Episode 017
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Total Running Time 59:13
Intro:
Mat Enders, Tony Bemus, and Mary Tomich
Intro Sound bite by Mike Tanner
Kernel News: Mat
Time: 4:14
Release Candidate:
Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux Kernel 3.3-rc2 on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:59:26 UTC
Along with the announcement Linus also had a lengthly statement about the merge messages. He really like the messages he is seeing with the signed tags. So as an example he is going to try and right better merge messages.
Mainline:
3.3-rc2
Stable Updates:
Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the release of the 3.0.19 kernel on Fri, 3 Feb 2012 01:38:31
114 files changed, 766 files inserted, 490 files deleted
Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the release of the 2.6.32.56 kernel on Fri, 3 Feb 2012 01:48:43
22 files changed, 221 files inserted, 85 files deleted
Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the release of the 3.2.3 kernel on Fri, 3 Feb 2012 01:47:58
114 files changed, 766 files inserted, 490 files deleted
Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the release of the 3.2.4 kernel on Fri, 3 Feb 2012 04:50:27
2 files changed, 1 files inserted, 4 files deleted
This fixes a build failure in the 3.2.3 kernel.
I think two days into a new job and you should not be so productive.
Kernel Quote:
“Yup, gcc is clearly just buggy here. I do not believe there is any question what-so-ever about the above test-case showing a bug.
…Trying to explicitly *look* for volatiles, and only doing the 32-bit access when you see them is actually extra code, and extra effort, and doesn’t even *help* anything. It’s not like the 64-bit access is somehow “better”.
I can see some vindictive programmer doing that, while thinking “I’ll show these people who pointed out this bug in my code, mhwhahahahaa! I’ll fix their test-case while still leaving the real problem unaddressed”, but I don’t think compiler people are quite *that* evil. Yes, they are evil people who are trying to trip us up, but still.”
— Linus Torvalds
Yeah this quote comes from the middle of a quite lengthly discussion about how a compile error was being caused by a bug in gcc. It causes some 32 bit code to compile like it is 64 bit so it also includes the prior or previous word.
Distro News: Tony
Time: 8:54
- 2-4 – Netrunner 4.1 – Kubuntu-based desktop Linux distribution featuring the KDE 4.7.4 desktop
- 2-4 – KahelOS 020212 – Linux distribution and live DVD featuring the GNOME 3 desktop and based on Arch Linux
- 2-3 – Salix OS 13.37 “Live Xfce” – Slackware-based live CD featuring the latest Xfce desktop
- 2-3 – Linux Mint 12 “KDE” –
- 2-3 – PCLinuxOS 2012.2 –
- 2-2 – Tails 0.10.1 – Debian-based live CD designed for anonymous Internet surfing
- 2-2 – IPFire 2.11 Core 56 – distribution for firewalls
- 2-1 – SalineOS 1.6 – Debian-based distribution and live DVD featuring the Xfce desktop
- 2-1 – DEFT Linux 7 – Ubuntu-based distribution and live DVD containing a collection of tools for penetration testing and forensic analysis
- 1-31 – Endian Firewall 2.5.1 – Red Hat-based firewall distribution
- 1-30 – Clonezilla Live 1.2.12-10 – utility live CD designed for disk cloning tasks
Distro of the Week: Tony
- Arch – 1188
- Debian – 1426
- Fedora – 1441
- Ubuntu – 1858
- Mint – 3756
Tech News:
Time: 19:55
Link for Barnes & Noble / Microsoft News
“522 Patent” Description
http://androidcommunity.com/barnes-noble-reveals-microsofts-android-patents-in-detail-20111114/
The site Mary used for the KDE plasma widget information is here:
http://maketecheasier.com/get-dock-like-taskbar-in-kde/2011/12/28
Greg Kroah-Hartman Leaves SUSE For Linux Foundation Fellowship
Greg Kroah-Hartman most notably known as maintainer of the stable Linux Kernel. In recent years he has also been Linus’s right hand man at Linuxcon events around the world. All I can say is it’s about time, I think he should have been made a Linux Fellow a long time ago. This has to be a huge loss to SUSE as among his other accomplishments he led the Tumbleweed project that brings a rolling kernel to SUSE. With his loss how much SUSE will influence the kernel in the future remains to be seen. Greg’s only public announcement was on his blog, it simply said:
“Time to update your email address book”
sed -i ‘s/gregkh@suse.de/gregkh@linuxfoundation.org/g’ .addressbook
Greg’s new boss, Jim Zemlin, had a little more to say:
“The embedded Linux market is growing rapidly, and Greg’s deep level of experience here and history of collaboration with hardware manufacturers at the kernel level can accelerate the work that needs to be done in this area. It’s a natural time to for The Linux Foundation to sponsor his work, and we’re very happy to be able to do it. ”
Also when Jim was asked about Greg’s compensation he had this amusing answer:
“He is given food in exchange for code. We find this is the most effective form of pay for our Fellows.”
Linux Mint Releases KDE Version
A little over two months after releasing the standard Linux Mint 12 Clement Lefebvre, Linux Mint project lead, announces the KDE edition. It uses KDE version 4.7.4 as its desktop environment.
It boasts these updated packages:
Thunderbird 8.0
Firefox 8.0
LibreOffice 3.4.3
Amarok 2.4.3
VLC 1.1.12
This is the first Linux Mint KDE version that can be downloaded as a Hybrid ISO. Hybrid ISOs can be used to either burn a disk or install to a USB stick using dd. they have a tutorial on installing to USB on their website. Complete details can be found at the Linux Mint KDE 12 page in the release notes, and on the new features page.
Trimble Yuma Rugged Tablet Now With Linux
SDG Systems announced on 2/2/12 that you could now get the Trimble Yuma rugged tablet with Linux pre-installed. This will make for an open source solution for field data collection, along with military and industrial applications. This will makes open source geospatial applications like GRASS, and Quantum GIS, along with other standard and custom Linux applications. There are also industry standard DB-9 serial and USB connectors, that make for convenient peripheral or machine connections.
Todd Blumer, President of SDG Systems, has this to say:
“Our customers have told us that they need a rugged, military-grade, tablet computer running Linux. We are pleased to provide that option for them…The water- and dust-proof rating, MIL-STD-810F testing and solid-state drive ensures that users will receive a durable Linux product that can be used in harsh conditions. With optional accessories like a vehicle docking station, the Yuma is ready to meet the field data collection or inspection needs.”
These are the specs :
1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor
7-inch sunlight-readable touchscreen display
A magnesium alloy shell
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Front and rear facing cameras
GPS
32 or 80 GB SSD
SDIO (SDHC) and ExpressCard slots
Along with an IP67 rating
It will come standard with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Netbook Edition. Other Linux distributions are available as long as you sign a minimum purchase agreement, or pay an upfront engineering fee. All of the information and a complete list of the specs can be found on SDG Systems’ website.
The Original Evil Tech Giant Now Calls Google Evil
Microsoft has apparently put ads in a ton of major newspapers this week. I however can not vouch for this claim as I haven’t read a newspaper in over three years. These ads reportedly let you know that Google is being evil and not “putting people first.” I find it rather ironic that Google, who since its inception has branded itself as the non-evil tech company, is being roasted on the spit by Microsoft. How about we take a look at some of Microsoft’s statement from their blog.
“During the last week or so, there has been a fair amount of discussion about how Google is making some unpopular changes to some of its most popular products. You can see some of the concerns and worries about lack of choice and so on in these links. ”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/google-tracks-consumers-across-products-users-cant-opt-out/2012/01/24/gIQArgJHOQ_story.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/updating-our-privacy-policies-and-terms.html
http://gizmodo.com/5878987/its-official-google-is-evil-now
http://news.cnet.com/8301-33200_3-57367988-290/googles-google-gambit-the-madman-theory/?part=rss&subj=latest-news&tag=title
http://gizmodo.com/5879163/how-will-googles-new-privacy-policy-affect-you/
“When we read the coverage last week, it was clear people were honestly wrestling with the choices that had been made for them and were looking for options or alternatives.”
Isn’t that special Microsoft is concerned for me. They want to help ease my pain, caused the evil Google. They want to help me find alternatives to those now bad for me Google products. I wonder who is going to supply these alternatives?
“The changes Google announced make it harder, not easier, for people to stay in control of their own information. We take a different approach – we work to keep you safe and secure online, to give you control over your data, and to offer you the choice of saving your information on your hard drive, in the cloud, or on both.
So, if the news about Google has you feeling frustrated, or concerned, or both, we have some great, award-winning alternatives:
Hotmail: Join the hundreds of millions of people who enjoy not worrying about the content of their private e-mails being used to serve ads.
Bing: The search engine that gives you great experiences using the whole Web.
Office 365: The award-winning online collaboration solution for businesses who don’t want their documents and mail used to benefit advertisers.
Internet Explorer: The world’s most popular browser, now with Tracking Protection, offering controls over your privacy as you browse.”
Hold the phone here Jackson you mean to tell me Microsoft has products that will fill the holes left after exiting Google. Lets look at each of these individually:
Hotmail, OK this was maybe cool for back in 1996 when it started but compared with Gmail now totally sucks.
Bing, Really Bing uses google see here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-uses-google-search.html
Office 365, Better not need to send emails to more than 500 recipients http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/small-businesses-beware-the-office-365-fine-print/4151
Internet Explorer, Come on the only reason that this browser is #1 is because it comes with Windows. If everyone had to choose thier browser this steaming pile would even be third.
Google has published their own response to these ludicrous statements. It calls attention to some specific “exaggerations” or should we say bald faced lies:
Exaggeration: Google reads your email. Purported by Microsoft
Reality: Only you read your emails. Like the vast majority of email providers, Google scans email messages for spam, malware, as well as relevant ads.
Fedora Wants To Rewrite The Linux Filesystem Hierarchy
Since around 1979 all Unix and Unix/like operating systems have followed a specific way of organizing the filesystem. The complexity of the system has grown greatly since them, and some people believe that it has become messy. Two Red Hat developers are in this messy camp, Harald Hoyer and Kay Sievers, and have a proposal that is an attempt to clean up this supposed mess. Even though the current structure has some idiosyncrasies trying to clean it up will cause a whole new set of issues. Specifically, Hoyer and Sievers are proposing to move all executable files into the /usr/bin directory and their libraries into /usr/lib or /usr/lib64, as needed.
Here is what the current structure looks like:
/: root directory of the entire file system hierarchy
/bin: Essential binaries available in single user mode; for all users, e.g., cat, ls, cp.
/boot: Static files of the boot loader
/dev: Device files
/etc: Host-specific system configuration
/lib: Essential shared libraries and kernel modules
/lib64: 64bit essential shared libraries and kernel modules
/media: Mount point for removeable media
/mnt: Mount point for mounting a filesystem temporarily
/opt: Add-on application software packages
/sbin: Essential system binaries, e.g., init, ip, mount
/srv: Data for services provided by this system
/tmp: Temporary files
/usr: For user data; contains the majority of (multi-)user utilities and applications
/var: Variable data
Here is what it would look like under their proposal:
/: root directory of the entire file system hierarchy
/bin: -> usr/bin
/boot: Static files of the boot loader
/dev: Device files
/etc: Host-specific system configuration
/lib: -> usr/lib
/media: Mount point for removeable media
/mnt: Mount point for mounting a filesystem temporarily
/opt: Add-on application software packages
/sbin: -> usr/bin
/srv: Data for services provided by this system
/tmp: Temporary files
/usr: Contains all utilities and applications
bin: Contains all binaries
lib: Contains all 32bit shared libraries
lib64: Contains all 64bit shared libraries
/var: Variable data
Lennart Poettering, a developer with Red Hat, had this to say:
“Having all static, distro-specific, sharable OS in a single dir makes snapshots of the OS independently of its state and configuration truly atomic. In a btrfs world doing 5 snapshots of /lib, /lib64, /bin, /sbin and /usr instead of just one is not atomic, and hence racy, and ugly, and boooh!”
On the surface, this seems like a pretty good idea, however with everything all together you can’t just load the basics and get a system booted up to fix it. This is completely contrary to the original intent of the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS). Not to mention there is another standard that Fedora is going to run into besides the FHS and that is the Linux Standard Base (LSB). One of the biggest pitfalls in the LSB could be /bin/sh. Brian Profitt, of IT World magazine, explains the problem:
“A lot of shell scripts have #!/bin/sh as their first line (or #!/bin/bash or what have you). If /bin went away, any script with a call like this inside would break. Some scripts might use env to locate the script interpreter, and since env is already in /usr/bin/env, these won’t have problems.
Then there’s the convention used to override shell built-ins by calling the full path to the non-built-in version. If the full path is used and the built-in has been relocated, that’s going to break, too.”
I personally think this is a bad idea. If you have a production system that is failing and you need to boot single user mode to get it worked out what is going to happen? Because if everything is all in the same directory you will have to boot what ever is causing the problem also. What do you all think let’s here some feed back.
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Outtro Music:
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