Foresight Linux Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 4 (June 2007)
Welcome to the latest edition of the Foresight Linux Newsletter! This month we bring you a special edition newsletter with a look at Foresight Linux invading BarCamp Chicago (your Editor included), Foresight's founder and lead developer in the news, a look ahead to Foresight Linux 2, as well as a recap of bug fixes, security updates, and contributing to Foresight Linux. Don't worry, next month will see the return of Tips & Tricks and the Package of the Month. Don't forget you can subscribe to the newsletter in your favorite feed reader, just add http://feeds.feedburner.com/foresightnewsletter. Comments or feedback? We'd love to hear from you, drop us a note at feedback@foresightlinux.org.
In this issue:
- Foresight Linux 1.3.1 released
- GNOME Journal
- PC Master (Brazil)
- 2007 Foresight Linux Tour
- Recent packages updated to fix security flaws
- rPath Linux Announcement
- Foresight Linux 2.0 development
- Getting Started with Foresight Linux Userguide now available
- Website Design and Development
Foresight Linux News
Foresight Linux 1.3.1 Released June 22nd
June continued the quiet period of releases for Foresight Linux as development continued behind the scenes on Foresight Linux 2.0 and GNOME 2.20. Foresight Linux 1.3.1 was released on June 22nd with the latest bug fixes and package updates as a point release.
Starting in July, Foresight will move to regular point releases and snapshots released one to two times a month.
Foresight Linux 1.3.1 is available for download on 1 DVD, 2 CDs, or through a number of different virtualization images. Visit the download page for more information.
Foresight Linux in the Press
GNOME Journal
The latest GNOME Journalfeatures an interview I conducted with Ken VanDinea few months ago regarding the GNOME Live Media release. The interview discusses Ken's background with GNOME, the tools used in creating the Live Media based on Foresight Linux, and plans for the GNOME 2.20 release.
[Ed. note - This interview was conducted before I joined the Foresight Linux team, and one of my motivations for getting involved with Foresight Linux was based on the camaraderie and open communication that Foresight Linux has. This interview, and Ken's willingness to participate and answer questions, as well as his partnership and leadership in building the GNOME Live Media were one of the driving forces that led me to become active in Foresight Linux, as well as the kindness of the other developers who participate in #foresight on Freenode IRC).
PC Master
The May issue of PC Master, a Brazilian computer magazine written in Portuguese, had an in-depth article on the Conary package manager, which Foresight Linux uses. PC Master also featured an article on the GNOME 2.18 release, with screenshots from Foresight Linux.
Foresight Linux World Tour 2007
Ken VanDine, Foresight Linux's founder and lead developer, has kicked off a world tour to demonstrate Foresight Linux, GNOME and Conary technologies at a variety of venues, including Barcamp Chicago (featured below), with planned stops at OSConand Linux World Expo.
Security Updates
Security updates are published on the Foresight Security mailing list. This month's security updates include:
| FLEA-2007-0023-1 |
Firefox |
2007-05-31 |
Previous versions of the Firefox package are vulnerable to several types of attacks, one of which is understood to potentially allow compromised or malicious sites to run arbitrary code as the user running the vulnerable application. A number of cross-site-scripting bugs have also been corrected. |
| FLEA-2007-0024-1 |
libexif |
2007-06-04 |
Previous versions of the libexif package were vulnerable to an int overflow when loading EXIF data which could cause a crash (denial of service) or potentially allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code at the permission level of the user running a program which uses libexif.. |
| FLEA-2007-0025-1 |
OpenOffice.org |
2007-06-13 |
Previous versions of the freetype package were vulnerable to an issue whereby a specially crafted ttf file could execute arbitrary code at the permission level of the user running freetype. |
| FLEA-2007-0026-1 |
evolution-data-server |
2007-06-18 |
Previous versions of the evolution-data-server package are vulnerable to multiple attacks of varying severity, the most severe of which allows a compromised or malicious IMAP server to execute arbitrary code as the connecting user. |
| FLEA-2007-0027-1 |
Thunderbird |
2007-06-20 |
Previous versions of the Thunderbird package are vulnerable to multiple vulnerabilities in the layout and Javascript engines which are known to cause a denial-of-service (crash) and could potentially be exploited to execute arbitrary attacker-provided code. In addition, a man-in-the-middle attack, which could be used to steal the first 3 characters of a passphrase when using APOP has been fixed. |
| FLEA-2007-0028-1 |
libexif |
2007-06-22 |
Previous versions of the libexif package are vulnerable to an int overflow which could allow a specially-crafted EXIF file to execute arbitrary code on the target system. |
| FLEA-2007-0029-1 |
krb5 |
2007-06-22 |
Previous versions of the krb5 package are vulnerable to three attacks. Two (MITKRB5-SA-2007-004: CVE-2007-2442 and CVE-2007-2443) are likely limited in practice on Foresight Linux to denial of service, but the third (MITKRB5-SA-2007-005: CVE-2007-2798) is believed to allow a remote arbitrary code execution attack against kadmind servers. Foresight Linux systems are not automatically configured with kadmind enabled. |
| FLEA-2007-0030-1 |
avahi |
2007-06-28 |
Previous versions of the avahi package were vulnerable to a local Denial of Service caused by an erroneous assert(). |
Bug Fixes
Major bug fixes fixed in May include:
| FL-143 |
F-Spot |
Digital Photo import does not work. |
| FL-259 |
Avahi |
Avahi services fail to start automatically. |
Development News
rPath Linux Announcement
On June 8th, Michael Johnson at rPath announced a number of changes to rPath Linux,the distribution that serves as the base of Foresight Linux. From the annoucement:
As part of the first set of changes relating to this more focused direction, several of the most prolific developers in the Foresight community have been requesting that we let them manage the desktop stack. Therefore, the work on GNOME, KDE, and OpenOffice.org that has been done in the rPath Linux development branch will be merged with the work done in Foresight Linux, and Foresight will be adding a KDE release. In return, rPath has been assisting the Foresight community in building the 64-bit flavor of Foresight Linux.
What does this mean for Foresight Linux? Mostly this means that people looking for a graphical desktop will be migrating to Foresight Linux instead of using rPath Linux with GNOME or KDE. If you are one of our new users migrating from rPath Linux, welcome!
Foresight Linux 2 Development
Development on Foresight Linux 2 continues at a frenzied pace. Alpha testing should begin by the end of July, and a handful of daring developers have already begun testing. Foresight Linux 2 is planned for release later this summer, including x86 32-bit versions, as well as a brand new x86_64 64-bit version for the first time. In addition to GNOME, there are plans in the works for KDE, Openbox and XFCE versions of Foresight Linux as well.
Getting Started with Foresight Linux User Guide
The Getting Started with Foresight Linux User Guide is now available for testing! Ported from the Foresight Linux Wiki to Docbook and available in Yelp, the GNOME help browser, the Getting Started with Foresight Linux User Guide is a high level overview of Foresight Linux for users new to Linux and Foresight.
Your help is needed in reviewing the User Guide prior to it being included in Foresight Linux 2. Please review the User Guide for typos or missing information, and file a bug report in JIRAwith any necessary edits.
To install the User Guide, from a terminal type:
sudo conary update foresight-user-guide=@fl:1-devel
The User Guide is available in Applications > Foresight > Foresight User Guide
Barcamp Chicago
Kevin Harriss, a Foresight developer, and Chicago Linux User Group member, was kind enough to extend an invitation to Barcamp Chicago which Ken VanDine, founder and lead developer of Foresight Linux and I were glad to accept.
(From left to right: Paul Cutler, Kevin Harriss, Ken VanDine)
Barcamp Chicago was held June 23 and 24 in Wicker Park, in a former office building in Chicago. Arriving just after noon, we found Barcamp in full swing, with groups of people mingling, listening to presentations, and enjoying the copious amounts of pizza and beer. Tech companies large and small, from Google to midPhase Hosting helped sponsor the food and drinks.
(The pizza and food table - probably the lowest point it got to any time during Barcamp)
The presentations we attended on Saturdayincluded Advanced Photography on Linux and Getting Started in F/OSS. The Getting Started in F/OSS talk was given by Freddy Martinez, aka Admiral Chicago, an active Xubuntu developer. The Chicago Ubuntu LoCo and Chicago Linux user group both had excellent representation at Barcamp Chicago. Barcamp peaked with about 200 attendees at one point on Saturday.
We discussed Foresight and Conary with a number of attendees, and Ken also spent time getting the PXE server up for the installfest for anyone looking to install Foresight. Later in the evening, Ryan was our first volunteer to install Foresight on his brand new Acer Laptop, and Ken spent time with Ryan helping out with the install while also educating a number of attendees on the benefits of the Conary package manager well into the early hours as the techno tracks played in the background.
(RyanK becomes the latest to install Foresight Linux, with assistance from Ken VanDine)
After we slept for a handful of hours, Barcamp started again around noon on Sunday. Sunday definitely had a more mellow feel to it, with slightly fewer attendees, but still an excellent turnout. Ken demonstrated a MythTV appliance installation prior to his Foresight Linux talk. The Foresight Linux presentation was just under an hour, covering why Foresight Linux was founded, its guiding principles, an overview of the applications installed by default, the Conary package manager, and where Foresight is headed in the future. Later in the afternoon, Ken gave a mini talk providing more detail information on Conary for those interested.
(Ken VanDine presenting Foresight Linux in the main room at Barcamp Chicago)
At Barcamp on Sunday Kevin Harriss hosted the first GNOME Usergroup meeting to be held in the United States. Kevin laid out a bold agenda for increasing awareness of GNOME and spurring activity within GNOME development. Kevin's goal is for the Chicago GNOME Usergroup to meet 4-5 times a year helping with everything from marketing GNOME to triaging bugs to being a launchpad for more U.S. based GNOME usergroups. For more information, join the Chicago GNOME mailing list.
All in all, Foresight's presence at Barcamp Chicago was a resounding success. We introduced Foresight Linux and GNOME to a number of new people in a region known for having a number of Linux activists, as well as Windows and Mac users.
For more thoughts on Barcamp Chicago, visit my blog, Ken's blogor view my pictures on Flickr.
Contributing to Foresight Linux
Contribute to Foresight Linux
Plans are underway to revamp the current Foresight Linux web pages, including the main site, Planet, Forums and adding a blog. If you have web design skills including HTML, PHP or CSS, we need your help! Please email feedback@foresightlinux.org for more information or to volunteer.
Contribute to the Foresight Linux Newsletter
Have a package or piece of software you want to share in the monthly newsletter? Send it in! We are always looking for more writers or contributors, and building the newsletter is a collaborative process using the Foresight Linux Newsletter wiki. We are also looking for volunteers to interview people in the Foresight and GNOME communities, links to news articles on the web or in print regarding Foresight Linux, and all the other content that makes up the newsletter.
Have thoughts or comments on the newsletter? Email feedback@foresightlinux.org and your letter may be published in the next issue!
Contributors to Issue #4: Paul Cutler (editor), Ken Vandine, Kevin Harriss
Downloading and Getting Help with Foresight Linux
Download and install Foresight Linux:
Live Media, including Live CD, VMWare image, and QEMU and Parallels images
Help is available in many forms, and you can choose what you're most comfortable with.
- IRC: Visit the Foresight IRC channel, #foresight on Freenode, and ask questions. We have one of the most friendly IRC channels you'll come across with everyone from users to developers reaching out to help answer questions.
- Forums: Our forums continue to grow, and can be a good source of information to see if a specific problem or question has come up before.
- Wiki: Documentation on the wiki is growing on a daily basis, with updates often to the Frequently Asked Questions and other how-to's to get you going with Foresight Linux.
- Mailing Lists:
- General List: General discussion around Foresight Linux
- Commits list (high traffic): All package commits are emailed to this list
- Packagers List: Discuss packaging applications for Foresight using Conary and rBuilder
- Developers List: Discuss topics related to Foresight development projects
Foresight Linux Information
Learn more about Foresight Linux at Foresight's homepage, http://www.foresightlinux.org.
Read what the developers are working on via their blogs, aggregated at Planet Foresight, http://www.foresightlinux.org/planet/ or subscribe via RSS at http://web.foresightlinux.org/planet/feed/rss/.
Subscribe to the newsletter via RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/foresightnewsletter.
Have feedback on Foresight Linux or the newsletter? Email feedback@foresightlinux.org and share your thoughts, we'd love to hear from you!
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