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Links 21/06/2022: Lots of Garbage From 'Linux' Foundation



  • GNU/Linux

    • Linux LinksLinux Around The World: USA - Montana - LinuxLinks

      Montana state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan to the north. Montana is the only US state that shares a land border with three Canadian provinces.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

      • Venture BeatLinus Torvalds: After 30 years, Linux is not a dead project | VentureBeat

        After 30 years of working on Linux, Linus Torvalds is still enthusiastic about the open-source operating system he created and its future prospects for innovation.

        Today, the Linux operating system is at the foundation of cloud, edge, embedded and internet of things (IoT) technologies that enable the operations of billions of devices. Linux is developed by an open community of contributors with new versions of the core, known as the Linux kernel, released every six to ten weeks. Each of those new major kernel updates are released by none other than Torvalds himself.

        At the Open Source Summit event today, Torvalds discussed the state of Linux, in a fireside chat with his longtime friend Dirk Hohndel, who currently is the chief open-source officer at the Cardano Foundation. The conversation ranged from the state of open-source security, to new technology and the impact of the pandemic on Linux development.

    • Applications

      • TechRepublicLinux has a new authenticator app, and it’s easy enough for anyone to use

        I’ve relied on various authenticator apps for some time. For those that don’t know, an authenticator app is used to generate random codes used for two-factor authentication. How they work is simple: You install the app, add an account and the authenticator will generate a time-based six-digit code to use for 2FA for the site or service in question.

        In my opinion, using an authenticator app for 2FA is much more secure than having that code sent to you via SMS. Unfortunately, not every site and service works with authenticator apps, but those services that do make up for the random oversight.

        Although 2FA isn’t perfect, it’s far better to use it than not. By adding an extra layer of security, you make it that much more challenging for bad actors to gain access to your accounts and data. For that reason alone, I highly recommend adding 2FA security to all of your accounts that make it available.

        With all of that said, you’ll find authenticator apps for nearly every platform. For your mobile needs, there’s Authy and Google Authenticator. But what about the desktop? What apps are available for those platforms?

        If your operating system of choice is Linux, there’s one option that’s quite good. That app is called Authenticator, and it’s a GTK app that supports over 200 providers. In fact, any siteor service that supports tokens should work with it. You can search the 2FA Directory and any site that comes up as supporting tokens will work with Authenticator.

      • Ubuntu HandbookThis Tool Enables Live Clock on Wallpaper of Ubuntu 22.04 GNOME 42 | UbuntuHandbook

        Would like to display digital clock and date in your desktop? Desktop Clock is a new extension to do the job in GNOME 42.

        It’s an extension that so far works on Ubuntu 22.04, Fedora 36, Arch and Manjaro Linux. With it, you have the date and time display on desktop with customisable appearance.

      • Build Me Up BetterCAP - Hack Ware News

        BetterCAP is a flexible and powerful tool for MITM or Man in the Middle attacks on wireless networks. BetterCAP is built into popular hacking Linux distros such as Kali and Parrot and Aline Linux and is also available on other platforms. The tool has become quite popular, pushing its predecessor EtterCAP to near irrelevance.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Its FOSSInstall Grub Customizer on Ubuntu 22.04 & Other Versions

        The Grub Customizer is a handy GUI tool that lets you configure various aspects of the Grub bootloader.

        You can use it to change the order of the boot and make Windows boot by default.

      • Network WorldCounting the days on Linux | Network World

        Have you ever wondered how many days it’s been since you started your diet, begun your daily jogs, or were first working with Linux? If you can remember the start date, a simple Linux script can count the days for you. All you need is the date command and a calculation that turns your dates into seconds, subtracts the start date from the end date and then divides the result by the appropriate number to turn the seconds into the corresponding number of days.

      • HackadayLinux Fu: Docking Made Easy | Hackaday

        Most computer operating systems suffer from some version of “DLL hell” — a decidedly Windows term, but the concept applies across the board. Consider doing embedded development which usually takes a few specialized tools. You write your embedded system code, ship it off, and forget about it for a few years. Then, the end-user wants a change. Too bad the compiler you used requires some library that has changed so it no longer works. Oh, and the device programmer needs an older version of the USB library. The Python build tools use Python 2 but your system has moved on. If the tools you need aren’t on the computer anymore, you may have trouble finding the install media and getting it to work. Worse still if you don’t even have the right kind of computer for it anymore.

      • Ubuntu PitHow To Use Chromebook Recovery Utility: Step-By-Step Guide
      • MakeTech EasierHow to Create LaTeX Documents with Emacs

        Emacs is often thought of as a programmer’s text editor. It has an extensible programming support as well as the ability to automatically evaluate expressions within files. But one thing that Emacs also does well is allowing users to compose beautiful documents with LaTeX through Org Mode.

      • MakeTech EasierAudacity Keyboard Shortcuts - Make Tech Easier

        Audacity is a powerful free audio manipulation program available for modern operating systems. Unlike other free audio processing programs, Audacity stands out as one of the most feature-complete open source project out of all of them. In that, it can manage, edit, and mix multiple audio tracks in a single timeline.

        Furthermore, being open source means that Audacity is constantly up-to-date with the latest audio standards, ensuring the ability to adapt any project that you do in Audacity for future audio formats and specifications. Lastly, Audacity is also available on all major operating systems. This ultimately means that even if you change your operating system today, you will most likely still be able to use Audacity.

      • Linux.orgBASH 07 – Command-Line Options

        Some scripts and programs can take options from the command line. These can be very specific for the operation of a program or script.

        There are two ways to handle options: placement or parameters.

      • How to view your sound card information using the terminal in Ubuntu 18.04

        In this short tutorial , you will learn how to find your sound card information in a simple way in case your Ubuntu distribution cannot automatically detect it.

      • Make Use OfHow to Convert a Video to GIF on Linux

        GIFs are undoubtedly one of the most popular media formats shared on the internet. From tutorials to memes and beyond, people create and share GIFs for everything. But most of the time, these GIFs aren't originally recorded as files with the ".gif" extension. Usually, a video is trimmed and a specific portion of the media is converted to a GIF.

      • Make Use OfHow to Install Ubuntu Desktop, Server, and Core on Raspberry Pi

        Raspberry Pi OS is the main operating system for the Raspberry Pi, but it’s not your only option. If you’re looking for a more traditional Linux experience, it’s time to look elsewhere.

        Many operating systems are available for the Raspberry Pi, among them Ubuntu. Desktop, Server, and Core versions of Ubuntu can be run on the Raspberry Pi.

        Keep reading to find out how to install your preferred Ubuntu version on a Raspberry Pi 4.

      • TechRepublicHow to install and use the Cockpit desktop client for easier remote Linux administration | TechRepublic

        Cockpit is a very powerful tool that allows you to manage several aspects, such as Podman containers, users, storage, networking, services, SELinux, software updates and with the help of additional plugins, much more.

        Cockpit is found on most RHEL-based Linux operating systems and can be installed on Ubuntu-based systems from the standard repositories with a command like sudo apt-get install cockpit -y.

        Cockpit is traditionally managed by a web-based interface, but for those who prefer a desktop client, there is an application. Cockpit Client provides a very simple-to-use GUI to make it even easier to manage your servers. All connections are made via SSH using the SHH configuration for the local user and all servers must have Cockpit installed. The bonus is that the Cockpit web server doesn’t need to be enabled, and no extra ports are exposed.

      • TechRepublicHow to install the Etherpad collaborative note-taking platform on Linux | TechRepublic

        In these wild times, collaboration has become an absolute necessity. Thankfully, there are so many ways to collaborate: Every platform offers the means to work together, whether it’s a desktop, server, mobile or container deployment, you name it and you can collaborate with it. Some of those collaborative tools offer a ton of features, but sometimes you want something simple — just the ability to collaborate on, say, notes.

        For such a need, you should turn to a very easy-to-use Etherpad, which is a real-time collaboration platform that can be deployed on just about any operating system

      • Trend OceansLinux rm command with Advance Syntax for Pro's - TREND OCEANS

        The rm (remove) command is one of the essential Linux utilities that every basic to pro user should know, their working and usage.

      • H2S MediaHow to Undo & Redo in Linux Nano file Editor - Linux Shout

        Not much familiar with Linux Nano file Editor, then here are some keyboard shortcuts you can use with it to work around easily such as Undo and Redo options in Nano editor.

        Nano is easy to use and simple text-based file editor. It allows you to edit files in a terminal or console, even without a graphical environment. Although the Nano has a smaller range of functions than VIM or Emacs, it is much easier and more intuitive to use. Nano is therefore particularly suitable for smaller, fast edits or for writing short scripts.

        The editor supports syntax highlighting for different programming languages, undo/redo functionality, mouse support (if a graphics server is running), automatic indentation, saving files with MS-DOS or Mac line endings, and much more.

      • ByteXDHow to Use the fd Command in Linux ('find' Alternative) - ByteXD

        fd is an alternative and faster command line utility for the find command. It does the job of finding files and directories based on their names, sizes, types, and other attributes. The fd command has been designed with simplicity and performance in mind and supports features like colors, and a lot more.

        It’s available for MacOS, Linux and Windows on the official website and via Homebrew, APT and Chocolatey package managers.

        One of the core utilities in Linux is the find command line utility. find is a utility first originally written for Unix systems by Bell Labs Computing Sciences Research Center in version 1 of Unix in 1970. A good 20+ years before Linus Torvalds created the first version of the Linux kernel. So in terms of computing application software find is one of the most oldest, still in use and still maintained software programs.

      • OMG UbuntuHow to Fix 'apt-key' Deprecation Warning on€ Ubuntu - OMG! Ubuntu!

        If you see an apt-key deprecated warning when you run apt update on Ubuntu and want to fix it, you’re in the right place

      • OMG UbuntuHow to Install TeamViewer on Ubuntu & Linux Mint - OMG! Ubuntu!

        TeamViewer is an application that lets you access other computers remotely so you can modify, maintain, or manage them wherever you are, as though you were actually there.

        Better yet, the app works with all major platforms: Windows, macOS, and Linux (also in limited forms on iOS and Android too). You can use TeamViewer to transfer files to/from a remote computer and host; chat in real time with its users; sync clipboard contents, and more.

        TeamViewer is also simple to use: you install the app on both computers, then connect using the unique ID and password the app generates. While this tool’s core feature set is skewed more towards IT professionals, support agents, and developers it is free to use for personal use (and ideal for helping a frustrated relative).

      • How To Create A Dictionary In Python

        In Python, a dictionary is an apparently random set of data values that may be used to store data values in the manner of a map. Unlike other data types, which can only store a single value as an element, dictionaries retain Key:value pairs instead of single values. The dictionary includes a key-value pair in order to make it more search engine optimized.

      • OSTechNixHow To Force Sudo Password Authentication In Linux - OSTechNix

        As you may already know, when an user enter a command with sudo privileges, the sudo password will be remembered for a brief period of time.

        By default, the password is remembered for 15 minutes. During this time, the users don't have to enter the password for the subsequent commands that run shortly after the first sudo command, even if they require sudo privileges.

        What if you want to force the users to enter sudo password all the time? That's what we are going to learn now. This brief guide explains how to force sudo password authentication in Linux.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • The Register UKRISC OS is 35 but it's still kicking ● The Register

      RISC OS, the operating system of the original Arm computer, the Acorn Archimedes, is still very much alive – and doing relatively well for its age.

      In June 1987, Acorn launched the Archimedes A305 and A310, starting at €£800 ($982) and running a new operating system called Arthur. At the time, it was a radical and very fast computer. In his review [PDF] for Personal Computer World, Dick Pountain memorably said: "It loads huge programs with a faint burping noise, in the time it takes to blink an eye."

      Arthur was loosely related to Acorn's earlier MOS, the BBC Micro operating system but looked very different thanks to a prototype graphical desktop, implemented in BBC BASIC, that could charitably be called "technicolor."

      Renamed RISC OS, version 2 followed in 1989 – the same year that Sun started selling its new SPARCstation 1 (a snip at €£7,500c $9,200) and DEC launched the MIPS R2000-chipset-based DECstation 3100 (for €£8,800/c $10,800).

      RISC OS has had a rather convoluted history, partly due to Acorn spinning out Arm, eventually pulling out of the computer market, rebranding as Element 14 and being acquired by Broadcom, where Arm co-designer Sophie Wilson still works today. And partly due to drama over the ownership of the OS post-Acorn at one point.

    • New Releases

      • What’s Next on our Agenda ? – MakuluLinux

        Now that Shift has been released, we are still busy working on the Debian version of Shift due later this year, but what else beyond that is happening ? Well, We have also started working on a “GameR” Edition of MakuluLinux, this build is specifically tailored to hardcore gamers using platforms like : Steam, Lutris, Gamehub, Itch, Geforce-Now, Epic Games, Wine etc etc… These platforms are often quite difficult to setup and often have conflicting dependencies issues. One way that users work around the issues is by using Snapd or flathub installs to bypass Dependencies issues, however these installs also come at a price as both flathub and snapD don’t quite give you the same speed boost as the native app client packages. This is where “MakuluLinux-GameR” is focused, We are actively working to provide these platforms in their native forms running at the max possible speed without Dependencies issues. At The same time, it being a Makulu release, you can also Expect it to be very slick, pretty and beautiful … Here is a Sneak Preview Screenshot of the Desktop of a very early build of MakuluLinux-GameR

      • Linux MagazineManjaro 21.3.0 Is Now Available

        Manjaro “Ruah” has been released and includes the latest Calamares installer, GNOME 42, and much more.

        Manjaro is an Arch-based, rolling-release Linux distribution aimed at users who want the power and flexibility of Arch, without complications. The latest release, version 21.3.0, includes plenty of newness, in the form of the Calamares installer (which now supports LUKS partitions), GNOME 42 (which includes Libadwaita), KDE Plasma 5.24 (which includes the new Overview), XFCE 4.16 (which now supports fractional scaling), and Linux kernel 5.15 LTS.

        The GNOME edition of Manjaro 21.30 includes both GTK 4 and Libadwaita, which offers improved performance, a modern UI style, and plenty of new user interface elements. The Plasma edition makes it possible to more easily move panels around and stick them to any edge you like. The XFCE edition received quite a number of updates, especially in the area of compositing and GLX.

    • SUSE/OpenSUSE

      • SUSE's Corporate BlogManage without Disruption: Introducing SUSE Manager 4.3

        In a world of disruptions, the new SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) brings innovation without disruption. Our new Linux helps our customers and partners stay ahead of cyberattacks with advanced supply chain security and confidential computing.

        But what is a secure system worth if you can’t keep it that way? Today, we’re excited to launch SUSE Manager 4.3 to keep your systems secure — no matter which Linux distro you are running or where it is located.

    • Fedora Family / IBM

      • OpenSource.com7 summer book recommendations from open source enthusiasts

        It is my great pleasure to introduce Opensource.com's 2022 summer reading list. This year's list contains seven wonderful reading recommendations from members of the Opensource.com community. You will find a nice mix of books covering everything from a fun cozy mystery to non-fiction works that explore thought-provoking topics. I hope you find something on this list that interests you.

      • Red Hat OfficialRed Hat Insights launches new recommendations to keep Application Streams running

        Red Hat Developer Subscription for Individuals provides access to the most popular database and/or web servers, such as PostgreSQL, MariaDB, httpd and Nginx via Application Streams. While this is a great way for Linux developers to get started implementing applications quickly, Application Streams follow their own lifecycles, which can pose a challenge for RHEL developers and administrators trying to keep their system in a supported state.

        Red Hat Insights to the rescue! We’ve recently added a new set of Advisor recommendations which alerts users for an approaching retirement date of Application Streams.

      • Red Hat OfficialOrganizations turn to containers and Kubernetes for deploying databases to accelerate application development

        Not that long ago, databases were viewed as the definition of a monolith — never intended to be broken down into microservices and containerized. A lot has changed in a short period of time and while containerizing a database may not be as straightforward as containerizing an application, the benefits greatly outweigh the challenges. Databases need the agility, portability and scalability that containerization can offer and organizations are moving to take advantage of these benefits.

      • Fedora ProjectFedora Community Blog: Fedora Hatch

        Fedora Hatches are still happening all around the world! Along with Nest With Fedora this year, Fedora is hosting local in-person hatch events. This is a great opportunity to connect with your fellow Fedorans and receive some amazing Fedora swag.

        Thanks to our Ambassadors, Fedora is hosting eight Hatch events this year! You can expect a social event and possibly a workshop depending on which Hatch event you attend.

    • Debian Family

      • Daniel PocockYour authorization to use the Debian trademark in domain names

        Personally, I've been doing things with Debian and free software for almost thirty years. I was really shocked when I heard that Debian funds were being used to try and shut down independent, volunteer-run web sites publishing news about Debian itself.

        I had a closer look at the situation myself and realized that nobody has registered a Debian trademark in Switzerland. Therefore, the Software Freedom Institute submitted an application for the mark.

        The application was submitted on 14 May 2022 and granted on 8 June 2022.

        Software Freedom Institute SA immediately published a statement authorizing legitimate use of the trademark in domain names.

        It appears really bizarre that some rogue members of Debian have collaborated for months with an expensive lawyer and yet none of them bothered to ensure they were holding a registration in Switzerland before filing their attacks at WIPO. The Swiss Institute for Intellectual Property charges a fee of just CHF 550 to register a trademark. That is less than what Debian pays for two hours with their lawyer. Einstein himself used to work there but you don't need to be Einstein to realize who got better value for their money in this case.

      • Louis-Philippe Véronneau: Montreal's Debian & Stuff - June 2022

        As planned, we held our second local Debian meeting of the year last Sunday. We met at the lovely Eastern Bloc (an artists' hacklab) to work on Debian (and other stuff!), chat and socialise.

        [...]

        We are planning to have our next meeting at the end of August. If you are interested, the best way to stay in touch is either to subscribe to our mailing list or to join our IRC channel (#debian-quebec on OFTC). Events are also posted on Quebec's Agenda du libre.

    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

      • UbuntubuzzUbuntu Unity Jammy Jellyfish

        This is a tutorial to install Unity Desktop Environment on Ubuntu 22.04. This turns back Ubuntu to the previous default experience between the years 2011-2017. Let's turn back Unity!

    • Devices/Embedded

      • Memfault Adds OTA Update for Embedded Linux - IoT For All

        Memfault, the provider of the first cloud-based connected device observability platform, today announced its over-the-air (OTA) update capabilities are now available on Embedded Linux. Device developers building on Linux now have access to the Memfault platform for OTA management and hosting features such as cohorts, staged rollouts, full vs. delta releases, and a scalable global CDN. Memfault also added support for forced (non-interactive) updates, a critical feature for delivering security updates to embedded IoT devices.

      • Case Study: AOI System Through Workload Consolidation Brings 100X Data Transmission Enhancement

        A leading DMS company would like to build AOI systems with machine vision inspection technology to improve product quality and customer satisfaction. This DMS company has been using Windows OS-based industrial control PCs to run long-term machine automation. When importing product inspections, a Linux-based system with NVIDIA€® GPU runs inspection models for image analysis.

      • Linux GizmosSolidRun releases SOM module based on 64-bit Renesas RZ/G2LC SoC

        SolidRun announced today a partnership with Renesas Electronics at Embedded World. According to SolidRun, the RZ/G2LC is the first System on Module (SOM) based on the 64-bit RZ/G2LC System on Chip from Renesas. The company is expecting to target applications such as IoT solutions, video surveillance, HMI applications and industrial automation solutions.

        The compact SOM module integrates up to two Cortex-A55 processors with a frequency up to 1.20GHz and a Cortex-M33 for secured IoT applications. The device also features an Arm Mali-G31 GPU for image processing and AI inference with support for OpenGL/CL 2.0.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • ArduinoThis high-speed Arduino pen plotter creates drawings in mere minutes | Arduino Blog

        Pen plotting projects are everywhere nowadays, with the vast majority using a couple of stepper motors for moving the writing utensil and a servo to raise or lower it. But they are quite slow due to the lack of rigid assembly and because the servo motor takes around a second to move the pen. This problem is what drove YouTuber IV Projects to create a very novel design that swaps out the servo for another stepper motor and drastically increases drawing speed.

        Just like most other pen plotters, the X-axis is driven by a NEMA17 stepper motor with a timing belt attached to the central pen carriage. However, the Y-axis takes a different approach by relying on a pair of rollers that are covered in 120-grit sanding bands, which help to grab the paper securely and move it whenever the stepper motor rotates the drive wheel. This helps to minimize slipping compared to rubber rollers and is much faster than a belt-driven design.

      • RISCVRISC-V Announces First New Specifications of 2022, Adding to 16 Ratified in 2021 | RISC-V International
      • Globe NewswireThink Silicon to Unveil Industry’s First RISC-V 3D GPU at Embedded World 2022

        Think Silicon€®, a leader in ultra-low power graphics IP, will showcase the industry’s first RISC-V-based GPU – the NEOXâ„¢ G-Series & A-Series – at Embedded World 2022. The company will also introduce the NEMA€®|pico-VG, the latest in the NEMA€®|GPU-Series for MCU-driven SoCs – which supports rich vector graphics and improves system efficiency by offloading CPU utilization up to 95%.

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Events

      • Jonathan RiddellOpenUK Awards 2022

        Nominations are now open for the OpenUK Awards 2022.

        We’ve run our annual awards ceremony to recognise great Open tech contributions for the last two years with great success and this year nominations are open for you to join or point is to the best people, organisations and projects that need rewarded.

        Two years ago it we had dinner sent to your door during Covid. Last year we dined at the centre of the world at COP26. This year we’re Lording it up with a ceremony and dinner in the House of Lords on 30 November.

      • FSFFree Software Directory on IRC: Friday, June 24 starting at 12:00 p.m. EDT (14:00 UTC)
      • Linux JournalOpen Source Community to Gather in LA for SCALE 19x | Linux Journal

        The Southern California Linux Expo – SCALE 19x – returns to its regularly scheduled annual program this year from July 28-31 at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport hotel.

        As this continent’s largest community-run Linux/FOSS expo, SCALE 19x continues a nearly two-decade tradition of bringing the latest Free/Open Source Software developments, DevOps, Security and related trends to the general public during the course of the four-day event. Whether you are interested in low level system tuning, how to scale and secure your applications, or how to use OSS at home - SCALE is for you.

    • Web Browsers

      • Mozilla

        • MozillaUnderstanding Apple’s Private Click Measurement [Ed: Mozilla now makes a semi-apology for mass surveillance; every now and then Mozilla openly admits it does not value users' privacy, causing an uproar that can take years to quell or calm down while Firefox keeps losing millions of users every month]

          Private advertising technology proposals could greatly improve privacy for web users. Web advertising has a reputation for poor privacy practices. Firefox, other browsers, and the web community are collaborating on finding ways to support advertising while maintaining strong, technical privacy protections for users.

          This series of posts aims to contribute to the ongoing conversation regarding the future of advertising on the web by providing technical analyses on proposals that have been put forward by various players in the ecosystem to address the questions of what might replace third-party cookies. In this installment, we look at Apple’s Private Click Measurement (PCM).

        • MozillaReflecting on 10 years of time well spent with Pocket [Ed: Mozilla is pushing spyware instead of Firefox]

          Ten years ago, a small, yet mighty team launched Pocket because we felt that people deserved a better way to consume content on the internet. We wanted it to be easy — “as simple an action as putting it in your pocket” — and empowering, giving people the means to engage with the web on their own terms. We championed the save as a fundamental internet action — akin to browse, search and share — but more than any other, allowing you to create your own corner of the internet.

        • MozillaJoey Amato, Publisher of Pride Journeys, Shares What Brings Him Joy Online [Ed: Mozilla quit being a technical company]
    • GNU Projects

      • an optimistic evacuation of my wordhoard -- wingolog

        Good morning, mallocators. Last time we talked about how to split available memory between a block-structured main space and a large object space. Given a fixed heap size, making a new large object allocation will steal available pages from the block-structured space by finding empty blocks and temporarily returning them to the operating system.

        Today I'd like to talk more about nothing, or rather, why might you want nothing rather than something. Given an Immix heap, why would you want it organized in such a way that live data is packed into some blocks, leaving other blocks completely free? How bad would it be if instead the live data were spread all over the heap? When might it be a good idea to try to compact the heap? Ideally we'd like to be able to translate the answers to these questions into heuristics that can inform the GC when compaction/evacuation would be a good idea.

      • TalerGNU Taler 2022-6: "A digital euro and the future of cash"

        The Central Bank of Austria has published a report in the context of a workshop celebrating 20 years of Euro-denominated cash. The report discusses the future of cash, including account- and blockchain-based designs, as well as GNU Taler.

    • Licensing / Legal

      • FSFE Legal Network LLW Conflict of Interest Scandal: Polina Malaja, Open Invention Network

        In 2019, we published evidence of a conflict of interest scandal at the FSFE Legal & Licensing Workshop (LLW). We redacted the names.

        Following subsequent actions from FSFE, we now publish the full email. Open Invention Network (OIN) was responsible for the scandal.

      • Adriaan de GrootAdriaan de Groot: FLA Two

        The KDE Community has used – and gently encouraged – the Fiduciary License Agreement (FLA) which was created by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) some 15 years ago. The FLA is a kind of copyright assignment that preserves the Free Software underpinnings of the software, ensures the contributor can (re)use the work and that the fiduciary can handle licensing questions around the contributed code. A CLA without the corporate-style downsides.

        Using the FLA has always been an option in the KDE world. Some people choose to sign it to ensure long-term stability. Others don’t, and that’s fine. Here is a 2009-era post from me about the FLA and the licensing situation closer to when we introduced it. The next time I mentioned the FLA was in 2020, so it just kept plugging along all that time.

    • Programming/Development

      • Thread safety support in libsoup3 | Carlos Garcia Campos

        In libsoup2 there’s some thread safety support that allows to send messages from a thread different than the one where the session is created. There are other APIs that can be used concurrently too, like accessing some of the session properties, and others that aren’t thread safe at all. It’s not clear what’s thread safe and even sending a message is not fully thread safe either, depending on the session features involved. However, several applications relay on the thread safety support and have always worked surprisingly well.

        In libsoup3 we decided to remove the (broken) thread safety support and only allowed to use the API from the same thread where the session was created. This simplified the code and made easier to add the HTTP/2 implementation. Note that HTTP/2 supports multiple request over the same TCP connection, which is a lot more efficient than starting multiple requests from several threads in parallel.

        When apps started to be ported to libsoup3, those that relied on the thread safety support ended up being a pain to be ported. Major refactorings where required to either stop using the sync API from secondary threads, or moving all the soup usage to the same secondary thread. We managed to make it work in several modules like gstreamer and gvfs, but others like evolution required a lot more work. The extra work was definitely worth it and resulted in much better and more efficient code. But we also understand that porting an application to a new version of a dependency is not a top priority task for maintainers.

      • Barry KaulerLimine compiled in OpenEmbedded

        Have now compiled version 3.7 in OE.

      • Steve KempSteve Kemp: Writing a simple TCL interpreter in golang



        Recently I was reading Antirez's piece TCL the Misunderstood again, which is a nice defense of the utility and value of the TCL language.

        TCL is one of those scripting languages which used to be used a hell of a lot in the past, for scripting routers, creating GUIs, and more. These days it quietly lives on, but doesn't get much love. That said it's a remarkably simple language to learn, and experiment with.

        Using TCL always reminds me of FORTH, in the sense that the syntax consists of "words" with "arguments", and everything is a string (well, not really, but almost. Some things are lists too of course).

      • QtCompiling QML to C++: QtQuick Controls and optional imports

        This is the sixth installment in the series of blog posts on how to adjust your QML application to take the maximum advantage of qmlsc. In the first post we've set up the environment. You should read that post first in order to understand the others.

      • Rust

        • Rust Blog2021 Annual Survey Report | Inside Rust Blog

          As usual, we conducted an annual community survey in 2021. We previously shared some some highlights and charts in a blog post. This year we would also like to make the complete (-ish) dataset available. We have compiled a report which contains data and charts for nearly all questions with minimal analysis. We have elided a few sensitive questions and have combined some answers or elided some answers where there is any chance of respondents being identified or of sensitive data being released.

  • Leftovers

    • Linux Foundation

      • Linux Foundation Launches Open Programmable Infrastructure Project [Ed: Linux Foundation does not earn coverage, it buys coverage (Spamnil is a small part of that)]
      • Venture BeatOPI Project aims to standardize DPUs and IPUs for industry adoption

        In recent years, silicon vendors have been building out new types of computing architecture beyond just CPUs and GPUs – welcome to the world of data processing units (DPUs) and infrastructure processing units (IPUs).

        The goal with DPUs and IPUs is to let organizations offload certain data and cryptography as well as artificial intelligence/machine language (AI/ML) tasks to dedicated hardware to accelerate operations. To date, there have been few, if any, standards around DPUs and IPUs to enable interoperability or industry standardization for deployment, management and scheduling, but that’s about to change.

        Today, the Linux Foundation announced the launch of the Open Programmable Infrastructure Project, which aims to collect open-source efforts around DPUs and IPUs and organize vendors to advance adoption for organizations of all sizes. Founding members of the Open Programmable Infrastructure (OPI) project include Intel, Nvidia, Marvell, F5, Red Hat, Dell and Keysight Technologies.

      • HPC WireLinux Foundation Announces Open Programmable Infrastructure Project
      • Linux Foundation's Site/BlogNephio Sees Rapid Growth as More Organizations Commit to Simplify Cloud Native Automation of Telecom Network Functions [Ed: No kidding. This page mentions "clown" like 40 times!]

        Project Nephio, an open source initiative of partners across the telecommunications industry working towards true cloud-native automation , today announced rapid community growth and momentum.

      • Linux Foundation's Site/BlogTODO Group Announces 2022 OSPO Survey [Ed: Surveys are not "research"; 'Linux' Foundation has rebranded marketing as 'research', just like Microsoft...]

        The TODO Group, together with Linux Foundation Research, LF Training & Certification, api7.ai, Futurewei, Ovio, Salesforce, VMware, and X-Labs, is conducting a survey as part of a research project on the prevalence and outcomes of open source programs among different organizations across the globe.

      • PR Newswire500 Promising Individuals Worldwide Receive Linux Foundation IT Training & Certification Scholarships [Ed: Diploma mill riding the "Linux" brand]
    • Security

      • LWNSecurity updates for Tuesday [LWN.net]

        Security updates have been issued by Debian (tzdata), Oracle (cups), and SUSE (atheme, golang-github-prometheus-alertmanager, golang-github-prometheus-node_exporter, node_exporter, python36, release-notes-susemanager, release-notes-susemanager-proxy, SUSE Manager 4.1.15 Release Notes, SUSE Manager Client Tools, and SUSE Manager Server 4.2).

      • Bruce SchneierHidden Anti-Cryptography Provisions in Internet Anti-Trust Bills

        Two bills attempting to reduce the power of Internet monopolies are currently being debated in Congress: S. 2992, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act; and S. 2710, the Open App Markets Act. Reducing the power to tech monopolies would do more to “fix” the Internet than any other single action, and I am generally in favor of them both. (The Center for American Progress wrote a good summary and evaluation of them. I have written in support of the bill that would force Google and Apple to give up their monopolies on their phone app stores.)

        There is a significant problem, though. Both bills have provisions that could be used to break end-to-end encryption.

        Let’s start with S. 2992. Sec. 3(c)(7)(A)(iii) would allow a company to deny access to apps installed by users, where those app makers “have been identified [by the Federal Government] as national security, intelligence, or law enforcement risks.” That language is far too broad. It would allow Apple to deny access to an encryption service provider that provides encrypted cloud backups to the cloud (which Apple does not currently offer). All Apple would need to do is point to any number of FBI materials decrying the security risks with “warrant proof encryption.”

      • ZDNetSlim.AI introduces beta software supply chain container security as a service | ZDNet

        This service is being built on the foundation of Slim.AI's open-source project, DockerSlim. This popular developer program optimizes and secures your containers by analyzing your code and throwing away unnecessary code, thus "slimming" down your containers' attack surface. It also can reduce the size of your container by up to 30x.

      • 5 Best Practices When Implementing a Container Strategy

        Software developers must be vigilant in regards to their use of hardware resources. Dedicated hardware is often expensive to buy, run, and maintain—and there’s only so much room in a data center for extra servers.

        The ability to run multiple virtual machines on one piece of hardware makes virtualization a good option. Yet, each virtual machine must include its own guest OS and everything that entails. That eats up system resources. These days, using virtualization is like using stock music when you could be using a full orchestra. When it comes to scalability, consistency and efficiency, there is a better way: You should be considering implementing a container strategy.

      • Venture BeatOpenSSF details advancements in open-source security efforts | VentureBeat

        Open-source security is currently undergoing a period of accelerated change, thanks in no small part to the efforts of the Linux Foundation’s OpenSSF (Open Source Security Foundation).

    • Environment

      • Computer WeeklyTech sector sustainability efforts need full ecosystem approach

        Tech companies looking to improve the sustainability of their operations need to rethink their attitude towards growth and collaborate across the sector to be effective in meeting the challenge on the timescale required by the climate crisis.

        During London Tech Week’s ClimateTech Summit, representatives from both startups and large corporates discussed the importance of reorientating the sector in a more sustainable direction.

        Chairing a session on how firms can accelerate positive growth at scale with climate tech, Accenture’s sustainability for growth lead, Dagamara Puddick, noted: “Only 50% of CEOs have a clear roadmap to reaching the sustainability pledges that they’ve made, and only 5% have made positive progress at all.”

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • Monopolies

      • Software Patents

        • RBC Joins the Open Invention Network To Protect Fintech From Looming Threat of Patent Trolls [Ed: After many years and under the misleading, baseless, false guise of "fighting trolls" OIN is trying to normalise software patents with these patent pools]

          Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) joins the Open Invention Network (OIN) as its newest community member.

          OIN was formed to safeguard open source software (OSS), with the company now the largest patent non-aggression community in history. It announced this week that RBC has joined as a community member.

          OIN is an advocate for patent non-aggression, something it describes as ‘defensive strategies that protect us against the aggressive use of patents’. When a company claims a patent and uses its right to an invention as a means to prevent others from entering the market effectively, this is patent aggression; also sometimes known as a ‘patent troll’.

      • Copyrights



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