Hello Xubuntu users!

As you may know, Thursday 22nd October we are releasing Xubuntu 9.10 Release Candidate. This is a very important milestone, as it will be very similar to final Xubuntu 9.10 (between them, only very critical fixes will be accepted).

For the 9.10 release we are having very little coverage of Xubuntu images and we would need a harder effort for the RC milestone.

To help, you will need an account in the ISO tracker [1]. This blog post is useful as starting guide:

http://tinyurl.com/yjujh6c

Also, one of the common complains about ISO testing is that, when the call for testing is done, it takes too long to download the ISOs for that candidate image.

Preparing today for that moment couldn’t be easier:

dl-ubuntu-test-iso is a script, available as part of the ubuntu-qa-tools, that downloads Ubuntu (+ Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc) ISO images for testing purposes. The script uses rsync, which means that the second time you run it, it only downloads the changes to each ISO. So, if you use it today, and keep running it every day (or every couple of days), you will be already set up to help when the candidates images for RC start appearing.

You will need a configuration file to tell the script which images your interested in. I have prepared a configuration file for Xubuntu, and it is attached. You will only need to edit it to select which architecture you’re interested in. Save it in you home folder as .dl-ubuntu-test-iso

Once you have save the configuration file:

* If you’re running Karmic, you can install the ubuntu-qa-tools package directly.

$ sudo apt-get install ubuntu-qa-tools
$ dl-ubuntu-test-iso

* If you’re not running Karmic, get the ubuntu-qa-tools from its bazaar repository:

$ bzr branch lp:ubuntu-qa-tools
$ ./ubuntu-qa-tools/dl-ubuntu-

One item is an update to the website.  Xubuntu.org is in need of a refresh!  We’ve had a couple of starts and stops on updating it over the last two releases, but nothing noteworthy ever came of it, so this time I’m putting together a project plan that will break the tasks down into smaller chunks with a clear plan for getting things in place.

I’m not going to guarantee that things will work like clockwork, and I’m not even sure who we’re going to get to help out with the website, but I figure that setting a plan with individual bits that people can do one-by-one is more likely to garner success than handing someone the keys to a base Drupal installation and saying, “Have at it!  Let us know when you’re done!”

I’m sure I’ll have more news on that once I’ve got the basic project plan in order, and (of course) we’ll be seeking out help with the website then, too.  If you think you might want to help out, please make a note of it – place a bookmark in the Firefox 3.0 of your mind.  :]  Or you can just read this blog aggregator thingy, and look for more info about the website project plan when I write about it.  Perhaps that would be better than trying to integrate Firefox 3.0 with your brain.

For now, though, work continues on adding poetic, beautiful content to the wiki, and a few documentation ideas are being tossed around amongst Xubuntu folks.  It’s kind of hard(y) to believe that the first Alpha release for Intrepid is less than a week away, but I suppose it’s how things go.

So, with all due respect to my Gnome- and KDE-using brothers and sisters, here they are:

1) Relative lightness – The Xfce desktop loads more quickly than Gnome or KDE desktops, and Xfce applications are built with an emphasis on lightness.  Xubuntu does have a handful of Gnome-based applications (and hence, some Gnome dependencies), but the developers avoid Gnome-lib heaviness where they can, and applications that require Gnome libraries have been only been chosen because they provide vital end-user functionality.

2) Xubuntu is extensible – I used to work at a deli when I was in college, and my boss used to tell me, “You can always add more, but you can never take away.”  He was referring to putting ingredients onto sandwiches, but his statement can also apply to Xubuntu.  You can use the breadth and depth of the Ubuntu repositories to add extra features and functionality that you may want, but the heavier Gnome or Mono libraries aren’t built into Xubuntu’s core, so you can also stick with the lighter choices if the default Xubuntu system suits your needs.

3) You know what you’re doing – Let’s say you’ve been using Ubuntu or Kubuntu for a while, and know your way around a Linux environment.  You know mv, cp, ls, grep, what a “.whatever” file is for . . .  So you don’t need a distro that’s going to hold your hand quite as frequently.  Xubuntu provides you with most of the same features of Ubuntu, but also doesn’t get in your way with a GUI for everything.  This may not be an advantage for some, but may not be a nuisance for those who are knowledgeable about their systems.

4) Reasonably well-documented – A handful of folks have done a lot of work to bring the full-scope of Ubuntu’s quality documentation to Xubuntu for the 8.04 release.  The Xubuntu wiki is undergoing an overhaul, too.  Long-gone are the days (version 6.10…) when Xubuntu’s documentation wasn’t even updated between releases, so the information that you need to get going is available right from your Xubuntu system.  (Now if we could just do more work on Xfce’s own documentation…)

5) Easy to contribute to, valued contributions – The Xubuntu development team is small, which means it’s easy to get involved and contribute.  Have you been hacking away on Ubuntu artwork, but haven’t been getting your contributions into the releases?  Xubuntu has one person who works on all artwork – why not collaborate as part of a small artwork team?  If you are a budding MOTU, you can help package updated Xfce components.  If you are a Drupal nerd, you can help out with the Xubuntu website.  I understand that all projects need help, but Xubuntu could be an option that is right for some people.

6) Hacker ethic – Yes, Gnome and KDE have more community support than Xfce.  Gnome development forges ahead with a large developer and userbase and the support of several large corporations behind it, and KDE has its own large and thriving community.  Yet Xfce is developed by a handful of hackers who have day jobs, and they’ve still managed to create a technically sound desktop environment.  I think that is pretty cool.

7) Hackability – Although I am not a hardcore coder myself, I’ve heard from numerous experienced developers that the Xfce code base is clean and good.  If you are interested in coding, why not get involved in a project that has a clean codebase, and would appreciate your help?  If are interested in Python application development, take a look at the pyxfce bindings for creating Xfce applications in Python.

8.0) An easy transition – The transition to the Xfce environment on Xubuntu is an easy one, particularly for users of Gnome.  The Xubuntu default settings (particularly in regards to the menu bar setup) have been configured in a way that is similar to Gnome’s setup, and Thunar (the Xfce file manager) looks and works in a manner that is very similar to Nautilus, the Gnome file manager.

8.04) Xubuntu has a logo with a cute mouse in it.

I’m not going to pretend to say that Xubuntu has all of the functionality that is present in the Gnome and KDE desktops of Ubuntu and Kubuntu – Xubuntu can’t mount Samba shares by default, and I’m sure that other people can point out other areas where the Xfce desktop in Xubuntu is currently lacking.  But for everyday computing tasks, for users who have lower-powered hardware, for developers who want a system that uses less-resources on their well-powered hardware . . . Xubuntu is a worthwhile option.

Also, I know it’s not much notice, but tomorrow (Wednesday, 2008-03-26) Jono Bacon is leading a Xubuntu-focused meeting in the #ubuntu-meeting channel on the Freenode IRC network.  The meeting will be held at 1900 UTC (2pm Chicago time).  We’re going to discuss Xubuntu’s mission and strategy, and discuss how to pull in some additional development and packaging help.  The Xubuntu team has had a bit of turnover as a result of some internal disputes over default package selection recently, and we think that coming to some kind of a consensus on our project goals will help focus our efforts and help put some of the conflict to rest.

I feel like Xubuntu is moving in a good direction, though.  Cody Somerville looks to be the person who will be leading the project, and he has a good idea of what Xubuntu is about, is technically proficient, and knows how to argue a point rather than getting mixed up in a bunch of jibba jabba.  All good qualities to have in a project leader.  (Cody also made that wiki menu bar on the Xubuntu wiki.)  As much as anyone pays attention to a wiki, perhaps having a well-set wiki with clear paths to help people start getting involved will help things along a little bit, too.

I’m preparing an interblags post that will contain 8.04 reasons for why Ubuntu and Kubuntu users should consider using Xubuntu (it might be more like 8.04 reasons why I like Xubuntu . . . I’m not sure), but it’s not ready yet.  I only have 7.04 reasons so far.  My post should be Hardy, not Feisty.

1) http://www.debian.org/doc/devel-manuals#policy
2) http://www.debian.org/doc/devel-manuals#devref
3) http://www.debian.org/doc/devel-manuals#maint-guide
4) https://wiki.kubuntu.org/PackagingGuide
5) https://wiki.kubuntu.org/PbuilderHowto
6) https://wiki.kubuntu.org/PackagingGuide/Lists/DocumentationResources

He sent them out to the mailing list in advance of a packaging session that’s being held this Sunday at the College of DuPage, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to cram into our session that day, but it should be a good start for those of us who aren’t familiar with packaging at all.  As someone who has primarily been focused on assisting with documentation, hopefully some day I’ll at least know how to package the set of docs that we create. 

One thing that stands out to me in the second article, though, is the point about release notes. We didn’t have release notes ready for the final Beta and RC of Xubuntu 7.10, and the final release notes for 7.10 weren’t put together until after the official release. We need to do better with that. I guess I’ll be studying up on what makes good release notes.

The Xubuntu documentation turned out ok for the Gutsy Gibbon release – it was certainly much better than it had been for the Edgy and Feisty releases, but we still didn’t reach our goals.  We did a lot of work on the docs, but without the efforts of Luzius Thöny at the very end, I don’t think that the docs would have been shippable.

Xubuntu Hardy Heron (Xubuntu 8.04) will be a long-term release, so I want to make sure that the documentation is top-notch.  The good news is that we already have a good base to work from (we don’t even have to copy everything over from Ubuntu from scratch like we did before), and we also have some people who have some documentation experience under their belt now.  This is good.

I’m not sure how else I’ll be able to contribute to the Xubuntu effort this time around.  I’ve started a new job that is more demanding than my prior jobs, so that has to take priority.  I’d still like to contribute to Xubuntu, though.  I enjoy it, and the people involved with the project.

The good news is that this is technically a very easy task. It just requires an interest in testing and some time immediately prior to a release. Things can get hectic on the days leading up to milestone release day, but it is otherwise not too difficult.

A couple points:
- I will still test, but I just won’t be able to coordinate testing
- It’s not happening immediately. My new job starts on September 24th.
- I’ll help transition things to whoever wants to take this over. You won’t have to learn things from scratch.

Who would be good for this role? Here’s a few qualities and attributes that would be helpful for someone interested in being the ISO test coordinator:
- An interest in testing pre-release versions of Xubuntu
- A basic knowledge of the overall Xubuntu release cycle
- A computer with a cd burner and a decent (i.e., not dial-up) internet connection
- A spare computer, hard drive, or disk partition on which they would be willing to perform a test installation of Xubuntu
- Preferred: I think it’s easier for a test coordinator to coordinate things if they live in Europe (UTC-200 to UTC+500). This isn’t a requirement, but a person in Europe would be at home in the evening when test coordination activity is ramping up, and it’s much easier to coordinate activity from home than from the grocery store or your job.
- Optional: Test coordination could even be shared amongst a few people.

If you’re interested in heading ths up, please let me know. If you aren’t interested in leading things yourself, please mention this to your appropriate local community teams in case someone else may be interested.

As for the site’s appearance, I’m using a modified version of the Misty Looks Wordpress theme. I liked the layout of Matthew East’s page, so I’ve taken a fair amount (okay, alot) from that, and have otherwise mostly worked to make the page a little wider, and (in case you haven’t noticed) to give it the colors of Xubuntu. I’ll be tweaking the CSS to clean up a few elements eventually (the vertical spacing between the blogroll links is a little wide for my taste, and the way I’ve removed the header image is a bit of a hack), but the site looks good enough for now. It’s pretty straighforward in appearance, but I’m just really getting to know CSS, and hopefully I will learn more as I go along. If the site renders strangely on your computer, please let me know.

As for FOSS-related activities, we had an in-person meeting of the Ubuntu-Chicago Local Community Team last weekend. It was held immediately prior to the Chicago GNU/Linux User Group meeting, so there were a number of Chicago Lug members present, and at least one person from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s LUG was there, too. Although we frequently collaborate with members of the Chicago Lug, it’s good to see some opportunities to work with members of the UIC Lug, too. We’re going to be working up some educational sessions, and some informal hackfests with folks from UIC, and I’m looking forward to it.

Xubuntu Gutsy Gibbon documentation is coming along. I’m going to be doing some more work on it today. It’s my first foray into documentation, so it’s been fun trying to learn the ins and outs of docbook. Because we’ve used the Ubuntu Feisty Fawn documentation (thanks, Ubuntu!) we’ve had to remove or change Ubuntu-specific elements to suit Xubuntu, and we’ve had to make sure the documentation is current for this release. It hasn’t been too challenging, but I think we’re still trying to wrap our heads around the .ent files. I think we’re close, though.

Well, this is all for now. I hope the new site works well. Thanks for visiting.

We also have to do some additional work on the specification for the Xubuntu Documentation Browser, or x-d-b, as it is being called. “Xubuntu Documentation Browser” is just a lot to type out.

This weekend is BARcamp Chicago, and it runs all through the weekend. For what ever reason, I didn’t know that it ran 24-hours through the whole weekend. Yeah. As if I’ll be awake for all of it.

I’ve applied for Ubuntu membership, but the next community council meeting falls at the exact moment of a meeting that I have to attend in Eagan, Minnesota, which is near Minneapolis. I’ve pushed myself to the end of the line of membership applications, hoping that they’ll be able to fit me in somehow. *fingers crossed*