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Issue #1 November 2004

Fedora Status Report

The following summaries the status of the Fedora Project starting with the release of Fedora Core 2. Important milestones since then include:

  • Fedora Core 2 was released on May 18, 2004.
  • The SELinux FAQ for Fedora Core 2 was finalized and moved to the Fedora website.
  • The SELinux FAQ for Fedora Core 3 was finalized and posted to the Fedora website.
  • Fedora Core 3 was released on November 8, 2004 for both the x86_64 and x86 architectures.
  • 111 package have been updated and released for Fedora Core 2.
  • The user mailing list, fedora-list, has over 6300 subscribers.
  • The developer mailing list, fedora-devel-list, has over 1650 subscribers.
  • The testers mailing list, fedora-test-list, has approximately 3000 subscribers.
  • Fedora Core 1 was ported and released to its first 64 bit architecture, AMD64. Justin Forbes, along with many other community members, organized and developed this release.
  • Fedora Core 1 was moved to Fedora Legacy.

Fedora Core 2 Status

Fedora Core 2 (FC2) includes:

  • 2.6 kernel
  • Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is installed for testing but not enabled by default. To install FC2 with SELinux enabled type selinux at the Boot: prompt when installing.
  • Because of the complexity of issues surrounding it, a mailing list has been created for both users and developers. Similar to other Red Hat mailing lists, you can subscribe from the Web at the following location: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-selinux-list
  • GTK+ 2.4 and GNOME 2.6
  • IIIMF (Intranet/Internet Input Method Framework) is the default input method protocol for Fedora Core 2. An input method is a layer of software between the keyboard and the application that enables the input of complex languages — especially Chinese, Japanese, and Korean — but in theory they can be used with any language. IIIMF seeks to replace the aging and inflexible XIM (X Input Method) protocol. Further discussion about IIIMF can be found at http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-i18n-list.
  • Fedora has switched to using the X.Org version of the X Window System. X.Org's implementation is a fork of XFree86 done prior to the license change. X.Org is believed to have a more open approach to development, which Fedora developers thought would be more beneficial to the nature of Fedora.
  • Subversion 1.0 is included. It is a versioning control system designed to replace CVS.
  • Refer to the Release Notes for a list of added, removed, and depreciated packages.

Fedora Core 3 Status

Fedora Core 3 (FC3) was released on November 8, 2004.

Some of the interesting new features include:

  • GNOME 2.8
  • KDE 3.3.0
  • Evolution 2.0
  • SELinux is enabled by default
  • Dynamic handling of device files via udev
  • GCC 3.4
  • VNC
  • Refer to the Release Notes and the Fedora Core 3 article for more details.

Chat Channels and Mailing Lists

  • A channel, #selinux, devoted to SELinux issues has been added to Freenode.
  • Many Red Hat developers who work on internationalization can be found at #fedora-i18n. In particular, they are anxious to hear about issues and questions related to IIIMF. Remember that many of the developers on that channel are in the GMT+9 or GMT+10 (China/Japan/Korea/Australia) timezones, so if the channel is dormant, the developers are most likely asleep!
  • New mailing lists such as fedora-extras-announce-list and fedora-tools-list have been started. The complete list of mailing lists is available on the Communicate page of the website.

Documentation Project

The Fedora Project Documentation Guide has been updated to include a chapter on Emacs and nXML Mode, a few other patches/suggestion, and an Index. Instructions for adding an index to a DocBook XML document has been added, along with a brief explanation on how the index is auto-generated. There has been numerous discussions on the usage of DocBook tags, so read the descriptions in the Documentation Guide for details. A common entities file has been implemented for frequently used terms and phrases. Refer to the The Layout of a Tutorial chapter and the example-tutorial-en.xml file in CVS for details.

A Quick Start Guide has also been written to help volunteers start participating in the project. It describes the process for submitting a new tutorial from conception to getting it posted to the website.

The beginnings of a Docs Project FAQ has been started as well. If you are interested in participating in the Docs Project, this is a good place to start learning how the project is organized and how you can help.

The following new tutorials have been added to CVS and the Fedora website:

  1. Fedora Jargon Buster — Explanation of common Linux terms and terms related to the Fedora Project
  2. SELinux FAQ for Fedora Core 2 — Karsten Wade finalized the FAQs for FC2, and they have been moved from his people.redhat.com page to the official Fedora website.
  3. SELinux FAQ for Fedora Core 3 — Karsten Wade revised the SELinux FAQs for FC3, and they have been posted for those using SELinux.
  4. Keeping Up to Date — Dave Pawson started a tutorial on how to keep your Fedora Core system updated with the latest packages using Yum. It needs a chapter on using up2date as well. A patch on this topic is welcome.

Translation Project

Sarah Wang has updated the Translation Project page and posted two new participation documents:

  1. Translation Project FAQs
  2. Translate Fedora in Microsoft® Windows®

Community

The Fedora community has been well represented at tradeshows and conferences. There was a Fedora Birds of a Feather (BOF) at the Ottawa Linux Symposium in July 2004. There was also a BOF and a Fedora Panel at LinuxWorld in August 2004.