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[Kernel] Posted Oct 7, 2008 0:08 UTC (Tue) by corbet

The 2.6.27-rc9 prepatch is out. "I know, I know, I said that -rc8 was supposed to be the last -rc, and that I'd release 2.6.27 this weekend. I lied. Sue me. I merged two subtle regression fixes today, and while both looked perfectly fine and had been tested by the people involved in the regressions, I just couldn't bring myself to then just slap a 'v2.6.27' on it without some more testing." Expect the final 2.6.27 release sometime over the next week.

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[Press] Posted Oct 6, 2008 20:15 UTC (Mon) by jake

Over at Linux Journal, Doc Searls reflects on Richard Stallman's recent opinions of "cloud computing". "Still, I think that RMS is onto something. The core promise of computing, even on a vast network that connects us all, is autonomy and independence. It's being free (as in freedom) to operate on your own, and to share what's meant to be shared in ways that nobody else can control, and to improve useful goods in ways that work for everybody. There are, in those core values, imperatives that seem at odds with the dependencies that 'cloud computing' can sometimes involve."

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[Security] Posted Oct 6, 2008 18:19 UTC (Mon) by jake

CentOS has updated xen (multiple vulnerabilities), pam_krb5 (privilege escalation), thunderbird (multiple vulnerabilities).

Debian has updated lighttpd (multiple vulnerabilities).

Fedora has updated libxml2 (F8, F9: denial of service), pam_krb5 (F8, F9: privilege escalation).

Mandriva has updated mono (HTTP response splitting).

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[Distributions] Posted Oct 6, 2008 17:48 UTC (Mon) by jake

The Debian project is looking for folks to help them kick "Lenny" out the door. To that end, they have created a detailed list of tasks suitable for regular users as well as developers. "The big question is: What can you do, to help release "Lenny" at least in this quarter? That's pretty easy: Fix rc-bugs, take care, that the fixed packages are migrated to "Lenny", do upgrade tests, document problems in the release-notes. Pretty simple, isn't it? Click below for the full list.

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[Development] Posted Oct 6, 2008 15:31 UTC (Mon) by jake

InfoWorld takes a look at Mono 2.0, which is being released today. Mono is a project sponsored by Novell to implement Microsoft's .NET framework for Linux and Mac OS X. "He estimated that 45 percent of applications will run on Mono 2.0 out of the box while 18 percent will require developers to spend a couple of weeks to make some changes due to operating system differences. About 20 percent will require significant work, taking about three to six months, if the application is tightly integrated with Windows, de Icaza said."

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[Press] Posted Oct 6, 2008 14:10 UTC (Mon) by corbet

Ars technica has a quick look at the Fedora and Ubuntu beta releases. "These betas, which offer users an opportunity to get an early look at the functionality that will be included in the next major versions, are already highly polished and showcase the growing maturity of the desktop Linux software ecosystem."

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[Development] Posted Oct 3, 2008 19:06 UTC (Fri) by ris

The KDE Community has announced the immediate availability of "Codename", (a.k.a KDE 4.1.2), another bugfix and maintenance update for KDE4. "Codename is a monthly update to KDE 4.1. It ships with a basic desktop and many other packages; like administration programs, network tools, educational applications, utilities, multimedia software, games, artwork, web development tools and more. KDE's award-winning tools and applications are available in more than 50 languages."

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[Distributions] Posted Oct 3, 2008 18:55 UTC (Fri) by ris

The 64 Studio Platform Development Kit (PDK) is a Free Software tool (GPLv2) that is used to automate the production and maintenance of several different projects. PDK is a kind of version control system for distributions, that facilitate the creation and management of many different custom products based on Debian and Ubuntu sources. PDK has roots in Progeny's Componentized Linux, and is now maintained by 64 Studio.

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[Security] Posted Oct 3, 2008 18:52 UTC (Fri) by ris

CentOS has updated libtiff (arbitrary code execution).

Ubuntu has updated cpio (buffer overflow).

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[Announcements] Posted Oct 3, 2008 17:04 UTC (Fri) by ris

Software Workshop has developed their own modifications to MySQL and called it ExtSQL. ExtSQL gives database administrators a simple way to monitor activity by individual users, database, or even connection. ExtSQL has new commands built into the server as an extension to the SQL language. ExtSQL is being released under the GPL.

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[Announcements] Posted Oct 3, 2008 16:26 UTC (Fri) by jake

Harald Welte will be giving a keynote speech—entitled "How chip makers should (not) support free software"—at the NLUUG autumn conference [Dutch] and co-located Embedded Linux Conference Europe. Both conferences have recently opened for registration. The conferences will be held in Ede, the Netherlands on November 6 and 7. A combined program [PDF in both Dutch and English] for the conferences is available. In addition to Welte's keynote, there are presentations on many different topics from members of the Linux community.

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[Distributions] Posted Oct 2, 2008 21:49 UTC (Thu) by cook

The beta release of Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" Desktop and Server has been announced. Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition delivers the features you need for an increasingly mobile digital life, including 3G wireless support and guest sessions that lets users temporarily share computers without compromising security. Ubuntu 8.10 Server consolidates its support for virtualization with an integrated Virtual Machine builder, and brings with it a fully-supported Java stack and support for per-user directory encryption."

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[Front] Posted Oct 2, 2008 21:09 UTC (Thu) by corbet

Almost one year ago, LWN examined the GCC plugin mechanism - or, more exactly, the lack of such a mechanism. Despite the increasing level of interest in adding special-purpose modules to the GCC compiler, GCC has no API which allows this addition to be done. This situation looked unlikely to change; the Free Software Foundation's fears that a plugin mechanism would be used by proprietary extensions was just too strong. One year later, though, things look a little different; there may be a plugin-capable GCC available in the (relatively) near future. Click below (subscribers only) for the full story.

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[Press] Posted Oct 2, 2008 19:48 UTC (Thu) by cook

Sam Varghese considers the ill effects of 6 month Linux distribution releases. "For years, Microsoft thrived on just such a strategy, adding features to Windows as though they were going out of style and not caring about anything apart from marketshare. From 1995 onwards, the name of the product reflected the fact that the company's expertise lay more in marketing than technology - Windows 3.1 in 1990 was followed by Windows 95. What has been the end result? Windows is a widespread but highly insecure and buggy operating system which everyone is forced to use simply because it has become some kind of de facto standard. I fear that GNU/Linux - or at least some distributions - is following in its wake."

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[Security] Posted Oct 2, 2008 17:12 UTC (Thu) by cook

CentOS has updated wireshark (multiple vulnerabilities).

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has updated tomcat (multiple vulnerabilities), tomcat (multiple vulnerabilities), wireshark (multiple vulnerabilities), xen (multiple vulnerabilities), pam_krb5 (privilege elevation) and thunderbird (multiple vulnerabilities).

SUSE has updated kernel (multiple vulnerabilities).

Ubuntu has updated openssh (multiple vulnerabilities).

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[Press] Posted Oct 2, 2008 15:43 UTC (Thu) by cook

Groklaw looks into a move by the ISO/IEC SC 34 committee. "Guess what the SC 34 committee, the ISO/IEC committee responsible for OOXML, is up to now? I call it a takeover attempt of ODF, according to my reading of the published notes of the most recent meeting held yesterday, October 1st, and starring a document titled "Request to JTC 1 for alignment of OASIS and JTC 1 Maintenance Procedures." Uh oh. That sounds polite, but it is what it is. An attempted coup. They have already sent a "Liaison Statement" to OASIS."

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[Announcements] Posted Oct 2, 2008 15:25 UTC (Thu) by cook

The Free Software Foundation has announced an adjustment of its high priority list. "The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced a "reboot" of its High Priority Projects list with an accompanying $10,000 grant from Worldlabel.com Inc. The grant will seed a new fund to promote projects on the list, and the FSF is calling for a community conversation about the biggest challenges computer users face using free "as in freedom" software."

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[Development] Posted Oct 2, 2008 14:27 UTC (Thu) by corbet

Python 2.6 has been released. 2.6 is a transitional release which, while trying not to break older code, is also aimed at helping developers move toward the upcoming, backward-incompatible 3.0 release. See the "What's New" page for lots of details.

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Posted Oct 2, 2008 0:09 UTC (Thu)

The LWN.net Weekly Edition for October 2, 2008 is available.

Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition

• Front: Ubuntu debuts its Upstream Report; openSUSE and the distribution of proprietary software; The CME Group sees a future with the Linux Foundation.
• Security: ParanoidLinux: from fiction to reality; New vulnerabilities in firefox, kernel, phpmyadmin, thunderbird,...
• Kernel: The state of the e1000e bug; Low-level tracing plumbing; Moving the -staging tree.
• Distributions: The Optimistic Contributor Returns - Parted Magic Part 2; Fedora 10 beta, Mandriva Linux 2009 RC2, Omega 10 beta; Gentoo 2008.1 canceled; Improving boot time; EOL for Ubuntu 7.04; What's new in the next OpenSolaris release; FREEEEE; Debian-Edu Skolelinux Developer Gathering and User Conference
• Development: LPC: What's happening with webcams, LAME ain't lame no more, Linux Sound API guide, new versions of PostgreSQL, SchemaSpy, BusyBox, Samba, OpenNMS, Vuurmuur, Zenoss, oVirt, lighttpd, notmm, python-graph, LyX, StorYBook, GnuCash, cairo, wxPython, GDCM, TakeNote, Task Coach, OpenCards, Opie, Firefox, NumPy.
• Press: Zen and the Art of the Six-Figure Linux Job, Firebird Conf blogs, Red Hat's Q2 earnings, Jim Zemlin on Solaris, interviews with Seán Daly and Arjan van de Ven, GNU Toolchain blogs, Java Sound and Music Software 3, Carrier Grade Linux 5 spec, Cobbler review, Fedora's fifth anniversary.
• Announcements: Homeless Service software, FLA in ten languages, GNU turns 25, GNOME 2.24 celebration, Open Source Census, Atheros releases ath5k HAL code, new Qt Extended, Italian Perl Workshop coverage, CeBIT cfp, PyCon cfp, Beijing Perl Workshop, POC2008, LinuxCon, VMworld Europe.

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[Security] Posted Oct 1, 2008 17:49 UTC (Wed) by corbet

Fedora has updated emacspeak (F8, F9: temporary file vulnerability).

SUSE has updated the kernel (SLES 9 and variants, SLES 10: multiple vulnerabilities).

Ubuntu has updated nasm (off by one error - though one has to wonder why being able to execute code by getting somebody to assemble a specially-crafted file is seen as surprising).

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