Today, I decided to try out the new kernel mode setting feature in Fedora 9, which moves some stuff about video from userspace into the kernel. I tested this on my notebook, a HP Compaq 6720s with Intel X3100 (GM965) graphics controller. I downloaded the preview live image for x86_64 and booted with the i915.modeset=1 option. The boot was almost normal, except that it was flicker-free. After the system booted I switched the virtual terminal from Xorg to tty1 and back, and it was extremely fast. ... Read more 》

A first preview of the python-libisofs bindings is available now. It’s currently located in a git branch at git.debian.org, but this may change at a later point. The bindings support the creation of ISO Images and (almost) all options libisofs supports, like Rockridge, Joliet, and much more. Reading and Modifying existing images is not supported yet. The code is written in Cython and you need cython installed for building from the git branch. ... Read more 》

After the reunion of the original Asia lineup in 2006, a tour and the live cd/dvd “Fantasia - Live in Tokyo” in 2007, the super group returns with the first new studio album in 25 years. For those of you who don’t know about them, Asia is a band formed in 1981, including former members of Yes, King Crimson, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Uriah Heep, U.K., and The Buggles. ... Read more 》

I’m glad to announce that finally, after being powered by ftpsync for more than six months, the JAK LINUX website now uses ikiwiki. I currently have some small issues with the website: After using –rebuild, tarballs have a different modification time and are therefore reuploaded everytime, though the content is actually the same. I would also need a plugin to create directory indexes with sha1sums, but I haven’t found one yet. ... Read more 》

In the last days, I used git very often. It was almost the first time I really used it, but I quickly understand the basic commands. As some of you may know, the readahead-list package is now maintained in a git repo in the collab-maint project. I decided to use git instead of bzr (which I used for everything before), because of its speed and because I wanted to learn more about git, how it works. ... Read more 》

I just performed some benchmark on Bazaar, Git and Mercurial. This is a very small benchmark, I may publish a more detailed one in a few weeks. vcs-performance.pdf Some notes: 1. The unit in the first chart is seconds 2. I haven't run git-gc before taking the directory sizes. Running git-gc saves about 1083 kilobytes 3. This PDF file is licensed under the MIT License, see [http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php](http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php)

April 2007, I joined the Fellowship of the Free Software Foundation Europe. I also became involved in the development of Debian GNU/Linux with my first package, aufs, sponsored by Daniel Baumann. This was the starting point for my Debian stuff. Now I maintain 6 packages in Debian. One of the most interesting packages is gnome-app-install, which will be part of the gnome-desktop task (already added to tasksel’s list). Users will be able to install applications easily. ... Read more 》

Dear readers, I used to blog on fsfe.org, the website of the Fellowship of the Free Software Foundation Europe. There was one problem that made me switch to wordpress.com: only Fellows can post comments. I will write here about my activity in free software projects, like Debian and Ubuntu, and my own software. I am still working on the categories and will maybe change the style.