Today I was working all day on
python-debianbts 1.0 and uploaded it to unstable a few minutes ago. This version breaks backwards compatibility with previous versions. I removed lots of unneeded old cruft like the HTMLStripper class needed ages ago when I was still using HTML instead of debbugs SOAP interface.
A new method
get_usertag(email, *tags) was introduced. It returns a dict containing usertag-buglist mappings. If tags are given the dict is limited to matching tags, otherwise all available tags of the given user are returned:
In [1]: import debianbts as bts
In [2]: bts.get_usertag( debian-python@lists.debian.org )
Out[2]:
dist-packages : [547838, 547832, ..., 547858],
dpmt-todo : [332913],
policy : [373301, 373302, ..., 377089],
python-oldnum : [478467, 478442, ..., 478441],
python2.1 : [351108, 351110, ..., 351131],
python2.2 : [351108, 351109, ..., 351161],
python2.6 : [547838, 547832, ... 547858]
In [3]: bts.get_usertag( debian-python@lists.debian.org , python2.1 , python2.2 )
Out[3]:
python2.1 : [351108, 351110, ..., 351131],
python2.2 : [351108, 351109, ..., 351161]
get_bug_log(nr) now returns a list of dicts with the keys:
header (string),
body (string),
msg_num (int) and
attachments (list). Before 1.0 it returned a list of Buglog objects.
The Bugreport class now supports every information provided by the SOAP interface. I tried to stay as close as possible to the data SOAP provides, so I renamed existing attributes (like Bugreport.nr which is not supported by SOAP but is now Bugreport.bug_num) and also added the quirky ones like: id and bug_nr, found and found_versions, keywords and tags, fixed and fixed_date which always seem to provide the same data.
Instead of the Bugreport.value() method which provided a number representing the openness (in terms of: open, closed and archived) and urgency (like: grave, important, ) to make bugreports sortable by their status, the Bugreport class now has a
__cmp__ method which makes bugreports comparable. The more open and urgent a bug is, the greater it is. Openness always beats urgency (eg: an open whishlist bug is greater than a closed grave one).
While pre 1.0 versions of python-debianbts more or less served the needs of
reportbug-ng, it now tries to stay as close as possible to the data provided by SOAP. As a result many parts of reportbug-ng had to be fixed for the new version. I hope this makes python-debianbts more attractive for other projects dealing with Debian s bug tracker. As always: python-debianbts is on
github and forks, patches or other kinds of collaboration are very welcome.
For the curious here a litte quickstart. it shows how to get all important bugs from reportbug-ng and prints out the bugnumber and summary:
# Get all important bugs of reportbug-ng (returns a list of integers)
bugnrlist = bts.get_bugs("package", "reportbug-ng", "severity", "important")
bugnrlist
[548871, 439203, 542759]
# Get the actual bugreports (returns a list of Bugreport-objects)
bugs = bts.get_status(bugnrlist)
for bug in bugs: print bug.bug_num, bug.subject
.:
542759 [reportbug-ng] Erroneously reports nothing or repeats previous package s report
439203 Doesn t give any explanations of the severities and what they mean
548871 reportbug-ng: does not check for newer versions before reporting a bug
I had wanted to buy a PS3 ever since I learned about this interesting
processor that is called the Cell. Not
that I'm very much into console gaming or any such thing; I'd have
settled for any kind of affordable Cell hardware, really, but that
basically is 'the PS3' these days.
What I had missed, however, was the fact that recent PS3 machines
don't support running Linux anymore. Apparently this was all over the
interwebs, but unfortunately I didn't see that.
That's 300 I won't see again, for a useless (to me) piece of
hardware.
Stupid morons.
Debian maintainer:
Some days ago I had the great announcement that my 
On several occassions, 
To make things explicitly clear, my blog is copyrighted and licensed
as "All rights reserved". It even says that at the footer of every page.
That means you may not redistribute any content without my permission.
Yes, this means you, Ross Beazley. I may allow aggregation sites to
redistribute my content, but the only sites where I have given explicit
permission are Planet Debian and Planet BNM. I am unlikely to be upset
if your aggregation site links back to the original entry and does not
carry advertising, and will probably give you permission. If both these
conditions are not met, you do not have permission and will not be
granted permission.
Here we go, another release has been cooked for your enjoyment: bash-completion 1.1 is here!
This release's development cycle has seen the release of bash4: this introduced a number of bugs, which have been hopefully fixed. Blame us if you find any other 
Many completions were split out of bash_completion: this prepares the road to dynamic loading of needed completions (in a future major release), resulting in a smaller and faster completion!
Furthermore, like each release, many new completions have been added, many old ones were improved, and some bugs have been fixed (more than 20). For more info, look at the 
) 
I haven't written about politics since the election for several reasons. First and foremost, Obama won fair and square. While I might wish the other guy had won, I can't whine and pout or threaten to move to Canada like some people. The vox populi chose and that choice has to be respected.
Secondly, one of the worst aspects of the current American political scene is the paranoid obsession with personalities in which the president is not just an implementor of policies good or bad, but personally responsible for the entire state of the cosmos. It started with Nixon, started getting alarming with Clinton and reached batshit levels of insanity with George W. Bush. But just because the left does it it, doesn't mean we have to follow suit. Although I figured Obamas policies would end up a trainwreck, I wanted to see what he actually did before calling him on it.
The Nobel comittee isn't hoping and changing with me. In a decison that is bizarre even by the lax standards of a prize that long since 
Random plea for free stuff.
If anyone out there has any geeky stickers (or anything a bit random for a sticker) lying around, please send them to me!
I d rather not put my address on the intarwebs, so please feel free to email me on martin AT sourceguru DOT net if you have something to send me, and I will happily send you out a Stamped Addressed Envelope.
The stickers will be put to good use decorating my laptop 
Edit:-
I ve just realised that sending a SASE to another country really doesn t work particularly well, different countries use different stamps after all!!!!
I just put online new Wammu and Gammu website at 
Why would I want that? Not because mp3 is in any way superior, is just my phone doesn't support playing FLAC and its audio capabilities are no match for flac.
I ve been considering for some time now to create a merge tool specifically suited for debian/changelog files. My goal was to let Git use it automatically thanks to gitattributes.
I ve just gone ahead, so let me introduce you 
So I finally got around to checking out the 
Today I branched the (LaTeX) source of my 
Like 
Yesterday was a glorious day for DebConf11 bid in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I had a scheduled meeting with Banja Luka s mayor Dragoljub Davidovic.
We met in his cabinet, where I presented him with the paper DebConf11 in Bosnia and Herzegovina in which I tried to explain what it all means. From what Debian is, over what DebConf is, to why is DebConf important.
The thing I was most worried about was how am I going to explain all this in simple non-tech words 
Either way, I was in middle of explaining what Debian is when mayor interrupted me I understand, I m electrical engineer myself you have no idea what relief came from these words! 
Explaining what DebConf is and what kind of profiles attend one such event went smoothly as well, where mayor made some replicas on my story from the projects he worked on and so on. After my last case he also explained me how it s good that we meet, since Banja Luka was known as electronic city in ex-Yugoslavia.
I find my way to the government building, wait for brief period of time and I get called inside of the prime ministers cabinet. I tell him somewhat different story, in terms of more details, how we are competing with M nchen for this bid, and how I m actually planning if we win the bid, and if the bid is successful we d most likely change the whole city s infrastructure to Debian.
He picks up the phone and calls for someone, person comes in and I m introduced to IT Center General Manager (Krsto Grujic). He tells me that they have few RedHat servers while he leads the way to his office where I m introduced to director of Agency for IT (Srdjan Rajcevic) where we even have this informal talk where Srdjan tells me he used GNU/Linux user himself and that he still manages two OpenBSD servers.
We talk about various topics, in the end I tell them what we need for the conference, they write it all down and we exchange contact details, since I was called back up by the prime minister.
Prime minister, asks me what I need from him to realize this project and I tell him that I d need everything I gave IT guys below, and binding papers that we d have full government and city support by the end of the month, and that I ll consult with people from Debian in case we need anything else. No problem were his words 
I d really like to use this opportunity to invite all Debian members to come and help us realize this bid. Help us put Bosnia and Herzegovina on map of the open source world!
Stay tuned 