Figure 2.1: Alexander Gabert
Gentoo Linux is proud to announce the release of Gentoo Linux 2004.0 for the x86, AMD64, PowerPC, Sun SPARC, and SGI MIPS architectures. Additionally, the Gentoo Hardened team is announcing the inaugural release of a security-enhanced Gentoo platform for the x86 architecture.
In addition to many bugfixes and security updates since the 1.4 release, Gentoo Linux 2004.0 contains a cutting-edge development toolchain and user environment including, but not limited to, Linux kernel 2.6.3, GCC 3.3.2, GLIBC 2.3.2, KDE 3.2, GNOME 2.4.1, and xfce4.
We are pleased to announce the new Gentoo Store. Available at the Gentoo Store are Gentoo Linux LiveCDs that come complete with the on-CD Gentoo Installation Handbook, 2004.0 Release Notes and optimized pre-compiled binary packages. Users who want to stay up-to-date for 2004 can purchase a subscription that offers the shipment of each quarterly 2004.x release sent straight to their door. Those wishing to donate to Gentoo Linux can now do so in an easy and secure manner utilizing the new donation system. The Gentoo Store accepts PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover for both orders and donations.
Gentoo Linux 2004.0 marks the debut of Catalyst, the new Gentoo release meta-tool. Using Catalyst, developers and users can create and customize every aspect of their Gentoo Linux system; from installation stages, to bootable LiveCDs, to customized binary packages for the Gentoo Reference Platform (GRP). For more information on Catalyst, please see the Catalyst project page and online documentation.
Installation stages, LiveCDs, and Gentoo Reference Platform sets can be found on our mirrors. More information about the Gentoo Hardened project can be found on its project page. For more information, please consult our documentation, mailing lists, user forums, and official IRC channels.
2. Featured Developer of the Week
Figure 2.1: Alexander Gabert |
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This week, we are featuring Alexander Gabert (pappy), another developer specializing in the security realm for Gentoo. Alexander is the lead for the gcc-hardened project, which has the goal of implementing security enhancements such as PIE (position independent executables) and PaX address space randomization and stack protection. He is also co-lead, along with Ned Ludd (solar), for the implantation of propolice, another stack protection utility. In addition, he is exploring work with the HPPA team on implementing Gentoo for pa-risc processors as well as adding user documentation for Hardened Gentoo.
Alexander came to Gentoo via Red Hat and SuSE through BSD, OpenVMS and Linux from Scratch. He was impressed with the opportunity to apply some of his interest in security to the new distro. In particular, he was interested in implementing the PaX userland components in Gentoo - which quickly resulted in an invitation to join the development team. He has also worked on implementing toolchains for non-x86 platforms like PA-RISC. He works with a computer menagerie that includes routers, pa-risc workstations, vaxen, and Intel-based machines. He prefers Evolution, Afterstep and several xterms for his working environment.
During the day, Alexander works for EDS as a field service engineer, a position he describes as "driving around and replacing power supplies and hard disks". He lives in a small town outside Munich, Germany, where he has recently moved into a house that is now populated with computers, children, a new wife and an aging electrical system. He entered the computer industry directly after finishing secondary school and German military service. His non-computer-related pastimes include playing chess, basketball, roller-blading, and playing with his children. Alexander offered his view on some recent controversies in the community: "We are working on a freely available, open-source operating system ... There is something that seems to be missing when lawyers carrying suitcases full of printouts walk into courtrooms to fight about it." A slightly sanitized version of his favorite quote would read "fighting for peace is like making love for virginity."
No new security annoucements were posted this week.
Gentoo and Commercial Support
Given the semi-random nature of a "meta-distribution" package, some users attempting to install commercial Linux software on Gentoo have run into some roadblocks. In this case, a user attempting to install Codeweaver's CrossoverOffice has some interesting comments from one of the company's founders.
Italy: Gentoo Pub in Milano on 6 March 2004
There was a test run for a Gentoo Milano Meeting on 28 February of unknown success at the time of this writing, but whatever the outcome of it was: Next Saturday, the Gentooista residents of Milano in Northern Italy will meet at the entrance to Garibaldi station (and spontaneously decide where to get fed and watered, no doubt). If you want to join them, be there at 18:15 hours sharp on Saturday, 6 March 2004. Coordination thread at forums.gentoo.org, right here (in Italian).
The Gentoo community uses Bugzilla (bugs.gentoo.org) to record and track bugs, notifications, suggestions and other interactions with the development team. Between 21 February 2004 and 27 February 2004, activity on the site has resulted in:
Of the 5175 currently open bugs: 137 are labeled 'blocker', 215 are labeled 'critical', and 390 are labeled 'major'.
The developers and teams who have closed the most bugs during this period are:
The developers and teams who have been assigned the most new bugs during this period are:
This week's tip shows you a couple of ways to reset the root password if you've forgotten it.
The easiest way is of course to boot off the Gentoo LiveCD, chroot into the primary hard disk as described in the Gentoo Install Guide and use passwd.
If you don't have a LiveCD, or the system doesn't have CDROM drive, you can reboot the system into single user mode to reset the password. Simply pass the options "init=/bin/sh" to the kernel from the bootloader menu. When the system boots it will drop you into a root shell. The disk will be mounted read-only so remount it read-write with mount -o rw,remount /dev/ROOT (be sure to change ROOT to your actual root partition). Edit /etc/shadow and remove the encrypted password. Reset the root password with passwd and reboot the system.
You should now be able to login with the new password.
The following developers recently left the Gentoo team:
The following developers recently joined the Gentoo Linux team:
The following developers recently changed roles within the Gentoo Linux project:
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