[3784] in linux-announce channel archive
Linux-Announce Digest #76
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Digestifier)
Fri Feb 1 21:13:09 2002
Message-ID: <20020202021305.29007.qmail@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu>
From: Digestifier <Linux-Announce-Request@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu>
To: Linux-Announce@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu
Reply-To: Linux-Announce@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 21:13:04 EST
Linux-Announce Digest #76, Volume #4 Fri, 1 Feb 2002 21:13:04 EST
Contents:
ANNOUNCE: SCons 0.04 now available (Steven Knight)
Linux Gazette #75 (February 2002) available (Linux Gazette)
GLIBS... free software for running a library (Frederick Noronha)
ANNOUNCE: Epsilon Programmer's Editor v11 Released! (Steven Doerfler)
INDIA: Update on the IndLinux effort (Frederick Noronha)
LOCAL: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts Meeting Feb 2002 (ale@tazmania.org)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Steven Knight <knight@baldmt.com>
Subject: ANNOUNCE: SCons 0.04 now available
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 19:42:45 CST
Version 0.04 of SCons has been released and is available for download
from the SCons web site:
http://www.scons.org/
Or through the download link at the SCons project page at SourceForge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/scons/
RPM and Debian packages and a Win32 installer are all available, in
addition to the traditional .tar.gz files.
WHAT'S NEW IN THIS RELEASE?
Version 0.04 of SCons contains the following changes:
- targets are automatically removed before being built unless the
new Precious() method suppresses their removal
- a new Ignore() method allows dependencies to be ignored
- changes to -I or -L options (include or lib directories) don't
cause a rebuild unless an underlying file changed
- a --debug=pdb option re-invokes SCons under the Python debugger
- you can specify var=value arguments on the command line
- a directory can now be a Default() target
- function actions now return None upon success, and raise exceptions
properly
- Action() and Scanner() can be called from subsidiary SConscripts
- binary file signatures on Win32 systems are now calculated correctly
- LIBS and LIBPATH construction variables can now be strings
- an action is now executed just once for a list of targets, not once
for each target in the list
- SCons will now find the library directory properly if you specify
your own --prefix= value at installation
- more performance improvements, including calculating a build
signature just once per node
- documentation improvements, including corrected mistakes and
additional examples
For a complete list of changes in version 0.05, see the CHANGES.txt
file in the release itself.
WHAT IS SCONS?
SCons is a software construction tool (build tool, make tool) written
in Python. Its design is based on the design which won the Software
Carpentry build tool competition in August 2000 (in turn derived from
the Perl-based Cons build tool).
Distinctive features of SCons include:
- configuration files are Python scripts, allowing the full use of a
real scripting language to solve build problems
- a modular architecture allows the SCons Build Engine to be
embedded in other Python software
- a global view of all dependencies; no multiple passes to get
everything built
- the ability to scan files for implicit dependencies (#include files);
- improved parallel build (-j) support
- use of MD5 signatures to decide if a file has changed
- easily extensible through user-defined Builder and Scanner objects
An scons-users mailing list has been created for those interested in
getting started using SCons. You can subscribe at:
http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scons-users
Alternatively, we invite you to subscribe to the low-volume
scons-announce mailing list to receive notification when new versions of
SCons become available:
http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scons-announce
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to Charles Crain, Steven Leblanc, and Anthony Roach for
their contributions to this release.
On behalf of the SCons team,
--SK
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------------------------------
From: Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: Linux Gazette #75 (February 2002) available
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 19:43:07 CST
Reply-To: gazette@ssc.com
"Linux Gazette...Making Linux just a little more fun!"
Linux Gazette is a freely available, WWW e-zine that includes short articles
giving tips and tricks, ideas and suggestions for customizing and running
Linux. It is a member of the Linux Documentation Project.
Linux Gazette issue #75, February 2002, is out and can be found at:
http://www.linuxgazette.com/
For download purposes, individual issues of LG are available at:
ftp://ftp.ssc.com/pub/lg/
A list of mirror sites can be found at:
http://www.linuxgazette.com/mirrors.html
While we do not mail issues of LG to our readers--it's just too big--we do
have an announcement service. Write lg-announce-request@ssc.com with the
word subscribe in the body, and each month you will receive an e-mail notice
when we post Linux Gazette.
Topics in this issue include:
* The MailBag
* More 2-Cent Tips
* The Answer Gang
* News Bytes
* Secure Printing with PGP , by Graham Jenkins
* A Pioneer for a New Century -- Alan Turing, part 1 , by G James
Jones
* Installing and using AIDE , by Ariel Maiorano
* GPL or BSD? Yes , by Mark Nielsen
* The Foolish Things We Do With Our Computers , by Mike "Iron" Orr
* Simple Package Management With Stow , by Allan Peda
* Why I wrote Install Kernel (ik) and How It Works , by Justin
Piszcz
* Writing Documentation, Part III: DocBook/XML , by Christoph Spiel
* The Adventures of Little Linus In GNU/Wonderland , by D Clyde
Williamson
* Modest Home on the Web , by zhaoway
* The Back Page
Read all about it in Linux Gazette.
Michael Orr
Editor, Linux Gazette
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------------------------------
From: Frederick Noronha <fred@bytesforall.org>
Subject: GLIBS... free software for running a library
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 19:41:43 CST
This product comes from Goa-India.
GLIBS is located at
URL is http://sourceforge.net/projects/glibs
The project is been developed in PHP and PostgreSQL
The features are :
-Functions used in the backend
-Has a well structured administration
-Lot of statistics available
-Reservation for books is possible
Volunteers are eagerly sought for docs, programming etc.
Contact sharmad@goatelecom.com <Sharmad Naik>
**************************************************************************
Background information... (article written in May 2001)
LIBRARIANS GET HELP FROM UNEXPECTED QUARTERS, STUDENTS WRITE USEFUL SOFTWARE
By Frederick Noronha
GOA, May 27, 2001 -- Librarians could get the smile back on their faces,
thanks to the initiative of three young engineering students from Goa who
have put together a software package that takes the monotony out of managing
thousands of books that cross their counter.
Gaurav Priyolkar, Sharmad Naik and Hiren Lodhiya (all 21) of the Verna-based
Padre Conceisao College of Engineering have put together the library
management software, which they hope will soon be utilised in their own
institution.
What's more, since the package is based on the 'Open Source' Linux-based
approach to writing software, it will be freely distributed to anyone else
wanting to use it. In contrast commercially-produced software products doing
similar tasks costs lakhs of rupees.
Gaurav, Sharmad and Hiren are all final year computer engineering students,
and undertook this challenge as part of their project. "This software will
be kept in Open Source (its 'source code' will be available to anyone
wanting to implement or improve the product). It could be utilised by anyone
who needs it or finds it useful," Gaurav told this correspondent.
Unlike other available software, this still-unnamed product is capable of
handling library-member records, fines collected, invoices and even report
generation. Books and libraries being at the heart of the
information-collecting process, if found useful, it could play a useful role
in helping libraries be more professionally run.
Librarians would now perhaps not have an excuse that a suitable software is
not available for the computerisation of their operations. This software
means there are no bulky paper card-catalogues, fines don't have to be
laboriously calculated, you don't need thick books or files containing
records of all members, and you can get 'reports' of various library
operations in a matter of seconds.
Hiren -- who along with his two other colleagues first encountered the
alternate Open Source GNU-Linux operating system barely a year back -- says:
"When we started, we never thought we would reach this far."
His colleague Sharmad has been making frequent trips to the nearby Indian
software Mecca of Bangalore, to get a better grasp of Linux-related
concepts. Smiling, he says: "Some projects of other students shrunk along
the way. Ours grew vastly (and became even more ambitious)."
The trio spent two months putting together what ended up as a fairly big
project. "Any database with 20 tables is an impressive size for a project.
Our has some 84 tables," says Hiren.
Linux, an Open Source means of writing software which implies collaborative
functioning and the free sharing of knowledge by those working on such
projects, is gaining popularity among young Indian developers.
These young engineers say they gained immsense help from international
mailing-lists that proved very helpful in sorting out their difficulties,
via the Internet. "We were very happy when one day, we noticed a bug in
PHP," says Hiren, explaining how the collaborative style of writing Open
Source software helps all to gain from the shared knowledge.
"Now our hearts are into this project," says Hiren. They expect their own
Goa-based college to implement the software in its library probably. "We
want to keep the source-code open so that any future batch can continue to
work on improvements and enhance the potential of this software further,"
says Hiren. "Any other library can also get the benefit of using it."
In writing the project, they sought help from libraries at the Goa-based
National Institute of Oceanography and the Goa University.
Gaurav explains that the software allows any library-user to log-in either
as a member of the general public, a library member, or a staff-member. Each
one using the software has certain priviledges, depending on his or her
category.
Library members, for instance, can search for books or make a request that a
book be reserved for them. Library-staff, on the other hand, can look after
the issue, return or renewal of books. Some staff are entitled to add new
members or 'change their profile'.
Other staffers -- like the acquisition clerk -- can place orders for new
books, make invoices, or physically locate the books on the shelves upon
their arrival.
On the other hand, the 'administrator' gets overall charge, and can get a
number of useful statistics on pressing a button. He can find out the daily
inflow of readers, fines collected, or the members defaulting on the return
of their books.
"If a book you want is not available, you are asked if you want to reserve
it. One major problem is that some people keep renewing books and hogging it
for themselves. Under this computerised system, it will not be allowed once
there is a reservation pending," explains Gaurav. In addition, all
transactions (books borrowed, etc) will be intimated to members by an
automatically-generated e-mail message.
The young engineers who worked on this project say equivalent commercial
softwares cost between Rs 5 to 10 lakh. They were all praise for Goa
University's computer science department head Prof Gurunandan Bhat, an Open
Source and Linux enthusiast, who encouraged them to undertake this
potentially-useful project.
Its running platform is Linux, it uses a Postgres database, the webserver is
Apache, its scripting languages are PHP and Perl, and its front-end can be
any web-browser, making it easy for any end-user. (ENDS)
**************************************************************************
Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India 832.409490 / 409783
BYTESFORALL www.bytesforall.org * GOANEWS www.goacom.com/news/
Email fred@bytesforall.org * SMS 9822122436@attcell.net * 784 Saligao Goa India
Writing with a difference... on what makes *the* difference
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------------------------------
From: Steven Doerfler <steven@lugaru.com>
Subject: ANNOUNCE: Epsilon Programmer's Editor v11 Released!
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 19:43:39 CST
Lugaru Software is pleased to announce the release of version 11 of
our Epsilon Programmer's Editor.
This release adds new modes for Visual Basic and Python, improved
support for embedded scripting in HTML, a hex mode for binary files,
an identifier completion feature that saves typing, support for some
types of Unicode files, many file differencing enhancements, and more.
See <http://www.lugaru.com/newv11.html> for details on the many new
features.
Epsilon is a fast, powerful, customizable and extensible editor
featuring EMACS and Brief key bindings, a concurrent process buffer,
asynchronous Internet support, multi-file search & replace, smart
C/C++ indenting, customizable syntax highlighting for many languages
including C/C++/Java, Perl, Python, Visual Basic, HTML and TeX,
integrated grep and tagging, bookmarks, file comparisons, and much,
much more. Epsilon runs under Linux, FreeBSD, 32-bit versions of
Windows, and OS/2.
You can download a time-limited evaluation version of Epsilon from
<http://www.lugaru.com/eval.html>, which has more information on
Epsilon.
Steven Doerfler
Lugaru Software, Ltd.
<http://www.lugaru.com>
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------------------------------
From: Frederick Noronha <fred@bytesforall.org>
Subject: INDIA: Update on the IndLinux effort
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 19:43:00 CST
>From the IndLinux team.... FN
========== Forwarded message ==========
Dear Sir/Madam,
The native language effort of IndLinux Team, TeNeT Group at the Indian
Institute of Technology, Madras focusses on providing both the console and
X-Windows based local language interface for the Linux operating system.
In either case, the primary goal is to enable applications to inherit the
interface with no or minimal modification. Further, an application
developed in the console-based environment must work without requiring any
modification in the X environment.
In addition, once support has been developed for a particular language,
the effort to enable any other Indian language should require only changes
to the configuration.
We have recently released an X-Interface, where we have modified the X-library
to support Indian Languages. Since we have modified in the library level, the
applications like KDE, K-Office, Netscape, etc. and even your own application,
that runs on top of it inherits this property.
For further information about our work please visit our webpage at
http://www.tenet.res.in/Donlab/Indlinux/
Please send your queries, feedback and bugs to
indlinux-support@lantana.tenet.res.in
With regards,
Indlinux Team.
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------------------------------
From: ale@tazmania.org
Subject: LOCAL: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts Meeting Feb 2002
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 19:40:20 CST
Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - February meeting notice
Join your fellow Linux enthusiasts for
our regular monthly meeting!
Thursday 14 February, 2002
7:30 PM
Emory University School of Law
1301 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA
Gambrell Hall Classroom 1C
--------------------------------------------------------------
THIS MONTH:
** A 'NEWBIE' Breakout session is also scheduled **
Topic: Borland Kylix
Speaker: Chris Woodruff
--------------------------------------------------------------
For more info about ALE, visit our web page:
http://www.ale.org/
For directions to Emory University School of Law:
http://www.ale.org/directions.shtml
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