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LWN.net Weekly Edition for June 9, 2005A tale of two distributionsIf the net seems slow over the next week or so, it may well be due to the near-simultaneous releases from two major distributions. The long-awaited release of Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 (also known as "sarge") was announced on June 6. As it happens, Fedora Core 4 was due on the same day, but has been pushed back one week to June 13. This delay was not due to any particular technical problems; instead, it seems, the lawyers were a little slow to sign off on the code name for this release.A comparison of a few key packages in these two distributions can be instructive:
These numbers will come as little surprise to most; it is in the nature of Debian releases to be slow in coming and mildly obsolete when they arrive, while Fedora releases run closer to the bleeding edge. The two distributions have different goals: Debian seeks to produce a highly stable distribution for its users; Fedora, instead, is a rapidly updated distribution providing current software to users and a real-world test bed for Red Hat. The table listed above is not entirely fair; many packages in Debian sarge (including important ones, like Firefox) are at or near their current versions. Then, there is this table, which provides a different view:
This table could be made much longer, but the point should be clear: few distributions can offer the sheer variety of packages found in Debian. In all fairness, one should note that the Fedora Extras repository fills in some of the gaps on the Fedora side. Fedora Extras works reasonably well, but it remains a "second class citizen" repository without any commitment to future updates or security support. Debian also supports a much wider range of architectures than Fedora. As these milestones are reached, both distributions are considering where they want to go in the future. On the Debian side, there is a general desire to improve the release process so that the next major release ("etch") comes a little more quickly. There is some planning happening for a painful gcc upgrade and a PostgreSQL transition, among other things. There is a continual low-level rumble on how Debian and derivatives (Ubuntu in particular) should work with each other. The "how many architectures should Debian support?" question still lacks a definitive answer. It also seems, however, that the Debian developers are taking a well-deserved break and deferring much of the "what now?" discussion until Debconf5, happening in mid-July. (As luck would have it, the conference has offered to fly LWN Distributions Page editor Rebecca Sobol to the event, so LWN will have coverage from Debconf5). On the Fedora side, a deliberate effort was made to start a discussion on what should be in Fedora Core 5. A few goals were suggested: more security features and faster booting, for example. Most of the discussion, however, has centered around a suggestion to increase the length of the development cycle somewhat (to nine months or so). The current six-month cycle allows for a maximum of about two or three months before the stabilization efforts set in, and some developers are finding it difficult to get their changes in within that window. The suggestion has not been particularly well received by the powers that be within Red Hat, however. In theory, opposition from Red Hat should matter less in the future. At the recently-concluded Red Hat Summit, the company announced that it planned to set Fedora free, and to put it under the control of an independent foundation. There have been no communications from the company on this subject outside of the conference, so details are scarce. Nothing has been said on how this foundation will be formed, funded, or governed. It remains to be seen whether Red Hat is truly willing to give up enough control to allow Fedora to pick its own directions. A truly independent Fedora, however, has the potential to combine a strong base distribution with a larger, more enthusiastic developer community; it could be a force to be reckoned with. Debian and Fedora are two very different distributions. Debian is a huge, community-driven project with a "when it's ready" release policy. Fedora is, for now, a company-controlled, smaller distribution with scheduled releases. In many ways, however, they appear to be converging. Debian is facing the size issue (by considering which packages and architectures truly belong in the core distribution), release cycles, and, via efforts like Ubuntu, commercial appeal. Fedora, meanwhile, aims for a stronger community orientation and is debating package policies and release cycle issues of its own. Both distributions will remain part of our community for a long time - and we are richer for having both of them. But they are responding to many of the same pressures, so it would not be entirely surprising to see them look more alike in the future.
A sneak peak at Firefox and Thunderbird 1.1The Mozilla project recently released alpha builds of Firefox 1.1 and Thunderbird 1.1. In addition to bugfixes and performance enhancements, there are several new features in Firefox and Thunderbird that look interesting. So, what's slated for Firefox 1.1 and Thunderbird 1.1? Let's start by looking at the "Deer Park" alpha build of Firefox 1.1.
Firefox 1.1Firefox 1.1 is the first major milestone on the way to Firefox 2.0. Firefox 1.5, planned for sometime in 2006, is the second milestone, with 2.0 being the final milestone. Overall, the 1.1 release isn't a radical change from 1.0, but there are some pleasant new features to look forward to, and a few user interface changes as well.
There is a new tool to quickly remove information from Firefox, called "Sanitize." One can choose to clear browsing history, saved form information, download history, cache, cookies and saved passwords with a hotkey or by choosing the "Sanitize" option from the tools menu. Sanitize is configurable, so one can choose to erase download history, cache and browsing history, for example, without erasing saved passwords or cookies. Users also have the option of erasing these items each time Firefox is shut down. This is a very useful option for those who share computers with other family members, roommates and co-workers. Firefox 1.1 also improves browsing pages in the cache, so browsing forward and backward seems much faster than in Firefox 1.0. Granted, Firefox 1.0 isn't terribly slow, but even a few seconds improves the user experience drastically. Users will also be able to report "broken" websites using Firefox 1.1. The release includes a "Report a Broken Web Site" wizard which provides the URL, a list of possible problems ("Browser not supported," "Can't log in," "Plugin not showing," and so forth) and a field to describe the problem in full. According to the Privacy Policy page for the feature, the Mozilla team will use this feature to work with webmasters to correct interoperability problems with Firefox. Whether the feature will actually encourage webmasters to fix the problems is another story. The "Cookies" dialog has changed somewhat. Cookies are now organized in folders by site, and users can search to find the cookies that they're looking for rather than scrolling through the list, which can be handy if one has accumulated a long list of cookies. Despite its alpha status, we didn't run into any serious glitches, crashes or other nastiness using Firefox 1.1. This writer plans to continue using Firefox 1.1 alpha as his primary browser, since it has proven to be stable (at least over the past three days) and offers some modest improvements over the 1.0 release.
ThunderbirdAs with Firefox 1.1, there are no drastic interface changes or radical feature changes slated for Thunderbird 1.1, but there are a number of interesting improvements and new features that will make the upgrade worthwhile. One spiffy new feature slated for 1.1, and working fine in the alpha release, is the "inline" spelling checker that underlines misspelled words (or words not yet in Thunderbird's dictionary) while you type. Thunderbird 1.0 does have spelling checking, but not as you type. Thunderbird also allows the user to add a word to the dictionary, or ignore it, on the fly by right-clicking on the word.
Users who wish to use Thunderbird as an RSS reader will like the OPML import capability in Thunderbird 1.1. We tested Thunderbird with an OPML file exported from Bloglines with more than 130 feeds. Thunderbird handled it gracefully, and imported all the feeds with no apparent problems. There should be an "export" capability in the final 1.1 release, but it is not in the current release. Thunderbird 1.1 will also come with features to help users avoid being scammed by phishing attacks. We didn't actually get any phishing scams to test this out with Thunderbird, but the client is supposed to display a warning message if a message looks like a phishing attack. Again, as with Firefox's alpha, the Thunderbird alpha handled well enough that this writer will probably employ it for day to day use -- while making regular backups of mail, just in case. The Firefox roadmap calls for a second alpha release in June, and a beta and final 1.1 release sometime later this year. The Thunderbird roadmap calls for a final 1.1 release in June, but that may need to be pushed back since the alpha release is only a few days old.
The CDT takes on infringementThe Center for Democracy & Technology has long been "working for democratic values in a digital age." CDT has taken on many issues, including encryption, freedom of speech, privacy, and more. So the new copyright policy paper [PDF] from CDT seemed worth a look. Unfortunately, the CDT appears to have lost track of some important goals in its desire to compromise.The stated goal of the paper is:
... to outline a general framework for protecting copyright in a
manner that is consistent with the open architecture of the
Internet and with the interests of creators, consumers, and
technology innovators.
Most of us, probably, can agree with the goal of "protecting copyright." The whole structure of free software licensing, after all, is based on copyright law. Without copyright, there could be no General Public License. Free software could still exist in such a world, but the rules would be different. So how do we "protect copyright"? The CDT offers a three-pronged approach, the first of which is "punishing bad actors." The authors, it seems, are enthusiastic supporters of actions like mass lawsuits against file traders. Also big on their list is "secondary liability" for people who encourage file sharing - Grokster, for example. There is a token mention of how secondary liability should only target "bad activity" without "chilling the development of new technologies or the provision of online services," but no discussion of how the two can be separated. There is no mention of any situation where "secondary liability" has gone too far, leaving the reader with the impression that the CDT is entirely happy with the enforcement activities which have happened to this point. Well, not entirely happy; the CDT would like to see more laws passed to get the Federal government more heavily involved in copyright enforcement. They would also like to see:
Cooperation between content owners and ISPs on a voluntary basis to
find practical and appropriate ways to pass crucial information on
to specific individuals while protecting their anonymity (and while
steering well clear of putting ISPs in the role of tracking and
policing subscribers' behavior) could be a positive step.
How this "positive step" would actually work is not discussed. The core of the CDT paper, however, relates to the creation of "consumer-friendly" DRM schemes. Given a suitable "open market," the CDT believes that DRM can "enable" the flow of digital content we all hunger for in our souls without making life overly frustrating for us "consumers." The CDT does argue against specific mandates by government (but the group appears to favor broadcast flag regulations which provide "reasonable balance") and in favor of preserving consumer privacy. But, as a whole, DRM schemes are clearly seen as a good thing. The final step advocated by the CDT is "public education." The paper tells us:
It is particularly important to send the message to younger
consumers that infringement is unlawful and unethical. This effort
cannot be pursued by industry alone...
"Younger consumers" (and older ones too) could certainly benefit from a better understanding of copyright law. It is probably true that educating these "consumers" about fair use, ever-lengthening copyright periods, the starvation of the public domain, etc. is not something that we can expect industry to accomplish on its own. But, of course, the CDT shows no particular interest in helping industry out on that score; it's mostly interested in the infringement problem. Remember that the CDT is supposed to be an advocate for democracy, civil rights, and the consumer. But this group has, perhaps out of fear of even worse alternatives, entirely given in to the demands of the entertainment industry in the name of making content available to "consumers." The CDT has sold out entirely on this issue. There are numerous things the CDT could have addressed, were it truly interested in the wider debate. Perhaps a little mention of the DMCA would have been nice; seeing programmers arrested in the defense of DRM schemes might just have a "chilling effect" or two. An examination of just how well the market has done in producing "consumer-friendly" DRM so far might have been in order. And it might have been nice to see at least a passing mention of the public domain, the source of many of the ideas which have been incorporated into current, eternally-copyrighted content. But there are two larger failures here. The first is the firm distinction between "producers" and "industry" on one side, and "consumers" on the other. We are, it seems, supposed to go off, be good little consumers, and not worry our pretty little heads about how the "producers," out there somewhere, will protect their content in a "friendly" manner. When your editor was young, it was often noted that freedom of the press is great if you happen to own a press. Now that your editor is no longer so young, we all own presses. We are no longer to be called "consumers," told to enjoy the products from "industry" in some business-friendly way. We, too, are producers, and we have a stake in this game. The CDT has not yet figured that out. One of the most dramatic ways in which we are producers can be seen in the free software community. LWN readers are not "consumers" of Linux; they are its producers. And we have produced a world where many copyright infringement issues are no longer relevant. But, to the CDT, we do not exist. Any balanced look at DRM must include this fact: free software and DRM are absolutely incompatible with each other. When "consumers" actually have control over their computers (and DRM-capable devices are computers), they need not accept externally-imposed restrictions on what those computers can do. The CDT's "consumer-friendly" DRM vision, almost by definition, cannot include free software. Certainly, we wish to live in a world where producers can make a living from their work. We are all producers now, remember? Besides, how else will we ever get to see the final three Star Wars movies we were promised back in the 1970's? The CDT's answer to this problem, however, does not describe a world that many of us would want to live in. Some of us, evidently, have a different idea of what constitutes "democratic values."
Security Intel processors and DRMThere has been a persistent round of rumors stating that upcoming Intel processors come with an additional, unwelcome feature: hardware digital restrictions management (DRM) capabilities. According to some, this built-in DRM is the motivating force behind Apple's just-announced switch to Intel processors. If Intel is to be believed, the reality of the situation is not as bad as one might fear.According to Donald Whiteside, an Intel VP, there is no secret DRM in Intel's chips:
The rights management technology referred to in the article was not
a secret DRM from Intel, but the DTCP-IP technology publicly
offered by the 5C Entity; which Intel is a Founder. Intel believes
that the DTCP-IP technology is an important element in enabling
protected transport of compressed content within the home network,
and we continue to promote DTCP-IP for this application which
enables greater consumer flexibility & use of premium
entertainment content.
The DTCP web site has some information on this technology - though one must pay significant money and sign some highly restrictive documents to get the full scoop. Essentially, DTCP is a way for devices to talk over local links - an IEEE1394 connection or home wireless network, for example - without creating fears that somebody's Valuable Intellectual Property will leak out into the world and bring an end to civilization. It's a fairly straightforward combination of encryption and remote attestation protocols. Essentially, a DTCP-enabled device has, buried within it, a signed certificate identifying it as being approved by the powers that be. When two such devices communicate, they send challenges and check certificates to ensure that they are both approved; if the authentication step fails, no content will be exchanged. Assuming the authentication succeeds, encrypted content can be sent in one direction or the other; this content includes a set of flags specifying the rules which are to apply to the copying of that content. Anybody who makes an approved device must, of course, promise to implement those rules. The DTCP designers have not left things to chance; each device includes within it a "revoked certificates" list. When somebody's gadget is shown to be insufficiently attentive to the restrictions applied to Valuable Intellectual Property, its certificate can be added to that list. Every device, and every piece of content as well, carries a copy of the list, and devices will update their list when a newer version comes along. So your compromised video player may well make copies for a while, until you bring in a disk with a new revocation list; after that, none of your other gadgets will talk to it any more. It is still not clear what features Intel has added to its chips to support DTCP. It is unlikely to be anything which will be useful to Linux users. But, at least, it does not appear to be a system to lock "unauthorized" operating systems out of the processor. And certainly none of us expected any sort of free multimedia software to get a stamp of approval from the entertainment industry anyway.
Brief items Schneier: Attack Trends: 2004 and 2005Bruce Schneier has posted some predictions on the types of security problems we'll see in the near future. "Targeted worms are another trend we're starting to see. Recently there have been worms that use third-party information-gathering techniques, such as Google, for advanced reconnaissance. This leads to a more intelligent propagation methodology; instead of propagating scattershot, these worms are focusing on specific targets. By identifying targets through third-party information gathering, the worms reduce the noise they would normally make when randomly selecting targets, thus increasing the window of opportunity between release and first detection."
New vulnerabilities dbus: information disclosure
Dzip: directory traversal
kdbg: command injection vulnerability
kernel: local denial of service, possible compromise
Mailutils: SQL injection
Wordpress: multiple vulnerabilities
Updated vulnerabilities a2ps: input validation error
apache-utils: htpasswd buffer overflow
bzip2: race condition and infinite loop
cpio - file permissions error
cURL: buffer overflow
cvs: multiple vulnerabilities
cyrus-imapd: buffer overflows
dhcp: format string vulnerability
Dnsmasq: poisoning and DoS
emacs21: format string vulnerability in "movemail"
enscript: arbitrary code execution
Ethereal: numerous vulnerabilities
evolution: message crash vulnerability
Foomatic: Arbitrary command execution in foomatic-rip
FreeRADIUS: buffer overflow and SQL injection
gdb: multiple vulnerabilities
gtk-pixbuf, gtk2: denial of service
gettext: Insecure temporary file handling
gftp: missing input sanitizing
ghostscript: symlink vulnerabilities
glibc: tempfile vulnerability in catchsegv script
gnupg: information leak
GnuTLS: Denial of Service vulnerability
grip: buffer overflow
groff: insecure temporary directory
gxine: format string vulnerability
gzip: race condition and directory traversal
htdig: cross site scripting
ImageMagick: xwd coder denial of service
imap: buffer overflow in c-client
imlib2: buffer overflows
infozip: privilege escalation, directory-traversal
junkbuster: heap corruption and settings modification
kdelibs: unsanitzied input
kernel: multiple vulnerabilities
kernel: ELF loader core dump vulnerability
kernel: multiple vulnerabilities
kimgio input validation errors
libconvert-uulib-perl: arbitrary code execution
libdbi-perl: insecure temporary file
libgd2: buffer overflows in PNG handling
libnet-ssleay-perl: weakened cryptographic operations
libTIFF: buffer overflow
libxml2 - arbitrary code execution
libxml2: multiple buffer overflows
libXpm: new buffer overflows
lvm10: creates insecure temporary directory
mailman: path traversal
Mailutils: multiple vulnerabilities in imap4d and mail
mc: buffer overflow
MediaWiki: multiple vulnerabilities
mikmod: buffer overflow
mod_python: remote access vulnerability
Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Suite: multiple vulnerabilities
MPlayer: heap overflows
MySQL: input validation and temporary file vulnerabilities
ncpfs: multiple vulnerabilities
Net-SNMP: fixproc insecure temporary file creation
nfs-utils: arbitrary code execution
openssh: directory traversal
openssl: der_chop script temp file vulnerability
OpenSSL: information leak
OpenSSL: denial of service vulnerabilities
Opera: multiple vulnerabilities
perl: setuid vulnerabilities
perl: symlink vulnerability
php4: integer overflow and denial of service
phpsysinfo: cross-site-scripting
postgresql: EXECUTE privilege vulnerability
postgresql: database initialization errors
Pound: buffer overflow
ppxp: missing privilege release
realplayer: arbitrary code execution
rp-pppoe, pppoe: missing privilege dropping
samba: integer overflow vulnerability
SpamAssassin: Denial of Service vulnerability
squid: DNS spoofing
SquirrelMail: multiple vulnerabilities
File overwrite vulnerability in tar and unzip
tcpdump: multiple DoS issues
telnet: buffer overflows
UnAce: buffer overflow and directory traversal
vixie-cron: crontab allows any user to read another users crontabs
XChat 2.0.x SOCKS5 Vulnerability
xine-lib: two heap overflow vulnerabilities
xine-lib: buffer overflows
xine-ui - insecure temporary file creation
xorg-x11: integer overflows
xpdf: buffer overflow
XV: multiple vulnerabilities
zlib: denial of service
Page editor: Jonathan Corbet Kernel development Brief items Kernel release statusThe current 2.6 prepatch is 2.6.12-rc6, released by Linus on June 6. This one should, if all goes well, be the final testing release before 2.6.12 comes out. Most of the patches are basic fixes, but there is also the (temporary, hopefully) removal of the Philips webcam decompression code, the conversion of the IDE code over to the device model way of doing things, a CPU frequency controller update, and a user-mode Linux update. See the long-format changelog for the details.Linus's git repository has since accumulated a few dozen small fixes. The current -mm tree is 2.6.12-rc6-mm1. Recent additions to -mm include semi-persistent permissions for sysfs files, the "scalable TCP" congestion control algorithm, hotplug CPU support for the x86_64 architecture, RapidIO support (see below), an NFS update, an unlocked_ioctl() operation for block devices, and the v9fs filesystem (covered here last month).
Kernel development news Quotes of the week
My things-to-worry-about folder still has 244 entries. Nobody
seems to care much. Poor me.
-- Andrew Morton
This is the kind of crap that happens when drivers in the kernel
are not self contained, and need "external stuff" to work properly.
It means that simple things like NFS root over the device do not
work in a straightforward, simple, and elegant manner.
-- David Miller
I am likely to always take the position that device firmware belongs in the kernel proper, not via these userland and filesystem loading mechanism, none of which may be even _available_ when we first need to get the device going.
A summary of the realtime Linux discussionPaul McKenney has taken some time and written up a detailed summary of the current status of Linux realtime support. The resulting document (click below) starts with a discussion of the problem, then works through the various approaches being taken to provide realtime response with Linux. Worth a read if you have any interest in this area.
The dynamic tick patchThe timer interrupt is one of the most predictable events on a Linux system. Like a heartbeat, it pokes the kernel every so often (about every 1ms on most systems), enabling the kernel to note the passage of time, run internal timers, etc. Most of the time, the timer interrupt handler just does its job and nobody really notices.There are times, however, when this interrupt can be unwelcome. Many processors, when idle, can go into a low-power state until some work comes along. To such processors, the timer interrupt looks like work. If there is nothing which actually needs to be done, however, then the processor might be powering up 1000 times per second for no real purpose. Timer interrupts can also be an issue on virtualized systems; if a system is hosting dozens of Linux instances simultaneously, the combined load from each instance's timer interrupt can add up to a substantial amount of work. So it has often been thought that there would be a benefit to turning off the timer interrupt when there is nothing for the system to do. Tony Lindgren's dynamic tick patch is another attempt to put a lid on the timer interrupt. This version of the patch only works on the i386 architecture, but it is simple enough that porting it to other platforms should not be particularly difficult. The core of the patch is a hook into the architecture-specific cpu_idle() function. If a processor has run out of work and is about to go idle, it first makes a call to dyn_tick_reprogram_timer(). That function checks to see whether all other processors on the system are idle; if at least one processor remains busy, the timer interrupt continues as always. Experience has shown that trying to play games with the timer interrupt while the system is loaded leads to a net loss in performance - the overhead of reprogramming the clock outweighs the savings. So, if the system is working, no changes are made to the timer. If, instead, all CPUs on the system are idle, there may be an opportunity to shut down the timer interrupt for a while. When the system goes idle, there are only two events which can create new work to do: the completion of an I/O operation or the expiration of an internal kernel timer. The dynamic tick code looks at when the next internal timer is set to go off, and figures it might be able to get away with turning off the hardware timer interrupt until then. After applying some tests (there are minimum and maximum allowable numbers of interrupts to skip), the code reprograms the hardware clock to interrupt after this time period, and puts the processor to sleep. At some point in the future, an interrupt will come along and wake the processor. It might be the clock interrupt which had been requested before, or it could be some other device - a keyboard or network interface, for example. The dynamic tick code hooks into the main interrupt handler, causing its own handler to be invoked for every interrupt on the system, regardless of source. This code will figure out how many clock interrupts were actually skipped, then loop calling do_timer_interrupt() until it catches up with the current time. Finally, the interrupt handler restores the regular timer interrupt, and the system continues as usual. The end result is a system which can drop down to about 6 timer interrupts per second when nothing is going on. That should eventually translate into welcome news for laptop users and virtual hosters running Linux.
RapidIO support for LinuxOne of the patch sets which showed up in the 2.6.12-rc6-mm1 kernel is the RapidIO subsystem, contributed by Matt Porter (of Montavista). Your editor, being ignorant of the RapidIO standard, decided to have a look. RapidIO turns out to be a sort of backplane interconnect intended mainly for embedded systems. It allows for multiple hosts to exist on the same bus and work collaboratively with the available peripherals. It is a sort of highly local area network.The RapidIO site provides no end of highly detailed specifications for the truly curious. The rest of us, however, can learn a lot by looking at a network driver packaged with the rest of the Linux RapidIO patch. This driver provides a simple example of how to use the API provided by the RapidIO layer; it enables network packets to be exchanged with another host on the RapidIO bus. The RapidIO subsystem is integrated with the device model, so it provides the expected structures: rio_dev and rio_driver. Drivers can register a probe() function which enables them to take responsibility for devices (which can be other hosts) as they turn up on the interconnect. The example network driver uses a wildcard ID table so that it is given the opportunity to work with all other devices out there; it will happily send packets to any suitably capable device. "Suitably capable," in this case, means that the device implements the two basic primitives used to communicate across the RapidIO interconnect. "Doorbells" are a way of sending simple, out-of-band signals to remote nodes; the doorbells used by the network driver are those which announce device addition and removal events. Most work, however, is done with "mailboxes," essentially a reliable packet delivery service. If one RapidIO device sends a message to another via a mailbox, the lower levels will do their best to ensure that the message arrives uncorrupted and in the right order. So how does one RapidIO network node send a packet to another? Taking out the usual overhead and error handling, it comes down to the following:
static int rionet_start_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *ndev)
{
struct rionet_private *rnet = ndev->priv;
rio_add_outb_message(rnet->mport, rdev, 0, skb->data, skb->len);
}
rdev is a rio_dev structure corresponding to the destination host on the RapidIO backplane. This call sends the data in the network packet (skb) out through the given mailbox to the desired device. When the transmission is complete, the driver will receive a callback so that it can perform any necessary cleanup (freeing the skb in this case). Packet reception requires setting up a ring of receive buffers, much like one would see in any network driver. In this case, the necessary code looks like:
do {
rnet->rx_skb[i] = dev_alloc_skb(RIO_MAX_MSG_SIZE);
if (!rnet->rx_skb[i])
break;
rio_add_inb_buffer(rnet->mport, RIONET_MAILBOX,
rnet->rx_skb[i]->data);
} while ((i = (i + 1) % RIONET_RX_RING_SIZE) != end);
The RapidIO subsystem maintains a list of buffers waiting for incoming mailbox messages; new buffers are added with rio_add_inb_buffer(). When a message actually shows up, the driver gets a callback (established when the mailbox is allocated), which, in the end, does the following:
if (!(data = rio_get_inb_message(rnet->mport, RIONET_MAILBOX)))
break;
rnet->rx_skb[i]->data = data;
skb_put(rnet->rx_skb[i], RIO_MAX_MSG_SIZE);
error = netif_rx(rnet->rx_skb[i]);
The code assumes that anything arriving on the given mailbox will be a network packet. Beyond that, little checking is required; all of the details, including data integrity checks, will have been taken care of by the lower levels. The list of RapidIO-capable devices is small at the moment, but appears to be growing. As these devices become available, Linux will have the low-level infrastructure needed to support them. The embedded Linux community has often been accused of keeping its work to itself and not contributing back to the kernel as a whole. The contribution of the RapidIO subsystem is another sign that this situation may be changing; that, perhaps, is more welcome than the code itself.
Automated kernel testingIf there is one thing that almost all kernel developers agree with, it's that more testing is a good thing - especially if the results are presented in a useful way. Martin Bligh thus got a warm reception when he announced a new kernel testing facility. As he put it:
Currently it builds and boots any mainline, -mjb, -mm kernel within
about 15 minutes of release. runs dbench, tbench, kernbench, reaim
and fsx. Currently I'm using a 4x AMD64 box, a 16x NUMA-Q, 4x
NUMA-Q, 32x x440 (ia32) PPC64 Power 5 LPAR, PPC64 Power 4 LPAR, and
PPC64 Power 4 bare metal system.
This is, indeed, a fairly wide range of coverage. The results are presented as a simple table, showing which kernels passed the tests and which did not. When a kernel fails a test, the relevant information is provided (though, often, that information is simply "did not boot," which is not entirely helpful).
Numerous others have worked at testing and benchmarking kernel releases. Martin's work, however, has the advantages of being automated and presenting the results in a reasonable way. With these attributes, this project stands a good chance of helping the developers to produce better kernels in the near future.
Patches and updates Kernel trees
Core kernel code
Development tools
Device drivers
Filesystems and block I/O
Janitorial
Memory management
Networking
Architecture-specific
Miscellaneous
Page editor: Jonathan Corbet Distributions News and Editorials A look at rpath LinuxMichael K. Johnson announced the 0.24 release of rpath Linux, formerly known as "Specifix Linux," last Thursday. This release includes 0.60.4 of the Conary Software Provisioning System. Conary is meant to replace package managers like RPM and dpkg.We downloaded the rpath ISOs and took the distribution for a little test drive, and we e-mailed Johnson and chatted with him in the #conary channel on freenode.net about the distribution and Conary to find out what it has to offer over other packaging systems. In terms of the rpath distribution itself, Johnson said that it wasn't particularly unique, apart from the Conary packaging system. "Because the whole point is to be quite 'vanilla' outside of Conary, rpath Linux's main unique feature is that it is built with Conary. (Even that is not quite unique, actually, since Foresight Linux exists and is built with Conary as a derivative of rpath Linux.)" The rpath distribution uses an Anaconda installer, and basically is a "vanilla" distribution with a GNOME 2.10 desktop and a lot of the applications you'd expect to see in a basic desktop distribution. As the introduction to the Conary system explains, Conary is a packaging system that works like a Source Control Management (SCM) system. Everything is stored in a distributed repository, rather than package files. Components and packages in Conary are called "Troves." A source component may be built with different configurations and/or for different architectures. This is called a "flavor." A good example of this would be kernels built for SMP systems, or with different instruction sets. The SMP and UMP kernels would be different "flavors" of a component. Versioning in Conary works a bit differently than with package systems like RPM and dpkg. For example, the RPM naming convention provides the name of the package, the version, the package release number, and the architecture. So the Abiword package for Fedora Core 3 is abiword-2.0.12-3.i386.rpm. Conary, on the other hand, names files according to the repository, the version number of the software, source revision number and binary revision number. In practice, Conary's design allows one to install a package like Abiword and its dependencies without necessarily installing additional packages. For example, installing the Abiword "Trove" added the Enchant library component, but not the Enchant runtime or document components. Johnson also said that Conary makes it easy to install multiple versions of libraries. For example, users who run x86_64 should be able to easily install x86 and x86_64 versions of libraries.
Conary divides files up between components automatically (with manual overrides, of course) and the defaults make it easy to have multiple non-conflicting libraries installed on a system that supports them both. We simply build all packages with these default settings. Furthermore, Conary automatically checks for several problems that would break a multi-lib setup, and halts the build with errors if it sees them. This means that we don't have to have a special rebuild to make some core set of x86 libraries available on x86_64; instead, any of the x86 :lib components can install and function on x86_64. This is going to become more and more important now that both AMD and Intel's mainstream is entirely 64-bit x86_64.
Conary also works like an SCM in that one can rollback transactions. By running " The system can also be used to generate local changesets that can be committed to a local repository, and updated on other machines from that repository. This makes Conary interesting for system admins who need to customize software across a group of machines. Conary also supports "branches" for development of Troves, so one may install a branch of an application and continue to follow that development tree rather than worrying about a conflict between versions of the application. If the main rpath distribution includes Firefox, for example, and there's an experimental version of Firefox in the "contrib" repository the user can install the experimental version from the contrib repository and then follow that branch of development without worrying about conflicts with the "official" version in the main repository. This also works with Conary flavors, so once one installs a specific flavor, that flavor will be installed when the user updates the package. The rpath distribution also includes a Conary GUI application that serves as a browser for repositories, and which makes it easy to see what Troves are available for installation and so forth. It was easy to install Abiword and other applications from the Conary GUI, though the GUI works on the metaphor of applying updates rather than "installing" a package -- which might throw some users off. The Conary command-line tools took a bit of getting used to, but this is probably more a symptom of many years experience with RPM and dpkg, rather than a sign that Conary is overly complex. It's not quite as slick as APT or Yum just yet, but Johnson did say that work is still being done on Conary. We also asked Johnson what the goals for rpath Linux were, and where rpath could "fit" in the already-crowded distribution market. According to Johnson, the problem is not that the market is too crowded, but that it's "crowded in the wrong way."
It is crowded with lots of little effectively unrelated operating system images, all different, and different in ways that aren't immediately obvious, easily discoverable, or even intentional. There's no real reason, for example, to think of every Knoppix derivative as a separate "distribution", except that the technology doesn't explicitly working with them as a set of related and interoperable sources of operating system data. With Conary and rpath Linux, we are separating the concepts of "distribution" and "installation image". The repository is the canonical source of the bits, not a set of ISO images. Why should it be hard to create a custom installation image that represents exactly what you want to install on your system? That's a trick question; the answer is that it shouldn't be! Doing that should not be counted as creating "another distribution".
Think more about a set of custom, interoperable operating system images instead of "distributions". Then you can pick the best operating system image without worrying about choosing a distribution putting you in a corner. Conary is the core technology which enables this view, and rpath Linux is a foundation or cornerstone. He also said that the goal for rpath was "to make it a good distribution on which to base a derivative."
Ken VanDine joined the Conary community immediately after we announced Conary, and he quickly saw the potential Conary's new model provides. He then set to work on a derivative distribution called Foresight Linux which has about 20% changed or new content relative to rpath Linux...
Being a good source for derivative operating system images has some definite implications. rpath Linux must not be too heavily patched, because the more patches we apply to an upstream project, the less likely it is that some other patch (which someone building a derivative wants to apply in their derivative) will apply. The distribution needs to be functional and coherent, because otherwise who will want to use it as a source for their derivative work? It needs to be relatively current, because new patches aren't likely to apply easily to old source code. Some people ask whether this approach will make "distribution hell" that much worse. Fortunately, the answer is, "no". When Conary is widely adopted (the only case that actually matters from this perspective), we'll have lots of interoperable slices, with rich dependencies that make it clear what actually interoperates. Already, rpath Linux users sometimes cherry-pick the bits that they want from the Foresight Linux repositories. Rich dependencies and explicit distribution and package inheritance will make this continue to work. Conary will mean that there are more customized installation images available, but will alleviate unnecessary incompatibilities by allowing derivatives to differ in distinctives only, and not drift apart into mutually-incompatible projects. Obviously, Conary will achieve these goals by being adopted. Since Conary is currently in beta, and rpath Linux is in the last few stages of being alpha, I'm looking a little bit into the future here! Conary is not limited to Linux systems. Johnson said that Conary should work "just fine on BSDs, and that they've had a report of successful Conary installation on Cygwin. The rpath distribution is probably not ready for production use, we ran into some spectacular Python errors using Conary after just a few updates and rollbacks, but the Conary package system is definitely worth a look. It should be interesting to see whether or not the Conary package system catches on. It has some worthwhile features, but it won't be easy to convert users who are already familiar (and have strong biases towards) existing packaging systems.
New Releases Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 releasedThe Debian Project has announced (click below) the official release of Debian GNU/Linux version 3.1 (Sarge). "This release includes a number of up-to-date large software packages, such as the K Desktop Environment 3.3 (KDE), the GNOME desktop environment 2.8, the GNUstep desktop, XFree86 4.3.0, GIMP 2.2.6, Mozilla 1.7.8, Galeon 1.3.20, Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2, Firefox 1.0.4, PostgreSQL 7.4.7, MySQL 4.0.24 and 4.1.11a, GNU Compiler Collection 3.3.5 (GCC), Linux kernel versions 2.4.27 and 2.6.8, Apache 1.3.33 and 2.0.54, Samba 3.0.14, Python 2.3.5 and 2.4.1, Perl 5.8.4 and much more."
Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 r6Version 3.0 r6 of Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 (woody) is out. "This is the sixth and final update of Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 (codename `woody') which mainly adds security updates to the stable release, along with a few corrections to serious problems."
rpath Linux 0.24 releasedrpath Linux, the distribution formerly known as Specifix Linux, has been released; it is available for the x86 and x86-64 architectures. Click below for details and download information.
Alpha version of 64 Studio released for download64 Studio Ltd., a company developing a collection of software for digital content creation on x86_64 hardware, has made an iso image for v0.2.0 alpha. This will install Debian Pure 64 with X.org, the Gnome desktop and an initial selection of creative applications including music, graphics and publishing tools.
Xandros Business Desktop 3.0 releasedXandros Business Desktop 3.0 is out. This distribution is being heavily pitched as a Windows replacement; it claims a high level of Windows interoperability and the ability to run many Windows programs.
Distribution News Debian newsThere is both good news and bad news in the Bits from GNU/kFreeBSD maintainer report. The good news is that the port is very nearly complete. The bad news is that one of its maintainers is quitting.Arnaud Vandyck has this report on Debian Java in Sarge, which provides an overview of what has changed between Woody and Sarge. A bug has been discovered in the 3.1r0 CD/DVD images. "new installs from these images will have a commented-out entry in /etc/apt/sources.list for "http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates" rather than an active entry for "http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates", and thus will not get security updates by default" You should read the release notes before that Woody upgrade or new Sarge install too. Roberto C. Sanchez has announced a Debian Package Customization HOWTO. This looks like a good starting place if you want to customize your Debian installation.
Draft Breezy release schedule availableA draft release schedule is available for Ubuntu's Breezy Badger. The final release is expected on October 13, 2005, with several milestones between here and there.
Yellow Dog Linux sticks with PowerPCApple has decided to started using Intel chips. See this eWeek article for more information. We have a response (click below) from Kai Staats, CEO of Terra Soft Solutions, Inc., provider of Yellow Dog Linux. "We remain a Linux development company with 100% focus on the Power Architecture (IBM, Freescale). We will not transition to support an x86/ia64 architecture."
Fedora newsThe Fedora Project is participating in Google's Summer of Code. It is an opportunity for students to be paid for working on Fedora.Fedora Core 4 has been postponed. It's now due out on June 13, 2005.
Distribution Newsletters Gentoo Weekly NewsletterThe Gentoo Weekly Newsletter the week of June 6, 2005 is out. This week's news includes the unmasking of Python 2.4, containment for the busybox glitch, Gentoo for Zaurus, developer of the week Bryan Østergaard aka kloeri and more.
Fedora Documentation Steering Committee meeting minutesFedora Documentation Steering Committee (FDSCo) has released the minutes from the May 31, 2005 meeting. Items on the agenda included FC4 Release notes status, FC4 Installation Guide status, Documentation Guide thoughts, and Tools status.The FDSCo meeting for June 7, 2005 looked at Release notes really completed, Installation Guide completed, and DOCG meeting tentative for 27 June.
Mandriva Linux Community Newsletter #104The Mandriva Linux Community Newsletter for June 3, 2005 is out. This edition covers the public release of Mandriva Linux Limited Edition 2005, LE2005 for PowerPC, a monthly payment option for Mandriva Club memberships, and more.
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 103The DistroWatch Weekly for June 6, 2005 is out. "Amid obvious signs that the long-awaited new Debian stable release is about to be unleashed on the impatient public, the euphoria in the Debian land was spoilt last week by a truly sad news about the death of Libranet's founder and President Jon Danzig. Meanwhile, the Fedora users will have to wait another week before they can put their hands on the distribution's latest release - Fedora Core 4. GoboLinux is our featured distribution of the week and Robert Storey shows you how to configure SpamAssassin to kill off email from online pharmacies and other unscrupulous businesses."
Minor distribution updates Crash Recovery Kit for Linux 2.6.11.10 releasedVersion 2.6.11.10 of the Crash Recovery Kit for Linux is available for the X86_64/AMD64 architecture: "I want to announce here the availability of the Crash Recovery Kit for Linux 2.6.11.10 (X86_64/AMD64) with S.M.A.R.T. monitoring support using smartmontools 5.33 which also can monitor SATA drives using kernel 2.6.11.10." Also, a version for the i586 architecture is available.
Package updates Mandriva updatesMandriva updates kdenetwork (MSN protocol changes for v10.1), lsb-release (LSB requirements for Corporate 3.0).
Slackware updatesThis week's updates for Slackware are centered around the kernel packages, with updates to the default 2.4.31 kernel and the 2.6.11.11 kernel in testing.
Trustix Secure Linux Bugfix Advisory #2005-0027Trustix Secure Linux Bugfix Advisory #2005-0027 covers various package fixes to apache, bittorrent, cyrus-imapd, mailman, mod_perl, mysql and zlib.
Newsletters and articles of interest How to build your own Linux distribution (developerWorks)developerWorks takes a look at Linux From Scratch and related projects. "Linux® From Scratch (LFS) and its descendants represent a new way to teach users how the Linux operating systems work. LFS is based on the assumption that compiling a complete operating system piece by piece not only teaches how the operating system works but also allows an independent operator to build systems for speed, footprint, or security."
Distribution reviews CD Linux Knoppix 3.9 with KDE 3.4 and OpenOffice 2.0 Beta (Heise Online)Heise Online takes a look at the latest KNOPPIX release. "Knoppix 3.9 contains even more updates for the UNIX/Linux desktop KDE and the OpenOffice suite. Version 3.4 of KDE is now included, while beta version 2.0 of OpenOffice is included in Knoppix 3.9. In addition, all of the other software packages were tailored to the latest version of Debian/sid (the developer version of the Linux distribution from Debian)."
My Workstation OS: Linux From Scratch (NewsForge)NewsForge hears from a LFS fan. "LFS is probably the only Linux distribution in which building the system is as much part of the experience as working on it. LFS must be built alongside an existing Linux distribution. This allows you flexibility in choosing the best compiler options for a particular package. It lets you research packages on the Net or elsewhere throughly before installing them. You can revert to your existing system if something goes awry. For a tinkerer such as I, this is manna. When I built my system, I happily spent hours looking around, selecting packages and options to use on my system. The whole procedure entails an unbeatable learning experience in that you actually watch your system grow from the basic toolchain to a desktop."
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol Development GePhex: a modular real-time video effect frameworkGePhex is a real-time video effect framework. In a previous LWN article, Fun with video effects on Linux, some lower-level video effect utilities were examined. GePhex uses software from other applications as component pieces in a high-level video effector system.
GePhex is a modular video jockey software. The base visuals can be chosen from sources like video files or cameras. Then they can be modified by filters and mixers. Each modifier has several parameters, that can be controlled by signal-generators, input devices like joysticks, sound cards, or midi-devices.
GePhex runs on GNU/Linux, Win32, Mac OS X, and FreeBSD. The effect engine is independent from the user interface, which can be de- and attached at runtime. All effects and media streams are extendible by plugins. GePhex is written in C++.
The list of features summarizes the project's main capabilities. The GePhex Book has tutorial-style examples of some of the capabilities of the software, it also includes installation and api information as well as the project history. The GePhex Book explains which audience the software is aimed at: "Video jockeys can use this system to modify or recombine existing footage or create new video effects in an interactive process. External devices like joysticks, midi-keyboards, or web-cams can influence the real-time video generation." In other words, GePhex can be used to turn your computer into a stand-alone light show. The GePhex project was started in 2001, the first stable version was released in 2003. The project has been put together by this list of developers. Version 0.4.3 of gephex was announced this week, it features the addition of most of the effecTV effects, experimental Mac OS X support, initial OSC support, usability improvements, and bug fixes. GePhex configured and built with no problems on a Fedora Core 3 system, and it was possible to activate the rendering engine and run most of the demo configurations, or "graphs" in GePhex terminology. Playing with the properties of the various inputs and filters and tweaking some of the GUI controls produced some very interesting visual effects. The GePhex gallery has some still images that were produced by application, but one should really run GePhex to get an idea its the real-time capabilities. Several example effects are also available for extending the initial set of configurations.
System Applications Audio Projects Speex 1.1.9 ReleasedVersion 1.1.9 of Speex, an audio CODEC, is out with the following changes: "The main improvement in this release is that the acoustic echo canceller is finally usable. This work has been sponsored by Tipic Inc. Also, several bugs have been fixed for the TI C5x port."
Database Software Knoda Now Supports Firebird and Paradox (KDE.News)KDE.News reviews the latest additions to Knoda. "Knoda is a database frontend for KDE. With its latest release, Knoda introduces support for Firebird and Paradox databases, now supporting all open source SQL servers. Besides managing tables and queries, Knoda also lets you create forms and reports, scriptable via Python."
PostgreSQL Weekly NewsThe June 6, 2005 edition of the PostgreSQL Weekly News is online with coverage of PostgreSQL database development.
PyDO2 AnnouncedHarish Singh has sent in an announcement for the PyDO2 utility. "I'd like to suggest an announcement for PyDO2 which is "an ORM (Object-Relational Mapper) database access library for Python". The new release is in alpha but is already shaping up to be a killer app."
Web Site Development ATutor 1.5RC1 Released (SourceForge)Version 1.5 RC 1 of ATutor, a Web-based Learning Content Management System, is out. "ATutor 1.5RC1 has been released, and there are some big changes. This release candidate is primarily a call to the ATutor community to provide feedback and suggestions before the final release coming in early July. Some features to look for: modular Student Tools, a SCORM Run-Time Environment, and extended templating capabilities, among many others."
Midgard 1.7beta1 "FlyHigh" releasedVersion 1.7 beta 1 of the Midgard content management framework is out. "Midgard provides a reliable, carrier-grade CMS framework build for the the LAMP platform. Midgard's core features include internationalization, accessibility, scalability and PHP connectivity. This development release includes a Midgard2 technology preview."
Desktop Applications Audio Applications Oscilloscope plugin 0.2.1Version 0.2.1 of the Oscilloscope DSSI plugin is available with bug fixes.
Desktop Environments GNOME Software AnnouncementsThe following new GNOME software has been announced this week:
KDE Software AnnouncementsThe following new KDE software has been announced this week:
KDE Commit Digest (KDE.News)The June 3, 2005 edition of the KDE Commit Digest is online, here's the content summary: "Kexi supports CSV import. kttsd adds support for Cepstral voices. Kopete add webcam receiving support for yahoo. Kopete implements global identity for all the IM services. KTorrent add search capability. Kopete support for Skype is in progress. Datakiosk adds prompts for sql queries and search."
Electronics Simted 0.0.2 and 0.0.3 releasedVersion 0.0.2 and pre-beta version 0.0.3 of Simted, an engine for modeling software for the solution of nonlinear systems, is out. "The modern level of technical development puts forward high requirements to accuracy and time of modeling of devices: electronic, micromechanical (MEMS), thermodynamic, hydraulic, etc. Such systems can be described with the help of the nonlinear ordinary differential equations."
GUI Packages wxWidgets 2.6.1 has been releasedVersion 2.6.1 of wxWidgets, a cross-platform GUI framework, is available. "Bug fixes include refresh improvements on Windows, better wxX11 menu support, wxMac fixes for Tiger, and the ability to compile wxMSW with Winelib under Unix."
Interoperability Wine TrafficIssue #277 of Wine Traffic is available with the latest Wine project news. Topics include: Summer of Code, Wine on Solaris, Copy Protection Status #1 and #2, and Forking and Printing.
Mail Clients Mozilla Thunderbird 1.1 Alpha 1 Released (MozillaZine)MozillaZine covers the announcement of version 1.1 Alpha 1 of Mozilla Thunderbird, a mail and newsgroup client. "Major new features in Thunderbird 1.1 Alpha 1 include a phishing detector, an improved spell checker (including inline as-you-type checking in the Compose window), support for removing attachments from received messages, enhanced RSS/Atom feed functionality (including support for podcasting) and a better user interface."
Office Suites KOffice 1.4 Release Candidate Announced (KDE.News)KDE.News has an announcement for a new KOffice 1.4 Release Candidate. "If nothing disastrous is found in this release, it will be renamed and become KOffice 1.4. A Live-CD has been created so that you can try out KOffice 1.4 RC without having to commit your hard disc to it."
Web Browsers Minutes of the mozilla.org Staff Meeting (MozillaZine)The minutes from the May 16, 2005 mozilla.org staff meeting have been announced. "Issues discussed include Mozilla Foundation people, Mozilla Firefox 1.0.4, the 1.1 releases, in-tree localisation, build systems, XTech, the Mozilla Store and the Community Awards."
Minutes of the mozilla.org Staff Meeting (MozillaZine)The minutes from the May 31, 2005 mozilla.org staff meeting have been announced. "Issues discussed include Deer Park and XTech."
Word Processors AbiWord 2.2.8 Released (GnomeDesktop)Version 2.2.8 of the AbiWord word processor has been announced. "This release has seen a lot of bugfixes, polish, and cleanups as we are nearing the end of the 2.2 release cycle. We are working hard towards AbiWord v2.4, which is shaping up nicely. This release is mostly a bugfix release, with some minor new features."
Miscellaneous KnowledgeTree 2.0.5 released (SourceForge)Version 2.0.5 of KnowledgeTree has been announced. "KnowledgeTree is an Open Source Document Management System, and version 2.0.5 has focussed mostly on minor bugfixes, improved error reporting around upload failures, and preliminary support for PostgreSQL."
Languages and Tools C GCC Newsletter #16Issue #16 of the GCC Newsletter is online. "After an extensive pause, I will now attempt to hit at least the highest of the high spots of the GCC mailing list for the last few months. My intention is to mention at least briefly the events of each month from November 2004 through April 2005 in retrospect."
Caml Caml Weekly NewsThe June 7, 2005 edition of the Caml Weekly News is online with the latest new Caml language articles.
Perl Perl 5.8.7 released (use Perl)Release 5.8.7 of Perl has been announced: "5.8.7 is a maintenance release for perl 5.8, incorporating various minor bugfixes and optimisations. Please see the perldelta for the full details. Please report bugs using the perlbug utility".
This Week in Perl 6 (O'Reilly)The May 25-31, 2005 edition of This Week in Perl 6 is available with the latest Perl 6 development news.
PHP GeSHi version 1.1.0 alpha 4 (unstable) released (SourceForge)Unstable version 1.1.0 alpha 4 of GeSHi, a syntax-highlighting PHP class with support for over 30 languages, is available. "New features to this release include auto-linkifying of e-mail addresses and URLs in highlighted source code, CSS support again greatly improved and a language file added for CSS (so you can try highlighting CSS files at the demo form at http://geshi.org/), the get-keywords script has been improved with new options and now uses its own copy of the PEAR files it needs, and context naming support has been greatly improved, which will lead to an important optimisation in speed and RAM usage in the next build."
PHP Weekly Summary for March 7, 2005The PHP Weekly Summary for March 7, 2005 is out. Topics include: How to add a logo, PHP-GTK 2 development, embedding, PHP, and multi-threading, generated files in CVS?, integrated encryption request, help with segfault tracking, new egg, and shutdown order changes.
Python Python Standard Logging (O'ReillyNet)Jeremy Jones discusses Python logging on O'Reilly. "Tracking down what your application does seems easy; just add a few print statements here and there. Unfortunately, effectively tracing a program is more difficult. That's where Python's standard logging module comes in."
Dr. Dobb's Python-URL!The June 7, 2005 edition of Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! is online with a new collection of articles about the Python language.
Scheme Schemer's GazetteIssue #7 of the Schemer's Gazette was published on June 7, take a look for new Scheme language discussions, resources and events.
Tcl/Tk Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL!The June 1, 2005 edition of Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL! is online with the latest Tcl/Tk news and resources.
Test Suites GtkPerf testing tool released (GnomeDesktop)GnomeDesktop.org looks at the GtkPerf application. "GtkPerf is an application designed to test GTK+ performance. The point is to create common testing platform to run predefined GTK+ widgets (opening comboboxes, toggling buttons, scrolling text etc.) and this way define the speed of device/platform."
Version Control Darcs 1.0.3 releasedVersion 1.0.3 of Darcs, a revision control system, is out. "Darcs development has continued to pick up steam since the last release. Along with the project growth came some important leadership delegation. Author David Roundy worked with Tomasz Zielonka and Ian Lynagh, as they picked up responsibility for the Stable and Unstable branches respectively. David continues to focus us work in a third 'conflicts' branch, where he is in the middle of a project to make drastic performance improvements to the darcs conflict commutation algorithm."
Miscellaneous Apple Opens WebKit CVS and Bug Database (KDE.News)KDE.News reports that Apple Computer has announced the immediate availability of the WebKit Open Source Project. It includes full access to the CVS of WebKit as well as an open bug database. WebKit is the KHTML-based system framework used on Mac OS X by Safari, Dashboard, Mail.app, and many other OS X applications.
Page editor: Forrest Cook Linux in the news Recommended Reading The 100 Best Products of 2005 (PC World)PC World has posted its list of the top 100 products of 2005. Firefox appears at the top of the list; other entries include Thunderbird, Ubuntu 5.04, Wikipedia, and Tor (which was covered on this week's LWN Security page).
GPLFlash lives again (NewsForge)NewsForge covers the GPLFlash project. "If you've seen the recently redesigned Free Software Foundation Web site, you may have noticed that the FSF has listed three projects that it says the community is in "vital need" of help with: GPLFlash, GNU Classpath, and the GNU Compiler for Java. The reason listed for their importance is the allure of using proprietary Java and Flash browser plugins and proprietary operating systems that include them. A competent, free replacement for Macromedia Flash Player would remove a significant hurdle in the FSF's goal of encouraging a complete desktop GNU/Linux operating system that is devoid of proprietary software."
Report on fisl 6.0 (KDE.News)KDE.News has a report from the International Free Software Forum in Porto Alegre/RS, Brazil. "The event is a combined exhibition and talks, an exhibitions which this year big companies wanted to be and are present, like IBM, Sun, UniSys. There are also a number of booths belonging to the Brazilian federal and local government. For free software groups and organizations free booths were offered, so there is a small KDE booth as well, mainly run by local KDE enthusiastic and developers, like Helio Chissini de Castro and Thiago Macieira as well. Helio participated on a discussion about object oriented programming, while I gave a presentation about how can one adapt Quanta Plus for his own needs. The slides for my presentation are downloadable in KPresenter format."
Trade Shows and Conferences LinuxFest Northwest 2005: Wrap-Up Report (Linux Journal)Linux Journal has a report on this year's LinuxFest Northwest. "LinuxFest Northwest is a non-commercial one-day conference and exhibition of open-source technology with an emphasis on Linux. It is held in the city of Bellingham, Washington, which is about 90 miles north of Seattle and about 20 miles south of the Canadian border. It is run by the Bellingham Linux Users Group (BLUG) with the help of other users groups. Admission is free and open to all."
Red Hat Summit Day 2: Good collaboration and more (NewsForge)NewsForge covers day two of the Red Hat Summit in New Orleans. "Michael Tiemann, Red Hat's vice president for open source affairs, kicked off the second day of the Summit with an academic and historical explanation of the open source phenomenon. Tiemann drew parallels from works like "Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies" by Jared Diamond and "Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville, and discussed the impact of collaborative software development on today's software industry."
Red Hat Summit Day 3: Fedora is free (NewsForge)NewsForge covers the third and final day of the inaugural Red Hat Summit. "Rik van Riel gave a Thursday afternoon session for programmers on how to get involved with open source development work. He talked about how best to submit a patch to an existing project -- such as the Linux kernel -- and also about how to make your own closed project open."
Red Hat Summit: Overview and Reflections (Linux Journal)The Linux Journal reports from the Red Hat Summit. "When I sit through the keynote speeches at these conferences, it amazes me how these top executives can come up with the most bizarre looking graphs and charts to explain the open-source development trend thus far, thereby attempting to predict accurately where it's heading. These executives seem to be trying to take data they've accumulated on the open-source industry and squeeze it into traditional business models so they can explain it in ways they as business managers can understand. From that, they hope to be able to control or at least to predict future trends."
Mozilla at XTech 2005 (MozillaZine)MozillaZine covers talks concerning Mozilla at the recent XTech 2005 Conference. "There were several Mozilla-related talks at the XTech 2005 Conference, which took place in Amsterdam in the last week of May. All the Mozilla XTech presentations can now be viewed online and papers for most of the other XTech talks are also available."
The SCO Problem SCO's Conference Call and AutoZone Report (Groklaw)Groklaw covers the latest SCO conference call and follows developments in the AutoZone case: "They announced at the beginning that they would only take questions about their "core Unix business". Blake Stowell, Darl McBride and Bert Young attended. They increased revenues in their Unix business this quarter slightly, so they are cash flow positive in that area. They are launching their new product later this month. They made money from selling their TrollTech stock. They had lower expenses this quarter. There were only two questions. Mr. McBride seemed a little startled that there were no further questions. Maybe the last conference call left a bad taste in people's mouths."
Companies Microsoft v. Linux: Execs Talk Detente (eWeek)eWeek tells us relations between Microsoft and the open-source community are thawing. "In continuing its outreach to the most prominent members of the open-source community, Microsoft has invited Michael Tiemann, president of the Open Source Initiative and vice president of open-source affairs at Linux vendor Red Hat, to meet and start a constructive dialogue."
Microsoft vs. Open Source: Who Will Win? (Working Knowledge)Working Knowledge (a Harvard Business School publication) talks with two professors who have attempted to apply economic models to the competition between Microsoft and Linux. "Our main result is that in the absence of cost asymmetries and as long as Windows has a first-mover advantage (a larger installed base at time zero), Linux never displaces Windows of its leadership position. This result holds true regardless of the strength of Linux's demand-side learning. Furthermore, the result persists regardless of the intrinsically better design and potential differential value of Linux. In other words, harnessing demand-side learning more efficiently is not sufficient for Linux to win the competitive battle against Windows."
US Health Department Signs Major Linux Deal With Novell (InformationWeek)InformationWeek covers an agreement between Novell and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has signed a multi-million-dollar, multi-year enterprise deal to use Linux and identity management products from Novell Inc., the vendor revealed on Tuesday. Financial terms of the deal between Novell and HHS weren't disclosed. However a Novell spokesman says the agreement is the first "enterprise site license" between a large federal department and a Linux vendor."
Red Hat Creates Fedora Foundation (eWeek)eWeek reports that Red Hat has decided to put the Fedora project under the control of an independent foundation. "Asked if there was any Fedora technology or patented technology that would not be available to the community, [Red Hat counsel Mark] Webbink said there was not at this point, but 'as we go forward, non-technology-related things like business method patents we register will not be available to the community.'"Meanwhile, it's worth noting that the release of Fedora Core 4 has been pushed back to June 13.
Interviews A good morning with: Theo de Raadt (TuxJournal)TuxJournal interviews OpenBSD and OpenSSH creator Theo de Raadt. "Q:Are you scared from the latest SSH-1 security problems for your OpenSSH ? In which way could worry the security of your package? A:Since I understand the actual problems that exist in the SSH-1 protocol, at a technical level, and do not simply pander to ridiculous fears, no, I am entirely unafraid of the CRC issues. I would be far more worried about any other unknown issue than something which is known, but boring, and very difficult to exploit."
An Interview with Dr. Ari Jaaksi of Nokia (Linux Journal)Linux Journal talks with Dr. Ari Jaaksi about the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. "Nokia is encouraging external development for the 770 with the release of the maemo platform. Furthermore, the company actively is supporting mainstream open-source applications, while encouraging maemo developers not to fork from these foundational applications."
Resources The Daemon, the GNU and the Penguin: Chapter 11 (Groklaw)An excursus on UUNET and Chapter 11 of the online book "The Daemon, The GNU and the Penguin" by Dr. Peter H. Salus is online at Groklaw. Chapter 11 looks at OSF and UNIX International.
Linux Gazette Issue 115Issue #115 of the Linux Gazette has been published. The contents include: The Mailbag, News Bytes, Python for scientific use, Part II: Data analysis, Piercing Firewalls with OpenSSH, Gmail on Home Linux Box using Postfix and Fetchmail, HelpDex, Ponders Corner, Exploring procfs, Staying Connected, Introduction to Shell Scripting, part 5, WSGI Explorations in Python, and Design Awareness.
Linux on board: Linux gives new life to old boxes (developerWorks)IBM developerWorks begins the Linux on board series with this look at Linux and old hardware. "People say Linux can make old machines useful. Can it really? In this new series, Peter Seebach takes a busted laptop and a $50-a-month budget and builds a household appliance that actually does something worthwhile."
OOo Off the Wall: Tabling the Notion, Part 2 (Linux Journal)Linux Journal presents part two of an article on OOo Writer table formulas by Bruce Byfield. "Table formulas--or should I say formulae?--are one of OpenOffice.org Writer's unique features. Writer uses a formula bar similar to the one in OpenOffice.org Calc, but with a more limited set of options. The syntax for table formulas is similar to spreadsheet formulas, with just enough differences to be frustrating to a spreadsheet expert. Yet, despite these apparent shortcomings, table formulas are a welcome addition to the Writer toolbox. As a practical example can show, with a little planning, you can use Writer's table formulas to build surprisingly complex documents and, more importantly, to reduce the boredom of routine tasks. By Bruce Byfield on Wed, 2005-06-01 23:00."
I, Xen: a tutorial for Xen under SUSEA new Tutorial is available for the Xen virtual machine monitor. "consider this version 0.1 ... an OpenSkills tutorial to start using Xen on Suse 9.3 Professional. an I, System short story, a tale of graphical madness, the first chapter of a interactive story for Xen configuration and understanding... ... or just another half born fun project."
Reviews Application of the Month: amaroK (KDE.News)KDE.News picks amaroK for the application of the month. "The overview takes a look at functionality including Audioscrobbler, cover management and scripting. We also have an interview with amaroK's team of developers covering their development process, usability and accusations of being hopeless IRC junkies."
Introduction to ClearHealth (OS News)OSNews takes a look at ClearHealth, an open source medical application for scheduling, billing, EMR, HIPAA security, and accounts receivable. " Day to day operations in a medical clinic have a lot to do with the capabilities of the scheduling package used. ClearHealth was designed for clinics large and small, but has several features applicable to multi-facility organizations." (Found on LinuxMedNews)
Linux in Government: Major Breakthrough in Linux Technology (Linux Journal)Linux Journal looks at FreeNX. "For technically inclined people, imagine X server technology with compression so tight that GNOME and KDE sessions run over modems with SSH encryption. Image lightening-fast thin clients that use tiny amounts of bandwidth and handle audio and video, printing and session suspension instead of termination. Imagine real virtual KVM switches without hardware. Say goodbye to SunRay servers and all the thin clients that never lived up to their promise. Think about real heterogeneous interoperability on PCs and devices that scale."
The Qt 4 Resource CenterA second-edition review of QT Designer, a user interface design tool, has been published. "When writing this article I used the open source Qt 4 snapshot from 2005-05-28. Figure D2-1 shows how Designer looks without any project loaded. Since the last time the resource editing window and the connections' window have appeared. Apart from that the interface looks the same, which suites my working multi-head environment well. For those of you who want the old approach with a single surrounding window, check out figure D2-2. It is back!"
Miscellaneous LinuxFund account grows but developers get no funds (NewsForge)NewsForge does a follow-up on the LinuxFund, the fund that was supposed to support Linux through credit card use. "Where has the money gone? It has been adding up in the LinuxFund bank account, with minimal overhead costs and no payments to developers coming out. The project's executive director, Jerritt Collord, reported the organization's funds -- checking and savings accounts totaling $126,155.29 -- have been sitting idle since he stopped running the largely one-man organization last June. In an email response to NewsForge, Collord added, "Of course F/OSS will get the money." To get those funds to Linux coders and supporters, however, some other individual or group will have to take up the cause, since the current participants have given up."
DARPA GC Team GPLs Drive-by-Wire Code (robots.net)robots.net covers the release of Python-based drive-by-wire code by DARPA. "This code is a simplified, early version used during testing to control the Pegasus robot remotely from a Laptop by using keyboard commands to accelerate, brake, and turn."
Open Source Goes Gaelic (eGov monitor)eGov monitor is running an article about the deployment of a Gaelic translation of OpenOffice.org in Scotland. "A version of the OpenOffice suite specially adapted to the Gaelic language was launched on 2 June. The open source software was said to have performed well in trials at a school in North Lanarkshire, with the complete product due to be distributed to Gaelic language schools in the Autumn. The translation project was funded by the Scottish Executive through the education body, Learning and Teaching Scotland." Thanks to Ian Cuddy.
Linux dispute boils over to MySQL, other projects (ComputerWorld)ComputerWorld notes that the kernel is not the only project affected by the end of the BitKeeper era. "As the July 1 deadline approaches, BitMover is trying to work with as many projects as it can to either come to licensing terms or move their source code onto another system, [Larry] McVoy said. Still, some may be in for a nasty surprise a month from now, when they can no longer add software to their source code repositories. 'As July 1 approaches and people start to realize that it's not just about the kernel, it's about these other projects, there's going to be some crap hitting the fan,' McVoy said."
Page editor: Forrest Cook Announcements Non-Commercial announcements FSFE on Microsoft proposal to European CommissionThe Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) responds to a press release from the European Commission regarding new proposals from Microsoft in the pending antitrust suit. FSFE is participating as a third party and as a representative of the Samba Project. "According to this release, Microsoft wants to ban software developers from publishing Free Software on the basis of the interface information requested. This information is needed for Windows and GNU/Linux-based computers to interoperate in a company network."
Carrier Grade Linux requirements definition 3.1 publishedA new version of the Carrier Grade Linux Requirements Definitions has been released. "The latest CGL Requirements Definition, CGL v3.1, is now available for evaluation by developers and Linux distributors and will be discussed at SUPERCOMM. The new Requirements Definition addresses new capabilities, particularly in the areas of clustering, manageability and security."
Libranet Founder diesLibranet president and founder Jon Danzig died on June 1, 2005. There are no details on the website. Libranet offices will be closed until June 13, 2005. "During this time emails may not be responded to and delivery of pre-ordered CDs will be delayed." (Thanks to John Amoroso)
Commercial announcements ARCHOS Release SDK for PMA400ARCHOS, Inc. has announced the release of a Software Development Kit (SDK) for the Pocket Media Assistant PMA400. "The PMA400 is a 30-gigabyte pocket-sized device and the most versatile portable video recorder and player on the market today, combining full video and audio capabilities with wireless connectivity and a new Linux platform."
Arkeia Data Protection Solutions Certified on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4Arkeia Corp. has announced the certification of its network backup software on Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 4. Certified products include Arkeia Server Backup, Arkeia Network Backup, Arkeia Disaster Recovery, and Arkeia Hot-Backup plug-ins for database applications.
eLEC Deploys VoIP-Server Clustering TechnologyVoX Communications, a subsidiary of eLEC Communications Corp, has announced a new Linux-based VoIP-Server Clustering Technology. "VoX's President Mark Richards commented, "Our initial single-cluster deployment in Orlando, Fla. can support 10,000 subscribers, but the technology is now scalable to millions of subscribers."
Guru Labs Updates Training CoursesGuru Labs, L.C. has updated their GL314 Linux Troubleshooting Course with support for new distributions. "The GL314 is a five day course built around Guru Lab's innovative tsmenu (troubleshooting menu) program. Using tsmenu, students are able to browse problem descriptions, launch a problem to break their system, obtain hints and check for successful resolution. The process of finding an appropriate fix allows students to test their knowledge of Linux while improving troubleshooting skills."
JBoss and CIGNEX Partner to Extend Reach of Professional Open Source SolutionsCIGNEX Technologies, Inc. has announced a partnership with JBoss, Inc. to expand the worldwide implementation of the JBoss Enterprise Middleware System (JEMS), the leading open source middleware platform. As a JBoss Certified Systems Integrator, CIGNEX will work with JBoss to help their joint customers implement Professional Open Source solutions.
Accounting and Finance Solutions for LinspireLinspire, Inc. has announced the availability of Appgen Business Software's MyBooks Professional, an accounting and finance package, for the Linspire desktop.
Mandriva's Academia programMandriva has announced its "Academia program," an offering for universities and research labs. "Academia is sold to educational bodies on an unlimited site license basis. Only one license is needed to be able to run Mandriva Linux on all the computers of a given site. This means that there's a single price for an unlimited number of installations. No usage report is thus needed."
PolyServe Release of File Serving Clustering Software on LinuxPolyServe Inc. has announced the release of its PolyServe File Serving Solution 3.0 on Linux. "Release 3.0 features a new cluster volume manager (CVM) and other expanded storage management capabilities. The PolyServe CVM adds another key piece for superior file serving by enabling higher storage utilization rates and better performance for any brand of storage connected to a storage area network (SAN)."
rSmart Group teams with IBM on Kuali ProjectThe rSmart Group has announced a teaming with IBM on the Kuali Project. "Together they will focus on the long term success and market adoption of Kuali -- a powerful combination of open source code, open standards and an open architecture that defines the next generation of administrative applications for higher education".
Bruce Perens gets a new jobSourceLabs Inc. has announced that it has hired Bruce Perens as "vice president of developer relations and policy." "As a member of SourceLabs' executive team, Perens will continue his work as a leading open source policy advocate, as well as support SourceLabs' mission to ensure open source systems for enterprise IT departments work dependably together and are well-supported." SourceLabs sells support services centered around the Apache/MySQL/PHP software stack.
TUX Magazine grows to 50K subscribersSSC Publications Ltd announced the passing of the 50,000 subscriber mark with its TUX Magazine. "TUX Magazine is a controlled-circulation, digital publication that supports the new user of the Linux operating system, from novices through to intermediate-level users. The growth of TUX Magazine is reflective of the rapid growth rate for Linux worldwide."
New Books Degunking Linux - Paraglyph's Latest ReleaseParaglyph has published the book Degunking Linux by Roderick W. Smith.
Greasemonkey Continues to Attract Attention (MozillaZine)Mozillazine mentions a new online book about Greasemonkey. "Greasemonkey, the popular Mozilla Firefox extension that lets users install scripts to change the way various websites work, is continuing to attract attention. Mark Pilgrim, the man who brought you Dive Into Python and Dive Into Accessibility, has written a comprehensive online book about Greasemonkey called Dive Into Greasemonkey. In the guide, Mark describes what Greasemonkey is, explains how to write Greasemonkey user scripts and discusses some Greasemonkey case studies."
Learning Java, Third Edition - O'Reilly's Latest ReleaseO'Reilly has published the book Learning Java, Third Edition by Patrick Niemeyer and Jonathan Knudsen.
French Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird Book Published (MozillaZine)Pascal Chevrel has announced the publication of his book (in French) Mozilla Firefox & Thunderbird.
Performance Tools for Optimizing Linux: Process-Specific CPUA sample chapter of the book Linux Performance Tools by Phillip Ezolt is available online.
PloneLive 1.0 AvailableThe book PloneLive 1.0 has been published. "Plone Live is the result of a year of work, full- and part-time, of the two authors, Michel Pelletier and Munwar Shariff, our technical editor, Jean Jordaan, and our copy editor, Amy Kesic. But this book is more than what you are holding (or reading on the screen), because this book is live; every month, the authors add new content and fix typos, responding to the feedback our readers leave on our site, http://plonelive.com."
Resources FSF Europe NewsletterThe June 7, 2005 edition of the Free Software Foundation Europe Newsletter is online with the latest European free software news.
The LDP Weekly NewsThe June 1, 2005 edition of the Linux Documentation Project Weekly News is online with the newest documentation releases and other news.
The LDP Weekly NewsThe June 7, 2005 edition of the Linux Documentation Project Weekly News is online with the latest new documentation releases.
Contests and Awards FSFE Handheld Computer RaffleXtops.DE and the Free Software Foundation Europe will be raffling a Linux-based SL-C1000 handheld computer on June 25. "Berlin based mail order company Xtops.DE has become what FSFE hopes is the first of many hardware vendors to support FSFE's Fellowship program by offering a hardware prize to reward those who join. The SL-C1000 up for grabs runs GNU/Linux on a 416MHz processor, with 64MB RAM and 128MB of Flash memory for the Free Software you want, and has a 3.7-inch full colour screen and QWERTY keyboard for easy use."
Education and Certification Python Certification ProgramHigh-Level Certifications is offering a Python language certification program. "This certification seeks to provide the Python community with an up-to-date, platform-neutral, vendor-neutral certification administered in a secure proctored environment. As Python's popularity continues to grow, High-Level Certifications' Python cert provides a way for Python programmers to prove their proficiency at this powerful language. The exams take a "pure programming" approach to Python, emphasizing a thorough understanding of the most important elements of the language."
Upcoming Events Firebird Conference 2005The Firebird Conference 2005 will be held in Prague, Czech Republic from November 13-15, 2005. A call for papers has been announced.
IFIP workshop: MilanAn open-source workshop will be held at the IFIP Technical Committee 2. "A workshop aimed at formulating the proposal of a 'open source software' working group within the IFIP Technical Committee 2, will be held in Milan, italy, on tuesday, june 14."
Online Forum on Intellectual PropertyThe World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is holding an Online Forum on Intellectual Property in the Information Society. The forum runs from June 1-15. "The WIPO Online Forum is designed to enable and encourage an open debate on issues related to intellectual property in the information society, and in light of the goals of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). This presents a unique opportunity for all to engage in the emerging debate on intellectual property in our day." Thanks to Krishna Pagadala.
Open Culture Conference, MilanThe Open Culture Conference will be held in Milan, Italy on June 27-29, 2005.
Linux Vacation/Eastern EuropeA Linux Vacation/Eastern Europe event has been announced. "The Minsk Linux Users Group invites you to take part in "Linux Vacation/Eastern Europe" (LVEE) that will take place on June 30-July 3, 2005. What does this name stand for? Obviously it is a vacation for associates who are involved in Free Software and particularly Linux. We offer to spend 4 unforgettable days on the shore of a lake in a landscape reserve near the old Belarusian city of Hrodna."
Upcoming PHP ConferencesA number of new PHP conferences have been announced on the PHP web site: php|works (Toronto, Canada, September 14-16, 2005) International PHP Conference 2005 (Frankfurt, Germany, November 6-9, 2005) AFUP (Paris, France, November 8-9, 2005).
3 weeks until YAPC North America (use Perl)Use Perl has a reminder for the Yet Another Perl Conference, North America. The event will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on June 27-29, 2005.
YAPC::EU::2005 ScheduleThe schedule for the YAPC::EU::2005 conference is online. The event will be held in Braga, Portugal on August 31 - September 2, 2005.
Events: June 9 - August 4, 2005
Web sites How to bring new contributors to GNOME (GnomeDesktop)GnomeDesktop has announced a new web site about Getting Involved in GNOME development. "Some ideas: improving the exposure of projects needing help in the gnome.org sites, looking for contributors instead of developers, inviting Windows/Mac users to get a first GNOME experience through GTK applications they can install..."
Announcing the New KDE-Artist Website (KDE.News)The new KDE-Artists.org site has been announced. "KDE-Artists.org is a new KDE sister website created specifically for artists and coders to use for reference and direction in creating a high quality consistant user interface. It is also the home of Kollaboration, a new concept created by several people to give dreamers, artists, and coders a place to work together."
Code Skipper Qt Community Resource Site Launches (KDE.News)KDE.News has an announcement for the new Code Skipper site. "The Code Skipper, a new free Qt community resource site has been founded to provide our community of developers with a place to meet. This is a site where tutorials and articles that can be found on a range of Qt related subjects including a Programming with Qt tutorial, Building a Universal SQL Client and 3D Programming. The Code Skipper also contains a lot of code that can be easily integrated into your applications. Learn Qt tricks from there and share your own ideas."
Open KHTML Info Page Launched (KDE.News)KDE.News has announced the launch of the khtml.info site. "In an effort to open up their development process the developers of the Konqueror components KHTML, KJS and KSVG have launched the open Web portal KHTML.info. By providing a central contact point and source of information in form of an open Wiki the developers want to promote their work and embrace users and developers from both Open Source as well as commercial environments."
Miscellaneous KDE Joins Google's Summer of Code (KDE.News)KDE has joined the Google Summer of Code program. "If you are a student looking to get into KDE development this is the perfect opportunity. We have a list of rules and suggested projects. The deadline is soon, June 14th, for a completed proposal and you will probably need a week of communication first to ensure a good proposal for Google, so move quickly."
Samba and Google's Summer of CodeThe Samba project has joined the Google Summer of Code program. "If you haven't yet heard, Google recently announced its Summer of Code program. Samba is proud to be involved as a mentor organization, so if you're a student and have some time on your hands..."
Page editor: Forrest Cook
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