mwa - Slashdot User

Comment: Re:Homebrew (Score 1) 130

by mwa on Thursday December 24 2009, @07:45AM (#30543202) Attached to: Helping Perl Packagers Package Perl

Perl (and Ruby and Python) already have mature packaging systems and they really don't need to interact with each other.

False. Say you have libFoo and Perl, ruby and/or python wrappers installed via their "mature packaging systems." Now, libFoo has a critical security vulnerability that requires an updated package with an API change. The system package management tool will happily upgrade the library and break the wrappers you use for production.

There is no, sane way to use multiple software management tools effectively.

Comment: Re:At least the Perl crowd is trying, (Score 5, Insightful) 130

by mwa on Thursday December 24 2009, @07:36AM (#30543176) Attached to: Helping Perl Packagers Package Perl

easy_install works just like CPAN. Download and install stuff so the standard distribution software management tools are now worthless for:

1. Knowing what is installed on which production machines (basic software inventory)
2. Reporting packages with dependencies on a package with a newly reported security issue
3. Automatically upgrading to new releases
4. Easily rebuilding and deploying to multiple hosts on different architectures and different releases of distros (possibly different distros)
5. Managing dependency conflicts between different packages

and more that escape me right now because I haven't finished my coffee yet.

CPAN, easy_install and their ilk are wonderful for the developer that needs a bunch of stuff to get their application working. They are evil incarnate for the administrator that needs that application to work reliably and consistently on more that a couple of machines.

There is a huge difference between "easily installing stuff" and managing systems. The second you add anything that "works around" the standard way of doing things, whatever standard you've adopted, you've abandoned all hope of having standard operating procedures and consistent production management.

This is why systems administrators get so edgy... Every developer, user, language community, or whatever, thinks their little exception makes life easier. Exceptions don't scale.

Ok, they do scale. They evolve into chaos.

Obama admin opposing copyright exception for blind-> 1

Submitted by esme on Friday May 29 2009, @05:42AM

esme writes "Over at Boing Boing, there's a scoop on the Obama administration joining with other western countries to block a treaty that would create international standards for copyright exceptions for the blind and others who need technology to read. Activists at the WIPO negotiations are trying to get the word out that lobbying from publishers has caused the US, Canada, the EU, Australia, New Zealand, the Vatican and Norway to oppose the treaty."
Link to Original Source

Doctors Scan Photo ID for Treatment-> 0

Submitted by

Sherri Davidoff

on Thursday May 28 2009, @04:47PM

Sherri Davidoff writes "Spurred by the FTC's "Red Flags Rule," more health care clinics are requiring photo identification and storing high-resolution copies in their computer systems. Ironically, this probably puts patients at greater risk of identity theft, not less. From the article: "Walking into the doctor's office, I was surprised to see a new sign which read: 'Red Flag Identity Theft Rule: We are now required by law to ask for a Photo ID at the time of each visit. Please have your Photo ID ready for the receptionist to scan.' As an avid bicyclist, I wasn't carrying a driver's license. 'I'm sorry, we'll have to reschedule you,' said the receptionist.

"Everyone should have access to medical care- not just people who have registered with the government and obtained a photo ID. Furthermore, patients should have the right to health care without being forced to give up control of our personal information. As a patient, I don't really want a copy of my Photo ID stored on a crappy unpatched Windows box at my doctor's office. Today's patients do not even have the right to know how well doctor's offices and hospitals are secured, even in the face of constant reports of medical data breaches. That's sick.""
Link to Original Source

Wallpaper upload site faces DMCA trademark claim 0

Submitted by

Free Culture News

on Tuesday May 12 2009, @08:24PM

Free Culture News writes "Desktop Nexus, a wallpaper sharing site that you might recall was threatened by Toyota over user-created wallpapers a while ago, has received a trademark claim under the DMCA. Hanson Beverage Company, through the firm Continental Enterprises, sent Desktop Nexus a DMCA notice about wallpaper featuring Monster Energy Drink. After a second notification and a list of three more wallpapers flagged by the company for removal, Desktop Nexus removed the wallpapers. Before the second notice, Desktop Nexus asked for clarification on what actions the company was to take, as the original claim was not clear. The reply, which came after the removal of the wallpapers, claimed that trademark law, not copyright law, was the rationale for removal. The legality of this move is quite questionable, given that the DMCA is designed to deal with copyright infringement and not trademark infringement."