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Linux News Issue 06
L i n u x N e w s
A summary of the goings-on of the Linux community
Issue #6, November 16 through 25, 1992
**** Highlights in this issue
- Back issues on LN via ftp
- New efsprogs
- SLS upgrades
- TeX upgrad in SLS
- 8-bit clean bash and rc
- ImageMagick
- Joe 1.0.5
- Linux via Trickle
- BSD printer programs
- Sources for several Linux admin programs
- Seyon 1.1
**** Editorial
Back issues of Linux News are now available via anonymous FTP from
nic.funet.fi, directory /pub/OS/Linux/doc/Linux-News. This is an
archive of the LINUXNEWS channel on the linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi
mailing list.
I will no longer be sending back issues via mail.
**** Legalese
Linux News can be copied, re-published, printed, hung on walls, used
as toilet paper, and used in any other way you wish. If you
distribute LN outside comp.os.linux and the LINUXNEWS channel, please
tell me: the more people I know are reading LN, the more eager I am to
put energy into it.
In fact, if you read Linux News, and think that it is a Good Thing,
and you want to make me happier, send me a post card to the following
address:
Lars Wirzenius
Ohratie 16 C 198
SF-01370 VANTAA
Finland
(Letter bombs, as long as they are marked as such, can go to the same
address. :-)
I take no responsibility whatsoever for any information in Linux News,
or any problems due lack of information. If you get killed due to
Linux News, mail me, and I'll feel sorry for you, but that's just
about all I can do.
**** Notices
Linux News is only a summary, if you want more information about a
given subject, please see the source that is referenced at the end of
each note (for Usenet articles, the reference is the Message-ID of the
article). I try to include all the relevant information, including
ftp sites and filenames, as given in the announcements (I probably
won't have the time or energy to check filenames, or to find pointers
to other ftp sites). If possible, I will try to indicate directories
with a trailing /, e.g. ``pub/linux/SLS/''.
I won't include announcements on mailing lists or testing releases,
only things that are meant to be used generally (I admit that the line
can be somewhat difficult to draw, since the whole system is
pre-release). There will be exceptions.
**** News section
November 17. Remy Card announced efsprogs version alpha 10.1. There
was a version alpha 10 announced the day before, but that contained a
bug, which was quickly fixed and now alpha 10.1 is the current
version.
efsprogs consists of mkefs and efsck, i.e. mkfs and fsck for the
extended filesystem.
Changes since version alpha 9 include man pages, and better
checking in efsck.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu, ftp-masi.ibp.fr [132.227.64.26]:
pub/linux/ALPHA/extfs, files efsprogs10.tar.Z (source and binary
programs), efsprogs10.src.tar.Z (source only programs),
efsprogs10.bin.tar.Z (binary only programs), efsprogs.p10.Z (patch to
upgrade from version alpha 9).
(Source: <1992Nov17.100225.13013@jussieu.fr>)
November 17. Peter MacDonald announced SLS upgrades. Changes include
upgrading the kernel to 0.98pl5 (with the test TCP/IP included in the
compiled kernel), fixing some configuration and permission problems
(e.g. X11 fonts), replacing some broken binaries.
Kernel 0.98pl5 will break some binaries, since it checks against
writing into the text segment. At least sc is affected. It is a good
idea to keep an older version of the kernel around.
FTP: The usual sites, check the HISTORY file for what files you
need.
(Source: <1992Nov17.182124.3273@sol.UVic.CA>)
November 17. Thomas Dunbar announced a slight update to TeX in SLS.
Fixes some problems, including a problem with xdvi.
FTP: the usual sites, t1/texman.taz, t2/texbin.taz.
(Source: <9709@vtserf.cc.vt.edu>)
November 18. Janne Himanka announced 8-bit clean versions of the
shells bash and rc. Bash is version 1.10 (since there are no patches
for 1.12). Rc is a clone of Plan 9's rc shell; Janne's version
includes GNU readline.
8-bit cleanliness is preferred feature for most people who use
non-English languages, since their character sets are usually 8-bit,
instead of 7-bit ASCII.
FTP: nic.funet.fi:/pub/OS/Linux/util/shells/.
(Source: <JANNE.92Nov18231314@seita.oulu.fi>)
November 19. Andrew J. Cosgriff announced binaries of ImageMagick
2.0. These binaries require the jumptable jpeg and tiff libraries by
Rob Hooft.
ImageMagick is a program for displaying images and converting them
between various forms.
FTP: sunsite.unc.edu and tsx-11.mit.edu.
(Source: <ins217t.722142087@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au>)
November 20. Bruce Cheng announced diffs for ImageMagic 2.1. You
also need the original IM sources and the jump libs for different
image types.
FTP: export.lcs.mit.edu: /contrib/ (original sources),
sunsite.unc.edu: diff-imgik21.Z (diffs for Linux), libjpeg.a.Z (JPEG
lib version 3c), libtiff.a.Z (TIFF lib version 3.2b), liburt.a.Z (URT
lib version 3.1b).
(Source: <chengb.722231259@craft.camp.clarkson.edu>)
November 21. Joseph H Allen announced Joe version 1.0.5. Joe is a
small and fairly simple editor that has been on at least some versions
of Jim Winstead's rootdisk. There were several announcements for
versions 1.0.0 through 1.0.3 as well, but 1.0.5 seems to be the
current one. The summary of new features is too long to include here.
FTP: world.std.com: src/editors/joe1.0.5.tar.Z.
(Source: <By2LMM.JuI@world.std.com>)
November 20. Gustaf Neumann announced a Trickle server for Linux.
Trickle is a "caching file redistributor", which distributes files via
mail.
Addresses (all are the same machine, they just are for different
networks): TRICKLE@AWIWUW11.BITNET, TRICKLE@AWIWUW11.EARN,
TRICKLE@AWIWUW11.wu-wien.ac.at.
In order to use this, start by sending a mail to one of the above
addresses with a line containing "/HELP" and you should get a help
file in return mail.
(Source: <7222729118-34228@dec4.wu-wien.ac.at>)
November 20. Ross Biro announced a port of BSD's lpr package for
managing printer spools: lpr, lpq, and lprm.
FTP: sunsite.unc.edu.
(Source: <1992Nov20.211004.9713@leland.Stanford.EDU>)
November 20. Jim Winstead announced a set of sources for
miscellaneous Linux utilities. Utilities included are: doshell, ed,
fdformat, fdisk, frag, fsck, kill, makehole, mkfs, mkswap, more,
pathnames, setfdprm, setroot, setserial, setterm, sync, update.
FTP: tsx-11.mit.edu: system-0.98.tar.Z
(Source: <1992Nov20.213143.26320@muddcs.claremont.edu>)
November 21. M. Saggaf announced Seyon 1.1, a communications program
for X11. Version 1.0 was also announced recently. Note that there is
a Seyon channel on the linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi mailing list.
FTP: sipb.mit.edu: pub/seyon/
(Source: <1992Nov21.080717.5816@athena.mit.edu>)
