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● 05.12.21


● Links 12/5/2021: New Audacity and Musescore Owner Named, Microsoft May Lose “JEDI” (Trump’s ‘Bailout Package’)


Posted in News Roundup at 2:22 am by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxDistributionsDevices/EmbeddedFree Software/Open SourceLeftovers

GNU/Linux


Audiocasts/Shows


↺ mintCast 360.5 – What’s a Distro?


2:11 Bi-Weekly Wanderings 43:58 The News 1:05:46 Security Update 1:07:29 Announcements & Outro


In our Innards section, what makes a distro a distro? It’s Elementary, my dear Watson.


↺ Distro in the Rough | LINUX Unplugged 405


We’re taking a look at an underdog distro. We may have found a diamond in the rough with a few tricks up its filesystem.


Plus our review of the ODROID-Go Super an Ubuntu-powered handheld, and our tools for laptop battery health.


↺ This YouTuber now runs the Audacity project


Tantacrul is a designer and musician who has been running Musescore for years. Now he’s set his sights on Audacity.


↺ Endeavour OS Review | Why THIS Is The Best Linux Distro For Intermediate Users In 2021? (NEW!)


Tried ALL the Linux distros and Ready to take the NEXT STEP? Endeavour OS is a POWERFUL and FLEXIBLE Arch-Based Distro that really puts the POWER in your hands. Endeavour OS gets the newest technologies, advanced features and latest package updates before anybody else. It also gives you a lean system that you can build according to your needs.


↺ Termite Is Dead, Go Install Alacritty Right Now


Recently the Termite maintainer decided that he has had enough dealing with the VTE library and rather than handing the project off to someone else has decided to just kill the project and suggest that people move to Alacritty instead. He also calls out GNOME for creating a really hostile environment for developers who want to use their libraries.


Kernel Space


↺ Latest Linux kernel introduces preliminary Apple M1 support


The latest version of the Linux kernel, Linux 5.13, introduces support for Apple’s M1 system-on-chip and is now available as a release candidate.


Apple M1 support was previously reported for Linux 5.13, though no release date was mentioned at the time. On Tuesday, however, Linux kernel principal developer Linus Torvalds announced that the release candidate version is now available for public testing.


Although security researchers have successfully booted Linux on Apple Silicon in the past, it required some fairly technical workarounds. With preliminary support in Linux 5.13, Linux distributions and systems will have a much easier time running on Apple’s SoC.


↺ Linux Kernel ‘Linux 5.13′ Will Support Apple M1 System-on-Chip | Now Available for Public Testing


The Apple M1 chip has recently started to gain much traction and is now fully recognized as another possible processor to choose for high-end performance. It seems like the recognition now stems past Apple as the latest version of the popular Linux kernel known as the Linux 5.13 would introduce support for Apple’s M1!


Apple M1 on Linux


Apple made headlines for deciding to step away from their long-time chip supplier, Intel, as the company decided to manufacture their own CPUs. Apple made headlines with their M1 chip and are now spreading the chip to other units that they own. Aside from Apple, it now looks like Linux is recognizing its power.


According to the story by AppleInsider, the Linux 5.13 reportedly introduces support for Apple’s popular M1 system-on-chip and is currently available as a certain release candidate. The Apple M1 support was also previously reported for the Linux 5.13 but there was no release date given during that time.


Graphics Stack


↺ AMD Releases ROCm 4.2 Compute Stack


Just over one month has passed since the release of Radeon ROCm 4.1 and it’s now been succeeded by the ROCm 4.2 feature release.


The Radeon Open eCosystem 4.2 release comes with changes such as:


- HIP target platform macros were added for easily targeting HIP_PLATFORM_AMD / HIP_PLATFORM_NVIDIA code differences such as including different header files.


Applications


↺ Kodi 19.1 Matrix software update brings Xbox support and more


Kodi formerly XBMC the free and open-source media player software application developed by the XBMC Foundation, a non-profit technology consortium, has this week released a new update in the form of the Kodi 19.1 Matrix providing a wealth of bug fixes, tweaks and enhancements to the software. Kodi is available for a wide variety of different operating systems and hardware platforms and comes with a 10-foot user interface for use with large screen televisions and the like.


Thanks to its open source and cross-platform design, with its core code written in C++, modified versions of Kodi-XBMC together with a JeOS have been used as a software appliance suite or software framework in a variety of devices including smart TVs, set-top boxes, digital signage, hotel television systems, network connected media players and embedded systems based on arm platforms such as the Raspberry Pi and similar.


↺ Jakub Kadlčík: A year with Emacs


Why would I commit such a heinous crime? After ten years, I came close to hitting my peak knowledge about VIm. Of course, nobody can claim to truly know Vim in its full depth but I got to the point where the learning curve slowed to a deadly pace and new tricks just slightly adjust your approach when solving obscure scenarios. The only real game-changer yet to be conquered was plugins development. I tried but I dislike VimL as a language for writing code and thus I have no intention of doing so.


On the other hand, I am fascinated by the functional programming paradigm and Lisp in particular. This alone, was a strong enough impulse for migrating to Emacs. I won’t hit the ceiling regarding custom package development.


Also, I came to realize, that my Vim workflow is different than for most other users (at least in my social circle). Everyone seems to have a shell-centric approach, find-ing, grep-ing, cat-ing their way through a project, and then opening the intended file in Vim, editing, and closing. I do the same thing when it comes to searching within a project but I do it in a separate terminal. When it comes to Vim, I start it once, do everything from within, and then close it after six months when a new Fedora is released and I need to upgrade. If it reminds you of something, it’s Emacs.


There is also a couple of tempting Emacs features but about them later.


Instructionals/Technical


↺ How to install Minecraft Bedrock on a Chromebook


Today we are looking at how to install Minecraft Bedrock on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.


↺ How To Install Samba on CentOS 8 – idroot


In this tutorial, we will show you how to install the Samba on CentOS 8. For those of you who didn’t know, Samba is a free and open-source software that can be used to share files, folders, and printers between Linux and Windows systems.


This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of the Samba on a CentOS 8.


↺ How to Mount Partitions using UUID in Linux


If you use lots of disks that regularly changed or moved, it’s preferred to mount the partition using UUID. This is because OS may change device names in some situations like adding another disk. This may end with issues with booting. UUID is unique and independent from the actual device names.


In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to mount partitions using UUID in a Linux system.


Firstly, find the UUID of the device partition that is going to be mounted. You can use the following command to find the UUID of the partitions.


↺ Raspberry Pi Articles


Fresh off publishing a bunch of articles on learning tmux yesterday, I finally took the time to also migrate my older Raspberry Pi articles. Given the timeline, they’re mostly about RPi4 release and thoughs on Raspberry Pi 4 platform.


↺ How to Create Virtual Machine with Vagrant and VirtualBox


This article shows how to create a Vagrant project to install a vagrant box, configure a guest machine, and understand important configurations and commands.


↺ How to generate and backup a gpg keypair on Linux


Gnu Privacy Guard (gpg) is the Gnu project free and open source implementation of the OpenGPG standard. The gpg encryption system is called “asymmetric” and it is based on public key encryption: we encrypt a document with the public key of a recipient which will be the only one able to decrypt it, since it owns the private key associated with it. Gpg allows us also to sign documents using our private key and let others verify such signature with our public key. In this tutorial we will see how to generate and create a backup of a gpg keypair.


↺ How to run a NYM mixnode · Pablo Iranzo Gómez’s blog


Some time ago I’ve started running a NYM mixnode. NYM is a project that targets improving privacy by decomposing network packages from different hosts, so that origin and target cannot be traced.


↺ How to run a NYM Validator · Pablo Iranzo Gómez’s blog


As said in the article about mixnodes, NYM is a technology aiming for providing privacy for the communications.


Apart of the mixnodes, other key piece in the infrastructure are the validators.


As said, the project uses Open Source technology to run, and they have a nice docs with details on how to run a node at https://nymtech.net/docs/, and the one relevant for mixnodes at https://nymtech.net/docs/run-nym-nodes/validators/.


In this case, we can follow the instructions for compiling, but I faced some issues (compiling went fine, but initial sync failed), so in this case, we will use the pre-compiled version provided with the 0.10.0 release.


↺ How to check if a system is virtual · Pablo Iranzo Gómez’s blog


I was improving a playbook in Ansible and wanted to find a way to find if a system was virtual or not to decide about some tunning like setting tuned-adm profile virtual-guest or disable the power off when the lid is closed.


↺ How to install Krita on Deepin 20.2


Today we are going to look at how to install the latest version of Krita on Deepin 20.2. As seen in the video, a person updates the repositories of our system, install flaptak, add the flathub repository, install Flowblad, and then reboot your computer. Enjoy!


↺ How to cast video from Android to Linux | FOSS Linux


There are many apps and tools out there that will help you cast your Android screen to your Linux PC. However, the main problem is that it only mirrors what’s on the screen and not the audio. This can be an issue if you are trying to cast video from Android, which requires you to forward both video and audio.


Also, the tools that do let you effectively cast video (including its audio) from your Android device to your Linux PC either require a rooted Android phone or suffers from latency issues. And if not that, then it’s a premium tool and requires you to pay money.


But it’s Linux we are talking about! Ain’t there a free and open-source tool that will help us cast video and forward audio from Android to Linux?


↺ What is the OSI model?


Today I tweeted something about how the OSI model doesn’t correspond well to the reality of how TCP/IP works and it made me think – what is the OSI model, exactly?


↺ How to set up an MP4 video player on Ubuntu


Are you new to Ubuntu? Trying to figure out how to play an MP4 video on your Ubuntu desktop but don’t know what video player to use or how to do it? We can help! Follow along as we show you how to set up an MP4 video player on Ubuntu!


↺ How to Fix Bluetooth Connectivity Issues in Ubuntu Linux


Although Ubuntu Linux is a stable and robust operating system, sometimes Bluetooth connections with external devices do not work properly.


If you have been using Bluetooth devices on your computer, you might have noticed that you need to reconnect your Bluetooth devices whenever the computer wakes up from sleep or hibernation. And that’s just one problem to speak of.


This guide will show you how to fix common Bluetooth connectivity issues on Ubuntu Linux so that you do not have to reconnect Bluetooth devices whenever you want to work on your PC.


↺ How To Use Nmap – A Comprehensive Guide: Basics To Advanced


Nmap is a free and open-source network discovery and security audit tool. Nmap stands for “Network Mapper“.


Whether you are a network engineer or a penetration tester, Nmap is one of the most important tools in your arsenal.


Games


↺ Godot Engine – Announcing Go Godot Jam


Meet Adrian, a game developer from Stockholm, Sweden. He co-organises Go Godot Jam, a one-month long community festival with a game jam included. Adrian answered a few questions.


[...]


Godot is a great game engine that unlocks possibilities for game developers. It is a free, open-source 2D and 3D engine that provides many features so that you can focus on your game.


Yet most people start developing games with proprietary engines such as Unity or Unreal. They are solid engines with a proven track record and a vibrant ecosystem. One advantage having experience with more than one engine can enable people to create better games. In the end, it’s up to each individual to pick the one that they’ll be most comfortable with to fulfil their creative vision.


I know that Godot has a lot to offer to new developers, with a distinctive approach to game development which enables more people to express their creativity. It’s open, focused on user-friendliness, easy to learn, yet feature-packed and a great fit for many types of games. As such, I want to increase awareness of the engine so that more users decide to try it out and add it to their toolset.


↺ Try out the new teaser for Drova – Forsaken Kin, an upcoming 2D action RPG


After already being available on itch.io, the free teaser for Drova – Forsaken Kin is now available on Steam and it’s been upgraded for the new release.


“Drova – Forsaken Kin is an Action Based RPG filled with handcrafted open world adventures inspired by the much renowned Gothic game series. A society has discovered the power of a dead empire: to capture the spirits that govern nature and rule over them instead. However, the anger of the remaining spirits divided them. Where will you stand?”


Distributions


Reviews


↺ Bodhi Linux 6.0 livestream Distro Review


In this live stream, we took a look at the new release of Bodhi Linux – live! There were some technical difficulties, and some rough edges, but it was a fun experience for sure. Check out Bodhi Linux, it’s an interesting distribution for sure.


New Releases


↺ Bodhi Linux 6.0 Released, This is What’s New


A new version of Bodhi Linux is available to download, based on the Ubuntu 20.04.2 point release.


As well as offering a newer version of the Linux kernel, Bodhi Linux 6.0 carries a commendable crop of changes. This includes several major improvements to distro’s distinctive Moksha desktop, plus important bug fixes, theme tweaks, and more.


Keep reading for more more detail on what’s new in Bodhi 6.0, or skip straight to the download section to grab one of the three .iso images that are available so you can road-test the system for yourself.


BSD


↺ NomadBSD 130R-20210508 is now available!


We are pleased to present the release of NomadBSD 130R-20210508.


IBM/Red Hat/Fedora


↺ IBM leapfrogs everyone with its 2nm chips


As TSMC charges to 5nm transistor designs and Intel struggles for 7nm, IBM has topped them all with the world’s first 2-nanometer node chip.


OK, it won’t come to market for four years, according to IBM, and they might not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of processor design, but they are the quiet power in the semiconductor world.


↺ IBM Exec: ‘There’s Never Been A Better Time To Be’ A Partner


IBM GMs David La Rose and Evaristus Mainsah told CRN about channel partner-focused announcements at the tech giant’s Think 2021 conference, including a new competency framework for partners, message acceleration workshops to help partners with marketing and expansion of Cloud Engagement Funds for multiple partner types.


↺ What CIOs and CMOs can learn from each other


It used to be that CIOs were strictly concerned with the technical nuts and bolts of product development. That’s no longer the case. With IT becoming more of a revenue driver for organizations, CIOs are asking their teams to take a customer-first approach to application development and design.


What customers want and how they get it can change quickly. The problem is, what customers want and how they get it can change quickly. For example, a person’s buying patterns during the holidays are probably different in the spring. How they buy can change, too, sometimes during a single transaction – for instance, a person might start a purchase on their desktop PC but eventually click “buy” on their mobile device.


Customers are complicated. Your team needs help developing applications that meet customers wherever they are on their buying journey. And you need help creating a truly customer-centric IT organization.


↺ Digital transformation: 4 ways to build in security


But just because it’s essential doesn’t mean it’s easy. Change is hard, and successful digital transformation takes a village – from the IT partners and internal staff who help implement the tools to executives communicating the efforts to the team members interfacing with the new technology each day.


While migrating to new systems and following new protocols is hard enough, there’s another vital part of digital transformation strategy that often gets overlooked. While setting up infrastructure and training employees is typically the main focus, securing these new and exciting projects can sometimes take a back seat.


Debian Family


↺ Mirror in USA


There is a new repo mirror available for Sparkers, located in Chicago, USA.


Canonical/Ubuntu Family


↺ You Can Now Upgrade Ubuntu 20.10 to Ubuntu 21.04, Here’s How


Upgrades from Ubuntu 20.10 to Ubuntu 21.04 were blocked until today (May 11th) due to a bug that made some systems to end up in an unbootable state if they use EFI 1.10. An updated shim version was released today, which is compatible with EFI 1.10, to make upgrades from Ubuntu 20.10 to Ubuntu 21.04 possible.


Dubbed Hiruste Hippo, Ubuntu 21.04 introduces numerous new features and improvements, such as a newer kernel (Linux 5.11), the Wayland session enabled by default, GNOME 40 apps, and updated internals to some of the most recent GNU/Linux technologies.


↺ Ubuntu 21.04 (Hirsute Hippo) Gets Its First Kernel Security Patch, Update Now


Ubuntu 21.04 was released three weeks ago and ships with the Linux 5.11 kernel series by default, which has now been patched by the Ubuntu Kernel Team against three recently discovered security vulnerabilities.


These include CVE-2021-3489 and CVE-2021-3490, two vulnerabilities discovered by Ryota Shiga and Manfred Paul respectively in Linux kernel’s eBPF implementation. Both of these security issues could allow a local attacker to crash the system by causing a denial of service (DoS attack) or execute arbitrary code.


↺ Kubuntu and Other Ubuntu 18.04 Flavours Reached End of Life


Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is supported until April 2023, but the flavours finally reached the end of life in May 2021.


This includes popular flavors like Kubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu MATE, and others.


In case you do not know, usually, the Ubuntu flavours get 3 year support in a row while Ubuntu’s official release gets 5 years of support.


[...]


While you can already find bleeding edge versions available for some flavors like Ubuntu MATE 21.04, the next best option for users with Ubuntu 18.04 flavors is to upgrade to another flavor based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.


Of course, considering this is already 2021, you will have two more years of support for them.


If you are aiming for something with a long term support cycle, you may want to stick to the official Ubuntu release, or you can choose Linux Mint over Ubuntu for a similar support cycle.


If you have a 32-bit installation, you will have to opt for a fresh installation of any latest Ubuntu release/Ubuntu-based distro of your choice.


If you have a 62-bit installation on board, you can choose to upgrade your flavor to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS base release.


Devices/Embedded


↺ Guest Post: In Linux smartphones we trust


What would have been inconceivable just a few years ago is now a reality – there are two mainline Linux phones on the market. The PinePhone from Pine64 and Librem 5 from Purism don’t use old and SoC-specific Android kernels, nor do they rely on binary blobs to enable core device functionality.


While PINE64 and Purism may have been the first to the market with their respective devices, I have reasons to believe they won’t be the last. Interest in these devices is steadily growing and people outside the Linux community are now taking notice. To me it looks like something more than a temporary fad – I don’t want to jinx it, but I think Linux smartphones are here to stay.


↺ Automotive – A bumpy ride ahead.


Automotive is going through one of the biggest transformations among all industries. Since its inception, for decades, it focused on hardware and horsepower. Now, the entire sector needs to reconsider the supply chain ties, the relationships with customers and the way vehicles are being produced. Not too dissimilar to what we witnessed with mobile telephony moving from handset form-factors to user interfaces, the battleground in automotive is becoming defined by software.


↺ Embedded MXM modules are first to load Nvidia Turing GPUs


Adlink announced the first MXM 3.1 modules with Nvidia Turing GPUs, ranging from the Quadro T1000 to the RTX5000. Aimed at edge AI applications, the modules are only a fifth the size of a PCIe card.


Adlink announced three PCIe graphics expansion modules that adopt the compact, PCIe x16-enabled MXM 3.1 form-factor: the EGX-MXM-T1000 with Nvidia’s Quadro Embedded T1000, the EGX-MXM-RTX3000 with the Quadro Embedded RTX3000, and the EGX-MXM-RTX5000 with the Quadro Embedded RTX5000. The Nvidia collaboration represents the first time such high-level graphics have been available on MXM (Mobile PCI Express Module).


[...]


Linux and Windows drivers are available.


↺ MontaVista Launches a Migration-Free Support Program for Yocto Baselines


MontaVista® Software, LLC, a leader in commercial Embedded Linux® products and services, today announced the availability of “MVShield for Yocto,” a professional services offering to support customer’s Linux distribution created with Yocto Project software, giving access to industry-leading support and maintenance services without any migration effort to commercial Linux baselines. MontaVista will maintain and support the customer’s specific Yocto Project created Linux distribution.


↺ Gateworks GW7200 Dual Gigabit Ethernet industrial SBC, also supports WiFi, Cellular, and GPS


Gateworks GW7200 is a versatile dual Gigabit Ethernet industrial single board computer with an NXP i.MX8M Mini processor, 1GB to 4GB of RAM, mini PCIe expansion sockets for wireless connectivity, serial interfaces, industrial temperature range, wide range input voltage, and long-term supply.


The board should be a better match to projects with industrial requirements, for example, an industrial IoT gateway than lower-cost dual GbE alternatives such as NanoPi R2S or Raspberry Pi CM4 IoT Router Carrier Board Mini.


[...]


The company provides an Ubuntu Linux Board Support Package (BSP) for the board. The made-in-the-USA single board computer is part of the Gateworks 7th generation Venice family of rugged and industrial single board computers and targets small embedded applications such as IoT Gateways, Machine Learning, digital signage, and robotics. You’ll find hardware and software documentation in the Wiki.


Open Hardware/Modding


↺ This pendulum POV clock uses a Nixie tube to plot the time as it swings | Arduino Blog


Clock pendulums are generally mechanical devices that time each second as it ticks away, but do little else. Jason Oeve’s concept, however, places the face itself – a single IN-12B Nixie tube – onto its large wooden pendulum. As it swings back and forth, four digits are progressively displayed on the tube for a unique timepiece.


An Arduino Nano is the brains of the operation, along with an RTC module and an accelerometer that senses the pendulum’s position. When it’s straight up and down, an electromagnetic coil gives it a boost, keeping it ticking along “forever.”


Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications


↺ Why Android 12 (Not iOS 15) Will Be The Best Smartphone Update Of 2021


↺ Nokia Android 11 schedule slips and pushes back devices – 9to5Google


↺ OnePlus 7, 7T series plagued with problems after Android 11 update


↺ Samsung Galaxy A12, Galaxy A02s Receiving Android 11-Based One UI 3.1 Update: Reports | Technology News


↺ Samsung issues warning to all Galaxy owners – check for this update NOW | Express.co.uk


↺ PUBG Mobile 1.4 update for Android: APK+OBB download link for worldwide users


↺ Best Android Operating System in 2021? – Android OS


↺ 5 best free Android games like GTA 5 for 2 GB RAM smartphones in May 2021


↺ What Is RCS Messaging on Android and How Do I Use It?


↺ How to change the default Android Home Screen launcher – Phandroid


↺ Meet The Android Automotive OS – PC Perspective


↺ Sunyard i80 Android Mobile Payment Terminal


↺ Google Assistant Could Be Soon Summoned With Power Button in Android Phones | Technology News


↺ Webinar on Introduction to Android Studio to be held on Wednesday


Free, Libre, and Open Source Software


↺ ‘I’m Possibly Alive Because It Exists:’ Why Sleep Apnea Patients Rely on a CPAP Machine Hacker


Christy Lynn was tired all the time, and, after months of trying to diagnose the problem, one of her doctors thought they’d figured out why.


“I didn’t fit any of the descriptions for sleep apnea,” she told me on a phone call. “I’m a woman, I wasn’t overweight. No one would have thought to test me, except I was seeing a doctor who had a similar medical history.”


Lynn, who lives in rural Arizona, did an at-home oximetry test, which tests blood oxygen levels, and then a sleep study. She was diagnosed with a difficult-to-treat form of sleep apnea, a disorder in which patients suddenly stop breathing for periods of time while they sleep that most often affects overweight men. She was given a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine and face mask—which blows air down a patient’s windpipe to keep the airways open—and sent home.


But a year-and-a-half and three sleep doctors later, her symptoms hadn’t improved. Her Apnoea-Hypopnea Index (AHI), which refers to the number of times she stopped breathing per night, was “horrible.”


↺ AV1 Decoder dav1d Lands 10-bit AVX2 Assembly For Big Speed-Up, Thanks Facebook + Netflix


For those making use of 10-bit AV1 content and using dav1d as the performant CPU-based decoder, the performance on modern Intel and AMD processors is about to be a heck of a lot better.


↺ 6 start-to-finish guides to deploying open source technology at your organization


There are a lot of reasons to deploy open-source operating systems and software: A large community of people helping to constantly improve it, it’s free, and you can even participate in its improvement.


Open source does come with a bit of a catch, though: You’ll need to do a lot of legwork yourself that is often automated when using paid products. When done correctly, however, open source operating systems like Linux, database software like MariaDB, and automation software like Kubernetes can be invaluable to an organization.


These TechRepublic Premium start to finish guides by TechRepublic’s open-source expert Jack Wallen will help you get started with invaluable open-source tools without the headache.


Web Browsers


Mozilla


↺ Peace of mind browser add-ons for Firefox


The web can be as wonderful as it is overwhelming. Fortunately there are ways you can customize Firefox with add-ons to achieve a more harmonious browsing experience. Here are a few examples—from soothing visual enhancements to great tools for mental clarity and peace of mind.


SaaS/Back End/Databases


↺ insideBIGDATA Latest News – 5/11/2021


Percona, a leader in open source database software and services, announced a preview of its 100% open source Database as a Service (DBaaS), which eliminates vendor lock-in and enables users to maintain control of their data. As an alternative to public cloud and large enterprise database vendor DBaaS offerings, this on-demand self-service option provides users with a convenient and simple way to deploy databases quickly. Plus, using Percona Kubernetes Operators means it is possible to configure a database once, and deploy it anywhere.


FSF


GNU Projects


↺ GNU Guix 1.3.0 released


We are pleased to announce the release of GNU Guix version 1.3.0!


The release comes with ISO-9660 installation images, a virtual machine image, and with tarballs to install the package manager on top of your GNU/Linux distro, either from source or from binaries. Guix users can update by running guix pull.


It’s been almost 6 months since the last release, during which 212 people contributed code and packages, and a number of people contributed to other important tasks—code review, system administration, translation, web site updates, Outreachy mentoring, and more.


There’s been more than 8,300 commits in that time frame, which we’ll humbly try to summarize in these release notes.


↺ Request to reinstate project: m4-1.4.18b.pot


Programming/Development


↺ Paul E. Mc Kenney: Stupid RCU Tricks: Which tests do I run???


The rcutorture test suite has quite a few options, including locktorture, rcuscale, refscale, and scftorture in addition to rcutorture itself. These tests can be run with the assistance of either KASAN or KCSAN. Given that RCU contains kernel modules, there is the occasional need for an allmodconfig build. Testing of kvfree_rcu() is currently a special case of rcuscale. Some care is required to adapt some of the tests to the test system, for example, based on the number of available CPUs. Both rcuscale and refscale have varying numbers of primitives that they test, so how to keep up with the inevitable additions and deletions? How much time should be devoted to each of locktorture, scftorture, and rcutorture, which, in contrast with rcuscale and refscale, do not have natural accuracy-driven durations? And finally, if you do run all of these things, you end up with about 100 gigabytes of test artifacts scattered across more than 50 date-stamped directories in tools/testing/selftests/rcutorture/bin/res.


Back in the old days, I kept mental track of the -rcu tree and ran the tests appropriate to whatever was queued there. This strategy broke down in late 2020 due to family health issues (everyone is now fine, thank you!), resulting in a couple of embarrassing escapes. Some additional automation was clearly required.


↺ Linux X86 Assembly – How to Build a Hello World Program in GAS


Rust


↺ The Rust Programming Language Blog: The Plan for the Rust 2021 Edition


We are happy to announce that the third edition of the Rust language, Rust 2021, is scheduled for release in October. Rust 2021 contains a number of small changes that are nonetheless expected to make a significant improvement to how Rust feels in practice.


What is an Edition?


The release of Rust 1.0 established “stability without stagnation” as a core Rust deliverable. Ever since the 1.0 release, the rule for Rust has been that once a feature has been released on stable, we are committed to supporting that feature for all future releases.


There are times, however, when it is useful to be able to make small changes to the language that are not backwards compatible. The most obvious example is introducing a new keyword, which would invalidate variables with the same name. For example, the first version of Rust did not have the async and await keywords. Suddenly changing those words to keywords in a later version would’ve broken code like let async = 1;.


Editions are the mechanism we use to solve this problem. When we want to release a feature that would otherwise be backwards incompatible, we do so as part of a new Rust edition. Editions are opt-in, and so existing crates do not see these changes until they explicitly migrate over to the new edition. This means that even the latest version of Rust will still not treat async as a keyword, unless edition 2018 or later is chosen. This choice is made per crate as part of its Cargo.toml. New crates created by cargo new are always configured to use the latest stable edition.


Leftovers


Integrity/Availability


Proprietary


Pseudo-Open Source


Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)


↺ Microsoft brings Threat and Vulnerability Management capability to Linux


↺ Porting Linux’s eBPF to Windows 10 and Windows Server


In Linux circles, eBPF has evolved into a powerful tool for running sandboxed userspace programs inside the kernel. Now, Microsoft is working on porting eBPF to Windows as well.


↺ Making eBPF work on Windows (Microsoft Open Source Blog)


The Microsoft Open Source Blog takes a look at implementing eBPF support in Windows


↺ Microsoft embraces Linux kernel’s eBPF super-tool, extends it for Windows


Microsoft on Monday launched an open source project to make a Linux kernel tool known as eBPF, short for Extended Berkeley Packet Filter, work on Windows.


Inspired by network packet filtering and capture software dubbed Berkeley Packet Filter, eBPF is a register-based virtual machine designed to run custom 64-bit RISC-like architecture via just-in-time compilation inside the Linux kernel. As such, eBPF programs are particularly well-situated for debugging and system analysis, such as tracing file system and registry calls.


Security


↺ ISTIO-SECURITY-2021-006


Istio contains a remotely exploitable vulnerability where an external client can access unexpected services in the cluster, bypassing authorization checks, when a gateway is configured with AUTO_PASSTHROUGH routing configuration.


↺ ISTIO-SECURITY-2021-005


Istio contains a remotely exploitable vulnerability where an HTTP request path with multiple slashes or escaped slash characters (%2F or %5C) could potentially bypass an Istio authorization policy when path based authorization rules are used. Related Envoy CVE: CVE-2021-29492.


↺ Announcing Istio 1.9.5


This release fixes the security vulnerabilities described in our May 11th posts, ISTIO-SECURITY-2021-005 and ISTIO-SECURITY-2021-006.


↺ Announcing Istio 1.8.6


This release fixes the security vulnerabilities described in our May 11th posts, ISTIO-SECURITY-2021-005 and ISTIO-SECURITY-2021-006.


↺ Six cyber security tips to keep your workspace safe


It’s not a secret to anyone that maleficent software is very prevalent across the Internet these days, and navigating with your guard down is cyber suicide. Although there may not be such a thing as 100% protection, there are plenty of useful measures you can take to reduce the risk of getting your computer hacked.


↺ The 13 Most Essential Books for Data Protection Officers


Data protection is a broad field encompassing backup and disaster recovery, data storage, business continuity, cybersecurity, endpoint management, data privacy, and data loss prevention. Data protection software becomes more crucial as the amount of data an enterprise creates and stores continues to grow at ever-increasing rates. This makes the role of a data protection officer essential in today’s technological landscape.


There are plenty of free resources available online (such as Solutions Review’s Data Protection Buyer’s Guide, Backup and Disaster Recovery Guide, DRaaS Buyer’s Guide, Data Protection Vendor Comparison Map, and best practices section), but sometimes it’s best to do things the old-fashioned way. There are few resources that can match the in-depth, comprehensive detail of a book targeted specifically at data protection officers.


↺ Mac, Linux and Windows machines need to update Google Chrome


Google has pushed out a new update for Chrome, its browser, again. The update, 90.0.4430.212, went live on May 10, and typically these new systems are automatically installed, or Google lights up your browser with a color-coded indicator at the top right.


This update, however, is not necessarily showing up that way, and instead right now may


Monopolies


↺ Bill and Melinda Gates divorce: Split in the works since 2019, one factor was Epstein connection, WSJ reports


↺ Pentagon May Axe Microsoft JEDI Contract Amid Amazon Litigation: WSJ


Patents


↺ [Older] Report reveals a dip in patent applications in Europe, but a rebound is likely


↺ Introducing our EP Validations Portal


The management of EP validations requires expertise in both European patent law and associated formalities, including translations. Novagraaf’s EP validation services give customers peace of mind that their patent portfolios are being safely and cost-effectively maintained, while our new EP Validations Portal provides customers of Novagraaf and NovumIP with a single access point for all EP data.


↺ IP legal expert Roche to lead Secerna Dublin office


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A member of numerous patent advisory boards and panels, including the Standing Advisory Committee before the European Patent Office (SACEPO) working parties on Guidelines and e-Patent Process, Dermot Roche also sits on the European Patent Institute (EPI) Council and EPI Harmonisation Committee.


↺ Fed. Circ. Appeal Dropped Challenging Albright’s Comments


Vulcan Industrial Manufacturing and Kerr Machine Co. have resolved a yearlong patent dispute, dropping their appeal in the Federal Circuit over Western District of Texas Judge Alan D. Albright’s refusal to pause…


Software Patents


↺ $1,250 Awarded for FireNet Technologies prior art


Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Euclid Woo, who received a cash prize of $1,250 for his prior art submission for U.S. Patent 7,739,302. The patent is owned by FireNet Technologies, LLC, an NPE and entity of IPinvestments Group. The ’302 patent relates to firewalls for protecting network attached devices and was being asserted against Kemp Technologies, Fortinet, Citrix, A10 Networks, and Fujitsu.


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