GNOME Summary December 28, 2003 - January 3, 2004

[Sri Ramkrishna <sri aracnet com>]

This is the GNOME Summary for 2003-12-28 - 2004-01-03
    
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Table of Contents
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1. Gnumeric 1.2.4 Released
2. Need D-BUS Volunteers
3. Gnomoradio 0.8 Released
4. Gnome System Tools 0.31.0 Released
5. BEAST/BSE 0.5.6
6. Interview with Robert Love
7. Translation Status
8. Hacker Activity
9. Gnome Bug Hunting Activity
10. New and Updated Software

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1. Gnumeric 1.2.4 Released
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Gnumeric releases a bug fix and some final features to the charting engine. 
This is the final stable release. Gnumeric has now branched to a new 
development tree. 
Gnumeric is a spreadsheet program and is a part of GNOME Office. 


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2. Need D-BUS Volunteers
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Havoc Pennington is looking for help and volunteers for the D-BUS todo list. 
There are a lot of things that need fixing before D-BUS can release. 
D-BUS is a message bus system; a simple way for applications to talk to one 
another. 

        http://freedesktop.org/Software/dbus/doc/TODO

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3. Gnomoradio 0.8 Released
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A new version of Gnomoradio is out. This release contains ogg vorbis support 
and numerous interface improvements. Future priorities include improving the 
user interface. 
Gnomoradio is a program that can find, fetch, share, and play music that is 
freely available for file sharing. 

        http://gnomoradio.org
        http://gnomoradio.org/screenshots

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4. Gnome System Tools 0.31.0 Released
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Gnome System Tools is released. Exciting changes are Fedora Core 1 support for 
all tools, Slackware 9.1 support for all tools and yaboot support for boot 
tool. 

        http://www.gnome.org/projects/gst

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5. BEAST/BSE 0.5.6
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A new version of BEAST/BSE 0.5.6 is out. 
BEAST is the GTK+/GNOME based front-end to BSWE (the Bedevilled Sound Engine). 
The rough goal of this project is to get an audio system that supports multiple 
song and sample formats as well as synthesis networks and allows full fledged 
editing and manipulation of them. 


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6. Interview with Robert Love
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We who bring you the Gnome Weekly Summaries thought that it was a really 
special event that Robert Love, the famous kernel hacker, has joined Ximian 
(now part of Novell). So we decided to bring you a special interview with 
Robert Love that is not located anywhere else on the Internet - it only exists 
in this weeks Gnome Weekly Summary! We hope that you enjoy this special 
feature. 
1. What will be your new role at Ximian? 
In short, as a kernel hacker doing whatever is necessary to advance the state 
of the Linux desktop. More specifically, I am going to be tackling kernel and 
system-level projects to improve the desktop. Ximian is committed to improving 
the Linux desktop user experience, and there are a few issues at the 
system-level where Linux is behind our competitors. Specifically, integration 
of the entire Linux system -- from the kernel up through desktop applications 
-- is pretty weak. We can do better. 
2. Why have you decided to focus on tuning the Linux kernel for desktop use as 
opposed to the fantastic, but more general work you have done on the kernel in 
that past? 
Well, I feel a lot of my previous work has been oriented toward the desktop. I 
have always touted the preemptive kernel as a step toward improved desktop 
performance. My interest in the O(1) scheduler was because I saw in it a better 
general purpose desktop-capable scheduler than that clunker in 2.4 kernels. Of 
course, a lot of momentum in Linux is toward advancing Linux in the 
server-space, and my previous employer was an embedded Linux company... but I 
have always found the desktop an interesting problem in need of creative 
solutions. 
3. What types of things do you see yourself tackling about the Linux kernel as 
it pertains specifically to a desktop role? 
Events layer, hardware integration, and performance are my first and 
second-order priorities. Right now, I am working on tackling the first two. I 
basically look at it as "getting information up to the desktop from lower 
layers and doing something useful with it." A lot of players are involved: 
udev, D-BUS,HAL, this gnome-volume-manager I am working on, etc. But the end 
result is to Make Hardware Just Work. This is more than plug and play at the 
kernel-level, but a complete and elegant solution to hot plugging, device 
naming, hardware event notification, and desktop policy. For example, when you 
plug in your digital camera, a few things need to automatically happen: a 
kernel module loaded, a sysfs entry created, a device node created, 
registration in a device database via HAL, generation of a "yo, new hardware" 
event, the new volume is automounted, and an icon placed on the desktop. 
Finally, we can detect that there are photos on the camera and ask the user if 
she wants to export them into her photo album. Oh, and this needs to be done 
with finesse: in user-space, without hackish polling, via elegantly designed 
systems. 
4. Since you'll be working at Ximian which produces a version of the Gnome 
desktop, I'll assume that you're a Gnome user or at least have used it. What do 
you like best about the Gnome desktop and what is the thing that bugs you the 
most about it? 
Dude, I am a huge GNOME user and fan. ;-) I like the elegance, simplicity, and 
design of GNOME. I like the fact that it is rooted in C; founded and managed by 
smart, creative folks with a background in UNIX/Linux; has and enforces a HIG; 
and has cool companies like Ximian and Red Hat deeply involved in it. Nothing 
bugs me that goes unfixed. 
5. In general, what types of things have to be accomplished on the Linux 
desktop, be it Gnome or KDE, etc, before it can be a replacement to Microsoft 
Windows in the enterprise sector and also for the average home user? 
We are really close. Improved applications. Improved multimedia. Improved 
integration, on both the application-to-application level (see the Novell 
bounties) and on the system-to-desktop level (what I am working on). 

        

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7. Translation Status
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        http://stara.kvota.net/sri/stats26.php?end=2003-12-28&; start=2004-01-03

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8. Hacker Activity
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Thanks for Paul Warren for these lists.

Most active modules:
 45 beast
 33 yelp
 33 gtk+
 31 epiphany
 31 gimp
 28 gdm2
 27 gnomeweb-wml
 27 balsa
 27 gdesklets
 26 gnome-games
 25 toolchain-tests
 24 optimystic
 23 gnome-control-center
 23 gnumeric
 22 gnome-mime-data
 22 nautilus
 22 evolution
 22 gnomemeeting
 22 nautilus-cd-burner
 21 gedit
[134 active modules omitted]

Most active hackers:
 211 delacko
 51 dnloreto
 47 badaa
 46 mitr
 43 gorkem
 36 timj
 34 menthos
 33 danilo
 33 thomasvs
 32 serrador
 25 redfox
 23 pycage
 23 aasmunds
 21 chpe
 21 alexl
 20 aflinta
 20 PeterB
 20 jody
 18 andersca
 18 mr
[118 active hackers omitted]


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9. Gnome Bug Hunting Activity
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This information is from http://bugzilla.gnome.org, which hosts bug and feature 
reports for most of the Gnome modules. If you would like to join the bug hunt, 
subscribe to the gnome-bugsquad mailing list.

Currently open: 10503 (In the last week: New: 413, Resolved: 361, Difference: 
+52)

Modules with the most open bugs (excluding enhancement requests): 

  nautilus: 742 (In the last week: New: 41, Resolved: 37, Difference: +4)
  gtk+: 647 (In the last week: New: 12, Resolved: 8, Difference: +4)
  control-center: 251 (In the last week: New: 13, Resolved: 10, Difference: +3)
  gnome-vfs: 244 (In the last week: New: 4, Resolved: 1, Difference: +3)
  GnuCash: 222 (In the last week: New: 6, Resolved: 5, Difference: +1)
  gnome-panel: 214 (In the last week: New: 19, Resolved: 15, Difference: +4)
  gnome-applets: 166 (In the last week: New: 13, Resolved: 9, Difference: +4)
  GIMP: 158 (In the last week: New: 16, Resolved: 16, Difference: 0)
  dia: 154 (In the last week: New: 6, Resolved: 7, Difference: -1)
  galeon: 150 (In the last week: New: 28, Resolved: 13, Difference: +15)
  epiphany: 119 (In the last week: New: 20, Resolved: 14, Difference: +6)
  gnome-terminal: 118 (In the last week: New: 9, Resolved: 7, Difference: +2)
  sawfish: 118 (In the last week: New: 1, Resolved: 0, Difference: +1)
  balsa: 117 (In the last week: New: 3, Resolved: 12, Difference: -9)
  gnome-session: 111 (In the last week: New: 0, Resolved: 3, Difference: -3)
  
Gnome Bugzilla users who resolved or closed the most bugs: 
  
  louie ximian com: 38 bugs closed.
  maggi athena polito it: 21 bugs closed.
  walters verbum org: 13 bugs closed.
  hadess hadess net: 12 bugs closed.
  chbm gnome org: 12 bugs closed.
  martin wehner epost de: 12 bugs closed.
  chpe+gnomebugz stud uni-saarland de: 11 bugs closed.
  callum physics otago ac nz: 10 bugs closed.
  martin pycage de: 8 bugs closed.
  heath pointedstick net: 8 bugs closed.
  simon gimp org: 8 bugs closed.
  lrclause uiuc edu: 7 bugs closed.
  poobar nycap rr com: 7 bugs closed.
  murrayc usa net: 7 bugs closed.
  rbultje ronald bitfreak net: 7 bugs closed.
  
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10. New and Updated Software
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GChemPaint  - 2D chemical structures editor
gLabels  - gLabels is a lightweight program for creating labels and business 
cards for the GNOME desktop environment. It is designed to work with various 
laser/ink-jet peel-off label and business card sheets that you'll find at most 
office supply stores.
gURLChecker  - Graphic web links checker
Pigeon CD Recorder  - A Gnome2 CD Recorder
gnome-mud  - GNOME-Mud is a Multi-User Dungeon (MUD) client, which aims to make 
mudding a bit easier. It can define aliases, triggers, and variables. It can 
also keybind shortcuts and has a connection wizard to easily manage different 
player characters and MUDs.
Gnomoradio  - Peer to peer music system
GST: a Generic Seismic Tool with GTK+  - Seismic data processing
Genius  - A programable calculator
gdm  - GNOME Display Manager
Gfax  - Fax hylafax efax facsimile
Gweled  - A Bejeweled/Diamond Mine clone for Gnome
gQueue  - Gnome frontend for CUPS queues
gDesklets  - GNOME Desktop Applets
GtkSourceView  - Source editor widget
BEAST/BSE  - Synthesis/Audio Framework

For more information on these packages visit the GNOME Software map: 
http://www.gnome.org/softwaremap/latest.php

Gnome Summary is brought to you by: Sri Ramkrishna, Sayamindu Dasgupta, Jim 
Hodapp, and Andrew Coulam. 
gnome-summary gnome org 
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