Linux in the news
Recommended Reading
Stallman leads the GPL off a cliff (ZDNet)
Here's a ZDNet weblog entry trashing the anti-DRM provisions in the GPLv3 draft. "Though Stallman may wish otherwise, most of the world still uses primarily proprietary software. That means there are plenty of options should Stallman create a situation where GPLed code can't be used by businesses or individuals who want DRM (which in 10 years, will be most businesses and MOST users)."
Torvalds: No GPL 3 for Linux (eWeek)
Linus is not planning on using the GPL3 license for the Linux kernel, according to this article on eWeek. "In a message to the Linux Kernel Mailing List on Jan. 25, Linus Torvalds made it plain that the Linux operating system is going to stay under General Public License 2 and not migrate to GPL 3. Torvalds announced this in response to a discussion on the list of Linux developers, which had been started by Jeff Merkey. The former Novell and Canopy Group developer, Merkey is best known in Linux circles for his attempt to buy a non-GPLed version of the Linux code."
Thinking About GPL3...
According to this entry in Jonathan Schwartz's weblog, Sun is considering GPLv3 for OpenSolaris. "We also recognize that diversity and choice are important - which is why we've begun looking at the possibility of releasing Solaris (and potentially the entire Solaris Enterprise System), under dual open source licenses. CDDL (which allows customer IP to safely comingle with Solaris source code) and under the Free Software Foundation's GPL3. It's early days, but we're looking at two things as we make that decision."
E-Trade VP Talks Open-Source (eWeek)
eWeek has posted a lengthy interview with Lee Thompson, the VP of architecture at E-Trade. "So we're now at summer of 2002, and at this point, I realized, this is a much, much bigger phenomenon than simply taking [down the] dramatic cost of the data center, which it definitely was - millions and millions and millions of dollars came out of our expenses to run our facility.... However, something else was also going on, and I did a deep dive on open source at this particular time. I started running lots of different distros. I ended up running Gentoo. Personally, I run the Gentoo distro."
The SCO Problem
It's Raining Stock Options in Lindon (Groklaw)
Groklaw covers a stock option deal at SCO. "It's raining stock options on that happy band in Lindon. On January 23, SCO granted executives Darl McBride, Chris Sontag, Ryan Tibbits, Sandy Gupta, Tim Negris, Jeff Hunsaker, and Bert Young a combined total of 400,000 stock options at $3.78. Gupta got as many as Darl, 80,000, but he has to wait a year for them to be exercisable, as do all the rest, except for McBride. His options appear to be immediately exercisable. Oh, they all fully vest immediately "upon the occurrence of certain specified events.""
Companies
What Application Do You Want Ported to Linux? (Linux Journal)
Linux Journal covers the Novell Cool Solutions survey. "On an individual basis, many Linux users for years have been requesting a Linux port of QuickBooks or Photoshop, to no avail. The standard response from developers and vendors has been "there isn't enough of a user base to make Linux ports worthwhile". With this survey Novell is hoping that many voices united finally will motivate the application vendors."
Patent ruling forces Office upgrades (ZDNet)
ZDNet UK reports that, as the result of a software patent ruling, Microsoft is forcing Office users to upgrade to a new, non-infringing version. "The question for companies, though, is if they are exposing themselves to potential legal liability if they don't quickly move to the new software. Microsoft promises to indemnify customers from third-party patent claims, but [Gartner analyst Michael] Silver said the license terms also require customers to 'immediately' move to any new noninfringing version that Microsoft releases."
Legal
Notes on the GPLv3 (NewsForge)
NewsForge has some notes on the GPLv3 conference from Benjamin Mako Hill. "The GPL is so widespread that it is frequently referred to as "the Constitution of the free software movement." As it introduces changes, any discussion draft creates a potentially dangerous moment for the free software movement. While this danger is real, it does not exist to the extent or for the reasons that many in the community believe. In a way, the GPLv3 is both more and less important than many of us think."
DRM and the Death of Culture, by Simon Phipps (Groklaw)
Groklaw reposts an entry from Simon Phipps' blog. "DRM - the imposition of restrictions on usage of content by technical means - is far more than that. It's like checking the lift ticket, yes, but also the guy checks you are only wearing gear hired from the resort shop, skis with you down the slope and trips you if you try any manoeuvers that weren't taught to you by the resort ski instructor; then as you go down the slope he pushes you away from the moguls because those are a premium feature and finally you get to run the gauntlet of armed security guards at the bottom of the slope checking for people who haven't paid."
Interviews
Tom Chance (People Behind KDE)
The People Behind KDE have interviewed Tom Chance. "Which section of KDE is underrated and could get more publicity? There are lots of KDE applications that aren't shipped as part of KDE and that don't get a lot of attention because they're generally not used by computer science geeks. But I've come to depend upon Kile, which makes writing essays much easier than a cumbersome word processor; KDissert is a very nice little mind mapping tool; RSIBreak keeps me from wearing out my wrists before I hit the age of 30. But really KDE as a whole needs more publicity. People ought to see how well applications can fit together, how working with remote files becomes painless, and so on." (Found on KDE.News)
Resources
Everything Your Professor Failed to Tell You About Functional Programming (Linux Journal)
Here's an article on functional programming on Linux Journal. "In computer science, we enjoy using mathematic models, but the science still works if you violate the math. And, much to the dismay of purely functional programming enthusiasts, we almost always do. However, when we embrace the math, sometimes the loss in flexibility is more than compensated for by the increase in functionality."
Chrooted SSH HowTo (HowToForge)
HowToForge sets up chrooted ssh sessions. "This tutorial describes how to install and configure OpenSSH so that it will allow chrooted sessions for users. With this setup, you can give your users shell access without having to fear that they can see your whole system. Your users will be jailed in a specific directory which they will not be able to break out of. This setup is based on a Debian Sarge (Debian 3.1) system, and the chrooted SSH will be installed in such a way that it will still use the configuration files of the standard OpenSSH Debian package which are in /etc/ssh/, and you will be able to use the standard OpenSSH Debian init script /etc/init.d/ssh. Therefore you do not have to create your own init script and configuration file."
My sysadmin toolbox (Linux.com)
Linux.com has another list of favorite sysadmin tools. "If the Internet is the Information Superhighway, then Perl is the Fix-a-Flat and the spare tire -- and the spare drive-shaft, should you need it. Anything you can do in a shell or sed or awk script, you can do in Perl. With the -ne options, you can iterate automatically over every line of input in a pipe chain."
Reviews
Open source software and games (NewsForge)
NewsForge looks at open source games. "Open source games do exist, and the development scene is active and creative. You can get a taste of this by visiting sites devoted to Linux gaming, such as The Linux Game Tome, which highlights updated open source game projects every day. You can usually find a couple of announcements for new open source game projects every week."
Gentium: An award-winning font joins the free software world (NewsForge)
NewsForge looks at the Gentium font, which is available under the SIL Open Font Licence. "Gentium is something new in fonts. Its design is a mixture of the practical and aesthetically pleasing. It supports the diacritical marks needed to render a wide range of Latin and Greek characters, yet it is also designed for readability, compactness, and visual appeal. What is really unusual is that its designer, Victor Gaultney, has released it under a free licence and is developing it as a free and open source project."
SARA, spawn of SATAN (Linux.com)
Linux.com reviews SARA, a network auditing tool. "If you are an old school Linux or Unix user, you probably remember the System Administrator's Tool for Scanning Networks (SATAN). In 1995, SATAN brought browser-based network auditing to the world. Despite its initial splash, SATAN fell to the wayside due to lack of updates. Thanks to the kind folks at the Advanced Research Corp., SATAN is back, in the form of the Security Auditor's Research Assistant (SARA), a kinder, gentler, easier to use, and more updated auditing tool."
Review: vile editor is anything but (Linux.com)
Linux.com reviews vile, the "vi like emacs" editor. "vi has several clones, such as calvin, Elvis, nvi, viper, and Vim, but vile isn't another vi clone, according to its maintainer, Thomas Dickey. It has the most common vi commands, but doesn't look quite like vi. vile is an editor that works and feels like vi but, like Emacs, incorporates features for editing multiple files in multiple windows."
Miscellaneous
ReactOS suspends development for source code review (NewsForge)
NewsForge reports that the ReactOS project, which is working to make a free version of Windows, has suspended work and started an audit as a result of some possibly tainted code making its way into their repository. "Jeremy White, founder and chief executive officer of CodeWeavers, which develops a commercial product based on Wine, said a number of developers from ReactOS have contributed to Wine, but several have been banned from contributing to the project because of concerns about code they offered. This was not necessarily because the code included something stolen or illegal, but because Alexandre Julliard, chief technology officer for Codeweavers, reviews the contributed code and was concerned about what the banned individuals had claimed as their own."
Secure Shell standard moving forward (NewsForge)
NewsForge reports that the Secure Shell protocol is one step closer to becoming an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard. "IETF standards define a number of protocols that make the Internet what it is today. For example, TCP/IP, the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), the Post Office Protocol (POP), and the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) are all standards that most users depend on every day. Without adherence to these standards it would be difficult for users and devices to communicated effectively using different mail clients and servers, Web browsers, and network adapters."
Free software advocate finishes third in Canadian election (NewsForge)
NewsForge looks at free software advocacy and the Canadian election. "Mathieu Allard, the free software advocate who ran for the New Democrats in the riding of Saint Boniface, Manitoba, finished third in the Canadian national election on January 23. Since he was not elected, he is returning to his job as executive assistant to Christine Melnick, the Minister of Housing and Social Services in the Manitoba provincial government. He plans to look for new ways to promote the use of free software in government."
Oxer, Waugh retain Linux Australia spots (ZDNet)
ZDNet reports on election results at Linux Australia. "Incumbents Jon Oxer and Pia Waugh have retained their respective positions as president and vice president of Australia's peak Linux body for another year."
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