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[Development] Posted Feb 9, 2010 19:05 UTC (Tue) by ris

The KDE project has announced the availability of the KDE Software Compilation 4.4. "Major new technologies have been introduced, including social networking and online collaboration features, a new netbook-oriented interface and infrastructural innovations such as the KAuth authentication framework. According to KDE's bug-tracking system, 7293 bugs have been fixed and 1433 new feature requests were implemented."

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[Security] Posted Feb 9, 2010 18:55 UTC (Tue) by ris

CentOS has updated C5: kvm (multiple vulnerabilities), and C4: helixplayer (multiple vulnerabilities).

Fedora has updated gnome-screensaver (F12: lock bypass), and bugzilla (F11: information leak).

Red Hat has updated kvm (multiple vulnerabilities), and helixplayer (multiple vulnerabilities).

SUSE has updated lighttpd, net-snmp/libsnmp15/perl-SNMP, fuse, xpdf (various issues).

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[Distributions] Posted Feb 9, 2010 17:33 UTC (Tue) by ris

Web Host Industry Review takes a look at CloudLinux. "The proprietary isolation technology provides a range of benefits for shared hosts, including increasing the number of accounts per server, as well as reducing hardware, electricity, data center space and management costs. As for data centers, it provides customers with a well tested, commercially supported and maintained OS, better security reduces churn and the costs associated with security support issues, and drives extra revenue via upsell to commercially supported distribution that was optimized for Web."

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[Kernel] Posted Feb 9, 2010 15:06 UTC (Tue) by jake

Stable kernel 2.6.32.8 has been released. It is fairly large set of patches, with changes all over the tree, along with at least one security fix. Users of 2.6.32 are, as usual, very strongly encouraged to upgrade.

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[Distributions] Posted Feb 8, 2010 23:54 UTC (Mon) by jake

openSUSE is looking for information from its users about the distribution by way of a survey, which runs through the end of February. The survey is meant to "give feedback to the openSUSE project about the distribution, the openSUSE tools environment and the project in general. Let us know where things are in good shape and areas where improvement is needed." Click below for the full announcement.

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[Announcements] Posted Feb 8, 2010 22:32 UTC (Mon) by jake

James Bottomley has announced this year's Linux Storage and Filesystems Summit, which will be held just prior to LinuxCon in Boston on August 8 and 9. It will be held in conjunction with the Virtual Memory (VM) summit, so there will be three tracks (storage, filesystems, VM) as well as joint meetings for all participants. Proposals for discussion topics and requests for invitations are being solicited; click below for the full announcement. "Presentations are allowed to guide discussion, but are strongly discouraged. There will be no recording or audio bridge, however written minutes will be published as in previous years."

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[Security] Posted Feb 8, 2010 21:16 UTC (Mon) by jake

Fedora has updated chrony (F11, F12: denial of service) and ocsinventory (F11, F12: multiple vulnerabilities).

Mandriva has updated squid (denial of service) and kernel (multiple vulnerabilities).

SUSE has updated kernel (multiple vulnerabilities).

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[Development] Posted Feb 8, 2010 16:26 UTC (Mon) by jake

There are concerns in the GNOME accessibility development community about what the Oracle takeover of Sun means for the efforts led by Sun's Accessibility Project Office (APO). Orca project lead Willie Walker has been laid off and is looking for work, possibly in areas that will not allow him to continue contributing to Orca. In addition, assistive technology specialist Joanmarie Diggs has published an open letter to Oracle concerning the future of the APO and its work. "Last week, Oracle laid off two more members of Sun's already-decimated APO. One of those let go happened to be both the Orca project lead and the GNOME Accessibility project lead, Willie Walker. I truly hope this was an oversight on Oracle's part, and one that will be rectified very soon. Because if it is not, and if no other company steps forward to continue this work, the accessibility of the GNOME desktop will become the open source equivalent of an unfunded mandate, doomed ultimately to fail."

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[Announcements] Posted Feb 8, 2010 15:53 UTC (Mon) by jake

ComputerWorld reports on the outcome of the charity auction at linux.conf.au. "A $12,750 donation from Linux Australia on the night brought the total funds raised for the air rescue service to more than $33,000. [...] 'Free open source software is founded on generosity and these supporters have certainly taken that value to heart,' Life Flight Trust CEO David Irving said in a statement. 'The funds raised will enable 13 people to receive emergency flights, which is a great outcome for the community.'"

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[Kernel] Posted Feb 6, 2010 22:54 UTC (Sat) by corbet

Linus has taken some time off from playing with his new phone to release the 2.6.33-rc7prepatch. "I have to admit that I wish we had way fewer regressions listed by this time... But we've certainly fixed a few things, and it's been a week, so here's -rc7. I wish I could say that it's the last -rc, but I strongly doubt that, and we'll almost certainly have at least one more." See the full changelog for the details.

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[Development] Posted Feb 6, 2010 20:31 UTC (Sat) by corbet

The GNOME Journal has posted a new set of articles, including an interview with Jonathan Thomas (OpenShot video editor creator), a Banshee update, a summary of the 2009 Boston Summit, an overview of PiTiVi, and a look at writing multimedia applications with Vala.

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[Front] Posted Feb 5, 2010 21:27 UTC (Fri) by corbet

Occasionally, your editor will be struck by a series of topics all associated with a common theme. The recent fuss about Android's presence (or the lack thereof) in the mainline kernel ties in well with a couple of other items of notice: the Nexus One phone and the role of free software on the Android platform in general. Click below (subscribers only) for a discussion of Android from three different points of view.

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[Announcements] Posted Feb 5, 2010 19:48 UTC (Fri) by ris

The Linux Foundation has announced the 2010 edition of the "We're Linux" video contest. "The contest is calling all community members and amateur filmmakers to share with the public what a 30-60 second Linux-focused spot for the Super Bowl might look like. This theme is not a requirement for entry; however, videos that can demonstrate the benefits of Linux to the general public are likely to receive more community votes. The submissions should aim to inspire people to use Linux, create conversations among the public, and convey the power and ideals of Linux."

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[Development] Posted Feb 5, 2010 19:02 UTC (Fri) by ris

Ryan Paul takes a look GIMP 2.8. "The venerable GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is undergoing a significant transformation. The next major release, version 2.8, will introduce an improved user interface with an optional single-window mode. Although this update is still under heavy development, users can get an early look by compiling the latest source code of the development version from the GIMP's version control repository."

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[Security] Posted Feb 5, 2010 18:41 UTC (Fri) by ris

Fedora has updated gmime22 (F11, F12: arbitrary code execution), ejabberd (F11, F12: remote denial of service), dokuwiki (F11, F12: cross-site request forgeries), kernel (F11: multiple vulnerabilities), and nss (F12: man-in-the-middle/SSL injection).

SUSE has updated kernel (multiple vulnerabilities).

Ubuntu has updated kernel (multiple vulnerabilities).

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[Announcements] Posted Feb 5, 2010 16:03 UTC (Fri) by corbet

Canonical has announced that its new chief operating officer will be Matt Asay. "'As more companies and people are embracing Ubuntu for their day-to-day computing, we felt it critical to bring in a person who knew not just open source, but has a long experience in making Linux relevant to businesses and users alike,' said Jane Silber, current COO and upcoming CEO, Canonical. 'We think Matt brings to Canonical the perfect blend of industry, executive and community savvy'"

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[Announcements] Posted Feb 5, 2010 1:02 UTC (Fri) by cook

The Register reports on changes to the UK government's open source policy. "The UK government has rejigged its open source and open standards software procurement policy, following pressure from OSS vendors last autumn. Early last year the Cabinet Office revised its rules on public sector open source software purchases, but many OSS players complained that the policy amendments didn’t go far enough. Others grumbled that the government was failing to police its own rules." (Thanks to Paul Sladen).

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[Announcements] Posted Feb 4, 2010 23:05 UTC (Thu) by jake

Registration is now open for the first ever Texas Linux Fest. It will be held at the Monarch Event Center in Austin on Saturday April 10. There will also be evening social events on Friday and Saturday. "Exhibit space is filling up quickly, but if your company, organization, or open source project would like to reserve a booth, you can do so by visiting www.texaslinuxfest.org/sponsorship. There is still time for interested parties to submit a talk for consideration before the February 15 deadline." Click below for the full announcement.

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[Distributions] Posted Feb 4, 2010 18:11 UTC (Thu) by cook

Linux Planet reviews Linux Mint 8. "When last we looked at Linux Mint we gave it high marks on the user-friendly scale for administration and productivity applications. The latest release takes the distro to new heights of the same with a few new added touches to boot. Linux Mint 8 (Helena) is based on Ubuntu 9.10 and delivers all the basic capabilities you would expect in an Ubuntu distribution."

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[Security] Posted Feb 4, 2010 18:10 UTC (Thu) by cook

CentOS has updated kernel (multiple vulnerabilities).

Debian has updated trac-git (remote file execution), chrony (denial of service), trac-git (regression fix) and squid (denial of service).

Pardus has updated ruby (logfile sanitization vulnerability), Sqlite (unauthorized information access), nss (man in the middle attack) and java (multiple vulnerabilities).

Mandriva has updated rootcerts (offending certificate removal).

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