● 07.01.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 01/07/2023: FSF Pushing Swag, Microsoft Has More Trouble

Posted in News Roundup at 12:29 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Audiocasts/Shows

• Bill provides a review of Kubuntu, how easy it was to install, and how well it might fit for a computer user new to Linux. 00:00 Going Linux #442 · Welcome to Linux! Kubuntu 00:60 Chat GPT 05:15 Kubuntu 10:19 Why choose Kubuntu?

• We have a new show host, Understanding ZFS vdev Types, Don’t abuse su for dropping user privileges, Dynamic Tracing on OpenBSD 7.3, new Libressl, Manual Jails on FreeBSD 12, and more

• First up in the news, Mint 21.2 betas have been released, Debian 13 gets a name, Ardour 7.5 does remaps, RHEL goes closed-source, and Opera One ships with AI

• In security and privacy, Tsunami comes to SSH

• Then in our Wanderings Joe goes on a little trip, Moss musics, and Majid has toys

• Download

Applications

• Fluent Reader is a desktop news reader application. It’s built using Electron. Here’s our review of the application.

• Entering emoji in Linux apps isn’t quite as efficient as it on rival OSes – but it’s improving, helped in part by the emergence of third-party apps.

Instructionals/Technical

• This article spotlights alternative tools to make, a utility which controls the generation of executables and other non-source files.

• Spoiler alert! This references details for my GopherCon EU talk Reaching the Unix Philosophy’s Logical Conclusion with WebAssembly. This may ruin some of the cosmic horror feeling that I tried to inspire in the audience by gradually revealing the moving parts and then crashing them all together into one “oh, oh god, why, no” feeling when the live demo happened. My talk page and the video will go up in August.

• For obscure reasons, I have found myself with a phone number registered with Signal but without any device associated with it.

• The GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) is one of the most important programs available today, as it allows you to create your own digital identity and establish encrypted communications online.

• This article will show how you can get started with GPG in Linux using Kleopatra and send your first encrypted message over the internet.

• The single most frequent question I get asked about Kubernetes is regarding the number of Control Plane nodes. Sometimes it is out of curiosity for the “unusual number”; other times, it is plainly confrontational since the person would prefer a different number, which usually is 2.

• The first thing to understand is that there are a couple of reasons to choose a certain number of Kubernetes Control Plane nodes over another, and those are: [...]

Distributions and Operating Systems

• How about that, a bug that has existed from 2018, nobody reported it. I was responding to don570 here:

• https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=9036

• …as explained PKGget automatically creates the entries when you right-click on a file.

• Puppy Linux does not have this automatic management o mime-handling, so those coming from a Puppy background, like don570, will not know what is going on.

• Actually, what PKGget does is call /usr/sbin/build-rox-sendto, which creates the entries in the right-click menu.

New Releases

• Powered by Liquorix kernel 6.3.9, Nitrux 2.9 ships with the most up-to-date Plasma 5.27.6, MauiKit 3.0, and CLI AppImage command-line manager.

• Ah, it’s that time again folks. Nitrux, the up-and-coming Linux distro, is back with its newest update, Nitrux 2.9.0 “nu.” While Microsoft might still be stumbling around trying to recover from their latest Windows mishaps, Nitrux is already picking up the pace and setting new standards in the world of operating systems. Unlike the cluttered and often confusing Windows Update system, the “nu” in Nitrux 2.9.0′s codename refers to the new “Nitrux Update System Tool.” And it’s here to make your life easier. This isn’t some random, untested, and buggy update tool Microsoft likes to force on its users.

SUSE/OpenSUSE

• Guest blog – Inside the partnership: Flooid and SUSE Retailers moving to the ‘store of the future’ require new levels of speed, flexibility and open innovation, without compromising on security or performance.

• In today’s digital environment, the importance of trust has taken center stage. As more businesses shift from traditional data center infrastructure to cloud and containerized environments, Digital Trust becomes more than just a buzzword; it’s an absolute necessity.

Fedora Family / IBM

• At Meta, we use sample-based profiling with perf to guide performance optimization work – otherwise we would need even more servers than the ones we already have! This 2018 engineering blog post on BOLT is still highly relevant.

• For a primer on perf, I highly recommend reading Brendan Gregg’s perf examples page.

• SystemTap is a tool that streamlines the gathering of real-time information about a running Linux system. It can probe and even modify running processes in both the user and kernel spaces, so you can easily monitor your programs without recompiling and installing tools on your system. It also provides many tapsets, or prewritten libraries that aid in these tasks.

• But to a beginner, SystemTap can be overwhelming, and it can be said that with this great power comes an equally great learning curve. To solve this issue, we’ve introduced an interactive, beginner-friendly interface called ISystemTap.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

• We’re happy to announce that snapcraft.io has a fresh, new look! Time for an update After keeping the same user interface and style for several years, we embarked on a project to redesign snapcraft.io and give it a more modern look. We spent a lot of time analysing how we could improve the store and […]

• Range anxiety refers to the fear of running out of battery while driving. Of course, with more range or more charging stations, range anxiety decreases. Unfortunately, most countries lack EV charging infrastructure that meets consumer expectations.

Devices/Embedded

• Popcorn Computer’s Popstick may look like a USB flash drive, but it’s actually a USB computer running Linux on an Allwinner F1C200s ARM9 processor with 64MB RAM on-chip. The PopStick support USB gadget mode so it can appear as all sort of USB devices such as a scriptable USB Keyboard and Mouse, a mass storage device, or even an Ethernet-connected computer using USB Ethernet which you can access with SSH.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

• Welcome to XFone Mobile, the ultimate destination for Linux enthusiasts and programmers seeking powerful Linux phones. With over a decade of experience running Ubuntu Linux for our software business, XFone Mobile stands as a trusted authority in delivering top-notch Linux devices that cater to your specific needs.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

• Horizontal lines are important visual elements in LibreOffice or OpenOffice Writer documents. A well-defined line can improve the readability of a document by separating blocks of text or paragraphs.

• Here’s how you can add them.

• Here’s our summary of updates, events and activities in the LibreOffice project in the last four weeks – click the links to learn more… We started June by announcing the LibreOffice Conf Asia x UbuCon Asia 2023, in Indonesia, an event that brings together Linux and Open Source Software (OSS) activists, contributors, users, communities [...]

FSF

Programming/Development

• YouTube gave me the video “Finding the BEST sine function for Nintendo 64” yesterday, and while I thought the title was very intriguing, I came away a bit disappointed; the video is hardly about the specifics of Nintendo 64 at all, and the author mostly spends time comparing straight-up LUTs with some hand-made splines under a proxy metric (no real comparative benchmarks, hardly any numerics).

Python

• The “statistics.stdev()” method of the “statistics” module is used to determine the standard deviation of a sample of data in Python.

• Python “setattr()” function sets the specified object’s attribute value. This function creates an attribute that does not present and assigns a value

• The set.intersection_update()” method is utilized in Python to remove/eliminate the uncommon items from all the given sets.

• The “string.encode()” method is utilized to encode a specified string into a sequence of bytes based on the particular encoding.

• The “self” is a reference to the current instance of the class and is used to access variables and functions that belong to the class.

• The “os.path.isdir()” method of the “os” module is used to check whether a given/specified path is an existing directory or not.

• The “nonlocal keyword” is used to work with variables inside nested functions, where the variable should not belong to the inner function.

• The “enumerate()” function is utilized in Python to count the elements of the specified iterable and returns the count and the item together.

• The “random.seed()” method reproduces the random function result again and again, as this function initializes the pseudo-random number generator of Python.

• The built-in Python “issubclass()” function is utilized to verify whether the particular class is the subclass of another particular class.

• The “for” loop, “* Operator”, “List Comprehension” technique, and “join()” method is employed to print the list in Python.

• The Python “string.islower()” method checks whether the string contains all lowercase letters or at least one uppercase letter by retrieving “True” and “False”.

• The “os.path.split()” method of the “os” module is used to split/separate a specified path and return a tuple containing the head and tail of the path.

• The “string.splitlines()” method in Python splits or breaks the given string at line break and retrieves the list object.

Leftovers

Hardware

• IDC said devices used to control lighting, thermostats, and home monitoring and security devices were expected to see high growth over the next five years, partly due to increased awareness of such devices and the growth of emerging markets.

• “The worldwide smart home market is witnessing uneven growth as some regions fare better than others,” said Adam Wright, research manager, Smart Home and Office Devices at IDC.

• “In more mature markets like the US, high installed bases of devices coupled with issues of under-utilisation, ongoing disruptions from supply chains, logistics issues, high inflation, and record high credit card debt have affected the market’s growth in 2022 and the first part of 2023 and are expected to continue to put downward pressure on the market for the foreseeable future.

• “But other regions that are earlier in their adoption curve like Latin America and parts of Asia/Pacific have a big opportunity for growth.”

• Everything goes round in cycles, including computer networking… but not always in rings. The most important networking system so far has vanquished all its loopy rivals for 50 years.

• Geoff Huston, the chief scientist of the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), posted a rather splendid potted history of Ethernet yesterday to commemorate its 50th birthday.

• It’s an information-dense essay and we would do it a disservice if we attempted to précis it for you. It spans from Ethernet’s origins as a cabled version of the University of Hawaii’s pioneering ALOHAnet wireless networking system, through 10base-5 (“Thick Ethernet”), then 10base-2 (“Thin Ethernet” or Cheapernet, which is about when The Reg FOSS Desk entered this business), then 10base-T over unshielded twisted-pair cabling… which turned into 100base-T (“Fast Ethernet”) and Gigabit.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

• Aspartame, one of the most widely used artificial sweeteners in the world, is set to be classified as a possible carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a leading global health body. This decision, expected to be announced in July, has sparked a contentious debate between the food industry, regulators, and health organizations.

Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• A California based law firm Clarkson Law Firm has filed a class lawsuit on behalf of 16 plaintiffs against OpenAI. The lawsuit accuses ChatGPT’s parent company of illegally scrapping the data from internet to train ChatGPT. It alleges that OpenAI trained ChatGPT using data collected from millions of social media comments, blog posts and Wikipedia articles without seeking proper consent from them. Although this lawsuit is still in its initial stages, if these allegations are proven true then OpenAI will have to pay hefty fine amounting to billions of dollars. Even though OpenAI has become a global sensation, it continues to face mounting pressure over data privacy.

• A newly filed class-action lawsuit claims that OpenAI LP collected personal information belonging to millions of people without their permission. The complaint, which was submitted on Wednesday to a San Francisco federal court, also names Microsoft Corp. as a defendant.

• Some angry Microsoft employees reportedly blasted their boss Satya Nadella on Thursday after he shared a message touting a “landmark year” at the tech giant — even as executives withheld raises, announced 10,000 layoffs in January and scramble to salvage a $69 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard.

• Nadella lauded the company’s accomplishments in a missive shared on Microsoft’s internal message boards on Thursday — the last day of the company’s 2023 fiscal year, Insider reported.

• “As we approach the end of FY23, I want to express my sincere appreciation to everyone working hard across the company for a strong close,” Nadella wrote in the post.

• “The innovation and creativity you continue to show have made this a landmark year not just for Microsoft, but for our customers, partners, and communities around the world,” he added.

Security

• We have learned this lesson again:

• Researchers publish PoC for a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in the Arcserve UDP data backup solution.

• Less than three hours after the Medibank Group told iTWire it had not been affected by the ongoing ransomware attacks by the Cl0p group, the company told another media outlet that it had indeed been affected.

• Medibank data was stolen from a company that serves as the health insurer’s building manager, the Australian Financial Review reported at 12.11pm on 20 June.

• Details have been disclosed for critical SAP vulnerabilities, including a wormable exploit chain, that can expose organizations to attacks.

• The 8Base ransomware gang has hit roughly 30 small businesses over the past month, reaching a total of approximately 80 victims since March 2022.

• Energy giants Schneider Electric and Siemens Energy confirm being targeted by the Cl0p ransomware group in the campaign exploiting a MOVEit zero-day.

• Malicious applications with over 30,000 installs in Google Play have infected Android devices with the Anatsa banking trojan.

• Emails, phone numbers, calls logs, and collected messages stolen in data breach at Android stalkware LetMeSpy.

• The bank faces an investigation into concerns over governance and data security, HS reports.

Privacy/Surveillance

• We conducted the first analysis of WeChat’s tracking ecosystem. Using reverse engineering methods to intercept WeChat’s network requests, we identified exactly what types of data the WeChat app is sending to its servers, and when. This report is part one of a two-part series on a privacy and security analysis of the WeChat ecosystem.

• Jorja Siemons reports: L’Oréal USA Inc. has been hit with a lawsuit by an Illinois customer who said the company’s online “try-on” feature…

Defence/Aggression

• Poland is sending a contingent of special forces to Lithuania to protect NATO’s summit in Vilnius in mid-July, the country’s National Security Bureau said on Thursday.

• Authorities said 150 people were arrested overnight after violent demonstrations erupted for a second night in a row, with protesters burning rubbish and clashing with security forces over the fatal police shooting of a teenager. French President Emmanuel Macron has convened crisis talks for Thursday morning.

War in Ukraine

• The Polish authorities will strengthen the defenses on the country’s eastern border in response to the transfer of Wagner Group forces to Belarus, Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński has announced.

Environment

Wildlife/Nature

• Firefighters in Canada are now battling 497 active wildfires across the country after 31 new blazes ignited, according to the latest data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

Finance

• Big banks are telling Canadians to get used to high food prices. But there’s nothing natural about inflated prices

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

• A few months ago, as Elon Musk took over Twitter and instituted polices that alienated many people, some of these people fled towards federated, free software platforms like Mastodon. Many people found a new home here, but there is a certain class of refugee who has not found it to their liking.

Censorship/Free Speech

• Dangerous pieces of legislation have been introduced at the federal and state levels under the guise of protecting children online from exploitation and other online harms. Despite their claimed intent, these bills will make children, and everyone who uses the internet, less safe. The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) Act has been reintroduced in Congress for the third time despite the concerns of numerous cybersecurity and technology experts, LGBTQ+ and civil rights advocates, and other groups. Opponents of EARN IT argue that increased surveillance and censorship and the dismantling of end-to-end encryption make the online world more dangerous and limit the right to free speech and privacy for everyone.

• Belarusian Committee of State Security (KGB) has added imprisoned journalist Henadz Mazheyka to its list of alleged terrorists.

• Whilst local authorities promised the security law would only affect a small minority of people, few corners of the city’s social and political landscape have remained untouched by the multi-billion dollar clampdown.

• In the three years since the security law was enacted, Hong Kong saw books pulled from library shelves, newsroom raids, democrats behind bars, patriotic education in schools and over 60 civil society groups disappear.

Civil Rights/Policing

• An emerging alignment between the United Auto Workers and former President Trump over electric vehicles threatens to sour the longstanding alliance between the union and the Democratic Party.

• Why it matters: The UAW, representing more than 400,000 active workers, has long been a powerful force in progressive politics, serving as a Midwestern bulwark for Democrats.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

• Update: YouTube has now confirmed that this test is taking place.

• Update: June 30, 2023 (3:15 AM ET): YouTube has now confirmed that it is indeed testing a three-strikes policy for ad blocking on its platform. You can read more details, including how it works, over here.

• YouTube confirmed to The Verge that it’s currently running “a small experiment globally that urges viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium.”

Monopolies

• The CMA said Adobe has five working days to submit solutions to satisfy its concerns about competition and innovation in the design sector.

• Canada’s regulatory authority has spoken up against the proposed Microsoft-Activision deal and has claimed that it might lead to reduced competition.

• Regulators and rivals all around the world have been fretting over Microsoft’s bid to buy Activision Blizzard, the maker of titles such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and the mobile game Candy Crush.

• Documents filed by antitrust regulators in a U.S. court this week have finally shed some light on one of the cloud computing industry’s biggest secrets: the true size of Microsoft Corp.’s Azure cloud business unit.

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