubuntu at several FOSS orientes events (SCaLE, Ubuntu Open Week, OSCON). Ted has also participated in packaging and maintenance for GNOME Power Manager and GNOME Screensaver in ubuntu. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~ted-gould Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TedGould

Emma Jane Hogbin is a very active member of the FOSS community. Her participation ranges from being a member of the Ubuntu Women team, conference speaker (DrupalCon, LugRadio Live, amongst others), chairing conferences and participation in Hardware recycling programs. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~emmajane Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EmmaJane

The Americas board is delighted to present these new Ubuntu Members!

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2008-August/000144.html

MOTU News

James Westby (james_w) is now an Ubuntu Universe Contributor. Please join us in welcoming our very own MOTU School Dean to the Ubuntu Universe Contributors team. James has been active in development for some time, has restored MOTU School to an institution of learning, and much, much more. Launchpad: https://edge.launchpad.net/~james-w Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JamesWestby

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-motu/2008-August/004382.html

Kernel Team

Ubuntu Kernel Next

Normally in Ubuntu's development cycle, work on the kernel doesn't begin for a release until that release opens for development. This time around however, the kernel team is starting something new. Now that 2.6.26 is released, and the kernel in Intrepid/8.10 (our current development cycle) is pretty stable, they have opened up a new git tree called ubuntu-next. Do not confuse this with linux-next, they are different concepts.

The team will not be spending a lot of time adding features to this tree. It is basically a rebase of all of the patches on top of the latest kernel in linux-2.6 upstream git. Patches are consolidated and given some consistency (and a few pushed upstream). At regular intervals, binary packages of this tree will be made available (usually at -rc milestones from upstream). In fact, the first installment of these are now available at: http://kernel.ubuntu.com/pub/next/2.6.27-rc2/

There are some things to remember when using this kernel, and they can be found here: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/kernel-team/2008-August/002868.html

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open (46760) -416 # over last week
  • Critical (26) +1 # over last week
  • Unconfirmed (22266) -680 # over last week
  • Unassigned (37622) -464 # over last week
  • All bugs ever reported (200126) +1986 # 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 Hardy

  • Spanish (11958)
  • English-UK (32228)
  • French (39151)
  • Brazilian Portuguese (50113)
  • Swedish (52880)

Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron," see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/

5-a-day bug stats

Top 5 contributors for the past 7 days

  • odd-rationale (250)
  • nick.ellery (108)
  • kennym-safe-mail (101)
  • jibel (101)
  • mcisternas (82)

Top 5 teams for the past 7 days

  • club-ubuntu (152)
  • ubuntu-michigan (108)
  • indian-team (15)
  • motuscience (13)
  • ubuntu-us-or (12)

Global Bug Jam stats

Top 5 teams for the past 7 days

  • club-ubuntu.org-GBJ08 (464)
  • global-august-08-chile (176)
  • global-august-08-pdx (53)
  • global-august-08-michigan (49)
  • GBJ-Aug08-India (38)

5 A Day and Global Bug Jam stats provided by Daniel Holbach. See http://daniel.holba.ch/5-a-day-stats/

LoCo News

BarCamp Chicago!

August 16th and 17th, Chicago is holding its annual BarCamp Chicago event. It will start Saturday and run all the way through Sunday evening. FREE FOOD AND DRINK! Great talks and a lot of super cool IT people all getting together and hanging out. Last year was awesome! So if you are able to next week, go and hang out with the various area user groups and the Ubuntu Chicago LoC0. http://blog.nixternal.com/2008.08.09/barcamp-chicago/

Ubuntu Love Day Manila 2008

The Ubuntu Philippines Local Community Team (Ubuntu-PH), and the University of the Philippines Diliman Department of Computer Science are holding an Ubuntu sharing event on August 23, 2008. Geared toward Ubuntu enthusiasts, it's an opportunity for people to share their experiences in using Ubuntu in everyday computing. Six resource people are slated to present talks:

  1. The Ubuntu 30 day challenge - Aileen Apolo (Google)
  2. Ubuntu on virtualization and integrating to a Windows Network - Wallen Tan
  3. Ubuntu: Saving lives (and then some) - Charo Nuguid
  4. Choice is Good! Welcome to the Exciting, Productive and Wacky World of Ubuntu Derivatives - members of UP Linux Users' Group (UnPLUG)
  5. Ubuntu and the OLPC XO-1 - Rowen Remis Iral (OLPCPH)

  6. Kubuntu & KDE: Contributing to an International Software Project - Juan Carlos Torres (KDE Project)

Due to the limited space, tickets for the event have already been fully allocated. http://ubuntuloveday2008.eventbrite.com/

New in Intrepid Ibex

Encrypted Private Directories

Do you have sensitive data on your computer? Perhaps a file containing all of your passwords? Financial spreadsheets or GPG/SSH keys? Are you concerned about someone reading these files should your PC or laptop be stolen? In Ubuntu’s Intrepid Ibex development cycle, the Ubuntu Server Team is implementing support for an encrypted private directory in each user’s home. The underlying technology is a cryptographic virtual file system in the Linux kernel called eCryptfs.

Testers wanted! Most of the integration of Encrypted Private Directories has been completed in Intrepid, and now the team is looking for some proactive Ubuntu users to test this functionality before the legions of Ubuntu users begin trusting this technology with their personal data. With your help, hopefully the team can shake out any remaining functionality or usability issues.

Please follow the complete, step-by-step, up-to-date instructions in the wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EncryptedPrivateDirectory#head-4a2aa7460fdca18bfe78bb1283becff406bbc13c

For a more in depth discussion and information on where to file bugs, visit this link: http://dustinkirkland.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/encrypted-private-directories-in-ubuntu-intrepid/

Launchpad News

Inside the new Launchpad web service API

If you’ve been wanting to integrate Launchpad into your development tools, or create scripts that read and write Launchpad’s dataset, your wait is over. Launchpad released the initial version of our RESTful web service API to the beta testing team. Now you can integrate with Launchpad using our Python library or by making simple HTTP requests. Right now, the web service provides basic access to Launchpad’s people and bugs. The team is working now to expose more of Launchpad’s data–projects, milestones, and so on–and to improve the usability of the Python client. Read more about the exciting new features here: http://news.launchpad.net/cool-new-stuff/inside-the-new-launchpad-web-service-api

Survey about Launchpad’s upstream bug workflow

One of the cool things about Launchpad’s bug tracker is that it can link bugs together, regardless of whether they’re tracked in Launchpad or an external bug tracker. This is great for Ubuntu, where people report issues against an Ubuntu package of an upstream project. Jorge Castro works on Ubuntu’s community team and wants to know how Launchpad could improve this for upstream projects. If you’re from an upstream project and have an opinion on how to improve the workflow between Launchpad and your external bug tracker, take Jorge’s survey. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Grb6rCLEZaCZWhRpOveeaw_3d_3d

http://news.launchpad.net/general/survey-about-launchpads-upstream-bug-workflow

Ubuntu Forums News

In The Press

  • Linux World Expo Awards (Best Desktop Solution: Ubuntu Desktop Edition 8.04 LTS) - Judged by a group of respected industry experts, the LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards recognize product and service innovations by LinuxWorld® and Next-Generation Data Center™ (NGDC™) Conference & Expo exhibitors. The winners were recognized during a ceremony at the event on Tuesday, August 5. http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/live/12/media//news/CC969855

  • Ubuntu attracts the lion's share of LinuxWorld's smaller crowds - Michael Hatamoto noted that the Ubuntu booth seemed to attract more people than other booths. Their presentations and training sessions were heavily attended in a year when overall attendance was sparse. See a pic of the Canonical/Ubuntu booth at the link. http://www.betanews.com/article/Ubuntu_attracts_the_lions_share_of_LinuxWorlds_smaller_crowds/1218146689

  • Ubuntu Goes Enterprise - Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols explains that Ubuntu is about to release business software stacks for Small-to-Medium sized Businesses (SMB) and enterprises. Some of the preloaded software intended to be released by 2009 is the IBM Open Collaboration Client Solution (OCCS) which includes Lotus Notes, Lotus Symphony and Lotus Sametime. Another offering will be the Zimbra Collaboration Suite 5.5. And still a third will be Unison, which is a combination desktop and server package. http://www.cio.com/article/441702/

  • A Penguin with an Egg: Growing the Open-Source Community - Esther Schindler relates some of her experiences at the Open Source Convention (OSCON). She discusses how to include more than just developers in the community, and getting people to contribute in other ways than by just coding. This included talking to Mark Shuttleworth about attracting participants and interacting and integrating with upstream software providers. Other discussions included the role of women in Open Source, and community management. Also mentioned in the article is the Open Web Foundation, and how it tries to encourage data as well as open source code to be available everywhere. Some of this involves untangling licensing definitions. Read more at http://www.cio.com/article/441165/

  • Leadership Lessons: Passion, Smarts and What Open Source Can Learn About Management - Esther Schindler spoke to Mark Shuttleworth from Ubuntu, Jon Sobel (SourceForge group president) and Ross Turk (community manager for SourceForge.net) about management and the open source community. One of the things that Ms. Schindler discovered is that there doesn't appear to be any training for managers in open source projects. And now it's time for open source to step up and innovate new methods of managing and training managers. http://advice.cio.com/esther_schindler/leadership_lessons

  • Giving new life to old computers - C.M. Boots-Faubert raises the age-old question: What do you do with a computer that no longer suits your needs? The answer, of course, is to give it to a child that has none, loaded with a secure operating system like Xubuntu which makes it appear to run faster than it ever did before. Not only that, but it comes with email and web browser, Abiword for doing homework and, oh yes, games. http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/BIZ/808050303

In The Blogosphere

  • Canonical Preparing Virtual Ubuntu Server Appliances - The Var Guy briefly explains how Ubuntu is simplifying the installation of server applications in virtual server appliances. The application stacks ride on top of the virtualization software without the need of special hardware beyond that traditionally used. Read more at http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/08/07/canonical-preparing-virtual-ubuntu-server-appliances/

  • Installfest: Untangle, Ubuntu Linux Saves 750 PCs From Landfills - Joe Panettieri has the final numbers from the Installfest at LinuxWorld Expo. In an effort backed by Untangle and its partners, Ubuntu was installed on 750 used computers, resulting in an estimated savings of $375,000 over buying new PC's with Windows Vista installed. This helps kids and the environment. http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/08/07/untangle-ubuntu-linux-save-750-pcs-from-landfills/

  • A practical experience: Fedora vs Ubuntu - The author of the blog site Journihilism compares Fedora and Ubuntu based on some personal preferences but without giving a definitive choice. His purpose appears to be more toward showing the strengths of each distribution. In his opinion, Ubuntu is easy to use, whereas Fedora is more stable and secure, however Ubuntu has a means of getting the codecs one needs where Fedora doesn't. http://journihilism.net/2008/08/a-practical-experience-fedora-vs-ubuntu/

  • How Dell and System76’s Ubuntu Machines Stack Up to Their Mac Counterparts - Andrew Min compares prices and features of similarly equipped Mac, System76 and Dell(loaded with Ubuntu) computers in 4 different categories. Prices were somewhat comparable in the mini and low-end laptop categories. But the System76 Serval took the high-end category and the Dell Inspiron 530N with Ubuntu installed took the desktop category. See the breakdown at: http://www.dawningvalley.com/2008/08/how-dell-and-system76s-ubuntu-machines-stack-up-to-their-mac-counterparts/

In Other News

Announcements

Canonical to Offer Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop through Ubuntu Partner Repository

Zimbra has announced that Canonical, will give users direct access to Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop through the Ubuntu Partner Repository. The inclusion of Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop in the Ubuntu Partner Repository provides Ubuntu users with best-of-breed collaboration technology that is built natively for the Linux platform. With Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop, Ubuntu users will have access to Yahoo! Mail, Gmail™, AOL Mail and any IMAP or POP enabled e-mail account, such as work, personal and school accounts, from the same place, even when they are not connected to the Internet. Additionally, Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop allows people to use the iCal standard to take their calendar offline. http://www.ubuntu.com/news/zimbra-desktop

Unison™ released for Ubuntu: bringing unified communications to Linux

Unison is a Small to Midsized Business (SMB) server and desktop solution for unifying communications. It integrates all major communications onto a single – Unison Server – which powers e-mail, instant messaging, a PBX, contacts and calendaring. Users access the server via Unison Desktop, a native application for Ubuntu or Windows, which gives them all communications in one place. With Unison Desktop, business workers are more productive because they waste less time managing and searching for messages and instead focus on their work. Running on a single Ubuntu server, Unison is more reliable and cost-effective, and because it includes an integrated PBX, e-mail and instant messaging system, companies do not need to purchase and maintain multiple expensive servers in order to communicate. The software is initially targeted at small and mid sized businesses (SMBs) with 20 to 1000 staff and will be available through the partners repositories. http://www.ubuntu.com/news/unison-unified-communications

Canonical To Offer Alfresco Labs Pre-Packaged through Ubuntu Partner Repository

Alfresco Software, Inc. and Canonical are teaming up to offer Alfresco Labs 3 within a pre-built software download as part of its partner repository. Using the simple apt-get command, end-users can execute a full installation, with all drivers and relevant dependencies pre-packaged. This move provides Alfresco with a new platform from which to reach a rapidly expanding Ubuntu user-base. Alfresco has seen major adoption of its open source ECM system throughout the world. With this partnership, users will have a great opportunity to assess Alfresco on Ubuntu, and see the benefits these two great Open Source solutions can bring to organizations. http://www.ubuntu.com/news/alfresco-enterprise-content-management

IBM, Canonical/Ubuntu, Novell, Red Hat to Deliver Microsoft-Free Desktops Worldwide

IBM, Canonical/Ubuntu, RedHat and Novell are teaming up to deliver Microsoft-free desk-top computing to the world by 2009. Citing shifting market forces and the growing demand for economical alternatives to costly Windows and Office-based computers, the four leaders sense an ideal set of circumstances allowing Linux-based desktops to proliferate in the coming year. The four leaders are working with their local business partners in markets around the world to build and distribute a pre-loaded PC offerings that features IBM's Open Collaboration Client Solution, including Lotus Notes, Lotus Symphony and Lotus Sametime; the Linux operating system of each distributor; and software applications and installation services from the local partners in each market. These solutions would be tailored to the needs of customers in specific industries and sectors http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ibm-canonicalubuntu-novell-red-hat/story.aspx?guid={F6BECEDE-0833-4FA6-83D7-4EBA7A79337E}&dist=hppr

Internet Labs opened by Ecuador President Rafael Correa

In a display of cooperation between LoCos, Jorge Alvarez from the Ubuntu Nevada LoCo team provided some pictures to the Ecuador LoCo of Ecuadorian President, Rafael Correa, opening some internet labs in the Guasmo Area of Guayaquil, Ecuador. The Computers are running the best OS available, Uubntu, thus showing the commitment to Software Libre that the government of Ecuador has. Pictures at the link show some of the lab and President Correa. http://ecubuntu.com/?p=1347

Linux Foundation launches killer development tool

AppChecker, now in Beta 3, gives you the opportunity to test an application for compatibility with different versions of the Linux Standard Base (LSB) and against all the Linux distributions in the LSB Database. The results are presented in a report showing the compatibility of the application with the various distributions, and what libraries and interfaces it uses. It will even allow you to put your program in for LSB certification straight from the test program. Amanda McPherson warns, "This is a beta program and there's no guarantee, but yes, if AppChecker says your program should work with, say, Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04, then your application should work on these distributions. The results can get very granular. It will tell you this library or this interface isn't available in this distribution. It can also recommend some replacements." AppChecker is not a debugger, but it does provide the programmer with information that could make the application more portable. http://www.linux.com/feature/144170

Ubuntu and RepRap

As reported in the UWN #95, RepRap 1.0 "Darwin" is a rapid prototyping machine that is capable of making the majority of its own component parts. As a follow up of that article, here is a link to UWN #95, and some pictures showing RepRap running the Ubuntu OS.

http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Server Team Meeting

  • Start: 15:00 UTC
  • End: 16:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

QA Team Meeting

  • Start: 17:00 UTC
  • End: 18:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Platform Team Meeting

  • Start: 22:00 UTC
  • End: 23:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC Channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting

  • Start: 12:00 UTC
  • End: 13:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Desktop Team Meeting

  • Start: 13:00 UTC
  • End: 14:00 UTC
  • IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Ubuntu Java Team Meeting

  • Start: 14:00 UTC
  • End: 15:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Ubuntu Classroom Session

  • Start: 22:00 UTC
  • End: 23:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-classroom
  • Agenda: How to merge from Debian - Hosted by Nathan Handler

Updates and Security for 6.06, 7.04, 7.10, and 8.04

Security Updates

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Updates

Ubuntu 7.04 Updates

Ubuntu 7.10 Updates

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

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:

and

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
  • Dave Bush
  • Arlan Vennefron
  • And many others

Glossary of Terms

  1. PBX - Private branch exchange: a telephone exchange that serves a particular business or office.

Feedback

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Weekly News Team. If you have a story idea or suggestions for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list at https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/Ubuntu-news-team and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Ideas. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, please feel free to edit the appropriate wiki page. If you have any technical support questions, please send them to ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com.

UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue103 (last edited 2008-08-10 22:44:08 by 78)