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Links 23/02/2023: Torvalds Pushes Back Against Unwanted Linux Code



  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • VideoFedora Linux Unveils New 5 Year Roadmap - Invidious

        Fedora Linux whilst making weird decisionfs from time to time actually has the ability to make decisions in the long term and recently unveiled there plan for the next 5 years

      • VideoLinux Desktop Randomly Stuttering? Here's Why #shorts - Invidious

        I've been dealing with this seemingly random stutter on my Linux system for a while now and I've had no idea what it was, it turns out it wasn't even a driver issue. License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) DISCLOSURE: Wherever possible I use referral links, which means if you click one of the links in this video or description and make a purchase I may receive a small commission or other compensation.

      • VideoWhy We Need Even More Linux Distros!?! - Invidious

        Every so often you'll here people complain that we have too many Linux distros so I thought why don't I try to defend the other position, we actually need even more Linux distros

      • Jupiter BroadcastingHay Tay | Coder Radio 506

        It's been one week, and Microsoft's new bot's already gone full Tay.

      • Jupiter BroadcastingLinux Action News 281

        Our favorite features in Linux 6.2, the Hollywood tool getting open-sourced, and a systemd update you need to know about.

    • Kernel Space

      • It's FOSSLinus Torvalds Reacts to Poorly-Executed Pull Requests for Linux 6.3

        Seeing that the merge window for Linux Kernel 6.3 is open right now while looking at the pull requests made by developers, Linus came across a one-liner commit that mentioned “Merge branch 'for-linus/hardening' intofor-next/hardening”.

        While the request was merged, and it may have been a fix for Linux 6.2 cycle, Linus Torvalds was not happy to see it the way it was.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Peter 'CzP' CzanikPeter Czanik: Installing a syslog-ng 4 development snapshot on FreeBSD

        Unless there is a serious problem, FreeBSD ports usually contains the latest stable syslog-ng release. However, sometimes people want to compile a git snapshot to test a new feature or bugfix. To do that, one way is to generate a syslog-ng release tgz on FreeBSD and edit the syslog-ng port files yourself. However, this needs some practice. As such, an easier solution is to use my weekly development snapshots.

      • MJ FransenZoom window in Emacs

        Zoom window in Emacs

        Zoom in tmux

        I am a great fan of the zoom function in tmux, which can be called with [escape-key]-z.

        This is useful when you have split the tmux window into two or more panels.

        • Calling zoom in tmux will enlarge the current panel to fill the entire window.
        • Calling zoom again will return to the 'normal' state.
      • TecMintHow to Add a Package Repository to Debian, Ubuntu and Mint

        A package repository (repo in short) is a location where software packages are stored and can be retrieved from.

      • Sean Davis: Enable Flatpak in Xubuntu

        Out of the box, Xubuntu supports Debian, Snap, and AppImage packages with no additional configuration or packages to install. If you want to further expand your options, you can easily add Flatpak support to your Xubuntu desktop. Here&aposs how!

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • MauiKitMaui Report 21

          Today, we bring you a new report on the Maui Project’s progress right before the upcoming 2.2.2 release; here you will find some detailed information on the new features, bug fixes, and improvements that have been made to the Maui set of apps and frameworks.

          What’s new?

          Besides the common bug fixes, some of the highlights include a refactor and cleanup of the Cask components: the plugin templates and the internal ones; the CaskServer interfaces are gaining more features and exposing more properties for interacting with the Cask shell parts. In parallel, there are tweaks and improvements for the MauiKit Frameworks and new features coming to the core Maui Apps.

          Porting to Qt6

          Work on the migration has been started, and MauiKit can now be compiled with Qt6, however, it has not been yet tested properly, but now that the underlying technologies from KDE Frameworks have been moved to Qt6 on their master branches more progress can be made. The plan is to move MauiMan and MauiKit frameworks first and then proceed with Maui Shell parts. Ideally this year we’ll have all the projects ported to Qt6.

          For now, the CMake build files for MauiKit and MauiMan are compatible with Qt6, and the rest of the frameworks should follow.

          As part of the Qt6 transition, many MauiKit-Core controls have been refactored and reorganized internally, and some others have been removed or renamed. More info about the steps being taken to migrate to Qt6 and MauiKit 3 can be found here:​ [...]

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • New Releases

    • SUSE/OpenSUSE

      • Linux Magazine openSUSE Leap 15.5 Beta Now Available
        You might not be surprised that the final release in the openSUSE Leap 15 series doesn't include a lot of new features. In fact, this new beta release is quite bereft in the new features category.

        As expected, Leap 15.5 is really just about bug fixes and new versions of the installed applications.

        However, tucked inside the list of new packages, you will find the Leap version migration tool, which makes it possible to migrate from one release to another with the ease of a GUI.

    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

      • Linuxiac Ubuntu’s Latest Move: Goodbye Flatpak Support
        A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away, Ubuntu = Linux for human beings. Surely, however, in some other life, on some different planet, in some really far, far away galaxy. Canonical never stops to amaze, adding another bright shining star to their rich collection of unpopular decisions. In short, starting with its upcoming April 20 release Ubuntu 23.04 “Lunar Lobster,” Ubuntu flavors will no longer include default support for Flatpak apps.

        But let’s see what the official announcement says first, and then I’ll give my thoughts on it.

      • DebugPointUbuntu Flavours Decide to Stop Flatpak by Default

        In a surprise move, Canonical announced that all the official Ubuntu flavours would not ship Flatpak support by default. The decision is taken in agreement with all the official Ubuntu flavours teams/maintainers. The change is planned from the April 2023 release of "Lunar Lobster" onwards which is due in a few weeks.

        Here are all the details.

      • FOSSLinux10 Must-Know Features of Linux Mint OS

        Over the years, Linux Mint has become one of the most popular distributions because of its simplicity and ease of use. Unlike some of its counterparts, it provides an intuitive interface that can be learned quickly to navigate and complete stuff. Moreover, Linux Mint has a range of software packages available. This makes it even more appropriate for people who must carry out a lot of varied stuff.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • ArduinoA DIY peristaltic pump controlled by an Arduino

        There are many different fluid pumping mechanisms to choose from, but the peristaltic pump is a great choice when you don't want the liquid to contact any moving parts.

      • ArduinoDetecting falls by embedding ML into clothing

        Bone density, strength, and coordination all decrease as we age, and this fact can lead to some serious consequences in the form of slips, falls, and other accidents. In Finland, falling is the most common type of accidental death among those age 65 and over, amounting to around 1,200 per year.

      • ArduinoJames Bruton improves his triangle-tracked tank

        Tanks are already quite maneuverable, because the tracks allow them to rotate in place. But what if they were even more maneuverable and could drive in any direction? About a year ago, James Bruton built a small robot tank that had that capability thanks to a triangle-shaped track system with omniwheel-style rollers.

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Events

    • GNU Projects

      • GNUparallel @ Savannah: GNU Parallel 20230222 ('Gaziantep') released

        GNU Parallel 20230222 ('Gaziantep') has been released. It is available for download at: lbry://@GnuParallel:4

        Quote of the month:

        €  Praise GNU parallel, though. That gets me pretty far.
        € € €  -- Your Obed. Servant, J. B. @Jeffinatorator

        New in this release:

        • parsort: --parallel now does closer to what you expect.
        • parallel: --files0 is --files but \0 separated.
        • Bug fixes and man page updates.

        News about GNU Parallel:

        GNU Parallel - For people who live life in the parallel lane.

        If you like GNU Parallel record a video testimonial: Say who you are, what you use GNU Parallel for, how it helps you, and what you like most about it. Include a command that uses GNU Parallel if you feel like it.

        About GNU Parallel

        GNU Parallel is a shell tool for executing jobs in parallel using one or more computers. A job can be a single command or a small script that has to be run for each of the lines in the input. The typical input is a list of files, a list of hosts, a list of users, a list of URLs, or a list of tables. A job can also be a command that reads from a pipe. GNU Parallel can then split the input and pipe it into commands in parallel.

        If you use xargs and tee today you will find GNU Parallel very easy to use as GNU Parallel is written to have the same options as xargs. If you write loops in shell, you will find GNU Parallel may be able to replace most of the loops and make them run faster by running several jobs in parallel. GNU Parallel can even replace nested loops.

        GNU Parallel makes sure output from the commands is the same output as you would get had you run the commands sequentially. This makes it possible to use output from GNU Parallel as input for other programs.

        For example you can run this to convert all jpeg files into png and gif files and have a progress bar:

        €  parallel --bar convert {1} {1.}.{2} ::: *.jpg ::: png gif

        Or you can generate big, medium, and small thumbnails of all jpeg files in sub dirs:

        €  find . -name '*.jpg' |
        € € €  parallel convert -geometry {2} {1} {1//}/thumb{2}_{1/} :::: - ::: 50 100 200

        You can find more about GNU Parallel at: http://www.gnu.org/s/parallel/

        You can install GNU Parallel in just 10 seconds with:

        € € €  $ (wget -O - pi.dk/3 || lynx -source pi.dk/3 || curl pi.dk/3/ || \
        € € € € € €  fetch -o - http://pi.dk/3 ) > install.sh
        € € €  $ sha1sum install.sh | grep 883c667e01eed62f975ad28b6d50e22a
        € € €  12345678 883c667e 01eed62f 975ad28b 6d50e22a
        € € €  $ md5sum install.sh | grep cc21b4c943fd03e93ae1ae49e28573c0
        € € €  cc21b4c9 43fd03e9 3ae1ae49 e28573c0
        € € €  $ sha512sum install.sh | grep ec113b49a54e705f86d51e784ebced224fdff3f52
        € € €  79945d9d 250b42a4 2067bb00 99da012e c113b49a 54e705f8 6d51e784 ebced224
        € € €  fdff3f52 ca588d64 e75f6033 61bd543f d631f592 2f87ceb2 ab034149 6df84a35
        € € €  $ bash install.sh

        Watch the intro video on http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL284C9FF2488BC6D1

        Walk through the tutorial (man parallel_tutorial). Your command line will love you for it.

        When using programs that use GNU Parallel to process data for publication please cite:

        O. Tange (2018): GNU Parallel 2018, March 2018, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1146014.

        If you like GNU Parallel:

        • Give a demo at your local user group/team/colleagues
        • Post the intro videos on Reddit/Diaspora*/forums/blogs/ Identi.ca/Google+/Twitter/Facebook/Linkedin/mailing lists
        • Get the merchandise https://gnuparallel.threadless.com/designs/gnu-parallel
        • Request or write a review for your favourite blog or magazine
        • Request or build a package for your favourite distribution (if it is not already there)
        • Invite me for your next conference

        If you use programs that use GNU Parallel for research:

        • Please cite GNU Parallel in you publications (use --citation)

        If GNU Parallel saves you money:

        About GNU SQL

        GNU sql aims to give a simple, unified interface for accessing databases through all the different databases' command line clients. So far the focus has been on giving a common way to specify login information (protocol, username, password, hostname, and port number), size (database and table size), and running queries.

        The database is addressed using a DBURL. If commands are left out you will get that database's interactive shell.

        When using GNU SQL for a publication please cite:

        O. Tange (2011): GNU SQL - A Command Line Tool for Accessing Different Databases Using DBURLs, ;login: The USENIX Magazine, April 2011:29-32.

        About GNU Niceload

        GNU niceload slows down a program when the computer load average (or other system activity) is above a certain limit. When the limit is reached the program will be suspended for some time. If the limit is a soft limit the program will be allowed to run for short amounts of time before being suspended again. If the limit is a hard limit the program will only be allowed to run when the system is below the limit.

    • Programming/Development

  • Leftovers

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Technical

      • Starforged initial impressions

        This game is so great. It’s basically the never-ending version of something like those old choose-your-own-adventure books like Citadel of Chaos.

        The strength of skill challenges are the low-prep / pickup nature of them; create a textured description purely generatively. They’re the ultimate extension of the “wallpaper salience” #blorb principle.

        The problem is that it’s at the expense of agency. It reduces the joy of exploring to a drab one-dimensional bingo. And the math is broken, too (that goes for 5e’s group checks also). It’s one of the reasons why Diaspora wasn’t that fun after a while.


* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



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