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Links 20/6/2021: Debian GNU/Linux 10.10 “Buster” Released and LF Revisionism Resumes



  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • Here’s Why Switching to Linux Makes Sense in 2021

        Linux does have several benefits over Windows and macOS in certain areas. People are realizing it, and it is slowly gaining popularity in the desktop OS market.

        Of course, the majority of desktop users still swear by Windows or macOS, but a greater number of users are trying out new Linux distributions to see if they can switch to Linux.

        They may have heard good things about Linux as a desktop choice, or just want to try something different while confined to their homes. Who knows?

        Here, I will be presenting you all the good reasons why Linux makes more sense in 2021.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • Redcore Linux Makes Gentoo User Friendly

        Redcore Linux is a distribution based on Gentoo but aims to provide a user-friendly installation. Redcore targets the casual Linux user but is also appropriate for power users. It comes with KDE Plasma and a nice suite of programs including gaming, multimedia and office software.

      • Terminals Are Amazing But Not For Everything

        I use terminals for a lot of what I do and technically a terminal can be used to do everything you could ever want but unless you're insane a mouse and a GUI is sometimes just more convenient.

      • Why does this laptop keep selling out? - Slimbook Titan Review

        This is the Slimbook Titan, Slimbook's most powerful laptop that basically comes with all the options, including a mechanical keyboard, a high refresh rate display, and monster specs. Oh and also it's fast because it has RGB and Stickers. Let's take a look at what that thing can do!

      • The Mechanic: Interview with an SRE/SDET

        Today I'm interviewing one of my mentors (and an occasional coworker), Brian! He's a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET), former Site Reliability Engineer (SRE), former platform engineer, sysadmin, Java developer, and full-time motorcycle and car restoration/experimentation mechanic.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • How to unmount hard drives on Ubuntu

        If you need to unmount a hard drive in Ubuntu, the fastest and easiest way to do it is with Gnome Disks. Gnome Disks is a disk management tool. With it, users can manage hard drives, USB devices, and everything else storage-related.

      • Introducing the target settings and policies in SELinux - Linux Concept

        Before we embark on the journey of using these four automation frameworks, we need to clarify what we want to accomplish. After all, to truly compare automation frameworks, we need to test each framework with the same tests each time.

      • Linux firewalling and SECMARK support - Linux Concept

        The approach with TCP, UDP, and SCTP ports has a few downsides. One of them is that SELinux has no knowledge of the target host, so cannot reason about its security properties. This method also offers no way of limiting daemons from binding on any interface: in a multi-homed situation, we might want to make sure that a daemon only binds on the interface facing the internal network and not the internet-facing one, or vice versa.

        In the past, SELinux allowed support for this binding issue through the interface and node labels: a domain could be configured to only bind to one interface and not to any other, or even on a specific address (referred to as the node). This support had its flaws though, and has been largely deprecated in favor of SECMARK filtering.

        Before explaining SECMARK and how administrators can control it, let’s first take a quick look at Linux’s netfilter subsystem, the de facto standard for local firewall capabilities on Linux systems.

      • How to Take Screenshots on Ubuntu? 4 Different Methods

        The old wisdom says that a picture is worth a thousand words. The underlying idea is that information conveyed through looking at something is far more effective than hearing or reading a description of it.

        Screenshots are a sleek aid to have at your side, especially if you're trying to explain a complex topic. This guide will cover all the different ways to take screenshots on Ubuntu. So, without further ado, let's dive right in…

      • How to Migrate from CentOS to Oracle Linux

        With the shift in focus from CentOS project to CentOS Stream which will now serve as the upstream to RHEL, a few CentOS alternatives have been floated to replace CentOS 8.

        For while now CentOS has been widely used by small businesses and developers in server environments given that it provides the stability and reliability that RHEL offers at absolutely no cost. Being a rolling release and a Beta version for future RHEL releases, CentOS Stream will certainly not be recommended for production workloads.

      • How to Manually Add Software Repositories in Linux

        When you search for a package on Linux through the command line, your system's package manager looks for the package in various repositories. By default, every Linux distribution has some official repositories that contain stable packages supported by the distro team.

        However, when you try to grab a package not present in the official software repositories, the package manager will display an error. In such situations, what you can do is manually add the third-party repository to your system and then download the package.

        Let's see how you can add new repositories to your system's sources list.

      • How to Get Windows 11 Style System Panel in Ubuntu 20.04, 21.04 | UbuntuHandbook

        The upcoming Windows 11 has leaked online a few days ago. Here’s how to implement the new look and feel in Ubuntu 20.04, and/or Ubuntu 21.04.

        Gnome has a large collection of extensions to get additional and optional functionality. You can use dash to panel to combine the top-bar and the left dock into single. And Arc Menu extension is available to replace the default system app launcher.

      • How To Install OpenCart on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install OpenCart on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, OpenCart is a free open-source eCommerce platform for online merchants. OpenCart provides a professional and reliable foundation from which to build a successful online store. With features like User Management, Multi-Store, Affiliates, Discounts, Product Reviews, Multi-lingual and multiple Payment Gateways, OpenCart is a platform of choice for many online merchants.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of the OpenCart free shopping cart system on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.

      • Controlling process communications using SELinux - Linux Concept

        Linux applications communicate with each other either directly or over a network. But the difference between direct communication and networked communication, from an application programmer’s point of view, is not always that big. Let’s look at the various communication methods that Linux supports and how SELinux aligns with them.

      • ( Easy ) Test Your Internet Download Speed in Linux Terminal

        Now one of the things that every modern person wants to know about his internet connection is the network speed. Most people don’t even know if 60 Megabits is a good or bad speed but they know more is better. So in order to understand network speed we have to understand what is good and bad speed? But how to do this in a really short and not boring way? The easy way is to trust us and take our word that speeds grater than 75 Megabits per second are great for home and watching 4k online TV and so on.

        For the more curious readers there is an article on Wikipedia explaining network speeds which you can read from here.

        Now your network speed is divided in two parts, the first part is the external network speed ( the speed after your home router ) and internal speed ( the speed that your home network runs at ). In this article we are interested in our speed after the router ( The speed that the network provider is selling us ) so that we can check if we are getting what they are selling to us. For this to be accurate we have to accept that the internal network speed ( our home LAN ) is capable of reaching the provided by the provider speeds ( for example if we have a 200 Megabit provided to our router, the router has to be capable to operate at gigabit speeds ).

      • A Beginner’s Guide to Software Repositories in Ubuntu

        While installing software on Ubuntu using the command line, you might have noticed the word "repository" often used in the output. If you're new to the whole Linux universe, then this might be a new term for you. What does it mean, and why does your system need these repositories?

        This article will introduce you to the concept of repositories in Ubuntu, along with a brief description of the various types of repositories available to use.

      • TAR vs. TAR.GZ Files: What’s the Difference?

        TAR archives are an integral part of a Linux ecosystem. All the packages that you install on your machine are provided in the form of compressed archives. Some of them have the TAR file extension, while other compressed archives use the TAR.GZ or TAR.BZ2 file format.

        But are TAR and TAR.GZ files essentially the same? And if not, what is the difference between these two file types? You will discover the answers to these questions in this post.

      • Securing high-speed InfiniBand networks in Linux - Linux Concept

        The InfiniBand standard is a relatively recent (in network history) technology that enables very high throughput and very low latency. It accomplishes this by having a very low overhead on the network layer (protocol) and direct access from user applications to the network level. This direct access also has implications for SELinux, as the Linux kernel is no longer actively involved in the transport of data across an InfiniBand link.

        Let’s first look at what InfiniBand looks like, after which we can see how to still apply SELinux controls to its communication flows.

      • Supporting CIPSO with NetLabel and SELinux - Linux Concept

        NetLabel/CIPSO labels and transmits sensitivities across the network. Unlike labeled IPsec, no other context information is sent or synchronized. So, when we consider the communication flows between two points, they will have a default, common SELinux type (rather than the SELinux type associated with the source or target) but will have sensitivity labels based on the sensitivity label of the remote side.

        Part of NetLabel’s configuration are mapping definitions that inform the system which communication flows (from selected interfaces, or even from configured IP addresses) are for a certain Domain of Interpretation (DOI). The CIPSO standard defines the DOI as a collection of systems that interpret the CIPSO label similarly, or, in our case, use the same SELinux policy and configuration of sensitivity labels.

        Once these mappings have been established, NetLabel/CIPSO will pass on the sensitivity information (and categories) between hosts. The context we will see on the communication flows will be netlabel_peer_t, a default context assigned to NetLabel/CIPSO-originated traffic.

        Through this approach, we can start daemons with a sensitivity range and thus only accept connections from users or clients that have the right security clearance, even on remote, NetLabel/CIPSO-enabled systems.

      • Understanding labeled networking in Linux - Linux Concept

        Another approach to further fine-tune access controls on the network level is to introduce labeled networking. With labeled networking, security information passes on between hosts (unlike SECMARK, which only starts when the netfilter subsystem receives the packet, and whose marking never leaves the host). This is also known as peer labeling, as the security information passes on between hosts (peers).

        The advantage of labeled networking is that security information remains across the network, allowing end-to-end enforcement on mandatory access-control settings between systems as well as retaining the sensitivity level of communication flows between systems. The major downside, however, is that this requires an additional network technology (protocol) that can manage labels on network packets or flows.

        SELinux currently supports two implementations as part of the labeled networking approach: NetLabel and labeled IPsec. With NetLabel, two implementations exist: fallback labeling and CIPSO. In both cases, only the sensitivity of the source domain is retained across the communication. Labeled IPsec supports transporting the entire security context with it.

      • Using labeled IPsec with SELinux - Linux Concept

        Although setting up and maintaining an IPsec setup is far beyond the scope of this book, let’s look at a simple IPsec example to show how to enable labeled IPsec on a system. Remember that the labeled network controls on the interface, node, and peer levels, as mentioned earlier, are automatically enabled the moment we use labeled IPsec.

      • Using I2C LCD display With Raspberry PI Pico and MicroPython

        Adding a display to Raspberry PI Pico allows getting real time information from connected devices without using a computer from USB port. I2C LCD displays (with PCF8574 backpack) are one of best solution to keep wiring simple

        In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to connect and use an I2C LCD display to Raspberry PI Pico.

      • Downlod Youtube videos on Linux Mint 20.1 using GUI APP - Linux Shout

        There are many circumstances where you would need to download some Youtube video on Linux Mint 20.1 for some later use. However, there are many online web applications for getting youtube on PC but here we are going to show a lightweight and very straightforward snap app based on youtube-dl called “Youtube Downloader” for Linux systems.

      • 15 things to do after installing elementary OS | FOSS Linux

        Elementary OS is a beautiful and beginner-friendly Linux distro with a focus on user security and privacy. It is also one of the most highly recommended Linux distros for users looking for a Windows or Mac replacement.

      • How to install Fedora 34 Server | FOSS Linux

        Fedora is an open-source project and an upstream source of the commercial Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution. Since Fedora 30, the Fedora project releases five different editions, spins, and platforms for hardware, containers, server, IoT, and cloud.

        Fedora Workstation is an easy-to-use operating system for desktop and laptop users with tools essential for developers. Fedora Server is a powerful operating system with the latest data center technologies.

      • How to install Clipgrab on Linux Mint 20.1 to download videos

        Well, here we see how to install and use Clipgrab on Linux Mint 20.1, Ubuntu 21.04/20.4/18.04 including Debian, Elementary OS, Kali, MX Linux, and others. Also, learn the steps to create its desktop shortcut.

        Clipgrab is a graphics program that can be used to download videos from online multimedia platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion or Facebook, etc., and convert them if desired ( e.g. to MP3, OGG Vorbis / Theora, or WMV ). It is really handy because if you don’t require video and interested in its audio, then save the media file in Mp3 format. For conversion, FFmpeg is used in the background.

        Its interface is quite clear and simply designed that doesn’t require any guide to understand, even for beginners. Apart from Linux, Clipgrab is available for Windows and Mac OS X and is licensed under GPL3. The best thing is you can search videos using keywords on Clipgrab if you don’t have the URL of a particular video.

        ClipGrab can automatically download videos when a video link is found on the clipboard. It is also possible to use a proxy server.

      • How to Use a Tablet or Phone as a Second Monitor in Linux | Tom's Hardware

        Not everyone has the desk space– never mind the finances – to afford the luxury of a dual-monitor setup. Adding a second display can, however, revolutionize the way you use your PC.

        Deskreen is a free Linux application that provides a clever workaround to this problem, one that makes it possible for you to view multiple windows at once across additional displays without spending anything. Simply put, it enables you to convert other devices, including phones, tablets, laptops, and even smart TVs, into wireless, secondary displays for your computing tasks.

      • How to configure NFS on Linux

        Sharing files between computers and servers is an essential networking task. Thankfully, NFS (Network File System) is available for Linux systems and makes the job extremely easy. With NFS properly configured, moving files between computers is as easy as moving files around on the same machine. Since NFS functionality is built directly into the Linux kernel, it is both powerful and available on every Linux distro, although the configuration can differ slightly between them.

      • How To Install Inkscape on Debian 10 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Inkscape on Debian 10. For those of you who didn’t know, Inkscape is professional quality vector graphics software that runs on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows desktop computers. It offers a rich set of features and is widely used for both artistic and technical illustrations such as cartoons, clip art, logos, typography, diagramming, and flowcharting.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of the Inkscape professional quality vector graphics software on a Debian 10 (Buster).

    • Wine or Emulation

      • Wine Development 6.11 Released with Theming Support [Howto Install]

        A new development release of the free open-source implementation to run Windows apps on Linux, Wine 6.11 is out!

        The release introduced theming support in all builtin programs. As well, it features all remaining CRT math functions imported from Musl; MP3 support requires libmpg123 also on macOS; and support for codepage 720 (Arabic).

        Also, there are dozens of bugs fixed in the release for Windows applications, including Microsoft SyncToy 2.1, Hogs of War, Notepad++, Starcraft 2, and more. See the announcement for more details.

    • Games

      • Theme Hospital game engine reimplementation CorsixTH 0.65 is out now | GamingOnLinux

        Another fantastic free and open source game engine reimplementation just had a new release. This time it's CorsixTH 0.65 for playing Theme Hospital on modern systems.

        The problem with Theme Hospital, like a lot of older games, is that it didn't stand the test of time too well. The idea and the gameplay is great but it really does show its age. CorsixTH totally revitalises it with full HD support, zooming, custom levels and campaigns, improved game logic and more.

      • GemRB 0.9.0, the game engine reimplementation for the likes of Baldur's Gate | GamingOnLinux

        Less than a month after the last release, the Infinity Engine reimplementation for the likes of Baldur's Gate and other RPGs has another big release with GemRB 0.9.0.

        The developers mentioned this was a "monster" to get sorted and this update is over six years in the making. It's a huge change bringing a modernization of the UI system, drawing and input handling. You also should no longer need any widescreen mods for the classics.

      • Free and open source evolution game Thrive 0.5.4 is out now with cell colonies | GamingOnLinux

        Bringing you the latest in open source evolution simulation, Thrive 0.5.4 is out now with a big new gameplay feature with the possibility of forming cell colonies. As a reminder: this is no arcade style or survival game, it's no Spore either. It's quite scientific, although some of it is obviously still simplified due to it being a game. Thoroughly interesting though and can be a little educational too.

        This big new feature brings Thrive further along the evolutionary chain towards the Multicellular stage. To be able to do so, you first have to have survived long enough to unlock and evolve to gain a nucleus. There's still plenty of work to be done in the Multicellular stage with binding agents just being the first step. There's also some graphical improvements, you get a better preview of what you'll look like when changing colour or how much its membrane will wiggle with a new rigidity value and cell wall.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • KDE Gets Expandable Tooltips, Larger Clipboard, More Wayland Fixes

          Even with the warm summer weather and many municipalities loosening pandemic lockdown restrictions, KDE developers remain quite busy this summer with a variety of improvements to this open-source desktop.

          KDE developer Nate Graham is out with his weekly blog post summarizing the KDE development happenings. Some of the highlights for this week include:

          - KDE Frameworks 5.84 will shift the former "What's This?" feature into expandable tooltips. Applications using KXMLGui and Kirigami will be able to offer expanded tooltips when users press the shift key.

        • KDE e.V. Windows Store Statistics [Ed: Microsoft with its DRM is a waste of time for KDE; better to focus on BSD and GNU/Linux]

          Now that Akademy 2021 has started, let’s take a look at the current statistics of all applications in the Windows Store published with the KDE e.V. account.

        • GSoC’21 Week 1 : Building a solid base

          GCompris is a high quality educational software suite, including a large number of activities for children aged 2 to 10, some of the activities are game orientated, but nonetheless still educational.

    • Distributions

      • New Releases

        • OpenMediaVault: OMV6 preview is available

          Today an ISO image for AMD64 platforms has been released. This is an early preview, but fully functional. Please do not use it in production environments. Please note that right at the moment new package versions will not take care about configuration migration.

          You can also install OMV6 on every Debian 11 system according to this forum post. Alternatively you can use Vagrant to setup a test system.

      • SUSE/OpenSUSE

      • IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

        • OpenShift Virtualization gives KubeVirt enterprise foothold

          A Kubernetes sandbox project has begun to find a niche in enterprise IT organizations via OpenShift Virtualization, despite criticisms from analysts.

          KubeVirt is an extension of the Kubernetes container orchestration platform that Red Hat created and donated to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, where it's maintained as a sandbox, or early stage, project. It allows traditional virtual machine workloads to be managed by the Kubernetes control plane alongside Linux containers, including live migration and automated restart functions.

      • Debian Family

        • Debian GNU/Linux 10.10 “Buster” Released with 55 Security Updates and 81 Bug Fixes

          Coming less than three months after Debian GNU/Linux 10.9, the Debian GNU/Linux 10.10 update is here as up to date installation and live medium packed with all the latest security updates and bug fixes that have been released via the stable software repositories of Debian GNU/Linux 10 “Buster”.

          Included in the Debian GNU/Linux 10.10 update, there’s a total of 136 updated packages, split in 55 security updates and 81 miscellaneous bug fixes. Of course, all these updates are already present in the Debian GNU/Linux 10 “Buster” repositories for existing users.

        • Debian 10.10 release 202106191548

           Late blogging on this one.

          Even as we wait for the final release of Bullseye [Debian 11], we're still producing updates for Debian 10 [Buster].

          Today has thrown up a few problems: working with Steve, RattusRattus and Isy in Cambridge, Schweer and Linux-Fan somewhere else in the world.

          A couple of build problems have meant that we've started later than we otherwise might have been and a couple of image runs have had to be redone. We're there now and happily running tests.

        • Andrew Cater: Fixing Wayland failing to start when a desktop environment is installed but your machine needs firmware. ...

          This came up in an install that I was just doing for Debian 10.10 media testing.

          I hadn't seen this before and it would be disconcerting to other people, though it is a known bug, I think.

          I was installing an image that had no network and no firmware. KDE failed to run and dropped me to a text mode prompt. This was because the Zotac SBC I'm using requires Radeon R600 firmware to work. There was a warning message on screen to that effect.

        • Debian -- News -- Updated Debian 10: 10.10 released

          The Debian project is pleased to announce the tenth update of its stable distribution Debian 10 (codename buster). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories have already been published separately and are referenced where available.

          Please note that the point release does not constitute a new version of Debian 10 but only updates some of the packages included. There is no need to throw away old buster media. After installation, packages can be upgraded to the current versions using an up-to-date Debian mirror.

        • Debian 10.10 Released With Many Security/Bug Fixes, Updated FWUPD - Phoronix

          While Debian 11 is coming up soon and its full freeze is under one month away, Debian 10.10 is out this weekend as the latest routine point release.

          Debian 10.10 is the latest point release to the current "Buster" stable series. Debian 10.10 is primarily made up of just different security updates and bug fixes.

        • Andrew Cater: Fixing Wayland failing to start when a desktop environment is installed but your machine needs firmware. ...

          This came up in an install that I was just doing for Debian 10.10 media testing.

          I hadn't seen this before and it would be disconcerting to other people, though it is a known bug, I think.

          I was installing an image that had no network and no firmware. KDE failed to run and dropped me to a text mode prompt. This was because the Zotac SBC I'm using requires Radeon R600 firmware to work. There was a warning message on screen to that effect.

        • Andrew Cater: Debian 10.10 media checking - RELEASE - 202106192215

          And that's it for another release. A few bugs but nothing show-stopping.

          Thanks again to Sledge, RattusRattus and Isy, to Linux-Fan and schweer.

          As the testing page notes, there's a bug in some arm64 installs - the fix should come out via debian-security shortly but you might want to be aware of this.

        • Debian 10.10 media checking - 202106191837 - We're doing quite well

          Linux-Fan and Schweer have just left us: Schweer has confirmed that all the Debian-Edu images are fine and working to his satisfaction.

          After a short break for food, we're all back in on testing: the Cambridge folks are working hard. There have been questions on IRC about the release in Libera.Chat as well. Always good to do this: at some point in the next couple of months, we'll be doing this for Debian 11 [Bullseye] :)

        • Internet Connection Wizard deprecated

          EasyOS inherits the various Puppy network connection tools, including SNS, Frisbee, GPRS and PupDial, managed by the Internet Connection Wizard. The Wizard can be launched via right-click on the desktop "connect" icon, or via the "Setup" menu.

          However, EasyOS uses NetworkManager, which for most users does everything that they need. Having the Internet Connection Wizard in the menu may lead to confusion. Users will be tempted to select it, to find out what it does, even though they already have an Internet connection -- or if they don't, they should use the NetworkManager to get it sorted out.

    • Devices/Embedded

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • Open source software is an incredibly valuable assets, says Leonid Radvinsky

        Leonid Radvinsky believes that open source software is the key to providing accessible technology to developers all over the world. These projects are maintained by a global network of contributing developers, and anyone interested can contribute to these technologies and use them in their projects at no cost.

        Open source software is the foundation of a vibrant developer community, but it cannot be entirely fueled by passion. Developer time is a valuable resource, and contributors to open source software deserve to be paid for the work. Since open source software is available for free, people are understandably curious about how these projects are funded. Luckily, there are several funding options that open source projects can benefit from. Investors like Leonid Radvinsky are helping the open source movement by providing funding and encouraging widespread adoption of the technologies.

      • All Schools in Republic of Guinea to be Supplied with 300 Thousand Licenses of Russian MyOffice Software

        MyOffice (www.MyOffice.ru/en), a Russian developer of office software for document collaboration and communication, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Republic of Guinea to supply 300 thousand MyOffice educational licenses for the needs of all schools in the country over 10 years. The supply agreement was signed in the capital of Guinea, Conakry, with the support of Djene Kaba Condé, First Lady of the Republic of Guinea, and her charitable foundation Prosmi, representatives of the Government of the Republic of Guinea, and the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Guinea and the Republic of Sierra Leone.

      • SaaS/Back End/Databases

        • 10 reasons to stick with MySQL

          The first statement that describes or defines MySQL is that it is a relational database system. Such a system is one in which data storage takes the structural format of rows and columns. Reason? When you start querying for specific database values, the rows and columns parameters you specified make it easy to pinpoint and lock these DB values.

          The term relational implies that the values on the targeted database have a unique connection or relationship. These database relationships or connections may also extend to other tables within the same database.

          Since MySQL has its basis on SQL, it makes sense to break it down to Structured Query Language. At first, you have a database structure defined by tables that have columns and rows. Afterward, you use a query language to access and manipulate the data values existing on these defined database tables.

          MySQL is limitless in its contribution to industrial and enterprise applications. Whether you need logging, warehousing, or e-commerce application, you will always want the association of a MySQL footprint. Whether your app works offline or online, a MySQL database can store anything from single product records to entire inventories without exhibiting system glitches.

        • PostgreSQL: Psycopg 2.9 released

          Psycopg 2.9 has been released!

          This is a relatively small release compared to previous major releases. However the creation of the packages took a lot of effort. The previously used CI system now has reduced support for free software projects - it was decided that package building should be moved to GitHub Actions.

          Packaging has also become more complex because of the evolution of the Python packaging standards and the need to support multiple architectures (Intel, ARM, PPC...).

          Maintaining a project such as Psycopg requires a lot of effort. For this reason, we are extremely grateful to all our sponsors who are enabling the maintenance and development of Psycopg. Thank you very much!

        • PostgreSQL: pgAdmin 4 v5.4 Released

          The pgAdmin Development Team are pleased to announce pgAdmin 4 version 5.4. This release of pgAdmin 4 includes 20 bug fixes and new features. For more details please see the release notes.

          pgAdmin is the leading Open Source graphical management tool for PostgreSQL. For more information, please see the website.

        • PostgreSQL: pgMustard version 4

          We're pleased to announce version 4 of pgMustard – a tool that helps people review PostgreSQL query plans quickly.

        • Staying power: the growing impact of PostgreSQL on enterprise marks Postgres Vision 2021

          When the preliminary design of Ingres, the forerunner to PostgreSQL, was first tested at UC Berkeley, the president of the United States at the time was a man named Richard Nixon and tech pioneers Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were still teenagers.

          That a database technology has this kind of longevity is testimony to the quality of its design.

          Ingres was the first working relational database system originally co-created by Michael Stonebraker and Eugene Wong in 1974. It was envisioned by the two engineers as a way to broaden the scope of the relational database. Nearly half a century later, database companies such as EnterpriseDB Corp., which was rebranded to EDB in mid-2020, and others in the open-source community are seeking to continue that legacy.

      • Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

      • CMS

        • 8 Best WooCommerce Plugins For Your Online Store (Export Pick)

          WordPress Plugins are the best part of making an online store using WooCommerce. Are you looking for best WooCommerce Plugins for your online store. Here are top 8 best WooCommerce Plugins for your online store. WooCommerce is considered to be the number choice for building an e-commerce store because it combines ease of use with incredible power, flexibility, and features.

        • Automattic Acquires Day One Journaling App

          Automattic has acquired Day One, a journaling app available on iPhone, Android, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. The app makes it easy to create journal entries on the go, offers end-to-end encryption for privacy on its paid tier, and has offline capabilities. While most users compose private entries, Automattic’s acquisition announcement promises integrations for publishing to the web:

          That doesn’t mean that everything you journal has to stay private, though. When you want to share specific entries – or even entire journals with the world – you can expect seamless integrations with both WordPress.com and Tumblr to do just that. On the flip side of that, importing your favorite content from WordPress.com and Tumblr into Day One is on the near-term roadmap.

      • Programming/Development

        • Technical.ly Pittsburgh Resilient Coders is bringing its free and equity-minded coding bootcamp to Pittsburgh - Technical.ly Pittsburgh

          Grounded by a mission to advance opportunities for people of color in the tech industry, the Boston-based nonprofit trains students for careers in software development to further community and economic justice for those employees of color.

          “We need to materially shift tech culture,” founder and Executive Director David Delmar Sentíes told Technical.ly. “That must be led by Black and Latinx folks, and that’s going to require alumni from Resilient Coders and alumni from programs like ours, having the opportunity to meet each other and essentially infiltrate the tech industry and cause the shift themselves.”

        • GFX1013 Target Added To LLVM 13.0 For RDNA2 APUs - Phoronix

          Merged last week to mainline LLVM 13.0 was the new "GFX1013" target for the AMDGPU shader compiler. Well, it landed twice as at first had to be reverted after breaking the build bots / sanitizer testing.

          GFX1013 is the newest graphics target for AMDGPU LLVM. Notable out of the commit is confirmation that it's for an RDNA2-based APU. Like with the other RDNA2 GPUs, the compiler target does confirm that GFX1013 does feature ray-tracing support with the BVH ray-tracing instructions being present.

        • Libzip 1.8 Released With Support For Zstd Compressed ZIP Files - Phoronix

          Libzip as the widely-used C library for accessing. creating, and modifying Zip archives is out with a new feature release.

          With the new libzip 1.8.0 release is now support for handling Zstd compression. Zstd was added as a supported compression method to the ZIP file format specification. The Zstd support for libzip can be controlled at build time. Libzip 1.8 also adds support for LZMA (ID 14) compression.

        • Perl/Raku

        • Rust

  • Leftovers

    • BOFH: I'm so pleased to be on the call, Boss. No, of course this isn't a recording ● The Register

      The problem with all those COVID Zoom meetings was the incredible boredom of listening to people lying about how busy they were with all the work they were doing from home.

    • Joachim Breitner: Leaving DFINITY

      So far, I have rushed every professional transition in my life: When starting my PhD, when starting my postdoc, when starting my job at DFINITY, and every time I regretted it. So this time, I will take a proper break and will explore the world a bit (as far as that is possible given the pandemic).

    • Digital Readiness and Pandemic Adaptations – American Alliance of Museums

      On February 10, 2021, the American Alliance of Museums and the John S. Knight Foundation hosted an online conversation about “Digital Readiness and Pandemic Adaptations.” The webinar recording and transcription are available to AAM members as part of their premium digital content offerings with paid membership.

      The webinar was moderated by Elizabeth Merritt, Director for the Center for The Future of Museums. Presenters included Victoria Rogers, Vice President of Arts at the Knight Foundation; Evette Alexander, Director of Learning and Impact at the Knight Foundation; and Neal Stimler, President of Stimler Advantage and Consulting Executive Advisor at the Balboa Park Online Collaborative.

      The presenters discussed a field study, “Digital Readiness and Innovation in Museums,” sponsored by the Knight Foundation, conducted by HG&Co, deployed in partnership with the American Alliance of Museums. They also referenced a report supported by the Knight Foundation, “Digital Transformation: An Assessment of Grants Supporting Digital Staff in Museums,” and a white paper from the Balboa Park Online Collaborative, the “GLAMs’ Dynamic Sustainability Platform.”

    • Health/Nutrition

      • Could gaming help treat depression and anxiety?

        Parents battling to get the controllers and headsets away from children and teens might want look away but Irish researchers have found that popular video games might prove to be a low-cost, easy access, effective and stigma-free support for some mental health issues

        Lero is the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software: it is a world leader in connected-health research and brings together expert software teams from universities and institutes of technology across Ireland in a co-ordinated centre of research excellence.

      • Commercial video games could help treat mental health issues: Study | Lifestyle

        Popular video games have the potential to provide low-cost, easy access, effective and stigma-free support for some mental health issues, researchers at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, have found.

    • Integrity/Availability

    • Finance

    • Monopolies

      • Patents

        • Entera Bio Granted Patent for Oral Parathyroid Hormone by EU Patent Authority [Ed: There is no such thing as "EU patent office"; this is the second time this past week that I see this error]

          Entera Bio shares traded 25% higher after the firm received a foundational patent from the EU patent office for its oral parathyroid hormone using its platform oral protein delivery technology to treat osteoporosis and hypoparathyroidism.

        • Entera Bio, Ltd. (ENTX) Stock Skyrockets After Being Granted European Patent [Ed: Bubble in the making with possibly fake patents]
        • Dead or Alive: Statuses, Patent Expiries and Kind Codes – Part 1

          You’ve found a patent of interest but how do you know if it’s dead or alive, and if alive, when it expires, and what exactly do those kind codes indicate?

          I’ll explore all these in a three part series of articles, starting with where to find status information and what it means.

        • This week in IP: German injunction test splits counsel, SCOTUS preserves BPCIA, Miley Cyrus secures EUTM

          In-house counsel revealed to Managing IP this week that they are divided on updates to German patent law that codify the principle of injunction proportionality.

          Last week, Germany’s parliament voted in favour of reforms to the patent law which included a proportionality test for automatic injunctions.

          Under the new law, judges are given discretion on whether to apply an injunction on the basis that it would cause an alleged infringer or third party undue economic hardship.

          Sources from the automotive industry say they hope the changes will protect them from the undue hardship of an injunction, but standard essential patent owners in the telecoms industry suspect litigation will continue as usual.

          “I don’t expect big changes from this law,” says a patent litigator for an international telecoms company.

          “The parliament made it very clear they only want the proportionality test in exceptional cases. The hurdles are still very high and the defendants have to state quite a lot to get this exception.”

        • Restoring inadvertently-lapsed patent rights in Europe [Ed: Patents are not rights, but lawyers love deluding themselves and misleading the public]

          Attention to detail is of the upmost importance when it comes to managing intellectual property. The unintentional loss of valuable registered IP rights, whether patents, designs or other rights can be extremely distressing. The cost of trying to restore lost rights, from the perspective of time as well as money, can be huge. However, even when registered IP rights have been lost it is sometimes possible to rescue them.

        • Chemist Robert Grass of Vorarlberg received the European Inventor Prize [Ed: Fraudsters who run the EPO pretend to be champions of science by giving prize to actual scientists]
        • Car wars: how tech ownership battles will decide the future leaders of autonomous vehicles - Osborne Clarke | Osborne Clarke [Ed: They mean patents rather than ownership and patents are nor ownership]

          The automotive industry is at a turning point. For decades, car manufacturers have competed against one another, jostling for position in a market dominated by a limited number of established players. However, rapid advancements in autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, coupled with radically changing consumer behaviours, is leading to a paradigm shift in the industry. Traditional business models are being challenged by a wave of new entrants seeking to carve out a stake in the lucrative AV market.

          Compared to traditional vehicles, AVs require a multitude of new technologies to function safely. These technologies are likely to be protected by a complex mixture of intellectual property (IP), which can take various forms. For example, the technology underpinning sensory detection equipment falls under the remit of patent protection. A vehicle's software will be protected by copyright, while the artificial intelligence algorithms used by AVs may be protected by database rights, trade secrets, copyright as well as patents (subject to meeting patentability requirements).

      • Copyrights

        • “Authenticity” is a trap

          The idea of “authenticity” and “selling out” when applied to artists, musicians, and other folks is largely bullshit. Worse, it’s a trap.

          Let me back up a sec. The other day I was on the Twitters and noticed an exchange about how some artist wasn’t “authentic” anymore because they licensed their music for a commercial of some sort.

          Now, I get it. Music is highly personal. We (potentially) attach all kinds of emotions to a piece of music. That spills over to emotional attachments to the artists themselves. A lot of people want to think that the art they are highly attached to is “pure” rather than a crass cash-grab.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day