Interesting Links – October 2012

Another month, another bunch of links…

Software and release announcements:

  • openSUSE released RC1 of their 12.2 release on the ARM architecture. RC2 has made an appearance too!
  • Speaking of ARM, multiplatform support was merged into the kernel.
  • There was probably earlier releases, but this was the first time I noticed the Cinnarch distrolet.
  • There is a fork of Arch Linux initscripts, which I do not recommend given the lack of understanding of bash shown by some of the changes…
  • Wayland 1.0 had a fairly quiet release announcement.
  • I “discovered” the pkgng package manger for FreeBSD. I need to look at it in detail to see if there are ideas to steal for pacman.

There were many posts about UEFI and secure boot:

Other collected Linux-ish links that interested me:

  • Ubuntu has a donation screen shown on the way to the download. I accept Amazon.com gift vouchers!
  • A tutorial on how to remove watermarks in GIMP.
  • Details of the systemd journal file format.
  • A report on issues with major updates in Gentoo.

And some fun stuff…

  • Anime News Network’s Fall 2012 preview guide.
  • I am enjoying xkcd’s What If – especially this one
  • The Handbook of the Birds of the World is being adapted into an online version.
  • My idea got made into a cartoon! Well… sort of… not really… But I am mentioned.

9 thoughts on “Interesting Links – October 2012

  1. I am the winner! Also, is the gentoo link forbidde for anyone else.

    Thanks for the stuffs Allan, I enjoy these links you post every month.

    • Nevermind, the link works in firefox…just not dwb for some reason.

  2. > There is a fork of Arch Linux initscripts, which I do not recommend given the lack of understanding of bash shown > by some of the changes…

    So you would recommend systemd instead? Seems like you have been following fluxer quite closely and trying to prevent people from using his stuff. His stuff may not be technically superior, but at least he is trying. If you are so concerned about the quality of his work then maybe you should contact and guide him.

    Just my 2 cents.

    • I see all these forks related to avoiding systemd in Arch Linux via links made to this site, so I am not particularly following him at all. Also, if pointing out major quality issues with the code prevents people from using his stuff, I would consider that a service. Maybe he should have responded to the repeated requests for help maintaining initscripts in Arch where he could be guided by the previous developers.

      • While I can’t speak for him, I believe he didn’t apply to maintain initscripts for arch because he wants a systemd-udevd less system, so he is modifying a lot of packages to work with the udev fork. This of course wouldn’t have been allowed by the arch devs.

        Anyway fair point, this way more people could have benefitted from his work.

      • And here am I – fluxer (a.k.a. smil3y).

        @Allan: By the time I noticed the initscripts call for help it was too late – systemd was already in place and initscripts where left as legacy support with changes that rely on systemd utilities (such as systemd-tmpfiles) because I was not subscirbed to the ML. The main reasons however for this fork was to strip the systemd code, but since Arch Linux is going systemd all the way my fork will never be accepted from the Arch Linux developers.

        @Gom Tunderson: So what that I don’t like systemd? Should everyone like blonds?

        And I can tell you this – my fork may not be perfect, introduce regressions and/or goodies but I don’t force none to use it. If one finds a good reason for me to revert my changes he can open an issue at the GH issues tracker and I will consider it, if it makes sense I will do what I must. But I’m doing this for myself mainly, everyone else who is happy with my fork can help and make it better. Those who are not can feel free to fork my fork or, heck, even the Arch Linux initscripts and do their own thing.

  3. Its moar better den tomeguns hax

    @@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ habits_vs_habbits() {
    -if [[ “${CAN_CODE}” == “Y” ]] ; then
    +if [ “${CAN_CODE}” != “Y” ] ; then
    echo “I can haz initscripts f0rk? Stoopid systemd!”

    # need this var l8er, so better export it!
    export “${CAN_CODE}”
    -fi
    + fi