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Links 30/05/2023: Orc 0.4.34 and Another Rust Crisis



  • GNU/Linux

    • LinuxInsiderLinux? What Linux? It Just Works

      It speaks to the Linux desktop’s maturity that these hang-ups are exceptions, not the rule. I know more than one person in my social circles who has switched to Linux and hasn’t looked back.

      Given how Linux has continued only to climb higher, I’m looking forward to the days ahead of not realizing I’m on Linux most of the time.

    • Make Use Of12 Ways to Enumerate Linux for Privilege Escalation

      Enumeration is one of the key stages of penetration testing. It's the first thing to do when you've compromised a target system as a penetration tester. Although there are a plethora of tools to automate this process, it's always recommended to manually scour through and double-check the system for potential vectors of privilege escalation.

    • Kernel Space

      • LWNLinux 6.3.5
        I'm announcing the release of the 6.3.5 kernel.
        
        

        All users of the 6.3 kernel series must upgrade.

        The updated 6.3.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-6.3.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-s...

        thanks,

        greg k-h
      • LWNLinux 6.1.31
      • LWNLinux 5.15.114
      • LWNLinux 5.10.181
      • LWNLinux 5.4.244
      • LWNLinux 4.19.284
      • LWNLinux 4.14.316
    • Graphics Stack

      • Tomeu Vizoso: Etnaviv NPU update 1: Planning for performance

        As I wrote in the last update, my OpenCL branch is able to correctly run MobileNet v1 with the GPU delegate in TensorFlow-Lite, albeit much slower than with VeriSilicon's proprietary stack.

        In the weeks that passed I have been investigating the performance difference, understanding better how the HW works and what could the explanation be. Inference with Etnaviv took 1200 ms, while the proprietary stack did the same in less than 10 ms (120x faster!).

        When trying to understand the big performance difference I discovered that the existing reverse engineering tools that I had been using to understand how to run OpenCL workloads weren't working. They detected a single OpenCL kernel at the end of the execution, and there was no way that single kernel could be executing the whole network.

    • Applications

      • GStreamer: Orc 0.4.34 release

        The GStreamer team is pleased to announce another release of liborc, the Optimized Inner Loop Runtime Compiler.

      • Jussi PakkanenJussi Pakkanen: A4PDF release 0.2.0

        I have just tagged relase 0.2.0 of A4PDF, the fully color managed PDF generation library.

        There are not that many new exposed features added in the public API since 0.1.0. The main goal of this release has been to make the Python integration work and thus the release is also available in Pypi. Due to reasons the binary wheel is available only for Windows.

    • Instructionals/Technical

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • Beta NewsDebian 12-based MX Linux 23 Beta 1 'Libretto' is the Windows 11 alternative of your dreams

      In a world dominated by Windows, it's refreshing to see alternative operating systems stepping up their game. MX-23 beta 1, built from Debian 12 "Bookworm" and MX repositories, offers a promising option for users seeking an alternative to the Windows experience. With a range of new features and improvements, MX-23 beta 1 presents itself as a reliable and user-friendly operating system. Let's delve into the details and explore why MX-23, code-named “Libretto,” is a compelling choice for those looking to break free from Windows.

      The MX-23 beta 1 installer introduces several noteworthy improvements. One standout feature is the support for both swap partitions and swapfiles. The option to default to swapfiles during the auto installation process adds flexibility to system configuration. Additionally, the installer now features GUI adjustments and enhanced help guidance, making the installation process more intuitive for users. MX-23 beta 1 also introduces the -oem option, enabling user creation on the first boot after installation, further streamlining the setup experience.

      The live boot menus in MX-23 beta 1 have been enhanced to provide users with a more convenient "check media" function. This addition allows for quick media verification, ensuring a smooth boot process if everything appears to be in order. With these improvements, MX-23 beta 1 prioritizes user convenience and minimizes potential issues during the booting phase.

    • New Releases

      • Beta NewsNitrux 2.8.1 Linux distribution unleashes supercharged security and privacy powers

        Nitrux 2.8.1, codenamed "sc" for "safer computing," has been released, offering enhanced privacy and security features. While the distribution does not claim to be impenetrable or unhackable, it aims to protect users' privacy and provide tools for online anonymization. The release is made possible through collaboration with packagecloud, which provides the necessary infrastructure for building the distribution.

        New users are advised to perform a fresh installation using the latest media. For existing users of version 2.8.0, it is recommended to review the release notes for specific instructions. Notably, Nitrux 2.8.1 employs Linux 6.3.4-1 (Liquorix) as its kernel.

        Several components of the distribution have been updated in this release. Noteworthy updates include KDE Plasma 5.27.5, KDE Frameworks 5.106.0, and KDE Gear 23.04.1. Additionally, Firefox has been updated to version 113.0.2. The MESA component has also been updated to version 23.2.

    • Fedora Family / IBM

    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

      • OMG UbuntuAll-Snap Ubuntu Desktop Coming Next Year

        An all-snap Ubuntu desktop is coming — and sooner than you might think! According to Canonical's Oliver Grawert, the next long-term support release of Ubuntu will be available to download in two versions: a classic, deb-based version and, for the first time, as an immutable, snap-based build too.

      • UbuntuUbuntu Blog: Join the Ubuntu crew at GUADEC 2023

        Save the date, join us in Riga for GUADEC 2023!€ 

        GUADEC is the GNOME community’s yearly event. A great week of talks and workshops brings hundreds of GNOME developers, users, supporters and community members together. This year GUADEC will be held in Riga, Latvia, from July 26 to July 31.€ 

        GNOME is an outstanding Open Source project. For over 25 years, it has helped shape the Linux and open source world through its numerous software programs, outreach efforts and community initiatives. Its flagship GNOME Desktop provides a great user experience, excellent design, that constantly innovates and pushes the boundaries of the modern desktop environment. It adapts to new hardware platforms, and it is the cornerstone of the Ubuntu Desktop experience.

      • Ubuntu Podcast from the UK LoCo: Automatic for the People

        RSS is alive and well, and powering Mastodon bots, the best mouse for desktop Linux (possibly), and using the Stream Deck to automate desktop Linux.

      • Ubuntu NewsUbuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 789

        Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 789...

      • Ubuntu FridgeThe Fridge: Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 789

        Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 789 for the week of May 21 – 27, 2023. The full version of this issue is available here.

    • Devices/Embedded

      • LiliputingThis DIY Linux mini-laptop is made from an old smartphone - Liliputing

        The phone that was sacrificed for this build is a Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime, which is a 2015 smartphone with a 4.6 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel IPS LCD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage.

        While the phone only had a 2,200 mAh battery, there’s more room in the mini-laptop, so once you know the power requirements it’s possible to add a connect a larger battery to the BSI board: modified version has a 4,000 mAh battery.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • ArduinoThis stretchable wearable sensor provides accurate knee tracking

        Health tracking is a vital component to recovering after an injury or simply trying to improve one’s own fitness, and although accelerometer-based devices are decent at tracking general activity, they fail to accurately monitor specific areas of the body such as joint movement.

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

    • GNU Projects

    • Programming/Development

      • Perl / Raku

        • Rakulang2023.22 RakuAST Rolling

          Elizabeth Mattijsen was really on a roll this week with 4 blog posts, introducing RakuAST to early adopters: Of course, if you're not an early adopter, but are considering to become one, this is also interesting reading material!

      • Rust

        • LWNA post on the RustConf keynote fiasco

          The Rust community has experienced some turbulence in response to the cancellation of a keynote talk at the upcoming RustConf event. The Rust project leadership has now put out a blog post apologizing for and explaining its role in the event, describing its ""decision-making and communication processes"" as the primary cause of the failure.

        • Rust BlogThe Rust Programming Language Blog: On the RustConf keynote

          On May 26th 2023, JeanHeyd Meneide announced they would not speak at RustConf 2023 anymore. They were invited to give a keynote at the conference, only to be told two weeks later the keynote would be demoted to a normal talk, due to a decision made within the Rust project leadership.

          That decision was not right, and first off we want to publicly apologize for the harm we caused. We failed you JeanHeyd. The idea of downgrading a talk after the invitation was insulting, and nobody in leadership should have been willing to entertain it.

  • Leftovers

    • Federal News NetworkNicaraguan writer Gioconda Belli wins Reina Sofia poetry prize

      Nicaraguan poet and novelist Gioconda Belli, known for her feminist and erotic literature, has been awarded the Reina Sofia Ibero-American Poetry prize. Considered among Latin America’s best-known writers, Belli’s work has been translated into more than 20 languages and includes 15 poetry collections, eight novels, and seven books of essays, testimonials and children’s stories. The prize announced Monday is considered the most important for Spanish and Portuguese poetry. Her first poems were published in the Managua newspaper La Prensa when she was 20 years old. Her first poetry collection, “Sobre la grama,” or On the Grass, was published in 1972.

    • Science

    • Hardware

      • Silicon AngleArm’s latest mobile chip designs bring speed and efficiency improvements

        Arm Ltd. is rolling out a series of new chip designs, including its highest-performance mobile processor to date, that will enable handset makers to design faster and more efficient smartphones. The designs made their debut today at the annual Computex conference in Taiwan.

      • Web Pro NewsIntel’s Turnaround, and Pat Gelsinger’s Legacy, Is In Jeopardy



        Intel’s turnaround is not exactly going as planned, jeopardizing its future and CEO Pat Gelsinger’s legacy as the architect of the company’s plan.

        Once the world’s top chipmaking company, Intel has been eclipsed in recent years by its rivals, both old and new. TSMC has gained the technological upper hand, AMD is taking business from Intel’s strongholds, and Nvidia’s value is skyrocketing, surpassing Intel.

        As The Wall Street Journal’s Asa Fitch reports, as bad as those issues appear, Intel’s problems run deeper and are putting its turnaround in jeopardy.

        Intel is in a unique position in the semiconductor industry, one of the only companies that both design and manufactures chips. When he returned to the company and took over the role of CEO, Gelsinger minced no words about why Intel’s fortunes had turned, saying previous leaders lost the company’s “maniacal” focus on manufacturing.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

    • Proprietary

      • TechRadarMicrosoft reveals Azure Linux is available now [Ed: Another attack on GNU/Linux. Microsoft: we own Linux. All your Linux are belong [sic] to us. And meanwhile, lots of layoffs in Azure for 3 years already. It's failing, but the media keeps quiet about that.]
      • InfoWorldChatGPT’s parasitic machine

        I’m sure the history of technology parasites predates open source, but that’s when my career started, so I’ll begin there. Since the earliest days of Linux or MySQL, there were companies set up to profit from others’ contributions. Most recently in Linux, for example, Rocky Linux and Alma Linux both promise “bug for bug compatibility” with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), while contributing nothing toward Red Hat’s success. Indeed, the natural conclusion of these two RHEL clones’ success would be to eliminate their host, leading to their own demise, which is why one person in the Linux space called them the “dirtbags” of open source.

        Perhaps too colorful a phrase, but you see their point. It’s the same criticism once lobbed at AWS (a “strip-mining” criticism that loses relevance by the day) and has motivated a number of closed source licensing permutations, business model contortions, and seemingly endless discussion about open source sustainability.

        Open source, of course, has never been stronger. Individual open source projects, however, have varying degrees of health. Some projects (and project maintainers) have figured out how to manage “takers” within their communities; others have not. As a trend, however, open source keeps growing in importance and strength.

      • QuartzA US attorney faces punishment for citing fake cases ChatGPT fed him [Ed: And yes, you can get fired for choosing Microsoft]

        A US attorney is now “greatly regretting” his decision to trust OpenAI’s ChatGPT in a litigation process. Steven Schwartz will be charged in a New York court for using fake citations cooked up by the AI tool in legal research for a case he was handling.

    • Security

      • Hacker NewsNew GobRAT Remote Access Trojan Targeting Linux Routers in Japan [Ed: The problem here is some unspecified Web UI, maybe proprietary, rather than Linux]
      • LWNSecurity updates for Tuesday

        Security updates have been issued by Debian (libssh and sssd), Fedora (microcode_ctl and python3.6), Gentoo (cgal, firefox firefox-bin, openimageio, squashfs-tools, thunderbird thunderbird-bin, tiff, tomcat, webkit-gtk, and xorg-server xwayland), SUSE (c-ares and go1.18-openssl), and Ubuntu (Jhead, node-hawk, node-nth-check, and perl).

      • Data BreachesDeveloping: RaidForums users db leaked

        The database appears to date to September 2020. It contains entries for the site owner, Omnipotent, as well as moderators, and well-known users. DataBreaches spot-checked the database and found individuals with their known usernames, email addresses, and jabber IDs.

        The administrator who posted the leak noted that “ps: there are some removed users.” They did not clarify whether they had removed users from the database or others had.

        There is no indication as yet as to how this database was leaked, who first leaked it, or why it is first being publicly leaked now. The popular hacking forum was seized in 2022, but the owner was reportedly arrested months before the seizure was made public.

      • ABCWorst cyberattack in Greece disrupts high school exams, causes political spat

        Greece’s Education Ministry says it has been targeted in a cyberattack described as the most extensive in the country’s history, aimed at disabling a centralized high school examination platform.

        It said the distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attacks aimed at overwhelming the platform occurred for a second consecutive day Tuesday. The attack involved computers from 114 countries, causing outages and delays in high school exams but failing to incapacitate the system, the ministry said.

      • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

        • ReasonBrickbat: Who's To Blame?

          Baltimore police report that automobile theft is up 95 percent so far in 2023 compared to the same period last year. So city officials are taking action. They are suing Hyundai and Kia, claiming their cars are too easy to steal.

    • Defence/Aggression

    • Environment

      • QuartzThe number of billion-dollar disasters from severe US storms is on the rise

        Damaging severe storms are on the rise, with every year since 2011 experiencing at least six “billion-dollar” storms in the US. From 2001-2022, the US saw six times more billion-dollar storms than in the previous two decades, according to the€ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

      • [Older] Record low sea ice cover in the Antarctic

        There is currently less sea ice in the Antarctic than at any time in the forty years since the beginning of satellite observation: in early February 2023, only 2.20 million square kilometres of the Southern Ocean were covered with sea ice.

    • Finance

      • Federal News NetworkTrustee of bankrupt Bolivian bank falls from 15th floor: Suicide or foul play?

        A prosecutor in Bolivia has launched an investigation into the mysterious death of the trustee of a bankrupt bank who fell from the 15th floor of a building and his family disputed claims he took his own life. Several of Bolivia’s top leaders have demanded an impartial investigation into the death of Carlos Alberto Colodro, 63, who was appointed as trustee of Fassil Bank last month after the government took control of it amid its insolvency and a run on deposits. Colodro, who was tasked with liquidating the bank, was found dead on Saturday, apparently from a fall from a building in the eastern city of Santa Cruz.

      • QuartzBiden has struck a debt ceiling deal with Republicans to avoid a default

        It appears that the squabbles over the US debt ceiling are close to being thrown out of the window.

      • LatviaRetail figures up on month, down on year

        Calendar adjusted data (at constant prices) published€ by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) May 29 show that,€ compared to April€ 2022, in April€ 2023 Latvia's total retail trade turnover decreased by 3.0€ %.

      • Whether in China or the US, Gen Z doesn’t want your low paying jobs. Stagnant wages and stigma around work keep them unemployed

        Want to know how the American Gen Zers really do it? Board a fast-paced 14-hour flight and see what’s happening in China. Young adults there are dealing with an extreme version of the same problem facing the American TikTok generation: finding a well-paying job that meets their expectations. The search for a stable and well-paid white-collar job has become a bit of a boring take on a medieval quest, a hiring process that takes months and multiple rounds of applications only for multiple rejections. A bigger problem than the dystopian job application process, however, is the mismatch between what young people want and what their leaders want to give them. The result in China? A youth unemployment crisis of epic proportions, with one in five people between the ages of 16 and 24 out of work, according to the National Bureau of Statistics via Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.

      • Rolls Royce also cut staff
    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

        • uni StanfordEditorial Board | MTL is abusing the concept of Academic Freedom

          The Editorial Board argues that President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Hoover Director Condoleezza Rice abused the concept of academic freedom to protect Rupert Murdoch's position on the Hoover Institution's Board of Overseers. "Actual malice – the knowing or reckless publication of false information – would violate the core purpose of Academic Freedom: the pursuit and dissemination of truth," the Board writes.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • Off GuardianThe Anti-Anti-Semitism Follies

        Roll up, roll up, because it’s time once again for The Anti-Anti-Semitism Follies! That’s right, folks, it’s everyone’s favorite unintentionally slapstick theatrical revue, featuring an all-star line-up of uproarious propagandists, side-splitting corporate media clowns, babbling British Labour MPs, the all-singing, all-dancing Berlin Police Department, and other zany anti-anti-Semites!

      • Off GuardianREVIEW: The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis

        In Martin Amis’€ The Zone of Interest€ (2014), set in a Nazi death camp, the Commander, Paul Doll, has his wife, Hannah, and two daughters living with him in the “zone,” where the smell of rotting flesh from the mass graves functions as a persistent clue that things have gone very, very wrong...

    • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Monopolies

      • Patents

        • Dennis Crouch/Patently-OQuestioning Conventionality and Redefining Process in Patent Eligibility Law

          In CareDx v. Natera, an intriguing amicus brief was recently filed by the Honorable Paul Michel (Ret.) and Professor John Duffy in support of the patentee petitioners Stanford and CareDx. The brief advocates for the clarification of patent-eligibility law, and criticizes the Federal Circuit’s handling of the case. The filing of the brief has seemingly prompted the Supreme Court to request a response from the accused infringers, after they initially waived their right to do so. This move reflects some significance of the arguments presented in the brief.€  [Read the Brief]

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • this is comfy

        I am new here, and a wave of nostalgia has just hit me while taking a tour of the place.

        There is something very cozy to me when strangers like you and I are only identified by a nickname. No profile picture, no avatar, no tagline.

      • 2.4k in 13:44

        a friend came to visit me and we wanted to go on a run together. they are a lot more experienced when it comes to running than i am. i made it clear that we'd stick to my pace for starters on a route that i'm familiar with. they agreed. i planned a 5k route but i could feel that my body was not cooperating after the 2k mark. my legs felt heavier with every step and my breaths were spiraling out of control. i wanted to finish at the 3k mark at least but i misremembered our route and ended up running a shorter path overall. i thought i had hit 3k but when i checked my actual route, i ended up with 2.4k. my friend kept running while i caught my breath. we decided to meet back at my apartment.

    • Technical

      • Internet/Gemini

        • honestly, I have to agree...

          ...unfortunately it is true. I never dealt with Gemini space, and I never wanted to. The navigation/filesystem looks like something from 2003, the entries there are published with a known (or assumed) disposition of they'll likely NOT be read. It's text-only (ok, I get that's part of the appeal - but just do that on the WWW). Everything is super-specific in terms of subject matter, everything there IS bleak, from where I am sitting.


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



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