- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

That Reminds Me ...
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 10 Aug '17

10 Aug '17

... I finally got around to writing up some notes on the tips I presented for accessing the systemd journal at that talk last year <https://github.com/WLUG/meetings/tree/master/2016/2016-06-27>.

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A look at OpenSUSE based Gecko Linux
by Peter Reutemann 10 Aug '17

10 Aug '17

'I was sitting at home writing future articles for Ghacks and I decided on a spur of the moment whim that I wanted to try out a distribution I had never touched before. I’ve tried countless systems over the years, from the typical Ubuntu and Debian based systems, to Arch based systems like Manjaro, even Gentoo based systems like Sabayon. However, I was thinking about it and OpenSUSE used to be one of my favourite distributions to use but I’ve never actually sat down and tried a respin of an OpenSUSE based system; so I started digging around into what some popular ones were...And Gecko Linux caught my eye.' -- source: https://www.ghacks.net/2017/08/06/a-look-at-opensuse-based-gecko-linux/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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exa a modern replacement for ls written in rust for Linux/Unix
by Peter Reutemann 09 Aug '17

09 Aug '17

'ls is a command to show files in Linux and Unix-like operating systems. A ls command first appeared in a version of AT&T UNIX as well as in Multics. BSD and GNU Coreutils package provides the ls command with minor syntax changes. There is now third alternative named exa. It is a modern replacement for ls. The exa uses colors for information by default, helping you distinguish between many types of files, such as whether you are the owner, or in the owning group. It also has extra features not present in the original ls, such as viewing the Git status for a directory or recursing into directories with a tree view. The exa command written in Rust, so it’s small, fast, and portable.' -- source: https://www.cyberciti.biz/open-source/command-line-hacks/exa-a-modern-repla… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Firefox 55 Arrives With WebVR on Windows, Performance Panel, and Click-to-Play Flash
by Peter Reutemann 08 Aug '17

08 Aug '17

'Mozilla today made available a new update to Firefox for Windows to introduce support for WebVR, that the company says, will enable desktop VR users to dive into web-based experiences with ease. Firefox 55 also includes performance panel, faster startup when restoring multiple tabs, a quicker way to search across various search engines, and click-to-play Flash by default. From a report: WebVR is an experimental JavaScript API that provides support for virtual reality devices, such as the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Google Cardboard. As its name implies, the technology is meant for browsers. If you find a web game or app that supports VR, just click the VR goggles icon visible on the web page to experience it using your VR headset. WebVR supports navigating and controlling VR experiences with handset controllers or your movements in physical space. [...] Firefox 55 also allows users to adjust the number of processes and how much resources they want to allocate to any of them. This setting is at the bottom of the General section in Options. In fact, if your computer has more than 8GB of RAM, Mozilla recommends "bumping up the number of content processes that Firefox uses" because it will make Firefox faster, though at the expense of using more memory. In its own tests on Windows 10, the company found that Firefox uses less memory than Chrome, even with eight content processes running.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/08/08/143246 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Mozilla’s new file-transfer service isn’t perfect, but it’s drop-dead easy
by Peter Reutemann 07 Aug '17

07 Aug '17

'Mozilla is testing a new service that makes it dead simple and quick for people to semi-securely share files with anyone on the Internet. Send, as the service is called, allows senders to encrypt any 1-gigabyte or less file and upload it to a Mozilla server. The service then creates a link with a long, complex string of letters in it that's required to download and decrypt the file. Mozilla will automatically delete the encrypted file as soon as it's downloaded or within 24 hours of being uploaded, even if no one has downloaded it.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/08/mozillas-new-file-tr… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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OpenSSL Support In Debian Unstable Drops TLS 1.0/1.1 Support
by Peter Reutemann 07 Aug '17

07 Aug '17

'Debian Linux "sid" is deprecating TLS 1.0 Encryption. A new version of OpenSSL has been uploaded to Debian Linux unstable. This version disables the TLS 1.0 and 1.1 protocol. This currently leaves TLS 1.2 as the only supported SSL/TLS protocol version. This will likely break certain things that for whatever reason still don't support TLS 1.2. I strongly suggest that if it's not supported that you add support for it, or get the other side to add support for it. OpenSSL made a release 5 years ago that supported TLS 1.2. The current support of the server side seems to be around 90%. I hope that by the time Buster releases the support for TLS 1.2 will be high enough that I don't need to enable them again. This move caused some concern among Debian users and sysadmins. If you are running Debian Unstable on server tons of stuff is going to broken cryptographically. Not to mention legacy hardware and firmware that still uses TLS 1.0. On the client side (i.e. your users), you need to use the latest version of a browser such as Chrome/Chromium and Firefox. The Older version of Android (e.g. Android v5.x and earlier) do not support TLS 1.2. You need to use minimum iOS 5 for TLS 1.2 support. Same goes with SMTP/mail servers, desktop email clients, FTP clients and more. All of them using old outdated crypto. This move will also affect for Android 4.3 users or stock MS-Windows 7/IE users (which has TLS 1.2 switched off in Internet Options.) Not to mention all the mail servers out there running outdated crypto.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/08/07/1823244 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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GNOME's Text Editor gedit 'No Longer Maintained', Needs New Developers
by Peter Reutemann 06 Aug '17

06 Aug '17

'AmiMoJo brings news about gedit, the default text editor for GNOME: In a post to the gedit mailing list, Sébastien Wilmet states that gedit is no longer maintained and asks "any developer interested to take over the maintenance of gedit?" Just in case you were considering it, he warns "BTW while the gedit core is written in C (with a bit of Objective-C for Mac OS X support), some plugins are written in Vala or Python. If you take over gedit maintenance, you'll need to deal with four programming languages (without counting the build system). The Python code is not compiled, so when doing refactorings in gedit core, good luck to port all the plugins (the Python code is also less "greppable" than C). At least with Vala there is a compiler, even if I would not recommend Vala." Sébastien's comments were surrounded by a <rant-on-languages> tag, but they're still crying out for some serious discussion. Any Slashdot readers want to share their own insights on Python, some fond thoughts on gedit, or suggestions for maintaining a great piece of open source software?' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/08/05/025227 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Red Hat Acquires Data-Cleaning Company Permabit
by Peter Reutemann 06 Aug '17

06 Aug '17

'Business software company Red Hat said on Monday that it is acquiring the technology assets of Permabit, a small company that specializes in cleaning up corporate data to make storage more efficient and data access faster. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but a Red Hat spokesman said 16 people from Permabit will be joining that company... While the conventional wisdom is that data storage is cheap, it is not free. And with companies turning to more expensive flash storage, it saves money to remove redundant data, said Richard Fichera, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research... Red Hat, which sells a version of the Linux operating system used by many Fortune 500 companies, also offers its own storage software. And, it wants to become a more formidable challenger in data storage, a goal that can be furthered by buying Permabit's technology, Fichera said. Slashdot reader See Attached points out that this week Red Hat also released RHEL 7.4, which introduces support for Network Bound Disk Encryption (NBDE) and system protection against intrusive USB devices.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/08/05/0453223 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Linux Kernel Hardeners Grsecurity Sue Open Source's Bruce Perens
by Peter Reutemann 06 Aug '17

06 Aug '17

'In late June, noted open-source programmer Bruce Perens [a longtime Slashdot reader] warned that using Grsecurity's Linux kernel security could invite legal trouble. "As a customer, it's my opinion that you would be subject to both contributory infringement and breach of contract by employing this product in conjunction with the Linux kernel under the no-redistribution policy currently employed by Grsecurity," Perens wrote on his blog. The following month, Perens was invited to court. Grsecurity sued the open-source doyen, his web host, and as-yet-unidentified defendants who may have helped him draft that post, for defamation and business interference. Grsecurity offers Linux kernel security patches on a paid-for subscription basis. The software hardens kernel defenses through checks for common errors like memory overflows. Perens, meanwhile, is known for using the Debian Free Software Guidelines to draft the Open Source Definition, with the help of others. Grsecurity used to allow others to redistribute its patches, but the biz ended that practice for stable releases two years ago and for test patches in April this year. It offers its GPLv2 licensed software through a subscription agreement. The agreement says that customers who redistribute the code -- a right under the GPLv2 license -- will no longer be customers and will lose the right to distribute subsequent versions of the software. According to Perens, "GPL version 2 section 6 explicitly prohibits the addition of terms such as this redistribution prohibition." A legal complaint (PDF) filed on behalf of Grsecurity in San Francisco, California, insists the company's software complies with the GPLv2. Grsecurity's agreement, the lawsuit states, only applies to future patches, which have yet to be developed. Perens isn't arguing that the GPLv2 applies to unreleased software. Rather, he asserts the GPLv2, under section 6, specifically forbids the addition of contractual terms.' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/08/04/2233239 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Browser Extensions Are Undermining Privacy
by Peter Reutemann 06 Aug '17

06 Aug '17

'pizzutz writes: Chrome's popular Web Developer plugin was briefly hijacked on Wednesday when an attacker gained control of the author's Google account and released a new version (0.49) which injected ads into web pages of more than a million users who downloaded the update. The version was quickly replaced with an uncompromised version (0.5) and all users are urged to update immediately. Lauren Weinstein has a broader warning: While the browser firms work extensively to build top-notch security and privacy controls into the browsers themselves, the unfortunate fact is that these can be undermined by add-ons, some of which are downright crooked, many more of which are sloppily written and poorly maintained. Ironically, some of these add-on extensions and apps claim to be providing more security, while actually undermining the intrinsic security of the browsers themselves. Others (and this is an extremely common scenario) claim to be providing additional search or shopping functionalities, while actually only existing to silently collect and sell user browsing activity data of all sorts. Lauren also warns about sites that "push users very hard to install these privacy-invasive, data sucking extensions" -- and believes requests for permissions aren't a sufficient safeguard for most users. "Expecting them to really understand what these permissions mean is ludicrous. We're the software engineers and computer scientists -- most users aren't either of these. They have busy lives -- they expect our stuff to just work, and not to screw them over."' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/08/05/2122210 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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The Windows console is getting a new, easier to read color scheme
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

“Even with this work, the Windows console is still weak compared to its counterparts in macOS and Linux. In Windows, the operating systems-supplied console windows are closely tied to the command-line applications that use them; it's impossible to create a command-line application that isn't attached to a Windows console window. Linux and macOS offer a separation between the software that's displaying the console apps and the console apps themselves. Those operating systems have a built-in default console, but unlike Windows, they don't have to use it; third-party software can fill the same role. “Attractive, modern terminal applications like iTerm on macOS and Unix stalwarts such as screen (which enables multiple command-line shells to share a single console window) take advantage of this extensibility. Neither kind of application can be readily developed for command-line apps on Windows, and while people have tried to work around Windows' limitations (for example, by hiding the Windows built-in console windows off-screen somewhere), the results are imperfect. We're told that there are plans in store to finally address this weakness of Windows, though what the solution will be is at present unknown.” <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/08/the-windows-console-is-getting-a-ne…>

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Systemd wins top gong for 'lamest vendor' in Pwnie security awards
by Bryan Baldwin 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

The lamest vendor response award went to Systemd supremo Lennart Poettering for his controversial, and perhaps questionable, handling of the following bugs in everyone's favorite init replacement. Nomination Submission: Awarded to the vendor who mis-handled a security vulnerability most spectacularly. SystemD bugs 5998, 6225, 6214, 5144, 6237 Credit: Lennart Poettering Where you are dereferencing null pointers, or writing out of bounds, or not supporting fully qualified domain names, or giving root privileges to any user whose name begins with a number, there's no chance that the CVE number will referenced in either the change log or the commit message. But CVEs aren't really our currency any more, and only the lamest of vendors gets a Pwnie! https://pwnies.com/nominations/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/28/black_hat_pwnie_awards/

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Trust Me, I’m A Random-Number Generator
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

SK Telecom has created a “quantum random number generator” chip <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/26/sk_telecom_makes_light_of_random_n…>. Seems like slapping the label “quantum” on anything is enough to make people believe you know what you are talking about. Random-number generators are notorious for being easily subverted. And hearing things like “SK Telecom hasn't specified what kind [of quantum noise source they are using]” is not exactly reassuring. You can never be sure your random numbers are truly random. But you try to stack the deck as much in your favour as you can. The Linux kernel mixes in several sources of entropy to feed /dev/random (and from there, /dev/urandom), in the hope that, as long as one of them remains unsubverted (intentionally or otherwise), the output can be trusted. This is also the principle behind the Fortuna PRNG <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortuna_(PRNG)>, which well-known computer security guru Bruce Schneier had a hand in.

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Anti-systemd Trolls
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 27 Jul '17

27 Jul '17

I keep wondering about these random names who pop up with all the badmouthing every time somebody mentions something about systemd. I don’t recall any faces at WLUG meetings that go with them. Who are you and where do you come from? Do you people have any interest in the Waikato Linux User Group at all, or are you just here to shoot your mouths off?

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Some Low-Cost Android Phones Come at a Price -- Your Privacy
by Peter Reutemann 27 Jul '17

27 Jul '17

'At $60, the BLU R1 HD is the top-selling phone on Amazon. Last November, researchers caught it secretly sending private data to China. Shanghai Adups Technology, the group behind the spying software on the BLU R1 HD, called it a mistake. But analysts at Kryptowire found the software provider is still making the same "mistake" on other phones. At the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, researchers from Kryptowire, a security firm, revealed that Adups' software is still sending a device's data to the company's server in Shanghai without alerting people. But now, it's being more secretive about it. "They replaced them with nicer versions," Ryan Johnson, a research engineer and co-founder at Kryptowire, said. "I have captured the network traffic of them using the Command and Control channel when they did it." An Adups spokeswoman said that it had resolved the issues in 2016 and that the issues "are not existing anymore." Kryptowire said it has observed the company sending data without telling users on at least three different phones.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/07/26/187258 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Wellcome Trust Wants To Share
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Jul '17

26 Jul '17

You’ve probably heard of the Wellcome Trust: they’re a UK-based nonprofit that funds scientific research, primarily into health. They’ve long had an open-access policy, meaning that “all original research articles and scholarly monographs resulting from our funding are made freely available”. Contrast this with what more commonly happens with scientific research, where the journal publishers get exclusive copyright over the papers, and charge an arm and a leg to everyone wanting a copy. Now the Wellcome Trust is going even further, and requiring open access in a timely manner to the raw research data (within reasonable limits, such as privacy concerns etc), material such as cell lines, antibodies and reagents, and also any software developed. No actual mention of “open source” or “Free software” licences as such, though; the news article only uses the word “freeware”, which I’m not sure is the word they should be using. <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/25/wellcome_trust_extends_research_da…> <https://wellcome.ac.uk/news/our-new-policy-sharing-research-data-what-it-me…>

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Intel Abandons Consumer/Hobbyist IoT
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Jul '17

26 Jul '17

Intel is giving up on its consumer/hobbyist-oriented Internet of Things products <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/25/intel_arduino_board_curie_canceled/>. However, the “enterprise”-oriented efforts remain for now. Not sure what “enterprise” means in this space: are there companies building IoT-type devices for their own internal use? Or is this referring to companies selling readymade IoT products? In any case, I suspect this is the one area left where “Windows 10 IoT Edition” can be mentioned without raising hails of derisive laughter...

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The systemd House Of Horror
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Jul '17

26 Jul '17

Came across this link in one of the comments to The Register’s article on Fedora 26, rife with the usual anti-systemd moaning. “Here are some examples of how people commonly use systemd in an egregiously wrong manner ... Don't ask me why, so far, all of these have involved starting Java programs. Maybe it's Oracle in general.” <https://jdebp.eu/FGA/systemd-house-of-horror/>

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'Devil's Ivy' Is Another Wake-Up Call for IoT Security
by Peter Reutemann 26 Jul '17

26 Jul '17

'The vulnerability -- called Devil's Ivy or CVE-2017-9765 -- was made public last week by Senrio, a company that specializes in IoT security. It initially found the bug in the M3004 model security camera marketed by Axis Communications, but further research found that 249 of Axis's 251 surveillance camera models are affected. Although that's of lot of devices, it's only the tip of the iceberg, as the problem isn't with code that's native to Axis products but is in gSOAP, an open source web services library that's used by many developers. Media outlets are reporting that 34 companies use gSOAP -- a list that includes Microsoft, IBM, Xerox and Adobe.' -- source: http://windowsitpro.com/internet-things-iot/devils-ivy-another-wake-call-io… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Using Gnome Disk Utility - "Disks" - to install distro iso to USB stick.
by Ian Stewart 24 Jul '17

24 Jul '17

Hi, I mentioned this at last nights meeting, so here is the link info. You might be used to burning distro iso image files to USB sticks using the dd command line utility, or Ubuntu's Startup Disk Creator gui application. The Fedora 21 Installation Guide<https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/21/html/Installation_Guide/inde…> describes another way<https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/21/html/Installation_Guide/sect…>. You launch the Gnome Disk Utility by clicking on the Disks application icon, or from the command line as gnome-disks, and follow these instructions... Procedure 3.4. Creating USB media with GNOME Disks 1. On a system with GNOME, or with the gnome-disk-utility package installed, open Disks using the system menu. 2. Click your USB device in the left column. 3. Click the menu icon in the upper right corner of the window, and choose the Restore Disk Image option. 4. Navigate to your image file and click Start Restoring. After a few minutes, it will report the process is complete and your installation media will be ready to use. cheers, Ian.

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How a VC-Funded Company Is Undermining the Open-Source Community
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jul '17

24 Jul '17

'Is a $4 million venture capital-funded startup stealthily taking over popular coding tools and injecting ads and spyware into them? That's what some programmers fear may be happening. It is one of the most troubling scandals to hit the open-source community -- a robust network of programmers who work on shared tools for free -- in recent memory. It started back in April, when a programmer noticed a strange change to an open-source tool called Minimap. Minimap has had more than 3.5 million downloads, but like many open-source tools, it was maintained by a single person who no one knew much about other than their username: @abe33. At some point, @abe33, whose real name is Cedric Nehemie, was hired by Kite. Kite was started by Adam Smith, a successful tech entrepreneur who raised funding from a slew of big names including the CEO of Dropbox and the creator of WordPress. It is unclear what Kite's business model is, but it says it uses machine-learning techniques to make coding tools. Its tools are not open source. After being hired by Kite, @abe33 made an update to Minimap. The update was titled "Implement Kite promotion," and it appeared to look at a user's code and insert links to related pages on Kite's website. Kite called this a useful feature. Programmers said it was not useful and was therefore just an ad for an unrelated service, something many programmers would consider a violation of the open-source spirit. "It's not a feature, it's advertising -- and people don't want it, you want it," wrote user @p-e-w. "The least you can do is own up to that." "I have to wonder if your goal was to upset enough people that you'd generate real attention on various news sites and get Kite a ton of free publicity before your next funding round," @DevOpsJohn wrote. "That's the only sane explanation I can find for suddenly dropping ads into the core of one of the oldest and most useful Atom plugins." [...] Although Kite has no business model yet, it's widely thought in Silicon Valley that having users is the first step toward profitability. Adding users potentially benefits the company in another way, by giving it access to precious data. Kite says it uses machine learning tactics to make the best coding helper tools possible. In order to do that, it needs tons of data to learn from. The more code it can look at, the better its autocomplete suggestions will get, for example.' -- source: https://developers.slashdot.org/story/17/07/24/0118202 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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DNS Lib Underscore Bug Bites Everyone's Favorite Init Tool, Blanks Netflix
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jul '17

24 Jul '17

'Systemd doing what it does best. From a report on The Register: A few Penguinistas spent a weekend working out why they can't get through to Netflix from their Linux machines, because when they tried, their DNS lookups failed. The issue emerged over the weekend, when Gentoo user Dennis Schridde submitted a bug report to the Systemd project. Essentially, he described a failure within systemd-resolve, a Systemd component that turns human-readable domain names into IP addresses for software, like web browsers, to connect to. The Systemd resolver couldn't look up Netflix's servers for Schridde's web browser, according to the report. In his detailed post, Schridde said he expected this to happen: ipv6_1-cxl0-c088.1.lhr004.ix.nflxvideo.net gets resolved to 37.77.187.142 or 2a00:86c0:5:5::142. When in reality, that wasn't happening, so Netflix couldn't be reached on his box. His speculation that libidn2, which adds internationalised domain names support to the resolver, was at fault turned out to be accurate. Rebuilding Systemd without that library cleared the problem.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/07/24/1558259 Please, no flame war... Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Mysterious Mac Malware Has Infected Hundreds of Victims For Years
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jul '17

24 Jul '17

'A mysterious piece of malware has been infecting hundreds of Mac computers for years -- and no one noticed until a few months ago. The malware is called "FruitFly," and one of its variants, "FruitFly 2" has infected at least 400 victims over the years. FruitFly 2 is intriguing and mysterious: its goals, who's behind it, and how it infects victims, are all unknown. Earlier this year, an ex-NSA hacker started looking into a piece of malware he described to me as "unique" and "intriguing." It was a slightly different strain of a malware discovered on four computers earlier this year by security firm Malwarebytes, known as "FruitFly." This first strain had researchers scratching their heads. On the surface, the malware seemed "simplistic." It was programmed mainly to surreptitiously monitor victims through their webcams, capture their screens, and log keystrokes. But, strangely, it went undetected since at least 2015. There was no indication of who could be behind it, and it contained "ancient" functions and "rudimentary" remote control capabilities, Malwarebytes's Thomas Reed wrote at the time.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/07/24/1719255 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Mozilla's New Open Source Voice-Recognition Project Wants Your Voice
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jul '17

23 Jul '17

'Mozilla is building a massive repository of voice recordings for the voice apps of the future -- and it wants you to add yours to the collection. The organization behind the Firefox browser is launching Common Voice, a project to crowdsource audio samples from the public. The goal is to collect about 10,000 hours of audio in various accents and make it publicly available for everyone... Mozilla hopes to hand over the public dataset to independent developers so they can harness the crowdsourced audio to build the next generation of voice-powered apps and speech-to-text programs... You can also help train the speech-to-text capabilities by validating the recordings already submitted to the project. Just listen to a short clip, and report back if text on the screen matches what you heard... Mozilla says it aims is to expand the tech beyond just a standard voice recognition experience, including multiple accents, demographics and eventually languages for more accessible programs. Past open source voice-recognition projects have included Sphinx 4 and VoxForge, but unfortunately most of today's systems are still "locked up behind proprietary code at various companies, such as Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft."' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/07/22/2026208 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Debian, Gnome Patched 'Bad Taste' VBScript-Injection Vulnerabilities
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jul '17

23 Jul '17

'A now-patched vulnerability in the "GNOME Files" file manager was recently discovered which allowed hackers to create dodgy MSI files which would run malicious VBScript code on Linux... Once Nils Dagsson Moskopp discovered the bug, he reported it to the Debian Project which fixed it very rapidly. The GNOME Project also patched the gnome-exe-thumbnailer file which is responsible for parsing MSI and EXE files inside the GNOME Files app... If you run a Linux distribution with the GNOME desktop it's advisable to run the update manager and check for updates as soon as possible before you become affected by this critical vulnerability.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/07/22/1911237 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Debian 'Stretch' Updated With 9.1 Release
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jul '17

23 Jul '17

'The Debian project is pleased to announce the first update of its stable distribution Debian 9 (codename "stretch"). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems... Please note that the point release does not constitute a new version of Debian 9 but only updates some of the packages included. There is no need to throw away old "stretch" media... Those who frequently install updates from security.debian.org won't have to update many packages, and most such updates are included in the point release.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/07/23/1930253 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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meeting next week?
by Peter Reutemann 22 Jul '17

22 Jul '17

Hi everyone We don't have any topics lined up yet for next Monday's meeting. Any ideas? A new Fedora release (https://getfedora.org/) is out - give it a spin? Maybe an introduction on how to use man pages efficiently? For commands and programming? Introduction to useful basic commands: ls, cat/tac/zcat, less, column, grep, find, sort, sed, ... Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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next lug meet -fedora 26
by Ian Young 22 Jul '17

22 Jul '17

I will bring a live version of Fedora 26 if there is time available at the meeting ~ Ian Y

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Sysadmin position
by Stuart Inglis 20 Jul '17

20 Jul '17

We are looking for an experienced Linux Administrator to join our team. Being one of the larger website hosting providers in New Zealand our ideal candidate would come from an ISP or web hosting background. To be successful in this role, you would ideally have: - 3+ Years practical experience in the administration of Linux servers - Great multi-tasking skills - Ability to troubleshoot complex problems, software faults, and operational issues and take appropriate corrective action personally and by interacting with other members of the systems team. - Strong technical knowledge - Experience in setting up high-load, high-availability, multi-data centre environments - Experience in supporting MySQL - Configuring and fine-tuning Apache - Knowledge of web architecture - Disaster recovery management - Experience with KVM or other Virtualisation platforms - Excellent communication skills are essential In return we can offer you the chance to work for a leading organisation, work on some exciting projects and deliver key solutions to a variety of clients. This position is based in our office in Hamilton, no teleworking. Applications must be able to attend interviews in Hamilton, NZ. If this sounds like you please don't hesitate to send in your CV today. kind regards Stuart Inglis, Ph.D. | Chief Technology Officer Director NetValue Limited Level 1, SouthBloc, 19 Knox Street, Hamilton M +64 (0) 21 907 532 E stuart.inglis(a)netvalue.nz | W netvalue.nz

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4 lightweight image viewers for the Linux desktop
by Peter Reutemann 18 Jul '17

18 Jul '17

'Like most people, you probably have more than a few photos and other images on your computer. And, like most people, you probably like to take a peek at those images and photos every so often. Firing up an editor like GIMP or Pinta is overkill for simply viewing images. On the other hand, the basic image viewer included with most Linux desktop environments might not be enough for your needs. If you want something with a few more features, but still want it to be lightweight, then take a closer look at these four image viewers for the Linux desktop, plus a handful of bonus options if they don't meet your needs.' -- source: https://opensource.com/article/17/7/4-lightweight-image-viewers-linux-deskt… I've just switched to Nomacs as my default viewer. Fast and displays the EXIF information in a separate pane, which is rather handy for my work. Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Bruce Schneier’s Book Review: “Twitter And Tear Gas”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Jul '17

14 Jul '17

There are two opposing models of how the Internet has changed protest movements. The first is that the Internet has made protesters mightier than ever. ... The second is that it has made them more ineffectual. Derided as "slacktivism" or "clicktivism," the ease of action without commitment can result in movements like Occupy petering out in the US without any obvious effects. Of course, the reality is more nuanced ... <https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/07/book_review_twi.html>

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PC Sales Still In Decline
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Jul '17

14 Jul '17

Looks like world PC shipments are now down to about 240 million a year <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/13/pc_sales_still_slumping_but_more_s…>. I think the peak, maybe ten years ago, was a million a day.

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Looking for something to celebrate today?
by Ian Stewart 14 Jul '17

14 Jul '17

Hi, If you are looking for something to celebrate today, the 14th July 2017, then there's always the storming of La Bastille<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storming_of_the_Bastille>. If this doesn't appeal, and you are looking for something a little more global, then there is a minor milestone in Unix epoch time<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time>. For NZ this will occur today at 14:40. It is when Unix time ticks over the 1.5 billion seconds mark. $ date --date="@1500000000" Fri Jul 14 14:40:00 NZST 2017 If you can't think of anything else to do then you can watch it happen here... https://www.epochconverter.com/ ...or repeatedly enter this on your console... $ echo "How many seconds to go:" $((1500000000 - $(date +%s))) If this event is a little low key, and you'd rather wait for it to tick over the 2 billion mark, then you'll have to hold off with the celebrations for another 16 years... $ date --date="@2000000000" Wed May 18 15:33:20 NZST 2033 Cheers to another 1.5 billion seconds and many more. Ian.

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Tim Berners-Lee Approves Web DRM, But W3C Members Have Two Weeks To Appeal
by Peter Reutemann 12 Jul '17

12 Jul '17

'der Atticus Rex writes: A high controversial Web standard has received a seal of approval from Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web and its chief technical decision-maker. Opponents like the Free Software Foundation and Electronic Frontier Foundation say that the standard, Encrypted Media Extensions, is a step backwards for freedom, privacy, and a host of other rights on the Web. There's still a two-week window in which members of the W3C can appeal the decision, and the Free Software Foundation is asking people to email and encourage them to do so.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/07/08/0147206 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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net neutrality article on BBC
by Ian Young 12 Jul '17

12 Jul '17

Some may not have seen this. I thought it a useful summary of the current state of play around this issue. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-40494909

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Fedora 26 Linux Distro Released
by Peter Reutemann 12 Jul '17

12 Jul '17

'Today, Fedora 26 sheds its pre-release status and becomes available for download as a stable release. GNOME fans are in for a big treat, as version 3.24 is default. If you stick to stable Fedora releases, this will be your first time experiencing that version of the desktop environment since it was released in March. Also new is LibreOffice 5.3, which is an indispensable suite for productivity. If you still use mp3 music files I've moved onto streaming), support should be baked in for both encoding and decoding. "The latest version of Fedora's desktop-focused edition provides new tools and features for general users as well as developers. GNOME 3.24 is offered with Fedora 26 Workstation, which includes a host of updated functionality including Night Light, an application that subtly changes screen color based on time of day to reduce effect on sleep patterns, and LibreOffice 5.3, the latest update to the popular open source office productivity suite. For developers, GNOME 3.24 provides matured versions of Builder and Flatpak to make application development for a variety of systems, including Rust and Meson, easier across the board," says the Fedora Project.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/07/11/1722202 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Ubuntu Is Now Available On the Windows Store
by Peter Reutemann 11 Jul '17

11 Jul '17

'Ubuntu is now available for download on the Windows Store. "Initially spotted by Rafael Rivera and Necrosoft Core on Twitter, Ubuntu on the Windows Store will let you install and run the Ubuntu terminal on Windows next to your other apps," reports Windows Central. From the report: Ubuntu's arrival, and that of SUSE, are part of a recent push by Microsoft to embrace Linux and the open source community more broadly. This began with the arrival of the Windows Subsystem for Linux in 2016, allowing users to use the Bash shell from within Windows. Keep in mind that this is limited to the Fall Creators Update, which isn't set for a public release until later this year. If you're running a PC testing the Fall Creators Update through the Windows Insider Program, however, you should be able to download and try Ubuntu from the Windows Store just fine. ' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/07/10/202218 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Multics Lives!
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 10 Jul '17

10 Jul '17

I previously mentioned <https://list.waikato.ac.nz/pipermail/wlug/2015-August/013714.html> the old Multics OS, which was so complex and so delayed in its development that a group of folks at AT&T Bell Labs decided not to wait and created their own, less ambitious OS instead, deciding to call it “UNIX” as a sort of pun on “Multics”. Well, at long last <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/10/multics_resurrected_in_new_simulat…>, you can now run Multics for yourself. The original mainframe hardware is long gone, but today’s PCs can easily support a suitable software emulation without breaking too much of a sweat--even a Raspberry π 2, it seems, can run the emulation at something close to the speed of the early mainframe units. All it took was some suitably dedicated people to build such an emulator. And now you can download their work and try it out for yourself.

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Let’s Encrypt: Wildcard Certs Coming Soon
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 07 Jul '17

07 Jul '17

Anybody using Let’s Encrypt? Having recently set it up for a client, I’m really impressed with it. It gives you HTTPS certs for your web servers at no cost, and with very little effort, since the entire process is automated (with authentication via the “ACME” protocol). The certs are only valid for 90 days, to try to minimize potential damage from any compromises, but the renewal process is equally easy to automate. The one service they haven’t offered up to now is certs for wildcard domains (e.g. “*.example.com”). Looks like they will soon have a procedure for this, too <https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/07/lets-encrypt-to-star…>.

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OneDrive Has Stopped Working On Non-NTFS Drives
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jul '17

07 Jul '17

'OneDrive users around the world have been upset to discover that with its latest update, Microsoft's cloud file syncing and storage system no longer works with anything other than disks formatted with the NTFS file system. Both older file systems, such as FAT32 and exFAT, and newer ones, such as ReFS, will now provoke an error message when OneDrive starts up. To continue to use the software, files will have to be stored on an NTFS volume. While FAT disks can be converted, ReFS volumes must be reformatted and wiped. This has left various OneDrive users unhappy. While NTFS is the default file system in Windows, people using SD cards to extend the storage on small laptops and tablets will typically use exFAT. Similarly, people using Storage Spaces to manage large, redundant storage volumes will often use ReFS. The new policy doesn't change anything for most Windows users, but those at the margins will feel hard done by. Microsoft said in a statement that it "discovered a warning message that should have existed was missing when a user attempted to store their OneDrive folder on a non-NTFS filesystem -- which was immediately remedied." According to Ars, Microsoft's position, apparently, is that OneDrive should always have warned about these usage scenarios and that it's only a bug or an oversight that allowed non-NTFS volumes to work.' -- source: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/07/06/2012255 Time to switch to ownCloud! :-) https://owncloud.org/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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WikiLeaks Unveils CIA Implants That Steal SSH Credentials From Windows, Linux PCs
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jul '17

07 Jul '17

'WikiLeaks has today published the 15th batch of its ongoing Vault 7 leak, this time detailing two alleged CIA implants that allowed the agency to intercept and exfiltrate SSH (Secure Shell) credentials from targeted Windows and Linux operating systems using different attack vectors. Secure Shell or SSH is a cryptographic network protocol used for remote login to machines and servers securely over an unsecured network. Dubbed BothanSpy -- implant for Microsoft Windows Xshell client, and Gyrfalcon -- targets the OpenSSH client on various distributions of Linux OS, including CentOS, Debian, RHEL (Red Hat), openSUSE and Ubuntu. Both implants steal user credentials for all active SSH sessions and then sends them to a CIA-controlled server. ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/07/06/224211 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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iPhone Bugs Are Too Valuable To Report To Apple
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jul '17

07 Jul '17

'Last year, Apple launched a long-awaited bug bounty program to reward friendly hackers who report flaws in the iPhone to the company. Despite inviting some of the best hackers in the world to join, it's a bit of a flop so far. The iPhone's security is so tight that it's hard to find any flaws at all, which leads to sky-high prices for bugs on the grey market. Researchers I spoke to are reluctant to report bugs both because they are so valuable and because reporting some bugs may actually prevent them from doing more research. "People can get more cash if they sell their bugs to others," said Nikias Bassen, a security researcher for the company Zimperium, and who joined Apple's program last year. "If you're just doing it for the money, you're not going to give [bugs] to Apple directly." Patrick Wardle, a former NSA hacker who now specializes in MacOS research and was invited to the Apple bug bounty program, agreed. He said that iOS bugs are "too valuable to report to Apple."' -- source: https://apple.slashdot.org/story/17/07/06/1551210 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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'Severe' Systemd Bug Allowed Remote Code Execution For Two Years
by Peter Reutemann 06 Jul '17

06 Jul '17

'A flaw in systemd, the init system used on many Linux systems, can be exploited using a malicious DNS query to either crash a system or to run code remotely. The vulnerability resides in the daemon systemd-resolved and can be triggered using a TCP payload, according to Ubuntu developer Chris Coulson. This component can be tricked into allocating less memory than needed for a look-up. When the reply is bigger it overflows the buffer allowing an attacker to overwrite memory. This would result in the process either crashing or it could allow for code execution remotely. "A malicious DNS server can exploit this by responding with a specially crafted TCP payload to trick systemd-resolved in to allocating a buffer that's too small, and subsequently write arbitrary data beyond the end of it," is how Coulson put it. Affected Linux vendors have pushed out patches -- but the bug has apparently been present in systemd code since June of 2015. And long-time Slashdot reader walterbyrd also reports a recently-discovered bug where systemd unit files that contain illegal usernames get defaulted to root.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/07/03/0343258 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Raspberry Pi's Smaller, Cheaper Rival: NanoPi Neo Plus2 Weighs in at $25
by Peter Reutemann 05 Jul '17

05 Jul '17

'FriendlyARM, the maker of compact NanoPi developer boards, has released the NanoPi Neo Plus2 for $25. From a report: This board is an update to the recently released NanoPi Neo 2, a $15 cookie-sized developer board measuring 40mm x 40mm (1.6in) with a 64-bit Allwinner H5 processor, 512MB RAM, and one USB port. The NanoPi Neo Plus2 is slightly larger at 52mm x 40mm (2in x 1.6in) and has two USB ports. It has the same H5 quad-core A53 ARM Cortex processor, but comes with 1GB RAM and 8GB eMMC storage. The NeoPlus2's storage in addition to Gigabit Ethernet puts it ahead of the Raspberry Pi 3 on paper, and at $25 undercuts the better-known board by $10.' -- source: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/07/05/0211212 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Parlatype - A Manual Audio Transcription App for Linux
by Peter Reutemann 05 Jul '17

05 Jul '17

'Parlatype is a minimal GNOME audio player for manual speech transcription. It plays audio sources to transcribe them in your favorite text application. It features a simple themeable GUI with a track timeline (with a waveform view) and clearly visible buttons and a playback speed tuner. It doesn't come with that many settings but then again, remember - it is a simple audio transcriber.' -- source: https://www.fossmint.com/parlatype-a-audio-transcription-tool-for-linux/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Lollypop – A New Modern Music Player for Linux
by Peter Reutemann 05 Jul '17

05 Jul '17

'Lollypop is a lightweight modern and material design-inspired music player designed to work excellently on the GNOME desktop environment. It has a focus on an intuitive minimal design which makes it easy to pick it up and begin using right away. It features all the functions you would expect from a music player like browsing and searching through your collection of music files, fetching lyrics and artist biography from the internet, as well as automatically fetching cover arts for music files.' -- source: https://www.fossmint.com/lollypop-a-new-modern-music-player-for-linux/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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GnuPG crypto library cracked, look for patches
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 05 Jul '17

05 Jul '17

What they found is that the libgcrypt library used what's called “sliding windows”, a method for carrying out the mathematics of cryptography – but one that's known to leak data. ... What they found was an unpleasant surprise: a complete break of the library's RSA-1024... <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/04/gnupg_crypto_library_cracked_look_…> Cue the conspiracy theorists lining up to say “Given the controversy surrounding GnuPG and the way they operate, one just has to wonder "bug or backdoor?"”

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Latte Dock – An Elegant and Intuitive Dock for Your Tasks and Plasmoids
by Peter Reutemann 03 Jul '17

03 Jul '17

'Latte Dock is arguably the best dock app for KDE Plasma especially since the release of its stable version 0.6 in April. It is based on plasma frameworks, that working together to provide users with an elegant and intuitive experience while going about their everyday PC tasks. Latte Dock is unlike some dock apps in the market in the sense that it lets you replace your desktop panels completely. You can use it to run multiple docks on one screen, mimic several panel layouts including that of Unity and Plasma, set animation styles especially using its parabolic zoom effects, and organize Plasmoids.' -- source: https://www.fossmint.com/latte-dock-an-elegant-and-intuitive-dock-for-kde-p… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Linux Kernel 4.12 Officially Released
by Peter Reutemann 03 Jul '17

03 Jul '17

'After seven weeks of announcing release candidate versions, Linus Torvalds today informs the Linux community through a mailing list announcement about the general availability of the Linux 4.12 kernel series. Development on the Linux 4.12 kernel kicked off in mid-May with the first release candidate, and now, seven weeks later we can finally get our hands on the final release... A lot of great improvements, new hardware support, and new security features were added during all this time, which makes it one of the biggest releases, after Linux 4.9... Prominent features of the Linux 4.12 kernel include initial support for AMD Radeon RX Vega graphics cards, intial Nvidia GeForce GTX 1000 "Pascal" accelerated support, implementation of Budget Fair Queueing (BFQ) and storage-I/O schedulers, more MD RAID enhancements, support for Raspberry Pi's Broadcom BCM2835 thermal driver, a lot of F2FS optimizations, as well as ioctl for the GETFSMAP space mapping ioctl for both XFS and EXT4 filesystems. Linus said in announcing the release that "I think only 4.9 ends up having had more commits," also noting that 4.9 was a Long Term Support kernel, whereas "4.12 is just plain big." "There's also nothing particularly odd going on in the tree - it's all just normal development, just more of it than usual."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/07/03/0410253 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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HTTPS Certificate Revocation Doesn’t Work: Some Fixes
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Jul '17

03 Jul '17

The traditional mechanisms for revoking compromised TLS/SSL certifications--cert revocation lists (CRLs) and Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP)--don’t really work. But something can be done about this, in the form of “OCSP Must Staple”. Also the issue of rogue certifications--certs issued for your domain without your knowledge or permission--can be mitigated with Certificate Transparency (CT), where the issuing Certificate Authorities (CAs) publish all the certs they have given out, to allow crosschecks. There is also Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA), where the DNS entry for your domain specifies which CA(s) are allowed to issue certs for it. <https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/07/https-certificate-revocation-is-br…>

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