Historical Week for Debian and Ubuntu (a Look Back)
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-02-15 11:34:24 UTC
- Modified: 2014-02-15 11:34:24 UTC
Summary: A roundup of news about Debian, Ubuntu, and derivatives of Ubuntu
Debian
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The Debian project is pleased to announce the fourth update of its stable distribution Debian 7 (codename "wheezy"). This update mainly adds corrections for security problems to the stable release, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories were already published separately and are referenced where available. Please note that this update does not constitute a new version of Debian 7 but only updates some of the packages included. There is no need to throw away old "wheezy" CDs or DVDs but only to update via an up-to-date Debian mirror after an installation, to cause any out of date packages to be updated.
Systemd in Debian
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Since this weekend we have known that systemd was winning the Debian init system battle, but now it's official: systemd has prevailed over Upstart in Debian.
After a very heated fight between the Debian technical committee and also Debian stakeholders, Bdale Garbee as the chairman of the tech committee has announced systemd will be used in Debian 8.0 Jessie.
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systemd already has a wide adoption withing the GNU/Linux distribution with all major distros including openSUSE, Fedora, Arch Linux, etc using it as their default init system. Upstart was either way not getting much support from the free software community due to the restrictive CLAs Canonical requires which is often criticized by the community. With Debian going* for systemd, it will get even more developer power whereas Canonical will be left alone to deal with Upstart along with many more project that it’s trying to do on its own – including the recently discussed File Manager which may replace Nautilus (Files).
Systemd in Ubuntu
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Going forward, systemd will be Debian's default init system for Linux distributions, an init system soon to be used by every other major Linux distribution other than Ubuntu.
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With this move Canonical has slowed the alienation of Ubuntu from the rest of the Linux community. It also shows that Canonical also understand that it can’t fork it’s path too much from the mainstream Linux community, especially from mommy Debian. In a nutshell it’s a wise and welcome decision by Ubuntu leadership and will help them focus on more pressing issues which will help make Ubuntu better.
Systemd
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My view is that this idea is wrong: systemd is broken by design, and despite offering highly enticing improvements over legacy init systems, it also brings major regressions in terms of many of the areas Linux is expected to excel: security, stability, and not having to reboot to upgrade your system.
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As usual in these cases, not just Lennart, but many of those who supported him, also those who sponsored these efforts, has suffered all kind of attacks. Sadly not just for technical, I mean ATTACKS. Even journalists have been involved. Yes, Free Software is also mature enough to have "yellow (technical) press" associated, political and business interests and people in different communities willing to use them against anybody who threaten the current status quo.
Mobile
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Vodafone joined Ubuntu’s Carrier Advisory Group, as Ubuntu demoed progress on a unified desktop/mobile UI, but a Debian decision may further isolate Ubuntu.
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One of Canonical's main goals in bringing Ubuntu to mobile devices is to create a converged platform across smartphones, tablets, and PCs. As such, a developer should be able to write an app that has a single code base yet runs on all three types of devices, presenting a different interface to the user on each form factor.
Licence Agreement
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Canonical has issued an official explanation for the reason why Linux Mint developers have to sign a license agreement in order to continue to distribute the package straight from the Ubuntu repos.
Valve
LTS
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After this weekend sharing benchmarks of the recent Ubuntu 12.04 LTS point releases, here's some complementary tests that offer a look at the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" performance against the current state of the "Trusty Tahr", a.k.a. Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.
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The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS
(Long-Term Support) for its Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products,
as well as other flavours of Ubuntu with long-term support.
Development
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Last week I was in Orlando sprinting with my team as well as the platform, SDK, and security teams and some desktop and design folks. As usual after a sprint, I have been slammed catching up with email, but I wanted to provide a summary of some work going that you can expect to see soon in the Ubuntu app developer platform.
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The Ubuntu Developer Summit is the primary place where we discuss, debate, and plan the future of Ubuntu. The entire event takes place online, is open and accessible to all, and every session is recorded so everyone can see how decisions are made. It is a useful, fun, and rewarding event to join.
Ubuntu Variants
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Various flavors of Ubuntu 14.04 have come out today with their Trusty Tahr Alpha 2 spins.
Bodhi Linux
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We are huge fans of Jeff Hoogland’s work as a Software Developer and his efforts with Bodhi Linux. So we invited Jeff for a quick chat with Unixmen Australia. We were privileged when Jeff accepted our invitation. Here is what he had to say.
Linux Mint
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It’s no great secret that our organization Reglue uses Linux Mint on many of our outgoing computers. I run Mint on one of my work computers and at home as well. Linux Mint has given us the opportunity to create a respin for educational purposes within our non profit, largely due to an app named mintConstructor. It provides a fairly simple method of making custom systems using Linux Mint as the base.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- CISA Has a Microsoft Conflict of Interest Problem (CISA Cannot Achieve Its Goals, It Protects the Worst Culprit)
- people from Microsoft "speaking for" "Open Source" and for "security"
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- Links 26/04/2024: XBox Sales Have Collapsed, Facebook's Shares Collapse Too
- Links for the day
- Albanian women, Brazilian women & Debian Outreachy racism under Chris Lamb
- Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
- Microsoft-Funded 'News' Site: XBox Hardware Revenue Declined by 31%
- Ignore the ludicrous media spin
- Mark Shuttleworth, Elio Qoshi & Debian/Ubuntu underage girls
- Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
- Karen Sandler, Outreachy & Debian Money in Albania
- Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 25, 2024
- IRC logs for Thursday, April 25, 2024
- Links 26/04/2024: Facebook Collapses, Kangaroo Courts for Patents, BlizzCon Canceled Under Microsoft
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 26/04/2024: Music, Philosophy, and Socialising
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Claims "Goodwill" Is an Asset Valued at $119,163,000,000, Cash Decreased From $34,704,000,000 to $19,634,000,000 and Total Liabilities Grew to $231,123,000,000
- Earnings Release FY24 Q3
- More Microsoft Cuts: Events Canceled, Real Sales Down Sharply
- So they will call (or rebrand) everything "AI" or "Azure" or "cloud" while adding revenues from Blizzard to pretend something is growing
- Links 25/04/2024: South Korean Military to Ban iPhone, Armenian Remembrance Day
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 25/04/2024: SFTP, VoIP, Streaming, Full-Content Web Feeds, and Gemini Thoughts
- Links for the day
- Audiocasts/Shows: FLOSS Weekly and mintCast
- the latest pair of episodes
- [Meme] Arvind Krishna's Business Machines
- He is harming Red Hat in a number of ways (he doesn't understand it) and Fedora users are running out of patience (many volunteers quit years ago)
- [Video] Debian's Newfound Love of Censorship Has Become a Threat to the Entire Internet
- SPI/Debian might end up with rotten tomatoes in the face
- Joerg (Ganneff) Jaspert, Dalbergschule Fulda & Debian Death threats
- Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
- Amber Heard, Junior Female Developers & Debian Embezzlement
- Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
- [Video] Time to Acknowledge Debian Has a Real Problem and This Problem Needs to be Solved
- it would make sense to try to resolve conflicts and issues, not exacerbate these
- Daniel Pocock elected on ANZAC Day and anniversary of Easter Rising (FSFE Fellowship)
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- [Video] IBM's Poor Results Reinforce the Idea of Mass Layoffs on the Way (Just Like at Microsoft)
- it seems likely Red Hat layoffs are in the making
- Ulrike Uhlig & Debian, the $200,000 woman who quit
- Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 24, 2024
- IRC logs for Wednesday, April 24, 2024
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- Links 24/04/2024: Layoffs and Shutdowns at Microsoft, Apple Sales in China Have Collapsed
- Links for the day
- Sexism processing travel reimbursement
- Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
- Girlfriends, Sex, Prostitution & Debian at DebConf22, Prizren, Kosovo
- Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
- Microsoft is Shutting Down Offices and Studios (Microsoft Layoffs Every Month This Year, Media Barely Mentions These)
- Microsoft shutting down more offices (there have been layoffs every month this year)
- Balkan women & Debian sexism, WeBoob leaks
- Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
- Martina Ferrari & Debian, DebConf room list: who sleeps with who?
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Links 24/04/2024: Advances in TikTok Ban, Microsoft Lacks Security Incentives (It Profits From Breaches)
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 24/04/2024: People Returning to Gemlogs, Stateless Workstations
- Links for the day
- Meike Reichle & Debian Dating
- Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
- Europe Won't be Safe From Russia Until the Last Windows PC is Turned Off (or Switched to BSDs and GNU/Linux)
- Lives are at stake
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 23, 2024
- IRC logs for Tuesday, April 23, 2024
- [Meme] EPO: Breaking the Law as a Business Model
- Total disregard for the EPO to sell more monopolies in Europe (to companies that are seldom European and in need of monopoly)
- The EPO's Central Staff Committee (CSC) on New Ways of Working (NWoW) and “Bringing Teams Together” (BTT)
- The latest publication from the Central Staff Committee (CSC)
- Volunteers wanted: Unknown Suspects team
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Debian trademark: where does the value come from?
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock