O | S | D | N NEWSLETTER June 01, 2003 EVERYTHING SERIES
The 'Everything Series' Newsletter is developed to bring Open Source related content to a user with a focus for everything Open Source we have to offer. If you'd like to receive more content relating to Open Source subscribe at http://www.osdn.com/newsletters/ ============================================================== Sponsored by Thinkgeek http://www.ThinkGeek.com/ ============================================================== Slashdot The Computational Requirements for the Matrix http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/2224253 goombah99 writes "[0]Nick Bostrom discusses the computational requirements needed to simulate human existence. He offers a proof based on the [1]anthropic principle, that [2]you are almost certainly a computer simulation and not "real". The idea is that given that humans don't go extinct in geologically short time then eventually computer capability will allow complete simulation of the human cortex. Consequently, there must be far more simulations running in future millennia than seconds since you were born. Thus its astronomically more likely you are a simulation than real ... if humans don't go extinct shortly. Recalling [3]the 13th floor, Robin Hanson discusses [4]how one should try to live in a simulation. David Wolpert also weighs in on the [5]physical limits of Turing machines for simulation of the universe. This also may explain why time travel seems impossible: we dont meet visitors from the future since only the present is being simulated." Links 0. http://www.nickbostrom.com/ 1. http://www.anthropic-principle.com/ 2. http://www.simulation-argument.com/ 3. http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/catalog/catalogDetail_DVD043396028487.html?ID=DVD043396028487 4. http://www.transhumanist.com/volume7/simulation.html 5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11800757&dopt=Abstract Searchking Loses Suit Against Google http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/2215252 An anonymous reader submits this story that [0]Searchking has lost its suit against Google for lowering search rankings. Silly lawsuit, good riddance. See our [1]original story. Links 0. http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-1011740.html 1. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/10/21/1254221&tid=99 Aimee Deep Interview http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/222245 [0]LawGeek writes "[1]Aimee Deep is probably most famously known as the highly attractive cover-girl of Madster (formerly known as Aimster). Since being involved with Madster (her father's business), she has had the opportunity to become more interested in legal and business issues surrounding the music distribution business and now blogs on the subject. [2]Greplaw editor Mikael Pawlo recently [3]interviewed the 18-year old Ms. Deep on various topics." Links 0. http://grep.law.harvard.edu 1. http://www.musicpundit.com/ 2. http://grep.law.harvard.edu/ 3. http://grep.law.harvard.edu/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/0228256&mode=thread Denial of Service via Algorithmic Complexity http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/2157254 [0]dss902 writes "We (Department of Computer Science, Rice University) present a new class of [1]low-bandwidth denial of service attacks that exploit algorithmic deficiencies in many common applications' data structures... Using bandwidth less than a typical dialup modem, we can bring a dedicated Bro server to its knees; after six minutes of carefully chosen packets, our Bro server was dropping as much as 71% of its traffic and consuming all of its CPU. We [2]show how modern universal hashing techniques can yield performance comparable to commonplace hash functions while being provably secure against these attacks." Links 0. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 1. http://www.cs.rice.edu/~scrosby/hash/CrosbyWallach_UsenixSec2003/index.html 2. http://www.cs.rice.edu/~scrosby/hash/CrosbyWallach_UsenixSec2003.pdf Updating the Pirate Anime FAQ http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/2114210 [0]Joe Curzon writes "Over two years ago, I created what is now probably the most comprehensive and detailed guide to spotting bootleg and counterfeit anime/manga related goods - [0]The Pirate Anime FAQ. A special version of the FAQ has also been published at numerous Anime Conventions around the USA. However due to commitments in the "real world" I have not been able to update FAQ almost a year. :( I would like to iron out any creases and update the whole thing in one go, so I was wondering what improvements would the Otaku readers of /. recommend? The DVD section and Fansub section are in need of the most attention and I plan to deal with that soon, but I was also wondering if there were any subtle changes I could make to improve the FAQ as well?" Links 0. http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html Stem Cell "Master Gene" Found http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/1754246 nexex writes "[0]From the Washington Post, 'Scientists yesterday said they have discovered a long-sought "master gene" in embryonic stem cells that is largely responsible for giving those cells their unique regenerative and therapeutic potential.' The report summarizes [1]an article in the newest issue of the scientific journal, [2]Cell." Links 0. http://www.msnbc.com/news/919806.asp?0cl=cR 1. http://www.cell.com/content/article/abstract?uid=PIIS0092867403003945 2. http://www.cell.com/ Buy Your Own Aircraft Carrier http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/1740227 Vodalian writes "Distinction as the last surviving Aircraft Carrier built in England for WW II and commissioned as the HMS Vengeance in late 1944, this unique vessel served the British then the Australian Navy as HMAS Vengeance prior to her sale to Brazil In 1956. Undergoing reconstruction and overhaul in Rotterdam from 1957 to 1960 she was commissioned as the Minas Gerais in December of that year. During her service with the Brazilian Navy she was overhauled from 1976 to 1980 completing a 5-year refit in 1981. She was decommissioned on the 16th of October 2001 and is currently for [0]sale." Links 0. http://www.frenchcreekboatsales.com/details.asp?File_Number=BOP12 Twin Prime Proof Erroneous http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/1739250 mindriot writes "The fairly recent perceived breakthrough in prime number theory regarding twin primes, as mentioned [0]on slashdot, is apparently [1]not quite perfect: 'On April 23rd, Andrew Granville of the Universite de Montreal and K. Soundararajan of the University of Michigan found a technical difficulty buried in one of the arguments in the preprint of Goldston and Yildrim. The main issue is that some quantities which were believed to be small error terms are actually the same order of magnitude as the main term. For now this difficulty remains unresolved.' A more detailed technical description is [2]also available." Links 0. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/30/1714253&tid=134 1. http://aimath.org/primegaps/ 2. http://aimath.org/primegaps/residueerror/ IE6 SP1 Will Be Last Standalone Version http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/1650206 mokiejovis writes "Program manager Brian Countryman stated that "as part of the OS, IE will continue to evolve, but there will be no future standalone installations. IE6 SP1 is the final standalone installation." See the [0]Microsoft TechNet article." Several of the people submitting this story have come up with elaborate theories about why: killing competition, etc. etc. I think the truth is just that Microsoft intends to integrate DRM very tightly with their OS and browser, and they're aren't going to try to backport that to, say, Win98, so they just aren't going to release new versions of their browser for old, DRM-less operating systems. In the future server-side browser detection may be more about detecting whether the browser supports the DRM your "web service" uses than what version of Javascript or CSS the browser supports. Links 0. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/itcommunity/chats/trans/ie/ie0507.asp Nokia 5100 Reviewed http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/1421250 An anonymous reader writes "Just read a [0]review of Nokia's 5100 mobile phone. This phone has an integrated flashlight, FM tuner, a calorie burn application, sound meter and thermometer. And yet there is no Bluetooth capabilites. Is the cell phone market getting so desperate that companies are adding everything including the kitchen sink to sell these phones? Why would you want a sound meter or a calorie tracking application in a cell phone?" Looks like a good phone for people who like phones to look gaudy. Bells and whistles aside, the flashlight feature sounds pretty practical. A sound meter though? Links 0. http://reviews.designtechnica.com/review67.html Freshmeat Configuring an Open Source Mail Gateway http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/857 No matter whether you work for a large business or use email simply for family communication, you've probably received junk mail. If you have used email for any length of time, you probably know what it's like to deal with a virus. Unfortunately, fending off unwanted or dangerous electronic communication has become a daily struggle for many system administrators. AccuRev 3.2 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124574/ AccuRev/CM is a fast, powerful, and easy-to-use "Timesafe" SCM tool which is based on the idea that the past can't change. AccuRev/CM records all merges and patches, so you never have to re-merge the same code. It includes a truly integrated bug-tracking system, supports file and directory renaming, follows a client/server model, and is transaction-based. Servers and clients run on Unix, Linux, and Windows. There are both command line and GUI interfaces for all platforms. It includes an integrated graphical 3-way diff and merge tool. AccuRev/CM also integrates with the MS SCC API, Forte for Java, and any diff/merge tool with a command line interface. ANTLR plugin for Eclipse 1.0.3 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124555/ This project adds plugins for the lexer/parser generator ANTLR to the Eclipse platform. The plugins provide a grammar file editor with syntax highlighting, outline view and a project nature with incremental builder. AstroCam System 2.3.2 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124537/ AstroCam is an C-based Stepmotor Controlsystem including a CGI Web interface. You can use it for controlling webcams over the Internet/intranet or everything else you want to do with a stepmotor. Beck's Beer Theme 0.80.1 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124548/ Beck's Beer Theme is based on wallpaper from becks-beer.com. Blue Rose 0.1 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124553/ Blue Rose is a blue theme with a glass rose. The background is by ANDiDAS. braa 0.3 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124544/ Braa is a tool for making SNMP queries. It is able to query hundreds or thousands of hosts simultaneously, while being completely single-threaded. It does not need any SNMP libraries, as it is equipped with its own SNMP engine. However, it's good to have a complete SNMP package including "snmptranslate" installed somewhere, because for speed reasons, there is no ASN.1 parser in Braa, and all the SNMP OIDs need to be specified numerically. CatWeasel MK3 Linux Driver 2003-05-31 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124541/ The CatWeasel MK3 Linux Driver accesses the SID and joystick features of the CatWeasel MK3 PCI by Individual Computers. You can use joysticks or paddles connected to the CatWeasel card just like any other joystick within Linux and you can use an Amiga keyboard as a second keyboard for input. If you have attached a SID chip, you can use it with various software like VICE and SIDplayer. If you want to use the floppy features please use Michael Krause's Floppy CatWeasel Driver. Columba 0.10.1 (stable) http://freshmeat.net/releases/124551/ Columba is a highly multithreaded Java email client. It supports multiple POP3/IMAP accounts, message filtering, the common basic features you would expect, and an address book. CoverViewer 0.1.8 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124581/ CoverViewer is an XMMS plugin that displays images related to the files being played. The displayed image can be a copy of the cover of the album you are playing or anything else you want. It creates a personalised skin for itself using the current XMMS skin, and you can control song playing from its interface. It includes a function that can automatically retrieve covers you don't have from the Internet, using file tag information to get the artist and album name. Cream 21 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124570/ Cream is a simple but solid cross-language, cross-platform, client/server-based synchronous remote procedure call (RPC) toolkit, similar to (but incompatible with) XML/RPC, SOAP, and Web Services. DC-GUI 0.2.14 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124583/ DC-GUI is a QT GUI Direct Connect filesharing client. Disc-Cover 1.5.2 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124540/ Disc-cover provides an easy way to produce covers for audio CDs. It scans audio CDs and uses information from the CDDB or CDINDEX database to build a back and front cover for the CD. Output is in Latex, Dvi, PDF, Postscript, HTML, plain ASCII, or any other format suited for cdlabelgen. Distant Ecosystems 0.1 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124521/ Distant Ecosystems is a silver-grey theme with trees and circles. The background is by netghost (Adam Sanderson). Dodge This 1.1 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124488/ Dodge This is a theme based on a screen capture from the first Matrix movie combined with the classic "matrix waterfall" and a little work with the Gimp. Fast IRC Stats Generator 0.3.5 (Development) http://freshmeat.net/releases/124580/ Fast IRC Stats Generator (FISG) creates HTML pages with statistics about IRC logs. It has less features than some alternatives, but is much faster and can be run on low-end systems. It supports Irssi and Eggdrop log files. Fingerprint Verification System 0.0.9 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124568/ Fingerprint Verification System is an easy-to-use library that allows programmers to integrate fingerprint technology into their software without specific know-how. It is fast and small, and is great for embedded systems. Firepass 1.0.2a http://freshmeat.net/releases/124535/ Firepass is a tunneling tool allowing users bypass firewall restrictions and encapsulate data flows inside legal ones that use HTTP POST requests. TCP or UDP based protocols may be tunneled with Firepass. GLT OpenGL C++ Toolkit 0.8 rc2 (Release Candidates) http://freshmeat.net/releases/124558/ Glt is a library of C++ classes and routines for programming interactive 3D graphics with OpenGL. The aim of Glt is to augment the OpenGL API with convenient mechanisms for manipulating the OpenGL state machine. Glt is a work in progress, and by no means covers the entire OpenGL specification. However, it already includes several useful classes and is designed so that additional classes can be added easily. In addition to Glt, the GlutMaster classes provide C++ wrappers for the GLUT API. Goggles 0.5.6 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124573/ Goggles is a frontend for the Ogle DVD player. It supports all the features that Ogle provides, including bookmarks, and adds automatic starting, automatic bookmarks, a convenient preferences panel for setting keyboard shortcuts, DXR3 settings, and language and country preferences. It is written in C++ using the FOX Toolkit. gpppwrap 1.1 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124585/ gpppwrap is a graphical user interface to conveniently select a phone number and dial into your ISP. It's very convenient if you use different ISPs, and is based on the GTK GUI libraries. It is only a wrapper around the ppp-on/ppp-off scripts and gives you therefore still the power and flexibility of these scripts. It is written for people who like the power and flexibility of shell and Perl scripts, and also want an idiot-proof way to connect to the Internet. Header Browser 0.8.3 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124539/ Header Browser helps you to create documentation from your C/C++ header files. It is similar to JavaDoc, Doc++, or KDoc, but it doesn't just create documentation pages; it allows you to really browse your APIs using a five columns view like NeXT's HeaderViewer. IMMS 0.8 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124575/ IMMS is an intelligent playlist plug-in for XMMS that tracks your listening patterns and adapts itself to your taste. It is incredibly unobtrusive and easy to use as it requires no direct user interaction. Ion 20030531 (Development) http://freshmeat.net/releases/124560/ Ion is a tiling (no overlapping windows) window manager that also has PWM-style tabbed frames which can contain multiple client windows. These features help keeping windows organized and quickly switching between them. Ion was designed primarily as an efficient and unobtrusive window manager for users who prefer the keyboard. IOzone 3.181 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124576/ IOzone is a filesystem benchmark tool. The benchmark generates and measures a variety of file operations. Iozone has been ported to many machines and runs under many operating systems. Java FTP client library 1.2.2 (Stable) http://freshmeat.net/releases/124554/ Java FTP client library allows any Java application to have full embedded FTP functionality. It includes a straightforward but comprehensive API with functions such as put (), get(), chdir(), dir() and pwd(). Active and passive modes are supported. KAVmailcheck 0.9.1 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124545/ KAVmailcheck is a sendmail filter that uses the milter API to check incoming mail for viruses using the Kaspersky Lab AVP kavdaemon. KisMAC 0.04e http://freshmeat.net/releases/124566/ KisMAC is a stumbler application for Mac OS X that puts your card into monitor mode. Unlike most other applications for OS X, it is completely invisible and sends no probe requests. Linux Napster Client 1.5.2 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124562/ Linux Napster Client is one of the oldest Napster clients available. It is a fully-featured Napster client with a text-based interface. Linux Napster Client runs under Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and Cygwin32. MaraDNS 1.0.18 (Recursive/Caching) http://freshmeat.net/releases/124569/ MaraDNS is a DNS server that strives to be secure and fully open-sourced. Mojo Mail 2.8.6 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124592/ Mojo Mail is a light-weight Web-based email mailing list manager. It supports announce-only lists and group discussion lists, as well as archiving, double opt-in subscriptions, and double opt-out unsubscriptions. List mailings can be sent using sendmail, qmail, or even with a straight SMTP connection (either all at once, or in timed batches). All list administration can be done through your browser via Mojo Mail's administrative control panel. Creating new lists and administrating them is easy. Mojo Mail is a great alternative to programs such as Majordomo if you want to give more control to the actual list owners, who may not have much experience with such applications. Mojo Mail can be run simply as a CGI script and needs no special modules installed. The entire look of html pages created by Mojo Mail can be customized with any template you can provide, on a list by list basis. MozPlugger 1.2.0 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124582/ MozPlugger is a modification of Plugger, a very small multimedia plugin for the Unix versions of Netscape, Mozilla, and Opera which uses external programs to show and play many file formats. This modification fixes bugs which occurred with Mozilla 1.x and allows a player to stream a media file directly from the URL. NanoBlogger 1.3 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124440/ NanoBlogger is a small and minimalist blogger written in Bash script. It's designed to be a simple and fast solution for creating and managing blog entries that can be uploaded to a Web site as a simple text file. It is not a complete Weblog engine, but rather an aid in the creation and maintenance of a blog site's entries. nefu 0.9.2 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124556/ nefu (network fidelity utility) is a Unix daemon that monitors services over the network. It uses a "no false alarms" fault verification algorithm, and understands network dependancies. Natively-monitored protocols include ICMP echo (ping), DNS, HTTP, POP, NTP, IMAP, SMTP, and LDAP, as well as having facilities to execute external programs. Status pages are available via finger or the Web. Nessus 2.0.6a http://freshmeat.net/releases/124587/ Nessus is a remote security scanner for Linux, BSD, Solaris, and other Unices. It is plug-in-based, has a GTK interface, and performs over 1200 remote security checks. It allows for reports to be generated in HTML, XML, LaTeX, and ASCII text, and suggests solutions for security problems. netcount 0.7e http://freshmeat.net/releases/124563/ netcount is a command line PPP traffic logging and statistics display tool for Linux. Logging is done via a small shell script which is called during the ip-up, ip-down, and system startup processes and from cron, while analysis and printing is done by a program written in Python. Statistics can be made on a per-call, daily, and/or monthly basis. Also part of the package is nstat, an X utility to display connection status, to hang up, and to start and terminate pppd. Open Guestbook 0.5 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124571/ Open Guestbook is a fully featured PHP Guestbook script powered by MySQL on backend. It has an enourmous amount of features, including Avatars, Smilies, Guestbook Code, Quote Reply, an Administrative Area to manage Guestbook and delete/edit entries, and more. It is also fully customizable via the Admin area and stylesheets. OpenLoad Tester 3.5 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124531/ OpenLoad is an easy-to-use browser-based, rapid performance optimization solution for load and stress testing of dynamic Web sites. It uses IBM WebSphere and the DB2 Universal Database, and is fully integrated with IBM WebSphere Studio Application Developer. It substantially minimizes the time and skill set required to optimize the performance of Web-based applications by simplifying the process of building real-world user scenarios, verifying expected functional behavior, and pinpointing performance bottlenecks within Web applications and IT infrastructure. Picture Gallery 2.0.0 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124525/ Picture Gallery is both a standalone and easily-integrated Web application. It features unlimited categories, subcategories, and pictures; hit tracking on categories and pictures; automatic resizing of pictures larger than the maximum width and height (preserves aspect ratio); and automatic thumbnail generation. It has a powerful search engine that uses CSS for easy customization. It has support for hidden categories, and can rotate images 90/180/270 degrees or re-order categories. It plugs into an existing Web site account system. procps 3.1.9 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124579/ procps is a package of utilities which includes ps, vmstat, top, w, skill, snice, pgrep, pkill, free, sysctl, pmap, uptime, and kill. These utilities report what is running, who is logged in, how long the system has been running, and what is using up memory. They can be used to kill processes and change run-time kernel configuration values. RLPlot 0.97b http://freshmeat.net/releases/124564/ RLPlot is a scientific plotting, charting, and drawing program. Data is entered into a spreadsheet manually or by copy from a spreadsheet program (Excel, KSpread, etc.) and pasted to RLPlot. Plots are created and modified by a fully-interactive graphical user interface. RLPlot is fully vector-oriented, ensuring high-quality outputs. Scraper 1.33 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124538/ Scraper is designed to scrape the Web for information. It is very easy to use. singapore 0.9.5 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124557/ singapore is a flexible PHP image gallery that stores information in a CSV-file database. It has a Web-based admin and cached autogenerated thumbnails (using GD or ImageMagick). Its output is XHTML- and CSS-compatible. SiteBar 2.3 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124552/ SiteBar is a multi-user bookmark server that lets users view, add, and maintain bookmarks from anywhere. It's intended as a Mozilla/Netscape sidebar, but can also be used in a main browser window. SiteBar provides infinite depth of folders, the ability to move anything to anywhere else, and complete sharing of public items between users. It's cross-browser compatible, features a tree-menu and context menus common to file explorers, and supports FavIcons. Vstr string library 1.0.6 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124567/ Vstr is a safe and fast string library for C. It is designed for network communication. Its design uses chunks of ptr+length data, so adding, substituting, and deleting data are all fast operations. This model also allows it to do automatic referencing for mmap() areas of memory. Shortcut APIs are included to mmap() a file into a Vstr string, and read()/write() data to/from a Vstr string. Another big feature of the library is a POSIX and ISO 9899:1999 compliant printf() like function, which can also be extended with user supplied formatters that are gcc warning compatible. The total API is over 140 functions, but laid out in a easy to remember manner, including data parsing functions, a non-destructive split() function, and conversion functions (among others). Web Secretary 1.7.0 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124543/ Web Secretary is a web page monitoring software. However, it goes beyond the normal functionalities offered by such software. Not only does it detect changes based on content analysis (instead of date/time stamp or simple textual comparison), it will email the changed page to you with the new contents highlighted. WITS 0.1.26 (beta) http://freshmeat.net/releases/124572/ WITS is an inventory tracking and point of sale implementation done in PHP using a MySQL server as a backend. It is designed with the small to medium sized consignment retailer in mind, and supports tracking of clients, consignees, inventory, tickets, payments, salespeople, tickets, gift certificates, and layaways. It automatically handles percentage commission calculations for consignees and salespersons, and supports split salesperson commission (for multiple salespersons working on a single ticket). WITS also supports modules for expandable functionality, and includes a dynamic report generator capable of advanced queries. X-ChaMan 0.7.3 http://freshmeat.net/releases/124593/ X-ChaMan is a chapter manager for AVI/DIVX movies. It can display an easy-to-use GUI menu providing a choice of language (for BIVX) and chapter selection. X-ChaMan runs with mplayer or Xine. XDrawChem 1.7.1 (Stable) http://freshmeat.net/releases/124561/ XDrawChem is a program for drawing chemical structures. Features include fixed length and fixed angle drawing, a ring tool to automatically draw rings, automatic alignment of structures in reactions, and structure diagram generation. It can access structures in the NCI database by name, CAS number, or formula. It can predict 1H NMR, 13C NMR, simple IR spectra, and estimated pKa. XDrawChem can work with its native file format, ChemDraw files, and any format supported by OpenBabel (MDL Molfile, CML, etc.). Newsforge Reports SCO-IBM Vs Timeline Inc-Microsoft : Better off with Linux http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/1244201 NZheretic writes, "If you are concerned over the treat of lawsuits over intellectual property then you are actually in a better legal position using GPL'ed Linux than using Microsoft's products. Linux Advisory Watch - May 30th, 2003 http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/30/1111246 - By Benjamin D. Thomas This week, advisories were released for squid, BitchX, netpbm, gPS, heimdal, nessus, lprng, gnupg, up2date, ptrace, apache, cups, and glibc. The distributors include Conectiva, Debian, Gentoo, Mandrake, Red Hat, Slackware, and SuSe. Several of the advisories released are updates to vulnerabilities found last week. There is nothing particularly serious this week, but it is always a advisable to have everything patched ... Wireless access for the masses! http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/28/0033238 - By Robin 'Roblimo' Miller - Bradenton, FL - So far I've only been able to find three local wireless "hot spots." Each one is on a different network, and all of them charge substantial daily fees to connect. The funny thing is, wireless access is dirt-cheap to provide, and businesses smart enough to give it to people like me for free would almost certainly profit from my increased patronage. Newsforge Newsvac Make way for the contender to Google's crown http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/1315203 You're not going to believe this, but a new search engine has just appeared and, well, it may be better than Google. Obviously, that sounds slightly ridiculous but after having spent a day devising weird and wonderful searches and comparisons, not only has it stood up to the test but it's so good that you realise how much of an effect Google has had on your thinking when it comes to searching the Net. Free software a boon for developing nations http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/137219 From creating new software distributions to giving a nudge to education, from offering solutions to the industry to helping young techies pick up skills they never would have access to, free software is attaining this and much more in Asia. IDC: Server Sales Down Overall, But Linux Servers Way Up http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/134253 In a report just released by IDC, the total number of servers shipped with the Linux operating system preinstalled hit almost 171,700 in the first quarter of 2003, up 29.5 percent from the 132,500 Linux servers sold in the first quarter of 2002. SCO's CEO says buyout could end Linux fight http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/130258 NZheretic writes "If IBM wants to buy The SCO Group Inc. and end SCO's ongoing Unix licensing assault on Linux, CEO Darl McBride is apparently all ears. "If there's a way of resolving this that is positive, then we can get back out to business and everybody is good to go, then I'm fine with that," McBride said today in an interview with Computerworld. "If that's one of the outcomes of this, then so be it."" Trends In Mobile Product Purchases http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/1258245 ESC Technologies shares its mobile product sales percentages from October 2002 through May 2003. "31% to 47% of the notebooks and transportables ship with Linux preinstalled or without an operating system preinstalled."" Microsoft 2, Consumers 0 http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/1255247 Jim writes "Junetech.com analyzes the antitrust settlement between Microsoft and AOL, and looks into what it may mean for consumers." Is SCO Trying to Dictate GNU/Linux Development? http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/1253245 In an in-depth analysis MozillaQuest Magazine (mozillaquest.com) reports: SCO raises two issues: (1) whose responsibility is it to police the Linux kernel, GNU/Linux operating system, and Linux distribution code to insure that unlicensed SCO-owned Unix code does not get into Linux and (2) what steps do the Linux kernel, GNU/Linux OS, and Linux distribution developers take to insure their code is clean? MozillaQuest Magazine's Mike Angelo ... Who stole SCO's lollipop http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/1247252 Dave B writes "Matt Loney thinks that bruised egos are behind the SCO/IBM lawsuit. He could be right." SCO to Novell: See you in court http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/31/0245231 SCO Group executives said Friday that the company's copyright dispute with Novell doesn't affect its legal campaign against Linux, but the issue may result in a lawsuit, anyway. SCO Stands Defiant, German Court Grants Preliminary Injunction http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/05/30/2257245 SCO is in the right is the message that Darl McBride, SCO CEO, and Chris Sontag, senior VP of SCOsource, tried to deliver in their press conference earlier today. But, at the same time, a German court in Bremen granted an injunction to Univison GmbH, a German Linux integrator, against SCO Group GmbH, SCO's German division. The injunction prevents SCO from saying that Linux contains illegally obtained SCO intellectual property, aka Unix source ... Thinkgeek Computing: ThermalTake Aquarius II CPU Cooler http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/casemods/6044/ Computing: ThermalTake HardCano 10 http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/casemods/6055/ Computing: ThermalTake Xaser PC Cases http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/casemods/6036/ Gadgets: Squid Light http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/5ffb/ Interests: I'm blogging this. http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/oreilly/tshirts/5eb7/ Interests: Tempt me. http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/oreilly/tshirts/5c37/ Gadgets: USB Memory Watch http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/5eec/ Cube Goodies: R/C Hovercraft http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/toys/5ef3/ Caffeine: Octane Energy Gel http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/accessories/5f0b/ Gadgets: Yes Solstice http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/6004/ Computing: TouchStream LP ZeroForce Keyboard http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/keyboards/5fff/ Cube Goodies: Duct Tape Wallet http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/toys/5f21/ Computing: Ideazon Zboard http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/keyboards/5fed/ Gadgets: Inova X5 LED Flashlights http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/5fd3/ Tshirts: fork agent smith http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/5f84/ Caffeine: Jo Mints w/Guarana http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/5f3c/ Tshirts: Follow the white rabbit. http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/5f79/ Cube Goodies: Midnight blue 'geek.' glass http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/mugs/5f01/ Tshirts: M.A.D. http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/5e8f/ Gadgets: USB Digital Voice Recorder http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/5ec3/ Sourceforge WebGUI 5.3 http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=279638 WebGUI 5.3 is here and packed with new goodies. It includes a new theme management system that will easily enable you to transport your designs and templates from one site to another with the click of a mouse. 5.3 also includes a new Data Form wobject that allows content managers to build simple data entry applications on the fly. The default rich editor has been upgraded to include direct integration with the collateral manager, spell checking, and emoticons. There is also a brand new trash and clipboard management system which makes it even easier to move your content around. Among dozens of other features there are also over 10 new macros to make your content mangement experience faster and easier. You can find our latest release here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=51417 FreedroidRPG 0.9.5 released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=279673 Version 0.9.5 of Freedriod RPG has been released. Freedriod RPG is a graphical single player role playing game for Linux, featuring the Tux as the hero battling evil MS machines in a future universe. Version 0.9.5 now comes with map editor, dialog editor and item editor. Any new submissions for characters, dialogs, quests and other content welcome. You can find our latest release here: https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=54521 YAM Amiga 2.4p1 bugfix release http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=279701 The YAM (Yet-Another-Mailer) open source team is pleased to announce the release of version 2.4p1 of the well-known AmigaOS Email client (MUA). This release is a minor bugfix release which mainly fixes some last-minute bugs that weren't fixed in the last full 2.4 release. YAM (short for 'Yet Another Mailer') is a MIME-compliant Internet mailer written for AmigaOS computers. It supports multi-POP3, APOP, SMTP, TLSv1/SSLv3, multiple users, PGP, unlimited hierarchical folders, filters, configurable GUI, ARexx interface. You can find the latest release here: https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=13560 Columba 0.10.1 released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=280523 A new stable version of Columba is now available. Columba is an email client written in Java, featuring a user-friendly graphical interface with wizards and internalionalization support. Its a powerful email management tool with features to enhance your productivity and communication. So, take control of your email before it takes control of you! This version fixes several bugs related to i18n and attachment issues. http://columba.sourceforge.net/index.php?page=download For more information visit: http://columba.sourceforge.net/index.php?page=news par2cmdline v0.2 released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=280247 PARv2.0 is a parity archive file format specification that uses reed-soloman code to protect sets of files within your filesystem. PARv2.0 allows for protection of files without having to archive them first by operating on virtual "blocks" of data within those files. For every N recovery blocks, you can recover N missing or corrupted blocks. PARs main purpose is helping to insure binary usenet propigation, but is by no means limited to that purpose. Announcement: Version 0.2 of par2cmdline is now available for download in source code form from the following URL: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/parchive/par2cmdline-0.2.tar.gz?down load This version has been compiled and tested on the following platforms (and you can download pre-compiled binaries for them from: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=30568&release_id= 161776): CPU OS Distribution --- -- ------------ Alpha Linux 2.2 Debian 3.0 Cerfcube SA1110 Linux 2.4 Debian 3.0 J2EEE IBM Websphere PPC G4 MacOS X 10.2 Server Edition Sparc R220 Sun Solaris 8 Sparc Ultra 60 Linux 2.4 Debian 3.0 x86 Cygwin 1.3.22 x86 Linux 2.4 Debian 2.2 x86 Linux 2.4 Red Hat 7.3 x86 Linux 2.4 Red Hat 9.0 x86 Windows The following changes have been made since version 0.1 was released: * Corrected a fault in the handling of filenames that have 8-bit characters. * Reduced restrictions on permitted characters in filenames on unix operating systems. * Added many portability enhancements including the use of GNU Autoconf/Automake for configuration and compiling on different cpu/os platforms. * Added support for verifying and repairing using version 1.0 PAR files. Please report any problems you encounter with this version of par2cmdline in the parchive tracker at: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=30568 Peter B Clements (Author of par2cmdline and QuickPar) The Parchive Project http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/parchive OggCarton Home Jukebox goes beta http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=278737 OggCarton is a cross-platform CD ripper, database, and web server for Ogg and MP3 files. OggCarton needs no external database or web server. With this release, the OggCarton Home Jukebox software moves from the alpha to the beta stage. Accordingly, binaries and installers for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows are now available for those who prefer to not roll their own. Full source is still available for those who do. Enjoy! Tcl/Tk 8.4.3 release http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=278739 Tool Command Language (Tcl) is an interpreted language and very portable interpreter for that language. Tcl is embeddable and extensible, and has been widely used since its creation in 1988 by John Ousterhout. The Tcl Core Team is pleased to announce the 8.4.3 releases of the Tcl scripting language and the Tk toolkit. This is the third patch release of Tcl/Tk 8.4. Tcl/Tk 8.4.3 Release Announcement May 20, 2003 The Tcl Core Team is pleased to announce the 8.4.3 releases of the Tcl scripting language and the Tk toolkit. This is the third patch release of Tcl/Tk 8.4. More details can be found below. We would like to express our gratitude to all those who submit bug reports and patches. This information is invaluable in enabling us to identify and eliminate problems in the core. Where to get the new releases: ------------------------------ Tcl/Tk 8.4.3 sources are freely available as open source from the Tcl Developer Xchange web site at: http://www.tcl.tk/software/tcltk/8.4.html This web page also contains additional information about the releases, including new features and notes about installing and compiling the releases. Sources are always available from the Tcl SourceForge project's file distribution area: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=10894 Windows, Linux, Solaris and HP-UX binaries are available from: http://www.activestate.com/Tcl For additional information: --------------------------- Please visit the Tcl Developer Xchange web site: http://www.tcl.tk/ This site contains a variety of information about Tcl/Tk in general, the core Tcl and Tk distributions, Tcl development tools, and much more. Thank you for your contributions: --------------------------------- As usual, this release includes contributions from the Tcl community. We have a page honoring these contributors at: http://www.tcl.tk/software/tcltk/contributors.html Summary of Changes since Tcl/Tk 8.4.2: -------------------------------------- The following were the main changes in Tcl/Tk 8.4.3. A complete list can be found in the changes file at the root of the source tree. The more complete ChangeLog is also included with each source release. This is a patch release, so it primarily included bug fixes and corrections to erratic behavior. Below are only the most notable changes. * Correct case-insensitive unicode string comparison in Tcl_UniCharNcasecmp * Corrected loading of tclpip8x.dll on Win9x * Correct Tcl_SubstObj handling of \x00 bytes * Correct wide int issues in 'format' * Remove assumption that file times and longs are the same size * Allow Tcl to differentiate between reparse points which are symlinks and mounted drives on Windows * Bad command count on TCL_OUT_LINE_COMPILE * Store pointers to notifier funcs in a struct to work around some platform linker issues * Load correct (non-)debug dll for dde or registry * Fixing ObjMakeUpvar's lookup algorithm for the created local variable * Make sure that tclWideIntType is defined and somewhat sensible everywhere * Corrected inconsistent results of [string is integer] observed on systems where sizeof(long) != sizeof(int) * Substantial changes to the Windows clock synch phase-locked loop in a quest for improved loop stability * Made changes so that the "wideInt" Tcl_ObjType is defined on all platforms, even those where TCL_WIDE_INT_IS_LONG is defined. Also made the Tcl_Value struct have a wideValue field on all platforms. Potential incompatibility for TCL_WIDE_INT_IS_LONG platforms because that struct changes size *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY *** * Catch any errors returned by the Windows functions handling TLS ASAP instead of waiting to get some mysterious crash later on due to bogus pointers * Correct 'glob -path {[tcl]} *', where leading special character instead lists files in '/'. Bug only occurs on Windows where '\' is also a directory separator. * Fixed memory leak in threaded allocator on Windows caused by treating cachePtr as a TLS index * Ensure cd is thread-safe * Correct mem leak on closing a Windows serial port * Prevent string repeat crash when overflow sizes were given * Worked around the issue of realpath() not being thread-safe on Mac OS X by defining NO_REALPATH for threaded builds on Mac OS X * Correct handling of the gb2312 encoding by making it an alias of the euc-cn encoding and creating a gb2312-raw encoding for the original. Most uses of gb2312 really mean euc-cn. * Corrected another putenv() copy behavior problem when compiling on Windows and using Microsoft's runtime * Stop buttons from being very wide when a tk_messageBox has a lot of content on Unix * Fixed crash in [winfo server] on Mac OS X * Correct compound button display in the disabled state * Correct crash when generating postscript for a single-line polygon (point) with no color * Updated French message catalog * Use gb2312-raw as the alias for gb2312* charset fonts on unix -- Tcl Core Team and Maintainers Jeff Hobbs, Tcl Core Release Manager SCons 0.14 adds Java support, Autoconf-like functionality http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=279029 SCons alpha release 0.14 is now available for download. SCons is a software construction tool (build tool, or substitute for Make) implemented in Python, based on the winning design in the Software Carpentry build tool competition (in turn based on the Cons build tool). This release most notably adds support for Java builds (javac, javah, rmic and jar), and adds integrated Autoconf-like functionality for finding #include files and libraries. This release also contains significant performance improvements from previous releases. IMPORTANT: Release 0.14 contains the following interface changes: - Tool specifications no longer take a "platform" argument. - Emitter functions in Builders are now passed Node objects, not strings, for all targets and sources. - New TargetSignatures() and SourceSignatures() functions have been added to replace SetBuildSignatureType() and SetContentSignatureType(). - The Export() function and the exported variables argument of SConscript() now search for variables using the same rules as Python: local first, then global. - The SetJobs() and GetJobs() functions have been deprecated in favor of using SetOption('num_jobs', num) and GetOption('num_jobs'). - Callable expansions of construction variables in a command line now take a fourth "for_signature" argument that is set when the expansion is being called to generate a build signature. - Construction variables for building a target are now frozen when the Builder is called; later changes to the Environment do not necessarily affect how the target is build. See the release notes for more information about these changes. This release adds the following features: - Support for the Java tools javac, javah, rmic and jar has been added. - A Configure() function has been added that supports a lot of functionality similar to Autoconf. - A new PLATFORM construction variable stores a string representing the platform on which SCons is being run. - Dependencies may now be specified on in-core Python values. - Help text can now be sorted arbitrarily. - New $TARGET and $SOURCE attributes: ".posix" expands to a path name with forward slashes as separators, even on Win32 systems; ".srcpath" expands to a path to the source of a file in a BuildDir; ".srcdir" expands to a path to the BuildDir itself. - A new clear() method resets a Node's state for re-use by continuous integration build interfaces. - Support for using Ghostscript to convert Postscript to PDF files has been added. - A stand-alone "Alias" function has been added. - Import('*') will now import everything that's been Export()ed. - New SetOption() and GetOption() functions support setting and fetching various command-line options within an SConscript file. - The Tool() function now adds tool names to a $TOOLS variable, which may be used to examine what tools are available. - The C preprocessor "#import" statement is now supported. - Newly-built .dll files can now be registered with the Windows registry using regsvr32. - An IDL scanner has been added. - A builder for Windows type library (.tlb) files from IDL files. The following fixes have been added: - Cygwin fixes: Use the .dll extension for shared libraries; don't use -fPIC when compiling shared libraries; use 'rm' to remove files; use MSVC '@' syntax for linking long command-lines. - The SYSTEMROOT environment variable on Win32 systems is now automatically propagated to the execution ENV environment. - Remote CVS file names are now checked out using Posix-style path names. - Trying to expand an out-of-range subscript for a construction variable like $TARGETS or $SOURCES now interpolates the null string. - SCons now correctly links or duplicates files in subsidiary BuildDir() directories. - SCons now reports "Cleaning targets ..." when the -c option is used. - The "Entering directory" message now quotes the directory name exactly like Make does. - Export() now works correctly for local Python variables, and can accept a dictionary as an argument. - PDB files now get put in a BuildDir() correctly. Performance has been improved as follows: - Unnecessary redundant signature calculations for command lines and Nodes have been eliminated. Development tests suggest this may speed up builds up to 30% or more. DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.2 released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=279457 Major bug fix for 1.61.1 and accumulated enhancements and fixes from previous releases. TuxTyping 1.5.0 released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=277737 After over a year of development with no releases, we are pleased to present Tux Typing 2 "Preview" release. Most of the internals have been rewritten with a focus on extensibility and internationalization. Creating a language pack is now as simple as creating a file for translations (lang.po file), maybe finding a font [1], setting up how the keyboard maps to the characters [2], and finally creating some word lists. TuxTyping is an educational typing tutorial game for children starring Tux, the Linux Penguin. It is graphical and requires SDL. It is free software copyrighted under the Gnu GPL. There is a new style of game "Comet Zap" and the start of tutor components with the new "Practice" mode. We really look forward to getting feedback about what parents/teachers/students/kids think about the new work. This release has a few rough edges, but we feel that it is time to let the world see what has been happening with Tux Typing. We have forums, mailing lists, and most importantly windows and linux builds are available at http://tuxtype.sf.net We are already hard at work at 1.5.1 and hope to have it released soon making it even easier for translators and users! Thanks, Jesse Andrews - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Calvin Arndt - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Notes: [1] We are using a font that has support for many languages (Dansk, English, French, Spanish, ...) So if the included font works with your language, you don't need to find a new font. [2] for instance in the default (English) language pack, we set up the game so if the student presses 'A' or 'a' it both works for "A". 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