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Leading items and editorials

Alas, it was not to be. A few days later, visitors to the SeriousDomains site were greeted with this sad message:

The auction for the pick of 250 corporate consulting type Linux® domain names has been discontinued at the request of attorneys for Linus Torvalds, trademark owner of Linux®. Our understanding of their position is that we cannot have an outright auction of domain names that contain the word Linux, and that those legitimate Linux consultancies or programming shops that are interested in any of our domain names that incorporate Linux® must approach Mr. Torvalds et al to make sure that the domain name is worthy to be granted a license, with a customary "nominal fee."

Few people are overly concerned about the damage to SeriousDomains' business plan. But there is an important issue here. The ownership of the Linux trademark has just been used to stop a business from making use of the name. The world is full of businesses wanting to use "Linux" in one context or another. Need they fear being shut down by Linus and his roving squad of ruthless trademark lawyers? That could poke a big hole in those IPO plans.

Linus Torvalds attempted to answer some of these concerns with this posting to the linux-kernel list. It's worth a read. The essential summary is that Linus will not attempt to shut down a use of the term "Linux" if its use is somehow Linux related. "George's Linux consulting and auto body shop" is not problematic - assuming that George really does Linux consulting. Trying to grab "LeapinLinux.com" as a domain name play is another story.

It is worth remembering that trademarks must be defended to remain in force. So it should not be surprising when this sort of action happens again in the future. Linus is almost as free with his trademark as he is with his software. He deserves support when he asks for a halt in use of it that he believes is inappropriate.

Linuxcare has filed for its initial public offering of stock. As always, the S-1 filing is a wealth of information on how the company works and what it is trying to do. For those who do not wish to plow through that document themselves, LWN has posted its summary as a feature article. Have a look to see what Linuxcare is up to, how much money it makes, who owns it, and so on. As a pure services company, Linuxcare comes across differently - and with a weaker revenue picture - than the other IPO filings we have seen recently.

The Gartner Group on Linux positioning. Here is the Gartner Group's latest proclamation on Linux. Gartner has traditionally been quite hostile to Linux; it is interesting that they are starting to get a little bit more supportive now. Here's some of Gartner's predictions:

• For the next four years, 90% of all Linux server deployments will be on the IA-32 architecture. They do not expect to see Linux take off on the Itanium ("IA-64", "Merced") processor.

• Linux is seen mostly as an OS for the bottom end of the server range. Gartner expects proprietary Unix systems to hold out in the more expensive applications.

• Proprietary Unix will die on the 32-bit Intel architecture. That includes SCO and Solaris x86.

• "Linux will not displace Unix wholesale from the high-end market in the next three to five years because: Unix is well-entrenched legacy technology, Linux is not easily portable to RISC architectures and would represent the same kind of fragmentation that Unix has, Linux would complicate existing OS heterogeneity problems, and Linux currently lacks a fast-track process to achieve mission-critical enhancements equivalent to those offered by Unix vendors."

  This claim looks almost entirely indefensible. Linux has been nicely ported to RISC architectures (Sparc, Alpha), has not fragmented in the process, and has been known for "fast-track" enhancements.

Inside this week's Linux Weekly News:

• Security: NSA code will be GPL'd.
• Kernel: FireWire, cryptographic code, and 32-bit PIDs
• Distributions: Enoch == Gentoo, Debian freezes.
• Development: Sun-Netscape release source code to Mozilla.org.
• Commerce: Transmeta comes out; Corel's latest announcements; Caldera's directed share program
• Back page: Linux links and letters to the editor

This Week's LWN was brought to you by:

• Jonathan Corbet, Executive Editor
• Elizabeth O. Coolbaugh, Managing Editor

See also: last week's Security page.

Security

News and editorials

NSA Linux?. Here's a press release from Secure Computing Corporation stating that it has been awarded a contract from the National Security Agency to develop "a robust and secure Linux platform." Many people speculated that the results would not be openly released, given the nature of the NSA. However, this post from Mike Beede at Secure Computing indicates that the results will be released under the GPL.

More details are promised in the near future. Mike closed with the comment, "Having a secure operating system available to the community will also benefit us, by giving us a non-proprietary platform for our security products."

Linux vs Microsoft: Who solves security problems faster?. Security Portal has taken a look at response times to bug fixes, in an effort to determine whether the response time for open source software is truly shorter. The results: "Red Hat had the best score, with 348 recess days on 31 advisories, for an average of 11.23 days from bug to patch. Microsoft had 982 recess days on 61 advisories, averaging 16.10 days from bug to patch. Sun proved itself to be very slow, although having only 8 advisories it accumulated 716 recess days, a whopping three months to fix each bug on average."

The results turned out well enough, this time, but given that patches for most open source security problems come out almost simultaneous to initial announcements, or within only a few days, it is unfortunate that an average of 11 days occurred before Red Hat updates followed. If the same tests were done on all Linux distributors, some might fare slightly better, but most would fare worse. The time is coming where more attention needs to be paid to getting security updates out in a timely manner for all Linux distributions.

Responses flow in to new cryptographic rules. For good news, check out the Cracking DES book from the EFF, which has been put back online. A lot of press articles took a look at the issue as well:

• Wired News looks at the posting of the PGP source by John Young. "Young's seemingly innocuous act might violate new US government regulations that restrict placing privacy-protecting crypto programs on the Web. Therein lies the uncertainty. The rules are much less onerous than the previous version, but they still apply. And they're so labyrinthine and convoluted that even lawyers who specialize in the area declined to guess whether or not Young has run afoul of President Clinton's executive order and Commerce Department regulations."

• Canoe News looks at opposition to the new rules within the administration. "The new rules, disclosed Wednesday, had encountered strong opposition inside the administration. Top law enforcement and defence officials argued that relaxing the export requirements would allow criminals and terrorists to more easily transmit scrambled electronic messages the government could not decipher."

• Countering the concerns mentioned above, the The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) still say the new regulations don't go far enough. " The new regulations, like the old ones, impose special requirements on Internet speech, contrary to the Supreme Court's 1997 ruling in Reno v. ACLU. The regulations require that the government be notified of any electronic "export" of publicly available encryption source code, and prohibit electronic "export" to certain countries. Yet people may freely send the same information anywhere on paper."

• Reuters. "The new rules, which take effect after being published in the Federal Register on Friday, fulfill a White House promise from September to dramatically relax the previously restrictive encryption export rules."

No privacy protection for e-mail or chat sessions. This New York Times article describes the decision in a recent case in Washington state, where the judge chose to allow as evidence e-mail and recordings of chat sessions. "After all, the judge said, Townsend chose to 'communicate via e-mail and/or ICQ . . . with the knowledge that the computer itself is a transmission and recording device.'" Others believe the judge has taken a first step down a slippery slope.

Security Reports

MySQL. In last week's Security Page, we mentioned a security problem in MySQL. MySQL version 3.22.30 has been released and contains a fix for this problem. An upgrade is highly recommended.

Yams 0.5.7 - Security Fix Release. Yams 0.5.7 has been released. It fixes a problem where the customer id was being stored as a hidden field in some of the order pages. It would have been possible for users to modify this id.

sendmail concerns. Back in December, Michal Zalewski posted a list of procmail/sendmail bugs, at least one of which included a concern about a security issue with sendmail. Gregory Neil Shapiro posted an official reply this week. "We have run through the possible scenarios we could find and do not believe this to a threat."

Updates

• Debian (old)
• Red Hat (old)
• SuSE

Resources

ssh-proxy. Magosanyi Arpad has released the code to a partially-developed ssh-proxy. "A serious programmer does not give out such a code. I wouldn't either, but I have to abort this project of mine here and I hope someone will find it interesting enough to keep on."

Section Editor: Liz Coolbaugh

Secure Linux Projects
Bastille Linux
Immunix
Khaos Linux
Secure Linux

Security List Archives
Bugtraq Archive
Firewall Wizards Archive
ISN Archive

Distribution-specific links
Caldera Advisories
Conectiva Updates
Debian Alerts
LinuxPPC Security Updates
Mandrake Updates
Red Hat Errata
SuSE Announcements
Yellow Dog Errata

Miscellaneous Resources
CERT
CIAC
Comp Sec News Daily
Crypto-GRAM
Linux Security Audit Project
OpenSSH
OpenSEC
Security Focus
SecurityPortal

See also: last week's Kernel page.

Kernel development

Perhaps the biggest change in this prepatch, however, is the addition of IEEE 1394 ("firewire") support. The new driver is marked "experimental," of course, and may remain that way when 2.4 comes out. But, it is no longer true that Linux does not support firewire. More information on Linux IEEE 1394 development can be found on the project web page.

The current stable kernel release remains 2.2.14. The prepatch series for 2.2.15 continues; it is currently up to 2.2.15pre3.

The 2.4 kernel appears to be getting more distant. In theory kernel development is in a feature freeze, and Linus had said back in December that he wanted to get the pre-2.4 series going before the end of the year. 2.4.0 was supposed to happen in the first quarter of 2000.

Since then much has happened. The block (disk) device layer has been strongly reworked, to the point that the driver API has changed and both Alan Cox and Linus have said that the expanding scope of the work is making them nervous. The PCMCIA code has been thrashed, Linus and PCMCIA developer David Hinds are getting grumpy with each other, and a lot of things never have worked in that subsystem.

All of the work that is being done makes sense - but it is very late in the development cycle to be making fundamental changes. By the time all of the changes are completed and properly tested, it will be too late for a "Q1 2000" release. That particular time frame does not matter a whole lot, but this kernel does need to go out at some point.

Cryptographic code in the kernel is coming - maybe. The advantages of including code for secure authentication and communications in the kernel have been known for years - but regulation of such code in several countries has blocked its inclusion. Now that the U.S. has evidently decriminalized the export of open source crypto code, the last roadblock appears to have been removed. People are starting to talk about what to put in.

In particular, H. Peter Anvin is currently in the process of getting legal advice on the matter. If the lawyers say he can get away with it, the kernel.org site (and its mirror system) will begin to carry cryptographic code. Kernel.org, of course, is the home of the official kernel; once this site can carry cryptographic code, Linus seems inclined to start including it.

The issue is not entirely resolved, however. Of particular concern is that the new U.S. law allows the export of open-source crypto source, but not binaries. As a result, the Linux distributions (which are the source of almost everybody's kernels) are still in a bit of a bind. One obvious solution would be to package up the crypto code in source form, then compile it as part of the installation process. Such silliness is not that hard to arrange, but the real point is that traps still abound. A more secure Linux (and Internet) may now be possible, but it will have to be approached with care.

Now that we have 32-bit user ID values, how about 32-bit process ID's as well? Unix systems have limited PID values to 15 bits for a long time, but there is nothing magic about that size. Larger PIDs would allow for some nice things, starting with the ability to have a great many processes active on a single system. There is also a (very small) security advantage in having a large PID space, and thus avoiding the reuse of PID values. Finally, people working with clusters have wanted for a while to be able to make PIDs unique across an entire cluster; this could be accomplished by reserving part of the PID space for a host number.

Given the advantages of larger PIDs, why not go ahead and increase the size of the PID field while the user ID field is being changed? Interestingly, it has already been done. According to Linus, the size of a PID has not only been 32 bits since Linux 0.01, but Linux for some time actually used all of those bits as well. It was a bug in bash that caused Linus to drop back to only using 15 bits, but it has always been stored in a 32-bit space.

Thus, Linux could switch over to 32-bit PIDs tomorrow with very little pain. There's just a few things to be worked out. One is that SYSV IPC uses 16-bit PID values for a user-visible structure. Glibc as a whole uses 32-bit values, but the IPC interface would have to change in a way that would break existing programs (this change appears to already be in the works, at least at the kernel level). Then there is the issue of /proc, which could turn into a very large, crowded directory with that many PIDs active. And, finally, nobody has yet worked out how the wider space should really be used. Should the new bits just become more bits in the PID, or should some of them be set aside for some sort of host ID?

Until these questions are worked out, Linus plans to leave PID values as they are: 15-bit quantities in a 32-bit space.

Other patches and updates released this week include:

• Version 2.0 of the Netware file system has been announced by the Timpanogas Group. It is currently only available in binary form. Source is evidently forthcoming, but has been delayed due to some weirdness that is best read directly from the announcement.

• Jeremy Fitzhardinge announced a rework of the autofs automounter to support "tree mounts."

• Modutils 2.3.9 was announced by Keith Owens.

• Lennert Buytenhek has made available a complete rewrite of the ethernet bridging code.

• Mike Sullivan posted an IBM PCI token ring Lanstreamer driver.

• Mikhail Moreyra has posted a driver for Cirrus Logic CL-MD5620DT modems.

• Randy Dunlap posted a priority list for USB development up to the 2.4 kernel. There is a lot to do still...

Section Editor: Jonathan Corbet

For other kernel news, see:

• Kernel traffic
• Kernel Newsflash
• Kernel Trap
• Linux 2.5.x Porting help

Other resources:

• Kernel Source Reference
• L-K mailing list FAQ
• Linux-MM
• Linux Scalability Effort
• Kernel Newbies
• Linux Device Drivers

See also: last week's Distributions page.

Distributions

Gentoo Linux (formerly Enoch). Enoch Linux, a distribution that we've mentioned a couple of times in the past two years, has changed its name to "Gentoo Linux" and moved to a new location: http://proteinpak.com. (Thanks to F.Odenkirchen.)

Loop Linux 4. A minor update to this small Linux distribution has been announced. Loop Linux can be installed and run from a Dos/Win95/98 system.

Debian GNU/Linux

Bugfix procedures. Richard Braakman outlined the procedures for getting bugfixes into the source code now that the freeze is in place.

Debian Leader Elections. Now that the holidays are over, nominations are being taken for the position of Debian Leader. Note, you can only nominate yourself and are duly warned that it is a "thankless position".

Release-critical Bugreport. It appears that 199 release-critical bugs remain, according to the latest Bug Report.

Debian Weekly News. This week's Debian Weekly News should be available by the time this edition goes to press, or shortly afterwards.

Easy Linux

Linux-Mandrake

Some of its new features: DrakConf, a new desktop configuration panel for easily configuring hardware devices such as video cards, keyboard, mouse (including USB keyboards and mice), support for over 50 languages, preconfigured security levels and MandrakeUpdate, a tool for automatically applying updates.

Red Hat Linux

Red Hat 6.1 for Alpha shipping. Red Hat has announced that the Alpha (processor) version of its 6.1 distribution is now shipping.

ShareTheNet

SuSE Linux

SuSE: Alpha version now available for download. The Alpha version (processor) of SuSE 6.3 is now available for download.

XFree86 3.3.6 is now available for SuSE.

Stale Distribution Links

• CCLinux: http://www.CosmicChaos.com/CClinux/
• Eonova Linux: http://www.eonova.com
• Eurielec Linux: http://www.etsit.upm.es/~eurielec/linux
• Linux-Kheops: http://www.linux-kheops.com/kh97-33/index.htm
• Linux Pro Plus: http://www.LinuxMall.com/Allprod/lxcdr.html
• nanoLinux II: http://www.pluto.linux.it/ildp/AppuntiLinux/AL-13.40.172.html

Section Editor: Liz Coolbaugh

Please note that not every distribution will show up every week. Only distributions with recent news to report will be listed.

Leading
Caldera OpenLinux
Debian GNU/Linux
Linux-Mandrake
Red Hat
Slackware
SuSE
TurboLinux

Also well-known
ASPLinux
Best Linux
Conectiva Linux
e-smith
Kondara MNU/Linux
Progeny
Rock Linux

Non-technical desktop
easyLinux
Icepack Linux
Independence
LibraNet
Redmond Linux
WinSlack

Education
Boston University
kmLinux
LinuxFromScratch
OpenClassroom
Red Escolar

General Purpose
Alzza Linux
aXon Linux
Bad Penguin Linux
BearOps
Black Cat Linux
BluePoint Linux
BYO Linux
CAEN Linux
Cafe Linux
ChainSaw Linux
Circle MUDLinux
cLIeNUX
Complete Linux
Console Linux
Corel Linux
CRUX
Darkstar Linux
DLite
easyLinux
Elfstone Linux
ESware Linux
Eurielec Linux
eXecutive Linux
Fried Chicken
FTOSX
FullPliant
Gentoo
Go!Linux
HA Linux
Halloween Linux
HispaFuentes
IceLinux
Ivrix
ix86 Linux
J-LINUX
JBLinux
Jurix
KRUD
KSI-Linux
Lanthan Linux
Laonux
LASER5
Leetnux
Linpus Linux
Linux Cyrillic Edition
Linux MLD
LinuxOne OS
LinuxPPP
Linux Pro Plus
Linux-SIS
LNX System
LoopLinux
LSD
Lute Linux
MageNet
Mastodon
MaxOS
minilinux
MSC.Linux
nmrcOS
NoMad Linux
Omoikane GNU/Linux
PingOO Linux
Plamo Linux
PLD
Project Ballantain
PROSA
Rabid Squirrel
Repairlix
Root Linux
Scrudgeware
Serial Terminal
Sorcerer
spyLinux
Stampede
Stataboware
TechLinux
TimeSys Linux/RT
Tom Linux
Trinux
Turkuaz
Ute-Linux
VA-enhanced Red Hat
Vine Linux
Virtual Linux
WholeLinux
WinLinux 2000
XTeamLinux
ZipSpeak

Country-specific
Argentina
GNU/Linux Ututo
Britain
Definite Linux
Eridani
China
COSIX
Red Flag
France
Linux/MNIS
Italy
LinuxEspresso
Madeinlinux
Vedova
Spain
Linux Esware
Thailand
Kaiwal Linux
Thai Linux Extension

Related Projects
Chinese Linux Extension

Historical (Non-active)
Dualix
Gentus
Giotto
MCC Interim Linux
OS2000
Storm Linux
Yggdrasil

See also: last week's Development page.

Development projects

Yes, this is the same project we mentioned earlier this week; this time they have their new web site in place and are truly ready. "All of the project's work will be Open Source; all tools will be written in, or scriptable with, Python, and will be required to run on both Linux and Microsoft Windows NT."

SourceForge code released. SourceForge has released the code for its operation. The code is available under the GPL.

Ganymede 0.99.9 released. Version 0.99.9 of the Ganymede network directory system has been released.

Education

Linux Knowledge Base Weekly News. This week's Linux Knowledge Base Newsmentions that the project will be heading to LinuxWorld in February, courtesy of Mandrake.

Request-for-Comment: an OpenSource style Image Database for Education. Mark Dalton sent us a copy of his RFC for the creation of an image database for education along the lines of Matthias Warkus' project for Gnome Icons.

Games

Gimp

On the Desktop

Using KDE in Japanese. Takumi Asaki posted a list of tips for people wanting to use KDE2-current with Japanese.

KDE news from mosfet.org. Items covered over at mosfet.org this past week include a reference to Linux.com's look at KDE, the release of the PerlQt version 2.100 perl bindings and progress moving towards Unicode support.

Web Browsers

Mozilla M13 tree is closed. Mozillazine reports that the M13 tree has been closed, priming expectations for an M13 build and release.

Jazilla release 2. The second "stable" release of Jazilla, the 100% pure Java web browser, has been announced.

Key developer leaves Mozilla (ZDNet). ZDNet UK covers the departure of Mozilla hacker Mike Shaver. "Shaver is quick to quash any speculation that his leaving Netscape/AOL has anything to do with the company's recent mega-merger with Time Warner and its transformation into an all-powerful corporate media titan."

More information on Mike's departure can also be found on Mozillazine.

Public Key Infrastructure released to Mozilla.org. PKI Library source code associated with Netscape Security Services (NSS) and Personal Security Manager (PSM) has been contributed to Mozilla.org by the Sun-Netscape Alliance. For more information, check out the Mozillazine coverage, which includes links to the original press release, plus additional updates.

Linux Web Browsers. WebReview has taken a look at some Linux web browsers, including Netscape, Moilla, Opera, Amaya and Lynx. "Once Opera and Mozilla reach production level, I suspect Netscape will be left for either (or both) of these browsers. Mozilla is looking particularly exciting, although it has a foot-print that may be simply too large for some users." (Thanks to Robert Taylor).

Web Development

Wine

Section Editor: Liz Coolbaugh

Project Links
EmbedLinux.net
EMLAB
linux-embedded.com
Gnome
High Availability
ht://Dig
KDE
MagicPoint
Midgard
Mozilla
PHP
YAMS
Wine
Worldforge
Zope

More Information
AppWatch
Freshmeat
LinuxDev

Development tools

Guile

Java

Java, threads, and scheduling in Linux. Ray Bryant and Bill Hartner have put out a white paper (and patches) discussing how to patch the Linux kernel scheduler for better Java performance. "While the VolanoMark benchmark studied here is an example of a specific workload that places high demands on the scheduler of the underlying operating system kernel, we believe that the effects described here can be present to some extent in other important workloads as well. We look forward to working with the members of Linux community to design, develop, and measure prototypes of Linux code to support the changes described above".

Tritonus: the Linux JavaSound implementation. Peter Pilgrim dropped us a note mentioning that he is working on the beta version of Tritonus with Matthias Pfisterer, porting Tritonus to the JDK 1.1.7. Good progress is being made: "At home I got Tritonus to work and play wave files with Enlightment Sound Daemon and Blackdown 's JDK 1.1.7 v1a release." For others that would like to play as well, Tritonus 0.1.82 is now available.

Perl

PHP

Python

Tcl/tk

Section Editor: Liz Coolbaugh

See also: last week's Commerce page.

Linux and business

• The TM3120 costs less than $100, and is available immediately. It is intended for mobile Linux systems.

• The TM5400 will be available mid-year, and is aimed at more traditional laptop systems.

Transmeta sees a future where small, mobile computers take over. A lot of these will run Linux; evidently at least part of Linus Torvalds' job there has been to put together a special version of the system that will run well on the new chips. More details about this version of the system - and the products (which are said to be already in the pipeline) that will make use of it.

Caldera directed share program. In last week's LWN we stated that we were unable to get an answer from Caldera on whether they were doing a community stock offering as part of their IPO. A sharp-eyed reader has pointed out to us that the information we needed is in the S-1 filing; we had simply missed it. "Up to" 10% of the shared will be reserved for the "directed share program." Of those shares, about half will go to Caldera directors, employees, etc. The other half will be offered to "... open source software developers and other persons that we believe have contributed to the success of the open source software community and to the growth of Caldera Systems."

The offering will be handled through Wit Capital, and it appears that opening an account there will be necessary.

Lineo's Embeddix in hotel set-top boxes. Lineo has announced an agreement with Elitegroup Computing and Bast to build a line of set-top boxes using Embeddix (Lineo's embedded version of OpenLinux). The boxes are aimed at hotel and apartment building use.

TurboLinux Completes $57 Million Funding Round. TurboLinux announced it has closed $57 million in a second round of funding, which included a significant investment by Dell, Compaq, Intel and others.

Danish government to use Linux? Here is an article (in Danish) in the Danish newspaper Politiken. Therein, a politician from the Socialist People's Party is quoted as saying: "We want to secure a European knowledge- and network society based on open technology, which will create a more fruitful milieu for technological development, including the possibility that the many smaller Danish and European software companies will be able to develop products for the Linux operating system, without constantly having to fight against Microsoft and their lawyers." The Socialist People's Party is not currently in the governing coalition, but is the fourth biggest party overall and evidently is relatively influential. (Thanks to Anders S. Buch for pointer and translation).

Linux portals on the move. Just in case there weren't enough Linux portal sites out there...M & A West has announced its "Links2Linux" site, which will be launched during LinuxWorld.

Meanwhile, the Global Reaction Network has announced the acquisition of the LinuxFool.com portal site.

NVIDIA, SGI and VA Linux announce OpenGL initiative NVIDIA, SGI and VA Linux have announced a joint initiative to produce "the industry's first professional-level OpenGL(R) graphics sub-system for workstations running Linux."

Corel is looking for beta testers for CorelDraw. Details can be found on Corel's beta program page. A lot of people are looking forward to the availability of this particular utility; it is still Corel's flagship product, in some ways. Corel expects to get a lot of beta applications.

Corel also published its fourth quarter numbers. Here's the press release from Corel with the results. Contrary to last month's predictions, Corel actually shows a profit - by virtue of a one-time tax accounting move. Also: "Corel enjoyed strong inaugural sales of the new Corel(r) LINUX(r) OS, totaling $3.2 million for the quarter." $3.2 million is not a bad start, considering that the distribution hit the market at the end of November.

And to finish with Corel: Corel continues to buy into Linux firms. This time it has announced the acquisition of a minority stake in OE/ONE.com, a maker of Linux-based "internet appliance" systems

Linux on Royal DaVinci PDAs? PDA Buzz is carrying a brief story saying that Royal is developing a version of its DaVinci organizer that runs Linux; it should hit the shelves by summertime. (Thanks to Gordy Perkins).

Section Editor: Jon Corbet.

Press Releases:

Open Souce Products:
• GUI Works announced the release of E-Grail 2.0, a commercial Open Source software application for Web site content management.

• Linux ONA announced a new version of 'Get Acquainted with Linux Security and Optimization System'

  Commercial Products for Linux:

• Compaq Computer Corporation announced a line of "ActiveAnswers" server products that feature Lotus Domino running on Linux.

• Cyber Digital, Inc. unveiled a "vast array" of Linux based Internet Products that it has developed and that are being deployed in Boston area.

• Cybernet Systems Corporation announced a way to turn any PC into an Internet appliance with the NetMAX 2.2 update, a series of Linux-based thin servers supporting Linux Kernel 2.2.13.

• Dialtone Internet announced that it is offering dedicated cluster hosting services for those needing high performance and availability.

• eOn Communications Corporation announced two new products in its family of Linux-based communications servers. The eQueue 4000 contact center communications server, and the eNterprise 2000, a private communications exchange (PCX) platform.

• Hummingbird Communications Ltd. announced the immediate availability of the Hummingbird Enterprise Information Portal.

• Integrated Business Systems & Services, Inc. announced it has certified Synapse Manufacturing and Synapse EAI+ for Linux.

• ISG International Software Group, Ltd. announced that ISG Navigator, ISG's comprehensive Enterprise Information Infrastructure (EII) solution, will be available for Linux systems this quarter.

• JNI Corporation announced the debut of its software driver for Red Hat Linux running on JNI's Emerald-based FibreStar PCI bus HBA cards.

• KRFTech announced the availability of its WinDriver product for Linux. WinDriver claims to allow the development of cross-platform device drivers that run in user space.

• Linux Press announced a new line of "How to install Linux" books, starting with "How to Install Linux for Red Hat Linux".

• Metatec Internet Products Group announced Web Transporter 3.0, the newest release of the company's Web-based software and document distribution system designed for Extranet business operations.

• SAP announced that its R/3 ERP product is not only available for Linux, but has already been shipped to over 100 customers.

• SCO announced that it will introduce a portfolio of server products for the Linux market at LinuxWorld Expo.

• Secure Computing Corporation announced the availability of its "SafeWord" secure authentication system for Linux.

• Soberbia.com launched its new web site. The new Soberbia.com website provides original T-shirts for geeks. The T-shirts themes are not just about mainstream subjects but everything that is considered relevant to the geeks world.

• The Sun-Netscape Alliance announced iPlanet Web Server, Enterprise Edition 4.1 and the new FastTrack Edition 4.1 software, both of which now include support for the Linux operating system and the latest Java technologies.

• TeamWARE announced its latest product offering, TeamWARE 5.3 for Linux, which will be available in the first quarter of Year 2000.

• Ten Bits LLC announced the immediate availability of it's famous line of tuxed(0) t-shirts (the only t-shirt with a man page).

• Wizard Software announced the release of a light version of its clustering software, Watchdog in Linux version.

• Young Minds announced Linux support for its CD-R and DVD-R product line.

  Products Using Linux:

• Enhanced Software Technologies, Inc. announced that customers will be able to purchase tape drives, optimized for Linux users, from Hewlett-Packard Company through EST's Web site.

• Hall-Mark Global Solutions announced it will distribute two new bundles: Red Hat Linux Developers Platform and the Red Hat Apache Web Server with Compaq's industry standard server, Proliant, as well as the Compaq Alpha DS10 and DS20(e).

• USA Video Interactive, Eagle Wireless, and Urbana.ca are working on a Linux-Wavelet set-top box which should be announced by the Spring of 2000.

  Products with Linux Versions:

• Anyware Technology announced EverLink Suite 2.0, a software solution designed to safeguard network travel of corporate data and information.

• Citrix Systems, Inc. unveiled its plan to provide enterprise and application service provider users access to UNIX and Java-based applications, from a single application portal.

• DataDirect Networks Inc. announced the release of their SAN DataDirector to selected beta sites worldwide.

• DataViews Corporation announced that its high-end HMI software tool, DataViews, now supports Linux.

• Hughes Software Systems Ltd. and Comuniq, Inc. announced an intent to collaborate to deliver HSS's ProtoQuick SS7 and VoIP suite of software solutions on Comuniq's family of Streaming Media Application Server (SMAS) products.

• Infonet Services Corp. announced that its Messenger Server, part of the Messenger WorkPlace family of productivity solutions, now runs on the Linux operating system.

• Iwill USA Corp. announced the arrival of the DU3160, the dual-channel Ultra 160 SCSI adapter.

• Knox Software announced that Arkeia 4.2 has earned IBM Netfinity ServerProven Solution validation.

• LSI Logic Corporation announced low-profile PCI ULTRA2 SCSI and PCI ULTRA160 host adapter boards.

• MyFreeDesk.com announced the beta launch of a free office suite of personal computer applications that can be accessed over the Internet from any location in the world.

• NEC Computers Inc. announced the Express5800/120Ld and Express5800/120Mc2, two new Intel-based, dual-processor servers. They are Red Hat certified.

• NetServerDirect announced the "Maximum RAID" server. Choice of preinstalled operating system includes Red Hat Linux.

• Network Associates, Inc. announced the McAfee VirusScan 4.5 product.

• Rational Software announced that it will work with Intel to port its e-development solution to Linux64 (Trillian), and other members of the IA-64 family of processors.

• Robocom Systems International announced the immediate availability of its flagship RIMS product on Red Hat Linux.

• RPK Security, Inc. announced RPK SecureMedia V2.0 for the RealNetworks RealSystem G2 media delivery system.

• Secure Computing Corporation announced a technology alliance that will provide next-generation Sidewinder and SafeWord security products optimized for the upcoming Intel Itanium processor.

• SSH Communications Security announced the SSH IPSEC Appliance Toolkit, an Internet security toolkit geared for the Internet appliance market.

• Tripwire, Inc. announced the availability of Tripwire 2.2.1, a File Integrity Assessment software tool.

• VeriSign, Inc. announced the availability of VeriSign's 128-bit Global Server IDs for Covalent's RavenT SSL product.

• Vital, Inc. reports an increase in the number of downloads for the Linux version of its CRiSP editor.

  Partnerships, Investments and Acquisitions:

• Applix announced that it is a participant in TurboLinux's latest round of financing.

• Beyond.com announced that it has been selected by Red Hat as a value-added reseller for Red Hat Linux software and services. Beyond.com will be the first Red Hat certified reseller to the U.S. government.

• CALC/Canterbury Corp. announced that it has signed an agreement to provide Linuxcare University Certified Training Classes to information technology professionals, systems engineers and software and Internet developers.

• Derlan Industries Limited announced it now has a 10 per cent Common Share interest in SpellCaster in addition to its holding of Preferred Shares. SpellCaster is a privately held company that provides digital telecommunication solutions for Linux-based systems.

• Digi International announced an agreement with Red Hat Inc. to join in marketing programs that will enable distributors, resellers and integrators to offer Linux-based communications servers designed specifically to suit the needs of small- to medium-sized businesses.

• eSoft Inc., developer of the TEAM Internet Linux software suite, announced a distribution agreement with Raidar Distribution Australia.

• Government Technology Services, Inc. announced Red Hat Inc. and GTSI are in the final stages of negotiating a formal relationship, permitting GTSI to sell Red Hat Linux to the federal government.

• GraphOn Corporation signed a strategic partnership agreement with Scandinavian software publishing specialist, SoftwareRun, to use GraphOn's server-based software to web-enable its selection of online Linux and UNIX software demos.

• Hewlett-Packard Company and VMware, Inc. released this joint announcement about the availability of VMware for Linux on HP VISUALIZE PL450 and XL550 Personal Workstations. The software is available for free download through the month of January.

• Inprise announced the creation of a $60 million venture fund. Among other things, it will invest in Linux startups.

• M&A West, Inc. announced that it has joined the LinuxMall.com Referral Program.

• NETmachines, Inc. announced that a significant investment from Wired & Wireless Global Communication Corporation has enabled NETmachines to expand operations into the European market.

• SuSE and Minolta have announced a partnership to improve the printer support in SuSE's distribution.

  Other:

• Antarctic Support Associates, the Denver, Colorado-based company contracted by the National Science Foundation to build and maintain the South Pole's communications systems, is installing Cybernet System's NetMAX for Linux as their gateway to the rest of the world.

• Cobalt Networks, Inc. reported record results for the quarter ending December 31, 1999.

• Forlink Software Corporation Inc. announced its now in Phase I of its Development Plan. Phase I includes expanded validation and marketing of its software and internet Tool-Suites, increased integration of its products into Linux server environments, strategic alliances in the field of embedded software and tool-suites, PDAs and wireless delivery with China's leading companies.

• Here is the Gartner Group's latest proclamation on Linux. "Linux will not displace Unix wholesale from the high-end market in the next three to five years because: Unix is well-entrenched legacy technology, Linux is not easily portable to RISC architectures and would represent the same kind of fragmentation that Unix has, Linux would complicate existing OS heterogeneity problems, and Linux currently lacks a fast-track process to achieve mission-critical enhancements equivalent to those offered by Unix vendors."

• Guru Labs announced a new Linux Training Center.

• IntraNet Solutions, Inc. announced that "it is the first Web content management vendor to support the Red Hat Linux operating system and Apache Webserver".

• Linuxcare announced the appointment of Bob Walters as vice president of business development.

• The Linux Professional Institute announced that Kara Pritchard has joined its Exam Development Department as Assistant Director for Program.

• Linux Stock News, a new web site providing Linux investment information, has announced its existence.

• Medullas Publishing Company, Inc. announced the release of Penguin Applications.

• MontaVista Software Inc., developer of the Hard Hat Linux operating system for embedded computers, announced that as part of its investment in support and services infrastructure the company has hired Kristin Anderson as director of support.

• MSC.Software Corp. announced the creation the MSC.Linux division supporting Linux products and services.

• Rankstreet.com, Inc. announced they will be using the Linux platform for their software and server operations.

• Red Hat announced the resignation of Frank Batten from its board of directors.

• Silicon Valley Research, Inc. says that sales of its new Linux products are at least partly responsible for the companies first profitable quarter in over 2 years.

• SuSE Linux AG announced the opening of a new support center in Bremen, Germany.

• SuSE Linux is growing. This appointment of a larger board of directors sets the course for further expansion.

Section Editor: Rebecca Sobol.

See also: last week's Linux in the news page.

Linux in the news

The Red Herring reports on the Transmeta announcement. "The 3120 chip will power Linux-based web pads and devices that are expected to sell between $500 and $1000..."

Here's a Reuters article about Transmeta and the soon to be unveiled Crusoe chip. "'Everything will be revealed on January 19 both at the product announcement and on the Web site,' said Ditzel, adding that he cannot comment on any of the rumors or speculation. Still in stealth mode, Ditzel will not even disclose the number of employees at Transmeta, which one semiconductor industry executive said is close to 200. "

Linux and the Stock Market:

News.com looks at Linux from an investor's point of view. "But can investors take a movement seriously that claims a portly penguin as its mascot? They should. For one, Linux as an operating system is growing faster than are any of its competitors. It is also is an ideal operating system for appliance computing, a high-growth segment that I've commented on the past. Most impressive is that Linux systems are the operating infrastructure behind an astounding 31 percent of all Internet servers--giving it the No. 1 unit market share for this important segment"

Computer Reseller News takes this look at Linux companies and Wall Street. "Like the little engine that could, Linux is speeding ahead as a locomotive force on Wall Street. But it is still huffing and puffing up a steep hill to reach resellers and corporations."

Red Hat, along with some of its inside shareholders, will sell 4 million shares according to this Reuters article. Bob Young and Matthew Szulik were listed as selling part of their stakes.

CBS Marketwatch took this look at the VA Linux IPO. "Notable: VA Linux Systems made history as the highest first-day gain of all IPOs with a run-up of 733 percent to 250 over its $30 offering price."

TurboLinux:

TurboLinux has received $50 million in investments, according to this News.com article. Investors include Dell, Compaq, BEA Systems, and others. "The reason for the investments are simple, said D.H. Brown Associates analyst Tony Iams. Established hardware and software companies see a new market opening up with the arrival of Linux, and they want to ensure themselves a foothold, he said."

News.com looks at TurboLinux's latest funding round. "Historically, there has been a delay between corporate rounds of investment and an IPO. Linux seller Caldera Systems broke that pattern last week by filing to go public on the same day it announced $30 million in corporate investments."

Corel:

After telling the world last month that it would be losing money, Corel has come out with a small profit after all, according to this Reuters article. "The Ottawa-based firm, which recently added hot Linux technology to its stable of CorelDraw and WordPerfect software, said it was able to recognize the tax value of some losses and use tax credits that had been deferred pending a Revenue Canada review of Corel's 1993 to 1995 taxation years."

The Ottawa Citizen reports on Corel's investment in Newlix. "For Corel, the cash-and-services holding is the latest of several investments in new Linux technology that has lifted its stock despite weak sales of traditional Corel products. And for Newlix, founded only a year ago, the investment lets it quickly ramp up expansion plans."

News.com also covers Corel's investment in Newlix. "Newlix makes networking server software dubbed Omega, based on Linux, designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It can connect up to 50 PCs and 'handles Internet connections and email, sends files to printers and personal computers and can incorporate a security firewall,' according to the Ottawa-based company."

Red Herring looks at Corel's recent Linux related investments. "What kind of organization Corel is, is up for debate. In recent months, Corel has come under fire for chasing Linux as a fad. After all, skeptics say, Corel's Windows products are where it makes most of its money, yet the company seems to spend more effort publicizing its Linux-related efforts."

Business:

News.com covers Tripwire's plans. "Linux is another growth opportunity for Tripwire, [Tripwire CEO Wyatt Starnes] said. Sellers of Linux software are sensitive about the perception that Linux is a good target for computer intrusions. 'There is a fear that the perception of this vulnerability could impede their marketplace.'"

E-Commerce Times looks at Allaire's deal with MERANT. "Under the terms of the agreement, Allaire will add MERANT's DataDirect technology to versions of ColdFusion for Linux. According to MERANT, the deal will bring scalable, transaction-based connectivity between ColdFusion and databases such as Microsoft SQL, Oracle and Sybase to developers who work with Allaire e-commerce solutions."

Here's an article in the Industry Standard about Red Hat's future. "If 1999 was the year of Red Hat's honeymoon, then watch for flying pots and pans in 2000. Led by the ever-grinning visage of Chairman Bob Young, Linux distributor Red Hat had a yearlong free ride in the press, and investors responded in kind."

Here's a News.com article about Michael Tiemann's appointment as Red Hat's CTO. "The shuffle can be seen as a positive sign for Cygnus as it gets integrated into Red Hat. Because Linux is such a technology-focused product, chief technology officers at Linux companies typically wield a great deal of influence over product direction and strategy."

Forbes looks at Be's plans to give away its operating system for personal use. "Be seems to be trying to emulate Linux, the open source operating system that has taken the computing world and Wall Street by storm, as evidenced by the overwhelming success of recent IPOs like Red Hat and VA Linux Systems. But Linux may have benefited from being at the right place at the right time."

ZDNet UK reports on the adoption of Linux by some "local authority" in the U.K. "The government authority, which cannot be named yet, is currently testing out Linux for a broader rollout once evaluation of the OS, and native applications running on it, are complete."

Arne W. Flones takes a look at efforts to take ownership of the Internet through the use of proprietary protocols. "The major players in the greedy grab are Microsoft, AOL, Real Networks, and Apple. None of their protocols are open and none of them are fully supported by any operating systems other than Windows and possibly Apple Mac. If you have another OS, like UNIX or OS/2, too bad, so sad. "

This Upside column says that Microsoft should forget about the operating system market. "Once Linux's graphical user interface matures and stabilizes, it will become exponentially more attractive to users. If Microsoft is smart, it will have Linux-enabled copies of Office on hand to sell..."

Finally:

ZDNet ran this article on on Deepok Saxena's Linux Demo Day Y2K page. "'We're not trying to say Microsoft/Bad; Linux/Good,' says Saxena. 'This is more about showing that there's an alternative. Especially for small businesses -- we want to show them they have a choice. Many people have heard about Linux but haven't seen it in action.'"

Le Monde features (in French) the web site of AFUL ("l'Association francophone des utilisateurs de Linux et des logiciels libres" - "The French association of Linux and free software users") in a story about French doctors fighting for the right to use Linux in their practice. There is evidently a security system in place that only works with Windows... Here is the Babelfish link, but Babelfish seems increasingly unreliable these days. (Found in Portalux News).

CNN talks with Jon 'maddog' Hall about Linux in China. "As for security, he said military and intelligence agencies around the world have adopted Linux for sensitive systems. 'The fact that they don't have to tell some U.S. company what they're doing is reason enough for them to use Linux,' Hall said."

AboutLinux ran this article on the DVD fight. "I am really curious why they did not name the major search engines as codefendants; after all, by doing a search for them you can get a plethora of links to DeCSS code..."

Linux in Brazil interviews Panasync, the developer of the BitchX IRC client. "I'm a big fan of free software/free source. I enjoy browsing other's well-written code. I also believe in the concept of shareware. I have thought about making BitchX shareware with source. But, it's based on others work, so I don't feel it's fair."

Section Editor: Rebecca Sobol

See also: last week's Announcements page.

Announcements

Resources

Linuxcare's "Dear Lina" column looks at masquerading. "What you do need is a private network, but a way to invisibly transform the private addresses to an allowed external address whenever they try to reach outside. That, my dears, is called IP masquerading, and it is very, very popular these days."

Rob Slade, master of tech book reviews, has sent us a review of 'Running Linux', by Matt Welsh, Matthias Kalle Dalheimer, and Lar Kaufman. "You don't have to be an MS-DOS wizard or a technical support guru to follow this book. If you've installed a few programs and ever added any hardware to your computer, that is probably background enough."

Thestuff.net is a loose confederation of volunteers, dedicated to promoting Linux, specifically, and espousing open source ideals, generally. Currently on the lookout for new volunteers, we desperately need like-minded enthusiasts to assist the development of our web site! If you have talent or interest in the following skills: Writing, Editing, Programming, Graphic Art, please contact, jobs@thestuff.net, or visit http://www.thestuff.net/about.

Events

The Colorado Linux Info Quest (CLIQ) is the first Linux conference and exhibition to be held along the Colorado front range. It will be happening on April 1, 2000 at the Denver Tech Center Marriott. Details can be found in the announcement; LWN is proud to be a sponsor of this event.

LinuxTag 2000 will be held on June 29 through July 2, 2000 in Stuttgart, Germany. Some details can be found in the announcement, or, for those who don't read German, via Babelfish. New this year will be the "Businesskongress," which will add a more commercial orientation to the event.

Web sites

User Group News

This article looks at the reasons for (and the ways to) create special interest groups within a Linux Users Group. "Just a few years ago, it was common to find several people within an existing Users Group, such as a Unix Users Group, who were interested in Linux and thus started a special interest group (SIG) within the group to discuss Linux. Today, Linux Users Groups have grown to become their own Users Groups focusing entirely on Linux. Has Linux become popular enough to start spawning SIGs of their own? Yes. I say they have."

Software Announcements