Slackware Blog

I have started a repository of the Slackware Packages that I have created.  You can find them here:

http://www.jamesbowling.com/packages

All of my packages can also be found at LinuxPackages.net.

Sorry about that guys and gals…I was doing some stuff to my machine over the weekend and I guess I overwrote one of the changelogs that my script uses…Well, this issue should be fixed now! Sorry about that!

Well, Release Candidate 3 of Slackware 11.0.0 is here. Patrick says this will most likely be the last RC but not to rule out an RC4. One important thing in this release, Kernel 2.6 has been moved out of /testing and placed into /extra. Here’s the ChangeLog entry:

Fri Aug 25 04:35:22 CDT 2006
Here is Slackware 11.0 release candidate 3. I think most of the irresistible
upgrades are in here now, and the bug reports have been mostly handled.
There may still be a few changes, and possibly another release candidate,
but this is pretty close to final with the exception of updating
documentation and building ZipSlack. Thanks very much to everyone who is
helping to test these release candidates — I think this is going to be a
very up to date and stable release.
a/glibc-solibs-2.3.6-i486-5.tgz: Patched an issue with kernel version parsing
in ld-2.3.6.so that was leading glibc to treat 2.4 kernels with 4 version
parts (such as 2.4.33.2) as if they supported NPTL, leading to a crash
at boot.
a/glibc-zoneinfo-2.3.6-noarch-5.tgz: Updated timezone information from
tzdata2006j.
a/kernel-ide-2.4.33.2-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to 2.4.33.2 sata.i kernel.
Enabled support for OOM killer and HIGHMEM4G.
a/kernel-modules-2.4.33.2-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to Linux 2.4.33.2 modules.
a/udev-097-i486-6.tgz: Restore ttyUSB access to members of the tty group.
Thanks to Eugene Crosser.
In rc.udev, ignore lines that start with ‘#’.
Thanks to Ian Bates.
Removed hostap and hostap_cs dupes from blacklist.
Thanks to giovanni quadriglio.
Patched rc.optical-symlinks to avoid error messages with real SCSI devices
and the SCSI generic driver.
Thanks to Lorenzo Buzzi.
ap/lm_sensors-2.10.0-i486-1.tgz: Added lm_sensors-2.10.0, which contains the
libsensors library that KDE can use for hardware status monitoring.
ap/vim-7.0.066-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to vim 7.0.066.
Added reasonable default vimrc if none exists. Thanks to Eric Hameleers.
xap/vim-gvim-7.0.066-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to gvim 7.0.066 (requires vim).
d/kernel-headers-2.4.33.2-i386-1.tgz: Upgraded to Linux 2.4.33.2 headers.
d/perl-5.8.8-i486-2.tgz: Upgraded to DBD-mysql-3.0006 and DBI-1.52.
Eugene Crosser reported that DBD compiled against an older version of
libmysqlclient no longer worked without a recompile. Just to be on the
safe side, everything linked with libmysqlclient is getting recompiled.
d/pkgconfig-0.21-i486-2.tgz: Export PKG_CONFIG_PATH.
k/kernel-source-2.4.33.2-noarch-1.tgz: Upgraded to Linux 2.4.33.2 source.
Enabled support for OOM killer and HIGHMEM4G in default .config.
kde/amarok-1.4.2-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to amarok-1.4.2.
kde/kdebase-3.5.4-i486-6.tgz: Recompiled to use libsensors with ksysguardd.
Fixed location of kdeglobals, removed font defaults but kept the
anti-aliasing fixes.
kde/koffice-1.5.2-i486-3.tgz: Recompiled against libmysqlclient and libruby.
kde/qt-3.3.6-i486-3.tgz: Recompiled against libmysqlclient, added symlink
in /usr/lib/pkgconfig to qt-mt.pc.
l/alsa-driver-1.0.11_2.4.33.2-i486-1.tgz: Recompiled for Linux 2.4.33.2.
l/glibc-2.3.6-i486-5.tgz: Patched an issue with kernel version parsing in
ld-2.3.6.so that was leading glibc to treat 2.4 kernels with 4 version parts
(such as 2.4.33.2) as if they supported NPTL, leading to a crash at boot.
Added sa_IN and ru_RU.CP1251 locale support.
Updated timezone information from tzdata2006j.
Updated timezone utilities from tzcode2006j.
l/glibc-i18n-2.3.6-noarch-5.tgz: Rebuilt.
Added sa_IN and ru_RU.CP1251 locale support.
l/glibc-profile-2.3.6-i486-5.tgz: Recompiled.
l/libmusicbrainz-2.1.4-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to libmusicbrainz-2.1.4.
l/libvisual-0.4.0-i486-1.tgz: Added libvisual-0.4.0. Just the library for
now (no plugins), but this should make it much easier to compile and use
audio visualization plugins without having to recompile amaroK.
n/bitchx-1.1-i486-4.tgz: Recompiled against libmysqlclient.
n/openldap-client-2.3.27-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to openldap-client-2.3.27.
n/php-4.4.4-i486-2.tgz: Recompiled against libmysqlclient.
t/tetex-3.0-i486-4.tgz: Recompiled against new LessTif to stop warnings
from xdvi.
t/tetex-doc-3.0-i486-4.tgz: Rebuilt. Moved info pages to /usr/info.
Thanks to Kris Karas for pointing out the misplaced info pages.
xap/gimp-2.2.13-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to gimp-2.2.13.
extra/3dfx-glide/*: Removed, as it most likely doesn’t work.
extra/k3b/k3b-0.12.17-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to k3b-0.12.17.
extra/k3b/k3b-i18n-0.12.17-noarch-1.tgz: Upgraded to k3b-i18n-0.12.17.
extra/linux-wlan-ng/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1pre25_2.4.33.2-i486-1.tgz:
Recompiled for Linux 2.4.33.2.
extra/slackpkg/slackpkg-2.08-noarch-3.tgz: Upgraded to slackpkg-2.08-noarch-3.
Thanks to Piter Punk.
bootdisks/*: Upgraded to Linux 2.4.33.2 kernels.
isolinux/initrd.img: Upgraded USB/IEEE1394 modules to Linux 2.4.33.2.
isolinux/network.dsk: Upgraded network modules to Linux 2.4.33.2.
isolinux/pcmcia.dsk: Upgraded pcmcia modules to Linux 2.4.33.2.
rootdisks/install.1: Upgraded USB/IEEE1394 modules to Linux 2.4.33.2.
rootdisks/install.2: Upgraded USB/IEEE1394 modules to Linux 2.4.33.2.
rootdisks/install.zip: Upgraded USB/IEEE1394 modules to Linux 2.4.33.2.
rootdisks/network.dsk: Upgraded network modules to Linux 2.4.33.2.
rootdisks/pcmcia.dsk: Upgraded pcmcia network modules to Linux 2.4.33.2.
kernels/*: Upgraded to Linux 2.4.33.2 kernels, except the huge.s kernel.

After much thought and consultation with developers, it has been decided to
move 2.6.17.x out of /testing and into /extra. It runs stable by all reports,
has better wireless support, and is not going to be stale as soon. In
addition, HIGHMEM4G has been enabled. This caused no problems with my old
486 with 24MB (the one I use for compiling KDE ;-), and Tomas Matejicek has
enabled this in SLAX for a long time with no reports of problems, so I
believe it is a safe option (and is needed by many modern machines).
Thanks again to Andrea for building these kernels and packages.

kernels/huge26.s/*: Upgraded huge26.s kernel to 2.6.17.11.
extra/linux-2.6.17.11/kernel-generic-2.6.17.11-i486-1.tgz:
Upgraded to Linux 2.6.17.11 generic kernel.
extra/linux-2.6.17.11/kernel-headers-2.6.17.11-i386-1.tgz:
Upgraded to Linux 2.6.17.11 kernel headers.
extra/linux-2.6.17.11/kernel-modules-2.6.17.11-i486-1.tgz
Upgraded to Linux 2.6.17.11 kernel modules.
Load PC speaker support in rc.modules. Thanks to NetrixTardis.
extra/linux-2.6.17.11/kernel-source-2.6.17.11-noarch-1.tgz
Upgraded to Linux 2.6.17.11 kernel source.

testing/packages/cairo-1.2.4-i486-1.tgz: Added cairo-1.2.4.
testing/packages/fontconfig-2.3.95-i486-1.tgz: Added fontconfig-2.3.95.
testing/packages/php-5.1.5/php-5.1.5-i486-2.tgz: Recompiled against
libmysqlclient.

Again, Pat said this is pretty much the “final” Slackware 11.0 build, except for updating the documentation and ZipSlack.

Also, I emailed Patrick the other day about getting a neat feature built into MySQL 5.x, the MySQL FEDERATED storage engine. If you’ve never heard of it, head over to my personal blog, I made a post the other day about the FEDERATED storage engine in MySQL. Very cool stuff. Anyway, it’s obviously too late to build FEDERATED support into MySQL for Slackware 11.0, but Pat said it’d be a definite possibility after Slackware 11.0 is out the door. Yay!

Oh, one more note: we’re on Linux Today again, thanks Brian you rock!!

Technorati Tags: slackware, linux, open-source, software, slackware 11.0

It looks like the updates have come to a slow-down. Hopefully this is a sign as to what is to come in the next few days…So I was thinking that we might have a contest for guessing the release date. Post your thoughts about us having a contest and we will see what we can do! Of course, the contest would be pretty specific in nature due to the fact that some people could guess the same day, with that in mind, we would have to go by closest time also. So think about it and let us know quickly before Patrick beats us with the release of Slackware 11.

For the first time ever this blog had a “hot post” here at wordpress.com.

A little while after I made that post a bunch of hits started rolling in from stumbleapon. Yay! This blog also got linked from Linux Today, which has generated a nice amount of traffic.

Hopefully, with the impending release of Slackware 11, this blog will only continue to grow in popularity.

The title pretty much says it all. Slackware 11.0 Release Candidate 2 is officially here. Pat says it’s mostly frozen from here on out, so this will most likely be the last release candidate before we see Slackware 11.0 final. Here’s the new changelog entry:

Sat Aug 19 23:58:27 CDT 2006
This is mostly frozen now unless bugs (or irresistible upgrades) come up, so
I’ll call this update Slackware 11.0 release candidate 2.
a/kernel-ide-2.4.33-i486-2.tgz:
Switched to the sata.i kernel which supports both parallel and serial ATA.
a/kernel-modules-2.4.33-i486-2.tgz: Recompiled.
Upgraded to Linux 2.4.33 kernel modules.
d/pkgconfig-0.21-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to pkg-config-0.21.
Set the PKG_CONFIG_PATH to search in /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig and
/opt/kde/lib/pkgconfig, too. Thanks, Seb!
d/kernel-headers-2.4.33-i386-2.tgz: Rebuilt.
k/kernel-source-2.4.33-noarch-2.tgz:
Updated the default .config to include SATA support.
Oh, and yes I did see 2.4.33.1. Thanks for letting me know ;-), but that
kernel does not seem to be booting here so I’ll stick with 2.4.33 for now.
l/alsa-driver-1.0.11_2.4.33-i486-2.tgz: Recompiled.
Upgraded to alsa-driver-1.0.11 compiled for Linux 2.4.33.
bootdisks/sata.i: Rebuilt.
bootdisks/speakup.s: Added SATA support.
kernels/huge24.s/*: Recompiled.
kernels/sata.i/*: Recompiled.
kernels/speakup.s/*: Added SATA support.
kernels/test26.s/*: Upgraded test26.s kernel to 2.6.17.9.
To be consistent, bumped the build number on all of the 2.6.16.27 packages to -5.
extra/linux-2.6.16.27/alsa-driver-1.0.11_2.6.16.27-i486-5.tgz:
Recompiled.
extra/linux-2.6.16.27/kernel-generic-2.6.16.27-i486-5.tgz:
Recompiled.
extra/linux-2.6.16.27/kernel-headers-2.6.16.27-i386-5.tgz:
Rebuilt.
extra/linux-2.6.16.27/kernel-modules-2.6.16.27-i486-5.tgz:
Enabled CONFIG_X86_SPEEDSTEP_RELAXED_CAP_CHECK option so that
Piotr Wierzchowski’s Thinkpad will run cooler and use less power.
extra/linux-2.6.16.27/kernel-source-2.6.16.27-noarch-5.tgz:
Rebuilt with CONFIG_X86_SPEEDSTEP_RELAXED_CAP_CHECK=y in .config.
extra/slackpkg/slackpkg-2.08-noarch-2.tgz: Upgraded to slackpkg-2.08-noarch-2.
Thanks to Piter Punk.
testing/packages/linux-2.6.17.9/kernel-generic-2.6.17.9-i486-1.tgz:
Upgraded to Linux 2.6.17.9 generic kernel.
testing/packages/linux-2.6.17.9/kernel-headers-2.6.17.9-i386-1.tgz:
Upgraded to Linux 2.6.17.9 kernel headers.
testing/packages/linux-2.6.17.9/kernel-modules-2.6.17.9-i486-1.tgz
Upgraded to Linux 2.6.17.9 kernel modules.
testing/packages/linux-2.6.17.9/kernel-source-2.6.17.9-noarch-1.tgz
Upgraded to Linux 2.6.17.9 kernel source.
Thanks to Andrea for building the 2.6.17.9 kernels.
rootdisks/install.1: Updated. Thanks to Cal Peake for the idea about how to
improve the setup of swap partitions.
Updated most of the binaries on the installer, but not busybox. It seems
to be working fine, and the idea of messing with it now scares me.
rootdisks/install.2: Updated.
rootdisks/install.zip: Updated.
rootdisks/network.dsk: Fixed to probe for tg3 cards.
Thanks to Eric Hameleers and Bruce Hill, Jr.
Fixed module probing to work with 2.6 modules. Thanks to Piter Punk.

I know this post is a little behind but better late then never, right? A few days ago when I was checking out my e-mail from the Dovecot-Users list, I see the following post from Timo:

http://dovecot.org/releases/dovecot-1.0.rc7.tar.gz http://dovecot.org/releases/dovecot-1.0.rc7.tar.gz.sig

Can everyone now agree that there are no more hangs?

* Require that Dovecot master process’s version number matches the
child process’s, unless version_ignore=yes. Usually it’s an
accidental installation problem if the version numbers don’t match.
* Maildir: Create maildirfolder file when creating new maildirs.

+ ldap+prefetch: Use global uid/gid settings if LDAP query doesn’t
return them
+ %variables: Negative offsets count from the end of the string.
Patch by Johannes Berg.
- kqueue ioloop code rewrite
- notify=kqueue might have caused connection hangs sometimes
- deliver: If message body contained a valid mbox From_ line, it
and the rest of the message was skipped.
- mbox: We got into infinite loops if trying to open a 2 byte sized
file as mbox.
- Don’t crash with ssl_disable=yes
- quota plugin caused compiling problems with some OSes
- mbox: After saving a mail to a synced mbox, we lost the sync which
caused worse performance

I think my v1.0 TODO list is:

- avoid duplicate flag change notifications, or in case the message is
also expunged don’t bother notifying its flag changes at all
(shouldn’t be hard)
- HFS+ avoid-hardlinks patch?
- 32bit -> 64bit upgrade still doesn’t work without assert-crashing:
mail-cache-transaction.c: line 709 (mail_cache_add): assertion failed:
(fixed_size == (unsigned int)-1 || fixed_size == data_size)
- Courier-compatible INBOX. namespace gives “invalid namespace” errors

I’m still not sure about the last one though. Could someone give me
specific commands that clients send that causes it?

As for the 32bit -> 64bit upgrade fix, could someone give me access to a
x86-64 machine for a while to test it out?

I have not gotten around to upgrading to this version yet but it seems that alot of the issues that people were having with RC6 have been resolved. Hopefully this means that Timo will bring us the official 1.0 release here very soon!

Lorelle has a pretty lengthy post about the 1 year birthday of wordpress.com. It’s really quite a touching tribute.

No matter how much we want “pretty” in a WordPress Theme, no matter how much we wish the sidebar were on the left instead of the right, or want to add Flickr galleries to our sidebars or posts, insert video or music files into our posts, tag posts, change header art, or wrap text around pictures, it’s all about the stories we share, the memories we recall, pictures we show off, opinions we rattle off, our screams and shouts, our whines and moans, tears openly shed, questions asked, answers challenged, and words we write.

It’s called blogging. And few do it better than the WordPress.com blogging service.

After using wordpress.com for 6 months or so, I can say that I really enjoy it’s ease of use and the wide variety of different communities. There’s a huge range of different blog subjects, pretty much anything you can think of. There’s something that fits everyone as far as content goes, and there’s a constantly changing list of “fastest growing” and “top” blogs, except for Scobleizer, who’s pretty much always #1.

Anyway, it’s nice here.

If anyone is interested in helping out with this blog, please leave a comment to this post. There’s a lot of stuff I’d like to cover here but simply don’t have the time for. The guy that was helping me out hasn’t been around in a few months. So, would anyone else be interested in contributing to this blog?

If interested, make a comment or email me at tlongren[_at_]gmail[_dot_]com.

I feel a Slackware 11 Beta release coming on in the next few days. Why? We haven’t seen any updates to the slackware-current changelog in 15 days. I’m hoping Pat has been busy building some final packs and building some beta ISO’s for us.

The last round of updates in the changelog were fairly minor:

Thu Jun 29 02:03:45 CDT 2006
n/ppp-2.4.4-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to ppp-2.4.4.
n/rp-pppoe-3.8-i486-2.tgz: Recompiled with –enable-plugin.
Thanks to Frédéric L. W. Meunier for the suggestion.
extra/k3b/k3b-0.12.16-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to k3b-0.12.16.
Thanks to Matthew Johnson for pointing out the new release.
extra/k3b/k3b-i18n-0.12.16-noarch-1.tgz: Upgraded to k3b-i18n-0.12.16.

Hopefully we’ll see Slackware 11.0 Beta 1 before the month is over.