The LWN.net 2002 Linux Timeline - October

[Posted December 14, 2002 by corbet]

The Court clearly got it. Though the other side had written literally 300 pages trying to show all the good CTEA did (and pronounce it like it is a disease -- sateeeya), the Court hadn't bought any of it. Congress was not acting to promote progress, it was acting to reward "court favorites." The only question the Court was struggling with is whether it has the power to do anything about it.

-- Larry's weblog

Lawrence Lessig argues Eldrich v. Ashcroft in the Supreme Court; the case centers on whether Congress can extend copyrights forever.

Red Hat Linux 8.0 is released (announcement).

The BitKeeper flames begin anew when the "non-compete clause" (which denies BitKeeper use to anybody trying to write a free source management system) comes to light (LWN coverage).

The sendmail source distribution is compromised with a trojan horse, which remains on the server for about a week (CERT advisory). [OpenWall]

Facing Hollywood's battery of high-paid lawyers and lobbyists, Mr Lessig may seem hopelessly outgunned. But the case before the Supreme Court this week shows what determined public-interest lawyers such as Mr Lessig can achieve, even against heavy odds. And Mr Lessig has most consumers on his side, something that the entertainment industry, sooner or later, will have to reckon with

-- The Economist

Openwall GNU/*/Linux 1.0 is released (announcement). Owl is a secure Linux distribution by Solar Designer and others.

The Open Source Applications Foundation surfaces, though it has been in existence for about a year. This group, funded by Mitch Kapor, is working on a new "personal information manager" application as its first project.

A Linux system is infected by an email virus; the first documented case of such an infection involves the WINE emulator.

The first Xandros Desktop release happens (announcement).

Zope 2.6.0 is released (announcement).

The main conclusion of the analysis was that FOSS software plays a more critical role in the DoD than has generally been recognized... One unexpected result was the degree to which security depends on FOSS... Taken together, these factors imply that banning FOSS would have immediate, broad, and strongly negative impacts on the ability of many sensitive and security-focused DoD groups to defend against cyberattacks.

-- The MITRE Corporation (FOSS = 'Free and Open Source Software')

Version 1.0 of the Twisted Developer Platform is released (announcement).

SuSE Linux 8.1 is released (announcement).

New Xbox security measures are broken within three weeks; the new hardware security had been meant to keep Linux (and other software) off the Xbox platform.

SuSE announces that it will produce a desktop distribution (announcement).

Linus merges the device mapper (LVM2) patch, leaving the rival EVMS out in the cold. The EVMS group decides to rewrite its user-space code to work with LVM2.

A new cryptographic API is added to the 2.5 kernel; this is the first time that crypto code has been allowed into the mainline Linux kernel.

I'm the last straggler coming back from the hunt, and I've got what looks like it might be a wooly mammoth on my shoulders, and my tribesmen are complaining that I'm late for dinner. How about helping me by cutting down a tree for the roasting spit instead?

-- Hans Reiser didn't quite make the freeze

The CLIC clustering distribution is launched by MandrakeSoft and partners (announcement).

The Debian Desktop project launches (announcement).

RealNetworks releases its Helix DNA client under a free license (announcement).

The 2.5 kernel feature freeze goes into effect (mostly) as planned on October 31.

<== September

Timeline home

November ==>