Localized Gujarati Geek

* Someday back, it was decided that python-xml is no longer updated in Debian and Ubuntu, so it will be removed and this bug #468610 was filed (with many similar bugs). Good enough. I was searching and looking into it with my limited knowledge of Python and so on. Accidentally, I found that this bug has been ‘fixed’ into Ubuntu LP: #199014. Nice. I tried that solution and it wasn’t really working. So, Onkar opened it quickly with confirmation. Thanks to him for quick work.

So, I requested for ‘help’ of this bug. Nothing came from submitter. Now, it was closed again (9th April) with saying that python-xml dependency has been re-added. But, this diff is saying different story. It may be slipped in hurry of releasing Hardy!

Moral of the story: Ubuntu needs more QA work.

PS: Ubuntu users, please report grave bug if pyslide is not working without python-xml.

PS II: pyslide is nice little package to create nice presentations

Kumar, a dedicated Debian dude has written following and I’m sponsoring the first ever Sponsored Post to my blog:

Thanks to Kartik Mistry for `sponsoring’ this blog post. I wanted him to do this because I don’t blog, and his blog has wide reception on Planet India FLOSS and Planet Debian. So, here goes!

Jigdo is a wonderful way of constructing CD/DVD ISOs by dowloading smaller units (like deb packages) to construct an image on your machine, rather than download a 4.3 GB monster over internet only to realize that the connection stops half way or some such thing.

I would also take this opportunity to publicize IIT Madras’ mirror, which mirrors quite a bit of free software. It has a (somewhat) offical Debian (x86, amd64) mirror at

http://ftp.iitm.ac.in/debian
ftp://ftp.iitm.ac.in/debian

And am x86 mirror for Ubuntu as well:
http://ftp.iitm.ac.in/ubuntu
ftp://ftp.iitm.ac.in/ubuntu

It is also (most of the time) ftp.in.kernel.org and www.in.kernel.org, since it is an official Linux kernel mirror (the only one I know of in India).

Anyway, let’s jigdo now! We are to prepare the DVD for Etch 4.0r1 (i386) using jigdo. Here are the steps:

0. Get Jigdo. You can get the “lite” version for any GNU/Linux distribution or Windows here:
http://atterer.net/jigdo/

But Debian/Ubuntu users just need to apt-get install jigdo-lite.

1. Visit http://cdimage.debian.org and go to the “Download CD/DVD images with Jigdo” section.

2. I need the official i386 “stable” DVD image for i386, so I click that. That takes me to a page with a directory listing with many “.jigdo” files and “.template” files. While the jigdo file is a gzipped and formatted list of files in the CD/DVD, the template file is one with a description of the image itself. See TechDetails.txt in the jugdo distribution (or /usr/share/doc/jigdo-file) for details.

3. I download debian-40r1-i386-DVD-1.jigdo and debian-40r1-i386-DVD-1.template to a directory on my computer, and run this:

jigdo-lite debian-40r1-i386-DVD-1.jigdo

4. First, I am asked for files to scan. Since I don’t have any files on my disk already (or don’t want to use them), I just press Return.

5. I am then asked for a mirror. I specify the fastest mirror available:
ftp://ftp.iitm.ac.in/debian

And that’s it. It is supposed to write a blank image and start populating it with Debian packages! Simple, huh?

Depending on the speed of your connection, it should take a few hours (or days) to get a DVD image done. A CD would be much quicker. For people inside IIT Madras, we get 5-7 MBps to the mirror, so it takes around half an hour for the DVD image. So, now you know whom to ask for those Debian DVDs and CDs, if you’re near Chennai, right?

Troubleshooting suggestions are available on the Debian CD-Image
website here: http://www.debian.org/CD/jigdo-cd/

So, hope this was useful.

Kumar Appaiah

* Foss.in/2007 the first short list is out! Look at Debian-Ubuntu Project Day and be there. Apart from Debian, I am talking about OO.o Dictionary for Indic languages.

* Dear all, submit your talk(s) for Debian/Ubuntu Project Day before 8th Oct :P. Still in doubt about anything? Let me know.

* LDTP (aka Linux Desktop Testing Project) has released 0.9.0. Download it. Debian packages will be there soon (temporary at mentors).

* Ayttm 0.5.0+10 is in Debian too! I have changed upstream minor version from -10 to +10 to avoid confusion with Debian revision number. Thanks to mones for upload and tips.

* Late but, we submitted joint proposal for Project Days at Foss.in for ‘Debian and Ubuntu‘. I hope that it will be accepted and we will have great time/fun. Thanks to Teknofreak, Soumyadip  and others for help in drafting proposal.

* It was really good event! We had nice dinner at Pool Side. Interaction with other speakers and students was great and everyone enjoyed it! 2nd day started with talk of Alolita Sharma’s talk on “OpenSource is hip not hype: Top trends to watch in 2007” and after that there was wonderful talk of Dr. Louis on “Managing OpenSource Project”! I liked his style and the way of talking (without slides).

* My and Ubuntu Fiesty RoadMap talk of Mattew was at same time The good thing was that only genuine interested people was there in talk and it was the best talk from side You can download the slides from here: PDF and ODP.

* LFY was given free at desk (with Ubuntu ‘edgy’ CD instead of OpenSuse 10.2!) wow! I am still waiting for payment of my last article of Sep 2006!! So, I hate LFY now! SICSR people gave speakers a nice clock (Can be use at NightLamp)

* Don’t forget to visit: http://goodbye-microsoft.com/

* I hate white-ants! They ate my 6 books

* You know that we have hackfest in Office. Nirav wrote about it.

* So, what we have hacked till now? We started with introduction, ideas, quake3, Pizza, movie, free hack session. I did some r&d on festival based on festival-te for Gujarati language. Telugu team did really great to work and it can be called hacking (specially to force Unicode work with festival). I also updated gnome-orca package based on feedback of Mario Lang (Accessibility Team). Finally, moved to Ubuntu edgy (some part was remaining..) at Office  (with chrooted Dapper!) and feel not much special except Firefox 2 and new graphics.
* Arun/Vinay took interview of Nirav (and me - most of the questions were N.A. to me!) and it was good exercise.

* People are feeling sleepy as Vishal is playing K-Series songs now.. :0

* Debian Package of The Day is back! If you are using Debian and using particular cool package(s) and want to know the world about it, this is right place! You can also join the team!

* I just saw this cool ubuntu poster in Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. And so inspired that I used it to make temporary header for my blog. But, I need to work on my own header
* Prepared initial package for gnome-orca for “experimental” only. Let see how I can improve it after getting report on it. You can get it via mentors.debian.net. Or directly here.

* I have now 7 python packages (written in Python) in Debian (In etch, sid, new, incoming and ITP + 1 Intent to hijack!). Its great to do package Python stuffs. I love tepache, mpy-svn-stats and pyslide - as they are very helpful in daily work.

I also did ITP for gnome-orca. I just joined Ubuntu accessibility team (with very warm welcome!) and started to co-work with Ubuntu gnome-orca packager. I will focus more on this from coming weekend.

* Its PITA if ATM is not near your home or Office! I always have 2/3 rupees in pocket

* So, finally LUG-Mumbai people met at HBCSE. I & Barkha was already late due to less frequency of Bus #367 and Sunday. I started my talk (debian packaging stuffs) around 4:30 and it took around 50 minutes to finish. Krishnakant Mane took good session on ‘Gnome Accessibility’ (gnome-orca, festival). I was amazed to see his zeal. And his way to work with computer even after being a visually disabled person. Salute to Krishnakant! Dinesh Shah’s car was there to make life easier towards home It was good meet!