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Is Your Windows Licence Legal?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 18 Sep '24

18 Sep '24

How do you know your Windows-running PC is running a legitimately-licensed copy of Windows? It seems you can’t: <https://www.zdnet.com/article/is-your-windows-license-legal-should-you-even…>. The article says “You almost certainly have a valid Windows license if you acquired it in ...” and goes on to list the usual ways that users obtain their copies. But note that “almost”: there is nothing you end up with -- no document or artifact or anything else -- that definitively says your copy of Windows is genuine. The final decision always goes back to Microsoft: if they decide not to sue you, then your copy is probably legit.

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Chrome Switching To NIST-Approved ML-KEM Quantum Encryption
by Peter Reutemann 18 Sep '24

18 Sep '24

'Google is updating the post-quantum cryptography in Chrome, replacing the experimental Kyber with the fully standardized Module Lattice Key Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM) to enhance protection against quantum computing attacks. BleepingComputer reports: This change comes roughly five months after Google rolled out the post-quantum secure TLS key encapsulation system on Chrome stable for all users, which also caused some problems with TLS exchanges. The move from Kyber to ML-KEM though is not related to those early problems, that got resolved soon after manifesting. Rather, its a strategic choice to abandon an experimental system for a NIST-approved and fully standardized mechanism. ML-KEM was fully endorsed by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in mid-August, with the agency publishing the complete technical specifications of the final version at the time. Google explains that despite the technical changes from Kyber to ML-KEM being minor, the two are essentially incompatible, so a switch had to be made. "The changes to the final version of ML-KEM make it incompatible with the previously deployed version of Kyber," explains Google. "As a result, the codepoint in TLS for hybrid post-quantum key exchange is changing from 0x6399 for Kyber768+X25519, to 0x11EC for ML-KEM768+X25519." ' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/09/17/0455248 Cheers, Peter

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Linus Torvalds Muses About Maintainer Gray Hairs, Next 'King of Linux'
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '24

17 Sep '24

'A report from ZDNet, written by Steven Vaughan-Nichols: In a candid keynote chat at the Linux Foundation's Open Source Summit Europe, Linux creator Linus Torvalds shared his thoughts on kernel development, the integration of Rust, and the future of open source. Dirk Hohndel, Verizon's Open Source Program Office head and Torvalds friend, moderated their conversation about the Linux ecosystem. Torvalds emphasized that kernel releases, like the recent 6.11 version, are intentionally not exciting. "For almost 15 years, we've had a very good regular cadence of releases," he explained. With releases every nine weeks, this regularity aims for timeliness and reliability rather than flashy new features. The Linux creator noted that while drivers still make up the bulk of changes, core kernel development continues to evolve. "I'm still surprised that we're doing very core development," Torvalds said, mentioning ongoing work in virtual file systems and memory management. [...] Shifting back to another contentious subject -- maintainer burnout and succession planning -- Hohndel observed that "maintainers are aging. Strangely, some of us have, you know, not quite as much or the right hair color anymore." (Torvalds interjected that "gray is the right color.") Hohndel continued, "So the question that I always ask myself: Is it about time to talk about there being a mini-Linus?" Torvalds turned the question around. True, the Linux maintainers are getting older and people do burn out and go away. "But that's kind of normal. What is not normal is that people actually stay around for decades. That's the unusual thing, and I think that's a good sign." At the same time, Torvalds admitted, it can be intimidating for a younger developer to join the Linux kernel team "when you see all these people who have been around for decades, but at the same time, we have many new developers. Some of those new developers come in, and three years later, they are top maintainers." Hohndel noted that "to be the king of Linux, the main maintainer, you have to have a lot of experience. And the backup right now is Greg KH (Greg Kroah-Hartman, maintainer of the stable Linux kernel), who is about the same age as we are and has even less hair." True, Torvalds responded, "But the thing is, Greg hasn't always been Greg. Before Greg, there's been Andrew {Morton) and Alan (Cox). After Greg, there will be Shannon and Steve. The real issue is you have to have a person or a group of people that the development community can trust, and part of trust is fundamentally about having been around for long enough that people know how you work, but long enough does not mean to be 30 years." Hohndel made one last comment: "What I'm trying to say is, you've been doing this for 33 years. I don't want to be morbid, but I think in 33 years, you may no longer be doing this?" Torvalds, making motions as though he was using a walker, replied, "I would love to still do this conference with you." The report notes the contention around the integration of Rust, highlighted by the recent departure of Rust for Linux maintainer Wedson Filho. Despite resistance from some devs who prefer C and are skeptical of Rust, Torvalds remains optimistic about Rust's future in the kernel. He said: "Rust is a very different thing, and there are a lot of people who are used to the C model. They don't like the differences, but that's OK. In the kernel itself, absolutely nobody understands everything. I don't. I rely heavily on maintainers of various subsystems. I think the same can be true of Rust and C. I think it's one of our strengths in the kernel that we can specialize. Clearly, some people just don't like the notion of Rust and having Rust encroach on their area. But we've only been doing Rust for a couple of years, so it's way too early to say Rust is a failure." Meanwhile, Torvalds confirmed that the long-anticipated real-time Linux (RTLinux) project will finally be integrated into the kernel with the upcoming release of Linux 6.12.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/24/09/16/2047217 Cheers, Peter

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Linux Kernel 6.11 is Out
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '24

17 Sep '24

'Linux creator Linus Torvalds has released version 6.11 of the open-source operating system kernel. The new release, while not considered major by Torvalds, introduces several notable improvements for AMD hardware users and Arch Linux developers. ZDNet: This latest version introduces several enhancements, particularly for AMD hardware users, while offering broader system improvements and new capabilities. These include: RDNA4 Graphics Support: The kernel now includes baseline support for AMD's upcoming RDNA4 graphics architecture. This early integration bodes well for future AMD GPU releases, ensuring Linux users have day-one support. Core Performance Boost: The AMD P-State driver now includes handling for AMD Core Performance Boost. This driver gives AMD Core users more granular control over turbo and boost frequency ranges. Fast Collaborative Processor Performance Control (CPPC) Support: Overclockers who want the most power possible from their computers will be happy with this improvement to the AMD P-State driver. This feature enhances power efficiency on recent Ryzen (Zen 4) mobile processors. This can improve performance by 2-6% without increasing power consumption. AES-GCM Crypto Performance: AMD and Intel CPUs benefit from significantly faster AES-GCM encryption and decryption processing, up to 160% faster than previous versions.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/24/09/16/1928224 Cheers, Peter

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Neofetch is over, but many screenshot system info tools stand ready
by Peter Reutemann 16 Sep '24

16 Sep '24

'Almost nobody truly needed Neofetch, but the people who did use it? They really liked it. Neofetch, run from a terminal, displayed key system information alongside an ASCII-art image of the operating system or distribution running on that system. You knew most of this data, but if you're taking a screenshot of your system, it looked cool and conveyed a lot of data in a small space. "The overall purpose of Neofetch is to be used in screen-shots of your system," wrote Neofetch's creator, Dylan Araps, on its Github repository. "Neofetch shows the information other people want to see." Neofetch did that, providing cool screenshots and proof-of-life images across nearly 150 OS versions until late April. The last update to the tool was made three years before that, and Araps' Github profile now contains a rather succinct coda: "Have taken up farming." Araps joins "going to a commune in Vermont" and "I now make furniture out of wood" in the pantheon of programmers who do not just leave the field, but flee into another realm entirely. As sometimes happens, the void was filled not by one decent replacement but many.' Alternatives from the article: - https://github.com/fastfetch-cli/fastfetch - https://github.com/ThatOneCalculator/NerdFetch - https://github.com/hykilpikonna/hyfetch - https://github.com/Macchina-CLI/macchina - https://github.com/Dr-Noob/cpufetch -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/09/neofetch-is-over-but-many-screensho… Cheers, Peter

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Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) Is Now Available Powered by Linux Kernel 6.8
by Peter Reutemann 16 Sep '24

16 Sep '24

'Canonical released today Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS as the fifth and last planned point release to the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) long-term supported operating system series bringing the latest security patches and updated components. Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS is here six and a half months after Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS as an up-to-date installation media designed for those of you who want to install Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) on a new computer and don’t want to download hundreds of updated packages from the repositories after the installation. Apart from the security patches and updated packages that have been released during the past six months, the Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS point release is powered by a newer kernel from the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) operating system series, namely Linux kernel 6.8, to better support installations on newer hardware.' -- source: https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-22-04-5-lts-jammy-jellyfish-is-now-available-p… Cheers, Peter

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Haiku (Originally 'OpenBeOS') Releases Long Awaited R1/Beta5
by Peter Reutemann 16 Sep '24

16 Sep '24

'Haiku (the MIT-licensed operating system, inspired by BeOS) has released its fifth beta for Haiku R1. Some new features include improved UI color management, improved dark mode coloring, Tracker improvements, TUN/TAP support for VPN connections, TCP throughput improvements, performance optimizations, UFS2 (BSD's filesystem) read-only support, new FAT filesystem driver, improved hardware support, improved POSIX compliance, improved performance, and more. Slashdot has been covering the fate of the BeOS since 2000 (as well as the short-lived derivative project ZETA — and Haiku). And now "With a history of over two decades and previously known as OpenBeOS, today's Haiku is pushing forward..." writes the site NotebookCheck: Haiku is a spiritual successor to BeOS, with a focus on a clean and user-friendly design paired with low system requirements. The minimum system requirements are still an Intel Pentium II/AMD Athlon CPU or better, at least 384 MB RAM, an 800x600 screen, and at least 3GB storage. It works on both 32-bit and 64-bit x86 PCs, and the 32-bit version can run many unmodified BeOS applications. It might be the best desktop open-source operating system not based on Linux or Unix... It works well in a virtual machine like VirtualBox or UTM. ' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/09/14/158240 Anybody ever tried running/using Haiku? Cheers, Peter

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'Samba' Networking Protocol Project Gets Big Funding from the German Sovereign Tech Fund
by Peter Reutemann 16 Sep '24

16 Sep '24

'Samba is "a free software re-implementation of the SMB networking protocol," according to Wikipedia. And now the Samba project "has secured significant funding (€688,800.00) from the German Sovereign Tech Fund to advance the project," writes Jeremy Allison — Sam (who is Slashdot reader #8,157 — and also a long standing member of Samba's core team): The investment was successfully applied for by [information security service provider] SerNet. Over the next 18 months, Samba developers from SerNet will tackle 17 key development subprojects aimed at enhancing Samba's security, scalability, and functionality. The Sovereign Tech Fund is a German federal government funding program that supports the development, improvement, and maintenance of open digital infrastructure. Their goal is to sustainably strengthen the open source ecosystem. The project's focus is on areas like SMB3 Transparent Failover, SMB3 UNIX extensions, SMB-Direct, Performance and modern security protocols such as SMB over QUIC. These improvements are designed to ensure that Samba remains a robust and secure solution for organizations that rely on a sovereign IT infrastructure. Development work began as early as September the 1st and is expected to be completed by the end of February 2026 for all sub-projects. All development will be done in the open following the existing Samba development process. First gitlab CI pipelines have already been running and gitlab MRs will appear soon! Back in 2000, Jeremy Allison answered questions from Slashdot readers about Samba. Allison is now a board member at both the GNOME Foundation and the Software Freedom Conservancy, a distinguished engineer at Rocky Linux creator CIQ, and a long-time free software advocate.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/09/14/1726252 Cheers, Peter

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copying random sample of files
by Peter Reutemann 12 Sep '24

12 Sep '24

Hi everyone I was just wondering how I can copy a random subset of files from one folder to another. And, of course, there bash utilities for that... ;-) I came across two solutions for copying 20 files from the current directory into DEST: - shuf cp `ls | shuf -n 20` DEST - sort (using random sort) ls | sort -R | tail -20 | while read file do cp $file DEST done source: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/414164/ Man pages: - shuf: https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/shuf.1.html - sort: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/sort.1.html Cheers, Peter

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Rogue WHOIS server gives researcher superpowers no one should ever have
by Peter Reutemann 12 Sep '24

12 Sep '24

'It’s not every day that a security researcher acquires the ability to generate counterfeit HTTPS certificates, track email activity, and the position to execute code of his choice on thousands of servers—all in a single blow that cost only $20 and a few minutes to land. But that’s exactly what happened recently to Benjamin Harris. Harris, the CEO and founder of security firm watchTowr, did all of this by registering the domain dotmobiregistry.net. The domain was once the official home of the authoritative WHOIS server for .mobi, a top-level domain used to indicate that a website is optimized for mobile devices. At some point—it’s not clear precisely when—this WHOIS server, which acts as the official directory for every domain ending in .mobi, was relocated, from whois.dotmobiregistry.net to whois.nic.mobi. While retreating to his Las Vegas hotel room during last month’s Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, Harris noticed that the previous dotmobiregistry.net owners had allowed the domain to expire. He then scooped it up and set up his own .mobi WHOIS server there.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/09/rogue-whois-server-gives-researche… Cheers, Peter

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