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Links 30/07/2023: AMD-Based FreeBSD Desktop, Rocky Linux Targets Red Hat, PostgreSQL Barman 3.7.0 Released



  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • mintCast PodcastmintCast 417 – All Hail Avrecon

        First up in the news: Mint 21.2 Victoria released, Canonical’s Leading LXD Engineer Quits, Ubuntu Plans to Ditch its ‘Minimal’ Install Option, a new BlendOS v3, SUSE forks Red Hat

        In security and privacy, Avrecon malware affects 70,000 Linux servers, turns them into a botnet, and we meet RCE Flaw and PyLoose Malware

        Then in our Wanderings Joe has a bad reaction, Moss forgot to write something here, Bill more of the same, Majid pretends to be a socialist

        Download
    • Kernel Space

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Beginner’s Guide: How to Install Java on Ubuntu in Easy Steps

        Some programs/tools/utility on Ubuntu required java/JVM, without java these programs are not working. Are you facing the same problem?

      • It's FOSSUnderstanding Ubuntu’s Repository System

        Learn the underlying mechanism of the repository system in Ubuntu to better handle the package management and avoid common update errors.

      • How To Remove Windows from UEFI Boot Menu After Installing Ubuntu

        In this article, we will walk you through the process of removing Windows from the UEFI boot menu after installing Ubuntu. This might be necessary if you have decided to completely switch over to Ubuntu and no longer need the Windows boot option.

        [...]

        To remove Windows from the UEFI boot menu after installing Ubuntu, you need to access the terminal, identify the Windows boot entry using the efibootmgr command, remove the boot entry using the efibootmgr -b -B command, delete the Windows folder from the EFI partition, and update GRUB to hide the GRUB menu.

      • APNICDon’t leave network blind spots

        In this post, I discuss recent research by Hassan Habibi Gharakheili, Vijay Sivaraman, and myself from the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, University of New South Wales that presents a solution for monitoring the enterprise hosts with fine-grained visibility into their network behavioural profiles.

        This research passively analyses network traffic from/to all connected hosts in an enterprise network, regardless of their SOE configuration status. By constructing specialized network behavioural profiles with AI-based classifications, real-time inference on the network behavioural patterns of hosts and potential anomalies are generated for IT departments.

      • Chris HannahI Use Neovim

        I usually tend to write about the tools that I use, whether it’s programming, or writing for my blog. Well, this time, I guess it’s a bit of both. As I’m now using Neovim for practically any task that involves writing text.

      • Terence EdenShakespeare Serif - an experimental font based on the First Folio

        Now, before setting off on a journey, it is worth seeing if anyone else has tried this before. I found David Pustansky's First Folio Font. There's not much info about it, other than it's based on the 1623 folio. It's a nice font, but missing brackets and a few other pieces of punctuation. Also, no ligatures. And the long s is in the wrong place.

        So, let's try to build a font!

      • MediumOperating a SOC Analyst Home Lab

        The cybersecurity industry is vast and entails many specialized topics. No one person can learn or know everything and the breadth of concepts to learn can seem overwhelming. Admittedly, I spent a considerable amount of time looking at the different types of cybersecurity career paths out there. On that note, one of the best decisions I’ve made regarding cybersecurity education and career insights was joining the WreckItmech Oxvmx TechHub server on Discord. It’s a safe supportive space where seasoned and aspiring cybersecurity professionals can communicate with each other.

      • Make Use OfHow to Fix the Ubuntu 23.04 Login Error on VMware

        Ubuntu 23.04 was released to the public in April 2023 with support until April 2024. Although an interim release, major updates such as a better GUI with GNOME 44, GPU support with Mesa 23 drivers, and overall faster performance through the Linux 6.2 kernel had many people trying it out as a virtual machine.

        However, if you try installing Ubuntu 23.04 on VMware, you'll likely face a login problem even if you've configured your machine correctly.

        If you're having trouble with the login screen when trying to install "Lunar Lobster" on VMware, below is a step-by-step on how to fix the problem.

    • Games

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • KdenliveKdenlive 23.08 beta available

          After an inspiring participation to Akademy, where we presented some of the actions we want to take to improve Kdenlive’s stability and reliability, we are announcing the first beta version for the upcoming Kdenlive 23.08.0 version.

          The Kdenlive 23.04.x version was unfortunately affected by major regressions related to the new timeline nesting feature.

          We are now working on major improvements to our test suite pipeline to ensure such things don’t get unnoticed before a release. In the meantime, all major issues related to nesting, as well as many other bugs, are now fixed in this new beta and we encourage all interested users to test this version to ensure we have the best possible experience for the final release.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • HaikuOS[GSoC 2023] VPN Support Project Update #4

      So we are just past the midway point for GSoC and last update I told you guys that I had a working (albeit somewhat buggy) TUN Driver working. I had gotten great feedback from Pulkomandy, Axel, and Korli to help with a more efficient driver and to make it more human-readable because it made no sense the way I had written it. I have very good news to bring to everyone in that all of the 3 main problems that I talked about last time are all solved! I think most of them got solved after I fully understood creating semaphores and imposed execution order by adding a write semaphore. While this new code made the driver much more efficient and less error-prone, there were two new errors that popped up during testing: [...]

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Jonathan RiddellJonathan Riddell: OpenUK Awards 2023 Open for Nominations

      The OpenUK Awards are open for nominations for 2023.

      • Nominations open 28th July 2023
      • Nominations close midnight UK 19th September 2023 (this will not be extended)
      • Shortlist of up to 3 nominees per category announced 18th October 2023
      • Winners Announced 20th November 2023: Black Tie Awards Ceremony and dinner at House of Lords sponsored by Lord Vaizey, 6-10.30pm, tickets limited€ 

      Self nominations are very welcome. If you know fit into the categories or have a project or company which does or know anyone else who does then fill in the form and say why it’s deserved. You might get fame and glory or at the least a dinner in the house of lords.

    • Web Browsers/Web Servers

    • SaaS/Back End/Databases

      • GeshanHow to Use PostgreSQL COALESCE effectively with examples

        In the world of database management systems, PostgreSQL (Postgres) is a popular choice due to its robust features and flexibility. One powerful function it offers is COALESCE, which allows you to handle null values effectively. In this blog post, you will explore what PostgreSQL COALESCE is, learn when it is useful, and see examples to demonstrate how to use it effectively. Let's get going!

      • PostgreSQLBarman 3.7.0 Released

        EDB is pleased to announce the release of Barman 3.7.0. This release expands support for the snapshot backup_method, which creates full backups by taking snapshots of cloud storage volumes, by adding support for AWS using EBS volume snapshots. Support for Google Cloud disk snapshot and Microsoft Azure managed disks were added in previous Barman releases.

        Highlights of this release

        Version 3.7.0 - 25 July 2023

    • Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

      • ccache for a 5 minute LibreOffice build!ccache for a 5 minute LibreOffice build

        If you have ever tried to build LibreOffice code, you know that it can take a lot of time. LibreOffice has ~6 million lines of C++ and some Java code (<280k). But, there are tools that can help you build LibreOffice from source code much faster, if you do it repeatedly! Here I discuss how.

        Even with a fast computer, compiling huge amount of C/C++ code takes a lot of time. Compiling 6 million lines of C/C++ code in LibreOffice will take you several minutes (if not hours) with a decent computer with fast CPU and a lot of RAM.

        But, people who work on developing LibreOffice need to build it from the source repeatedly. Because only a fraction of the code changes each time, there is a big chance that one can re-use the compiled objects, and that’s where ccache (and similar tools) come in. It caches the compiled objects, and before trying to re-compile the code, searches inside the cache to see if a previously compiled objects are usable.

    • Education

      • ArduinoUNO R4 Stars: Meet Greta Galli

        Greta Galli is a 20-year-old maker – as well as a content creator, student and teacher! – focusing her high energy levels on robotics and 3D printing. If you think that’s a lot, it is. But keep in mind she got her first taste of making at the young age of 11, when she took part in a kids’ workshop at a tech fair. Fast forward a few years and she heard her high school would start teaching with Arduino, so she jumped the gun and bought her first board.

    • Programming/Development

      • Linux Links10 Excellent R Natural Language Processing Tools

        Natural language processing (NLP) is a set of techniques for using computers to detect in human language the kinds of things that humans detect automatically.

      • Pedro Sader Azevedo: 1st Contribution Hackathon, by LKCAMP

        Thank you for coming to the the 1st Contribution Hackathon at GUADEC 2023. As the name implies, in this event, we’ll teach you how to make your first code contribution to GNOME. Buckle up!

        Setup

        There are three components that we need for making the contribution: flatpak, flathub, and GNOME Builder. Here’s how to get each of them:

        Flatpak

        Flatpak is a packaging format for graphical applications that works on any GNU/Linux distribution. It is the most widely embraced packaging format for GNOME applications. To get flatpak on your distro of choice, run:

        [...]
      • Matt RickardGit Merge Strategies and Algorithms

        How does git merge one or more branches? A look at the different merge strategies and algorithms.

      • Tim BradshawNumerical prediction

        In late 2018, when I still worked at the Met Office, I sent a document to some people there which explained why I thought AI would come to dominate weather forecasting, and why weather forecasting organisations should be looking at AI, urgently. Today, the 28th of July 2023, there is a leader on the subject in The Economist as well as an extended article in its Science and Technology section.

      • RlangQuantum programs

        Remember, quantum programming can seem daunting at first, but with practice and patience, you'll start to grasp these new concepts and begin to appreciate the immense potential that quantum computing offers. Happy coding!

      • Bruno RodriguesReproducible data science with Nix, part 3 -- frictionless {plumber} api deployments with Nix

        This is the third post in a series of posts about Nix. Disclaimer: I’m a super beginner with Nix. So this series of blog posts is more akin to notes that I’m taking while learning than a super detailed tutorial. So if you’re a Nix expert and read something stupid in here, that’s normal. This post is going to focus on R (obviously) but the ideas are applicable to any programming language.

        This blog post is part tutorial on creating an api using the {plumber} R package, part an illustration of how Nix makes developing and deploying a breeze.

      • Bruno RodriguesReproducible data science with Nix, part 1 -- what is Nix

        This is the first of a (hopefully) series of posts about Nix. Disclaimer: I’m a super beginner with Nix. So this series of blog posts is more akin to notes that I’m taking while learning than a super detailed tutorial. So if you’re a Nix expert and read something stupid in here, that’s normal. This post is going to focus on R (obviously) but the ideas are applicable to any programming language.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Gemini Links 04/01/2025: Geminispace Contributions and Security Theatre
Links for the day
 
Links 04/01/2025: Social Control Media Deemed Very Unhealthy, Nick Clegg Leaves Zuckerberg's Influence Operations
Links for the day
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Almost 85% Funded
Probably 85% by Sunday or Monday
Links 04/01/2025: Demolition of IBM Building (Its Birthplace), Microsoft Layoffs, Microsoft Vice President Quits
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, January 03, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, January 03, 2025
Apple 'Articles' That Aren't... Just SPAM From Beta'News', Generated by LLMs
A 'news' sites reduced to garbage crafted by bots
A Salad of Microsoft FUD Against Linux, Published by LinuxSecurity.com Using LLM Slop/Copypasta
LinuxSecurity.com is an anti-Linux FUD site, powered by Microsoft chatbots on the face of it
Gemini Links 03/01/2025: GNU Emacs Key Bindings in GNU Midnight Commander's Mcedit and Gemini Editing Setup with Vim
Links for the day
Links 03/01/2025: Neil Young Drops Out of Glastonbury and MElon Attacking the Free Press
Links for the day
[Memes] Two Dictators. Donald Trump Loves TikTok.
This is a problem
Jeff Bezos (Washington Post) Spreads Political Propaganda Against the Internet (and the Web)
Then people wonder why trust in the media has gotten so low
In Hong Kong and Taiwan People Flock to GNU/Linux (Unlike Windows, GNU/Linux Doesn't Capture Screenshots of Everything You Do and Add Back Doors to Encryption)
Hong Kong and Taiwan have bright engineers. They know Windows is a joke.
When You Get Your "Latest Technology News" From an LLM Slop Farm
They still call themselves "BetaNews" (the word "news" is in the name)
For Software Freedom (and for Broader Personal Freedom), the Goalposts Are Moving
we need to open up our eyes and identify/classify other threats, such as social control media
Engineering Things to Last 70 Years in an 8-Bit, 16-Bit, and 32-Bit World
Nowadays they make things that barely last 7 years
Slow News, But Not Slow for Us
So far this year (maybe premature to say so because many journalists are still on holiday) the news is very, very slow
GNU/Linux Rose to 5% in Belgium (It Was 1.66% Last January)
Trebling in 12 months, according to statCounter
A Golden Opportunity that Canonical and IBM Intentionally Ignore (in Order to Appease Microsoft)
They're too dependent on Microsoft "sweeteners"
[Meme] Crushing Free Speech Before Even Taking Public Office...
someone who isn't even president is already meddling
[Meme] Be a Good and Obedient Citizen. Use Microsoft Windows.
Microsoft actively works with China to censor search results and spy on citizens
Canada: Windows at All-Time Lows, ChromeOS and GNU/Linux Rise to Almost 8%
It is widely known that many schools in Canada adopted ChromeOS
In Mexico, Windows Down to All-Time Low, GNU/Linux Up to All-Time High
Yesterday we showed that in North America adoption of GNU/Linux is growing fast
The Free Software Foundation Extends Cutoff Date (Two More Weeks), Raises About 330,000 Dollars
Isn't it predictable that people who worked for Microsoft GitHub gave money to some unscrupulous lawyers in London to harass us?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, January 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, January 02, 2025
Windows Falls to ~22% in France and Spain, Based on statCounter
Windows 'corrected' at 22% "market share" in France - i.e. roughly the same as Spain
Gemini Links 02/01/2025: Goals 2025, Microsofter Clickbaiting Again, Advice for the Newbie or Returning Perl Hacker
Links for the day
GNU/Linux and ChromeOS in Australia Tripled in 5 Years? That's How statCounter Sees It....
Based on statCounter...
[Meme] Wrestling With Pigs in Social Control Media
“Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.” ― George Bernard Shaw
Even Worse Than Racism at the Linux Foundation
And worse than corporate colonialism
It's Not Just MElon X, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, All Social Control Media is Basically a Digital Weapon
The question is, what are you going to do about it?
Microsoft Especially Important to Phoronix (It Also Gives Gifts to Phoronix)
A whole section devoted to Microsoft, mostly with puff pieces/ads of proprietary things
Microsoft Plummets to New Lows in Azerbaijan
Perhaps the Azerbaijani population is looking for something other than the NSA's foremost facilitator
GNU/Linux Reaches 5% in Indonesia (Population Size Near 300 Million)
You would need not envy "Microsoft Indonesia" right now
We Need Something More Like DMOZ, Not Search Engines and Bill-Funded Wikipedia (Censoring Unfaltering Information About Powerful People and Institutions)
era of LLMs trained on Wikipedia... Microsoft tried - and failed - to game the narrative to the same extent Google does
Tens of Billions of Dollars Down the Drain (Microsoft Lost the Search "Arms Race" or Market)
But caused injury to itself and others, just like with Nokia in mobile
Seems Like GNU/Linux Usage Doubled in Japan Last Year
So says statCounter data anyway
GNU/Linux Measured at 4.4% in South America and 3.34% in Africa, Based on 2025's Preliminary Data
All-time highs
GNU/Linux Leaps to 6% in the United States of America (Not Even Counting ChromeOS)
Additionally, the FSF in Boston is managing well
GNU/Linux Usage in Europe Leaps Above 6% in 2025
This is a big deal because a lot of Microsoft's revenue came from Europe
Windows Falls to 22.5% Worldwide, Android Up to 48%
The world's (by far) biggest populations don't use Windows much
GNU/Linux Back to 5% in 2025
That's not counting ChromeOS
Links 02/01/2025: Production of Apple Vision Pro Halted, More on Public Domain Day 2025
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Gained About 0.5% Last Year, According to StatCounter
2024 ended with "proper" GNU/Linux at +0.4%, ChromeOS at +0.1% (based on statCounter/StatCounter)
Links 02/01/2025: OpenAI Whistleblower Suchir Balaji Alleged to Have Been Murdered, Islamic Terrorism in New Orleans
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/01/2025: Friends, Blunder Valley, and New Year
Links for the day
Links 02/01/2025: Violence Crisis in South Africa and Arrest Warrant for South Korean Leadership
Links for the day
Rumour: IBM Will Try to Induce Mass Resignations This Month Using R.T.O. (Just Like Amazon Does This Month)
Amazon will start some of this in March, sources have told us
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, January 01, 2025