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Links 31/03/2023: Ubuntu 23.04 Beta, Donald Trump Indicted, and Finland’s NATO Bid Progresses



  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • The BSD Now PodcastBSD Now 500: Guarding the Wire

        Wireguard VPN Server with Unbound on OpenBSD, Auditing for OpenZFS Storage Performance, OpenBSD 7.2 on a Thinkpad X201, Practical Guides to fzf, Replacing postfix with dma, and more

      • Jupiter BroadcastingLinux Action News 286

        What we're liking about GNOME 44, how Microsoft's Linux distro is trying to attract more users, and we bust a CentOS myth.

    • Kernel Space

      • LWNReducing direct-map fragmentation with __GFP_UNMAPPED

        The kernel's direct map makes all of a system's physical memory available to the kernel within its address space — on 64-bit systems, at least. This seemingly simple feature has proved to be hard to maintain, in the face of the requirements faced by current systems, while keeping good performance. The latest attempt to address this issue is this patch set from Mike Rapoport adding more direct-map awareness to the kernel's page allocator.

      • LWNGeneric iterators for BPF

        BPF programs destined to be loaded into the kernel are generally written in C but, increasingly, the environment in which those programs run differs significantly from the C environment. The BPF virtual machine and associated verifier make a growing set of checks in an attempt to make BPF code safe to run. The proposed addition of an iterator mechanism to BPF highlights the kind of features that are being added — as well as the constraints placed on programmers by BPF.

        One of the many checks performed by the BPF verifier at program-load time is to convince itself that the program will terminate within a reasonable period of time, a process that involves simulating the program's execution. This constraint has made supporting loops in BPF programs challenging since the beginning; it has only been possible to use loops since the 5.3 release. Even with that addition, convincing the verifier that a loop will terminate can be a challenge; this annoyance has led to, among other things, the addition of features like bpf_loop(), which puts the looping logic for some simple cases into the kernel's C code.

        Not all problems are readily addressable by a simple function like bpf_loop(), though. Many loops in BPF programs are simply iterating through a set of objects, and BPF developers would like easier ways to do that. While numerous languages have some sort of built-in notion of iteration over a set, C does not. As noted above, though, BPF is not really C; this patch set from Andrii Nakryiko reiterates (so to speak) that point by adding an iteration mechanism to the BPF virtual machine.

      • LWNZero-copy I/O for ublk, three different ways

        The ublk subsystem enables the creation of user-space block drivers that communicate with the kernel using io_uring. Drivers implemented this way show some promise with regard to performance, but there is a bottleneck in the way: copying data between the kernel and the user-space driver's address space. It is thus not surprising that there is interest in implementing zero-copy I/O for ublk. The mailing lists have recently seen three different proposals for how this could be done.

    • Applications

      • Linux Links6 Best Free and Open Source GUI Electronic Circuit Simulators

        Electronic circuit simulation uses mathematical models to replicate the behavior of an actual electronic device or circuit. Simulation software allows for modeling of circuit operation and is an invaluable analysis tool.

        This roundup only includes software with a graphical user interface. Circuit simulation backends are covered in this roundup. And software that offers electronic design automation are also covered in a separate roundup.

        We include software which acts as a simulation backend. We also include software with a GUI that lets you use these backends. Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style chart.

      • PowerDNSPowerDNS DNSdist 1.8.0 Released

        We are thrilled to release DNSdist 1.8.0 today! This 1.8.0 release contains a significant amount of changes since the last major release, 1.7.0, which was released a bit over a year ago. We try to stick to a major release every six months, but this one took a bit longer than expected.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Bitbucket for Newbies: Mastering Basic Commands and Collaborating on Code

        As a newbie to Bitbucket, navigating the platform and using its basic commands can be overwhelming. However, with some guidance, you can quickly become proficient in using Bitbucket.

      • nixCraftHow To Install LXD on Debian 11 Linux

        You can install LXD pure-container hypervisor on Debian 11 Linux to run an unmodified version of Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Alpine, Arch and many other Linux distro. You can mimic AWS or different cloud instance types with LXD for testing and deployment purposes on your development machine. You can also run a GUI app such as Firefox completely isolated using LXD for security or privacy reasons. Let us see how to set up and use LXD on the Debian Linux 11 server or desktop.

      • urldecode with AWK
        $ awk -niord '{printf RT?$0chr("0x"substr(RT,2)):$0}' RS=%..
        Fast and simple awk urldecoder! Note: Parameter -n is specific to GNU awk

      • VituxHow to Verify if OpenVPN Protocol is Installed on Ubuntu

        VPN or Virtual Private Network is an encrypted path between a device and a network over the internet. VPNs ensure the security of transmitted data by providing encrypted channels for data flow.

      • VituxHow to Delete Files on Linux

        Linux has tons of commands that simplify tasks and make work more efficient. Rm is a helpful command for quickly deleting files, links, directories, etc.

      • VituxHow to Install Ansible on Rocky Linux 9

        Ansible is an open-source software platform for configuring and managing computers. It combines multi-node software deployment, ad hoc task execution, and configuration management. Ansible works over SSH and requires no software or daemons to be installed on remote nodes.

      • VituxHow to generate CA-signed SSL certificates for a Website

        What is an SSL certificate? SSL certificate is a digital certificate that validates the identity of a website and establishes an encrypted connection. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a security protocol that allows encrypted communication between web server and client.

      • TecMintHow To Exclude a Schema While Restoring a PostgreSQL Database

        Sometimes when restoring a multi-schema database from a backup file, you may want to exclude one or more schemas, for one reason or the other.

      • TecMintHow to Install Spotify on Debian, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint

        Founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon on 23 April 2006, Spotify is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Opera Browser on Manjaro Linux

        Welcome to the world of the Opera Browser, a modern, sleek, and feature-rich web browser designed to make your online experience efficient and enjoyable. As a Manjaro user, you may be considering making Opera your default browser, and for good reason!

      • Linux Shell TipsHow to Run a Script Before Shutdown Under Systemd

        Modern Linux systems use systemd to manage daemons and system settings. Systemd is a service manager and initialization system, which took over from SysvInit

      • Linux Cloud VPSHow to Install Grafana on AlmaLinux 9

        In this tutorial, we will explain how to install Grafana on AlmaLinux 9 OS. If you ever doubt what Grafana is and what it is used for, we are here to explain it to you.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install VSCodium on Manjaro Linux

        As a Manjaro Linux user, you may have encountered Visual Studio Code—a popular and feature-rich source code editor. But have you ever wondered if there’s a more privacy-focused alternative? Introducing VSCodium, a free, open-source, and community-driven fork of Visual Studio Code.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Discord on Manjaro Linux

        As a Manjaro Linux user, you might wonder why Discord has become such a popular platform, especially among gamers and those transitioning to Linux gaming systems. This introduction will highlight the key aspects that make Discord an essential tool for Linux gamers and provide a detailed overview of its benefits.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install OpenRGB on Manjaro Linux

        OpenRGB offers a variety of advantages for Manjaro Linux users looking to manage their RGB devices seamlessly. By utilizing the AUR and command line terminal, you can unlock the full potential of your RGB hardware.

    • WINE or Emulation

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • LWNHopes and promises for open-source voice assistants

      At the end of 2022, Paulus Schoutsen declared 2023 "the year of voice" for Home Assistant, the popular open-source home-automation project that he founded nine years ago. The project's goal this year is to let users control their home with voice commands in their own language, using offline processing instead of sending data to the cloud. Offline voice control has been the holy grail of open-source home-automation systems for years. Several projects have tried and failed. But with Rhasspy's developer Mike Hansen spearheading Home Assistant's voice efforts, this time things could be different.

      Science fiction shows and movies have sold us on the idea of spaceships and homes we can talk to. In recent years, voice control at home has become possible thanks to the so-called "smart speakers" from Google, Amazon, and Apple. However, there's nothing smart about these devices: their intelligence is almost completely in the cloud, where the user's voice recordings are processed and translated into sentences and meaning.

      This is a complex and computationally intensive task, and these companies make us believe that their services are required to be able to use voice control. Of course this comes with downsides: users don't have any control over what's happening with their voice recordings, which is a big privacy risk. But, fundamentally, the problem lies even deeper. It just makes no sense for users to have their voices make a long detour through the internet just to turn on a light in the same room.

    • It's FOSSFOSS Weekly #23.13: New blendOS Linux Distro, New Rust Series, Ubuntu Cinnamon and More

      This week sees the start of a new Rust tutorial series and takes a look at blendOS Linux distro.

    • OSI BlogOpen Source Approved License€®€ registry project underway with help of intern, Giulia Dellanoce [Ed: But OSI continues to shill Microsoft proprietary software, GPL violations, and openwashing. OSI has become a self-harming sham, attacking its very own mission while bagging bribes from Microsoft.]

      I shared last month the details of the new OSI website, hosted on WordPress.

    • SaaS/Back End/Databases

      • PostgreSQLpg_dumpbinary v2.10 released

        Zurich, Switzerland - March 30th, 2023

        pg_dumpbinary

        pg_dumpbinary is a program used to dump a PostgreSQL database with data dumped in binary format. The resulting dump must be restored using pg_restorebinary that is provided with this tool.

        pg_dumpbinary v2.10 was released today, it adds a new option to the pg_dumpbinary command:

        • -C, --compress-level 0-9 : speed of the gzip compression using the specified digit, between 1 and 9, default to 6. Setting it to 0 disable the compression.
      • YottaDBYottaDB r1.38 Released

        YottaDB r1.38 is a minor release that includes functionality needed at short notice by a customer. A MUPIP REPLICATE option provides for a replication stream to include updates made by triggers on the source instance. $ZPEEK() and ^%PEEKBYNAME() provide direct access to an additional process-private structure.

    • Licensing / Legal

      • LWNJumping the licensing shark [Ed: GPL opportunists who slander the GPL's author for salaries like $250,000 per year]

        The concept of copyleft is compelling in a lot of ways, at least for those who want to promote software freedom in the world. Bradley Kuhn is certainly one of those people and has long been working on various aspects of copyleft licensing and compliance, along with software freedom. He came to Everything Open 2023 to talk about copyleft, some of its history—and flaws—and to look toward the future of copyleft.

        Kuhn began by saying that he spends much of his time these days thinking about the enforcement of GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1; "it turns out that those are the most widely used copyleft licenses in the world", thus they are the most frequently violated. It is sometimes painful to be looking at license text written in 1991 and 1993 as we move through 2023, but that is what he has to do. Outside of work, though, he has time to think about what sort of copyleft license he would draft if he were to do so. He was just out of high school when GPLv2 was released, so he did not participate in that process at all.

    • Programming/Development

      • Andrew HelwerPseudocode Showdown

        Last weekend I had a conversation with an undergraduate student new to computer science, who was reading CLRS. “I wish” they said, “that all the pseudocode in my algorithms textbook was just written in Python.” “Ah” I said, “but textbook authors sometimes want their work to endure beyond a decade.” “But Python’s been around for a long time” came the reply, “and it’s very readable, and you can’t execute pseudocode anyway so what’s the harm?

      • QtQt Creator 10 - CMake update

        Now that Qt Creator 10 has been released, it’s time to highlight the CMake changes.

  • Leftovers

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • Walking on the Katy Trail

        Took a lunch walk today with my wife and youngest son (who brought his bike, so he got a walk/ride experience). We drove down to Mokane and hopped on the Katy Trail. Walked for two miles total then came home. Gorgeous spring day. The trees aren't leafed out yet, but the farmer's fields are covered in soft greens and purples. Some nice bulb flowers budding early as well. One piece of creek that we crossed over was bubbling with clear water, but no fish visible. Sunny and 68F with a light, cool breeze, it was hard to beat.

      • I bought some books

        I usually read just Science Fiction and Fantasy for fun, or some language study books here and there, but over the past couple of years I’ve been feeling inspired by the sort of character developing advice I’ve been seeing in content I read online.

        I’ve completed a first pass of both books, but I’ve only just started to go back over them and make notes. While I read them, I did record a few quick notes here and there, but really just a few thinking points. I’ll probably post more on these two texts over the next couple of weeks.

      • On lazyness and growing up...

        While wife and son are visiting the in-laws for a week i have time to visit the pub again... bartender, do you have Grasovka in stock? Yes? Great!

        Turning in the general direction to the next patron i start to ramble...

        The biggest bane in my life always was my lazyness... but a particular kind of lazyness: If there is a deadline, a release date or an emergency i am hyper productive, i work from 05:00 - 22:00, eat, sleep and jump out of bed fresh as the morning just to head straight to work. But on the other hand... routine work is killing me. Give me a straight good workday without emergencies or big catastrophes and i am doing the bare minimum or even less to just get by. Just today my boss told me "Mr. ralfwause, i am absolutely glad you work here and i hope you will work here in 20 years from now, but sometimes... sometimes i have this urge to simply shoot you...".

      • Testing midnight.sh



        There seems to be conditions under which "midnight.sh" does not work... in particular, the server often seems to answer that there is no content, especially when I'm sending only one line as a reply.


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



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