X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/2cfd7186e1a746b264d659f01470bf2409e5debb..aa5b7bf7f0f37ca51eab8748089e771eb0f7f9c5:/blog/archive/2025/02/02.rss diff --git a/blog/archive/2025/02/02.rss b/blog/archive/2025/02/02.rss index 8f199abb16..b6aed1ed97 100644 --- a/blog/archive/2025/02/02.rss +++ b/blog/archive/2025/02/02.rss @@ -6,6 +6,124 @@ http://www.hungry.com/~pere/blog/ + + Some of my 2024 free software activities + http://www.hungry.com/~pere/blog/Some_of_my_2024_free_software_activities.html + http://www.hungry.com/~pere/blog/Some_of_my_2024_free_software_activities.html + Mon, 10 Feb 2025 09:30:00 +0100 + <p>It is a while since I posted a summary of the free software and +open culture activities and projects I have worked on. Here is a +quick summary of the major ones from last year.</p> + +<p>I guess the biggest project of the year has been migrating orphaned +packages in Debian without a version control system to have a git +repository on salsa.debian.org. When I started in April around 450 +the orphaned packages needed git. I've since migrated around 250 of +the packages to a salsa git repository, and around 40 packages were +left when I took a break. Not sure who did the around 160 conversions +I was not involved in, but I am very glad I got some help on the +project. I stopped partly because some of the remaining packages +needed more disk space to build than I have available on my +development machine, and partly because some had a strange build setup +I could not figure out. I had a time budget of 20 minutes per +package, if the package proved problematic and likely to take longer, +I moved to another package. Might continue later, if I manage to free +up some disk space.</p> + +<p>Another rather big project was the translation to Norwegian Bokmål +and publishing of the first book ever published by a Sámi woman, the +«<a href="http://www.hungry.com/~pere/publisher/#infoerlifellerdoed2024">Møter +vi liv eller død?</a>» book by Elsa Laua, with a PD0 and CC-BY +license. I released it during the summer, and to my surprise it has +already sold several copies. As I suck at marketing, I did not expect +to sell any.</p> + +<p>A smaller, but more long term project (for more than 10 years now), +and related to orphaned packages in Debian, is my project to ensure a +simple way to install hardware related packages in Debian when the +relevant hardware is present in a machine. It made a fairly big +advance forward last year, partly because I have been poking and +begging package maintainers and upstream developers to include +AppStream metadata XML in their packages. I've also released a few +new versions of the isenkram system with some robustness improvements. +Today 127 packages in Debian provide such information, allowing +<tt>isenkram-lookup</tt> to propose them. Will keep pushing until the +around 35 package names currently hard coded in the isenkram package +are down to zero, so only information provided by individual packages +are used for this feature.</p> + +<p>As part of the work on AppStream, I have sponsored several packages +into Debian where the maintainer wanted to fix the issue but lacked +direct upload rights. I've also sponsored a few other packages, when +approached by the maintainer.</p> + +<p>I would also like to mention two hardware related packages in +particular where I have been involved, the megactl and mfi-util +packages. Both work with the hardware RAID systems in several Dell +PowerEdge servers, and the first one is already available in Debian +(and of course, proposed by isenkram when used on the appropriate Dell +server), the other is waiting for NEW processing since this autumn. I +manage several such Dell servers and would like the tools needed to +monitor and configure these RAID controllers to be available from +within Debian out of the box.</p> + +<p>Vaguely related to hardware support in Debian, I have also been +trying to find ways to help out the Debian ROCm team, to improve the +support in Debian for my artificial idiocy (AI) compute node. So far +only uploaded one package, helped test the initial packaging of +llama.cpp and tried to figure out how to get good speech recognition +like Whisper into Debian.<p> + +<p>I am still involved in the LinuxCNC project, and organised a +developer gathering in Norway last summer. A new one is planned the +summer of 2025. I've also helped evaluate patches and uploaded new +versions of LinuxCNC into Debian.</p> + +<p>After a 10 years long break, we managed to get a new and improved +upstream version of <tt>lsdvd</tt> released just before Christmas. As +I use it regularly to maintain my DVD archive, I was very happy to +finally get out a version supporting DVDDiscID useful for uniquely +identifying DVDs. I am dreaming of a Internet service mapping DVD IDs +to IMDB movie IDs, to make life as a DVD collector easier.</p> + +<p>My involvement in Norwegian archive standardisation and the free +software implementation of the vendor neutral Noark 5 API continued +for the entire year. I've been pushing patches into both the API and +the test code for the API, participated in several editorial meetings +regarding the Noark 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt specification, submitted +several proposals for improvements for the same. We also organised a +small seminar for Noark 5 interested people, and is organising a new +seminar in a month.</p> + +<p>Part of the year was spent working on and coordinating a Norwegian +Bokmål translation of the marvellous children's book +«<a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ada-zangemann/">Ada and +Zangemann<a>», which focus on the right to repair and control your own +property, and the value of controlling the software on the devices you +own. The translation is mostly complete, and is now waiting for a +transformation of the project and manuscript to use Docbook XML +instead of a home made semi-text based format. Great progress is +being made and the new book build process is almost complete.</p> + +<p>I have also been looking at how to companies in Norway can use free +software to report their accounting summaries to the Norwegian +government. Several new regulations make it very hard for companies +to do use free software for accounting, and I would like to change +this. Found a few drafts for opening up the reporting process, and +have read up on some of the specifications, but nothing much is +working yet.</p> + +<p>These were just the top of the iceberg, but I guess this blog post +is long enough now. If you would like to help with any of these +projects, please get in touch, either directly on the project mailing +lists and forums, or with me via email, IRC or Signal. :)</p> + +<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> + + + New oggz release 1.1.2 after 15 years http://www.hungry.com/~pere/blog/New_oggz_release_1_1_2_after_15_years.html