re all,

just a quick update on dyne:bolic

while the spanish manual on the website is now latest version in git -
big up compas \o/ !!! - a translation to bahasa Indonesia is planned.

meanwhile      we're      rounding      up      on      freej      1.0
https://buildd.debian.org/pkg.cgi?pkg=freej  +  next  month there's  a
coding sprint on MuSE to update it, all is getting more steady.

last years we've  been real busy on freej the vision  mixer tool to do
things with video manupulation, so less was done on dyne:bolic so far,
since it is actually working OK :) we needed to do more development on
specific software (also packaged in other distros) still it was a good
period  for our  distribution, which  was widespread  useful  esp. for
people   without    a   computer.    we   are    proud   and   steady,
http://git.dyne.org and stats say it all

as you can notice from the dynebolic repository log what's upgraded so
far is the SDK esp. for kernel development, shipping the new
2.6.30.5-libre in testing right now - and yes Bono, we'll look in how
to make the ramdisk bigger with an option in dynesdk.

ftp://ftp.dyne.org/dynebolic/devel/testing/dyne-2.6-alpha1.iso

ftp://ftp.dyne.org/dynebolic/modules/kernel/kernel-src-26305lib.dyne

ftp://ftp.dyne.org/dynebolic/modules/kernel/26305lib.krn

(all files posfixed by .md5 hash and .md5.asc gpg signature)

take this alpha update as a "RFC" for potentially controversial
software, see codecs.dyne and java.dyne. i'm submitting this alpha1
to the community for comments, it's not a public distribution.

so before any licensing inquiry please consider that:

1) all code is compiled from on-line available sourcecode

2) i'm an Eu-ropean citizen,
(living inna Babylon, but at least free from software patents)

3) we fight for freedom, come and get some.

4) the java.dyne is *all compiled from sources* downloaded from Sun's
ftp after more than 6 months they announced that Java was going GNU
GPL free, smoking cigars with Mark Schuttleworths.

5) there is an update to gnupg, with a little patch rising the key
size to 8192 bits RSA - don't call me paranoid: just read Bruce
Schneier and hang around the crypto scene, here a good howto
http://gagravarr.livejournal.com/137173.html - is it legal for
weapon import/export regulations? come and get some.

the Linux Libre kernel works OK, this is an alpha test, the new
kernels has a lot more hardware support it seems, i hope ppl can hack
more electronic gadgets with it.

there is only one BIG problem :( while the latest SquashFS made it
inside the Linux tree..
SQUASHFS 4.0 DROPS COMPATIBILITY WITH SQUASHFS 3.0 FILES.

this is so sad. it means we all have to recompress our .dyne modules
with the new version, plus have multiple repositories and confusion
for users.

it is not about binary compatibility, so the only needed step for
module developers is to repackage the binaries inside all modules
around with the new 4.0 squash-tools, this can also be done in
scripts. but the problem is that this lack of retro-compatibility will
actually add "versioning complications" as modules for dyne:bolic
2.5.2 won't work on dyne:bolic 2.6 (and viceversa).

hopefully this can be solved by Linux and SquashFS kernel developers
by adding the option of backwards compatibility into the code -good
luck! please let us know if you hear of solutions. thanks.

last but not least: if anyone comes up with an 100% free build of
Firefox 3.5 ( whatever that means ) we're all going to be hoorray,
still the web 2.0 scam won't get any better...

ciao


- --

jaromil, dyne.org developer, http://jaromil.dyne.org

GPG: 779F E8B5 47C7 3A89 4112 64D0 7B64 3184 B534 0B5E