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: ) 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: ) 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: ) 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: ) 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>)