May 2014 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

file managers
by Peter Reutemann 19 May '14

19 May '14

Hi there Just came across this post on Linux.com regarding file browsers: http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/773120-4-excellent-alternative-graphic… Personally, I didn't find any of the mentioned browsers very exciting, however, I stumbled across "sunflower" in the comments section: http://code.google.com/p/sunflower-fm/ Dual panel browser with multiple tabs per panel, you can run commands in a panel, pop up a terminal. Quite funky. :-) Here's an overview of file managers (alternatives for "sunflower"): http://alternativeto.net/software/sunflower/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Linux Sucks (Video)
by Peter Reutemann 19 May '14

19 May '14

"How do we know Linux sucks? Because Bryan Lunduke says so. How did he become a Linux authority? By using Linux, of course. He has also written a kids Linux book, Linux for Hank, and a grown-up Linux book, Linux is Badass. But wait! That's not all! Bryan is also one of the people behind the infamous Bad Voltage podcast. And now, for something slightly different: In moments of weakness, Bryan admits that maybe Linux suckage isn't total, and Linux may have a good point or two and maybe some of the suckage could be removed. Zounds! Is that possible? Watch our video chat with Bryan (and/or read the transcript) and see. Or watch the entire 44 minute speech he gave at the 2014 LinuxFest Northwest, which was the 5th (or maybe 6th) "Linux Sucks" speech he's given at LFNW. That makes this a tradition, not just a speech. So if you find yourself in or near Bellingham, Washington, in 2039 you might want to pop in and see if Bryan is still updating his "Linux Sucks" speech. He'll be the geezer hobbling to the front of the room with help from his AutoCane, a device sure to be developed between now and then -- which will no doubt run Linux." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/05/19/1926213 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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WLUG meeting coming up next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 19 May '14

19 May '14

Hi there We have a WLUG meeting coming up next Monday: "William McKee is demoing the Godot Game Engine, released under the MIT license. Similar to Unity3D in features, it provides tools to quickly create games under Linux, Mac OSX and Windows." http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/165977142/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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30-Day Status Update On LibreSSL
by Peter Reutemann 18 May '14

18 May '14

"Bob Beck — OpenBSD, OpenSSH and LibreSSL developer and the director of Alberta-based non-profit OpenBSD Foundation — gave a talk earlier today at BSDCan 2014 in Ottawa, discussing and illustrating the OpenSSL problems that have led to the creation of a big fork of OpenSSL that is still API-compatible with the original, providing for a drop-in replacement, without the #ifdef spaghetti and without its own "OpenSSL C" dialect. Bob is claiming that the Maryland-incorporated OpenSSL Foundation is nothing but a for-profit front for FIPS consulting gigs, and that nobody at OpenSSL is actually interested in maintaining OpenSSL, but merely adding more and more features, with the existing bugs rotting in bug-tracking for a staggering 4 years (CVE-2010-5298 has been independently re-discovered by the OpenBSD team after having been quietly reported in OpenSSL's RT some 4 years prior). Bob reports that the bug-tracking system abandoned by OpenSSL has actually been very useful to the OpenBSD developers at finding and fixing even more of OpenSSL bugs in downstream LibreSSL, which still remain unfixed in upstream OpenSSL. It is revealed that a lot of crude cleaning has already been completed, and the process is still ongoing, but some new ciphers already saw their addition to LibreSSL — RFC 5639 EC Brainpool, ChaCha20,Poly1305, FRP256v1, and some derivatives based on the above, like ChaCha20-Poly1305 AEAD EVP from Adam Langley's Chromium OpenSSL patchset. To conclude, Bob warns against portable LibreSSL knockoffs, and asks the community for Funding Commitment — Linux Foundation is turning a blind eye to LibreSSL, and instead is only committed to funding OpenSSL directly, despite the apparent lack of security-oriented direction within the OpenSSL project upstream. Funding can be directed to the OpenBSD Foundation." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/14/05/17/2250242 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Position Vacant - multi-disciplined hacker
by David McNab 17 May '14

17 May '14

Vadacom Ltd is a leading provider of OSS-based telephony integration solutions. Their flagship product, VadaXchange, is used by many large organisations throughout New Zealand, including Xero, the rock-star accounting firm. We are seeking an experienced and adaptable software developer to join our R&D team. A solid background in OSS-based operating systems such as Linux is a must, as well as experience in several different programming languages, plus the ability and willingness to pick up more languages and frameworks quickly as required. Our main product is comprised of a mainly python-based server-side software, built around the Asterisk PBX system, plus a sophisticated javascript-based client-side web application, as well as Android and iOS apps. Our team is unique in that we actually encourage working from diverse physical locations. This is important to us, because we are all about empowering business communications, so it's walking our talk to use our own technologies internally. If you are good at organising your time, and can create a space where you won't be disturbed, you will be welcome to work from home most of the time. This said, however, some trips to the Auckland head office will be needed from time to time, especially as you are first starting work with us. We have just recently opened an office on Garden Place in Hamilton, and can offer you the option to work from here. Hamilton's IT scene is heavily skewed towards the Redmond stack, so opportunities to work with leading-edge OSS tools and great people, while staying in Hamilton or the greater Waikato, are scarce. If this position interests you, please send me your CV and cover letter. Cheers David

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Betty Is Like Siri Or Google Now For The Command Line (Translates Plain English Into Commands)
by Peter Reutemann 16 May '14

16 May '14

'Betty is like Siri or Google Now for the command line. Well, sort of. The tool translates plain English into commands: it displays the command it runs and obviously, the command output, in the terminal. Betty isn't voice controlled so you still have to type your (plain English) commands but if you want, it can speak the command output. Betty's mission is, according to its GitHub page, to "provide a way to use computers through natural language input"' -- source: http://www.webupd8.org/2014/05/betty-is-like-siri-or-google-now-for.html Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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5-Year-Old Linux Kernel Bug Fixed
by Peter Reutemann 14 May '14

14 May '14

"'The memory-corruption vulnerability, which was introduced in version 2.6.31-rc3, released no later than 2009, allows unprivileged users to crash or execute malicious code on vulnerable systems, according to the notes accompanying proof-of-concept code available here. The flaw resides in the n_tty_write function controlling the Linux pseudo tty device. 'This is the first serious privilege escalation vulnerability since the perf_events issue (CVE-2013-2049) in April 2013 that is potentially reliably exploitable, is not architecture or configuration dependent, and affects a wide range of Linux kernels (since 2.6.31),' Dan Rosenberg, a senior security researcher at Azimuth Security, told Ars in an e-mail. 'A bug this serious only comes out once every couple years.' ... While the vulnerability can be exploited only by someone with an existing account, the requirement may not be hard to satisfy in hosting facilities that provide shared servers, Rosenberg said." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/05/13/2039233 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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How To Approve the Use of Open Source On the Job
by Peter Reutemann 12 May '14

12 May '14

"If you work in an organization that isn't focused on development, where computer systems are used to support other core business functions, getting management buy-in for the use of open source can be tricky. Here's how an academic librarian negotiated with his management to get them to give open source software a try, and the four phrases he recommends you avoid using." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/05/12/2159234 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Linux Video of the Week: Limit Theory Game Developer Switches to Linux
by Peter Reutemann 12 May '14

12 May '14

'Game developer Josh Parnell has released the latest development update on his open-world space simulation and strategy game, Limit Theory. While the graphics are beautiful, this release is particularly notable because Parnell has switched to developing on the native Linux client version from Windows (which he called “just annoying.”)' -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/200-libby-clark/772484 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Valve Sponsors Work To Greatly Speed-Up Linux OpenGL Game Load Times
by Peter Reutemann 05 May '14

05 May '14

"Valve Software has sponsored some interesting improvements developed by LunarG for the Mesa OpenGL library on Linux for deferred and threaded GLSL shader compilation. What these changes mean for users of the open-source Linux graphics drivers when running their favorite games is that OpenGL games now load a lot faster. As an example, the time from starting Dota 2 until the time actually being within the game is reduced by about 20 seconds on an Intel system. While Direct3D has offered similar functionality for a while, OpenGL has not, which has given it a bad reputation with regard to game load times until all shaders are compiled and cached — fortunately it's now addressed for OpenGL if using the Mesa Linux graphics drivers on a supported game." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/05/05/0443238 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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