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OpenSSH chink bares encrypted data packets (Register)

The Register covers an OpenSSH bug. "The attack exploits subtle differences in the way SSH software reacts when encountering errors during cryptographic processing. By directing specially manipulated packets at the application, an attacker has a one in 262,144 chance of recovering 32 bits of plaintext from an arbitrary chunk of ciphertext. While those are extremely limited odds, the design flaw still poses a significant threat given the way many applications that employ SSH work."

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Reviews

Intel brings rich UI to Moblin Linux platform (ars technica)

ars technica plays with the new Moblin beta. "Moblin uses an unusual task management paradigm that is well-suited to mobile devices. Applications are organized into "zones," which are loosely analogous to virtual desktops. When I launch an application, the shell will automatically create a new zone in which to house the program's windows. When all of the windows in a zone have been closed, the shell will automatically remove the Zone. The zones tab on the Moblin panel will display thumbnail previews of all of the windows in each zone. You can switch to a certain zone or window by clicking, and you can move windows between zones by dragging and dropping the thumbnails. The zones tab in the shell is Moblin's replacement for the conventional taskbar."

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Miscellaneous

Tom, I Can Name That Distro in Two Notes (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal takes a look at Fedora's naming scheme. F12 nominations are open. "The method for choosing the the nom de plume for the behatted distro is deceptively simple: The new name must share a link to the old name, and that link must follow the pattern "X is a Y, and so is Z." An example, from the last Fedora name contest: "Cambridge was a ship of the Union Navy, and Leonidas was too." Cambridge (X) was the preceding release name, from Fedora 10, Leonidas (Z) was the winning submission, and the connection between the two was that both were ships in the Union Navy (Y)."

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The pursuit of (MySQL) openness

The MySQL DBMS community and enterprise binaries will now be released on the same schedule, according to this Sun blog by Giuseppe Maxia. "We kept going, and we kept pushing, until we got the announcement at the MySQL Conference 2009, stating the end of the binary split. Now the community server binaries will be published as often as the enterprise ones. The rationale of this request is that the strength of MySQl is in its wide community. We claim that the MySQL server is tested by millions of users, and yet we were giving the GA (mature) binaries only to a handful of customers. This looked like a privilege, but it was in fact, from an engineering standpoint, a disadvantage. As a customer, I would gladly adopt a software that has been installed by a few million people, rather than being the privileged first one to try it in production." This minor revision note sums up the change: "Merge community up to enterprise, thus ending the community-server adventure." (Thanks to Bart Cortooms).

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Open Database Alliance hedges against Oracle plans for MySQL (ars technica)

Here's a look at movement in the MySQL community from ars technica. "Some key developers in the MySQL community are launching a new coalition called the Open Database Alliance which intends to coordinate collaborative MySQL development. The alliance—which currently consists of Monty Program Ab, Percona, and OpenQuery—aims to provide an inclusive, vendor-neutral environment for moving forward MySQL development. Their efforts will attempt to insulate MySQL from Oracle's competitive interests by giving the collective MySQL community enough leverage to control the project's destiny."

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