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Submission + - Is the Stable Linux Kernel Moving Too Fast? (eweek.com)

darthcamaro writes: Yesterday the stable Linux 3.10 kernel was updated twice — after an error was made forcing a quick re-issue. "What happened was that a patch that was reported to be broken during the RC [release candidate] review process, went into the release, because I mistakenly didn't pull it out in time," Greg Kroah-Hartman said.
The whole incident however is now sparking debate on the Linux Kernel Mailing List about the speed of stable Linux kernel releases. Are they moving too fast?

Submission + - Fedora Core Set to Be Reborn (eweek.com)

darthcamaro writes: At the first ever Fedora Flock conference this past weekend a proposal was put forward by developer Mat Miller, to re-architect Fedora with a core distribution, surrounded by layers of additional functionality for desktop, server and cloud. It's a proposal that Fedora Project Leader Robyn Bergeron is interested in too.

"How can we make Fedora be something that is modular enough to fit into all those different environments (device, desktop, server & cloud) , while still acknowledging that a one-size-fits-all approach isn't something that draws people into the project?" Bergeron said. "People want something that is specifically for them." -


Submission + - Apache Web Server Usage Falls Below 50 Percent - Or Does It? (eweek.com) 4

Submission + - WiFi Pineapple Hacking Device Sells Out at DEF CON (eweek.com)

darthcamaro writes: At the recent DEF CON conference over the weekend, vendor were selling all kinds of gear. But one device stood out from all the others, the WiFi Pineapple — an all in one WiFi hacking device that costs only $80 (a lot cheaper than a PwnPlug) and powered by a very vibrant open source community of users. Pineapple creator Darren Kitchen said that 1.2 Pineapple's per minute were sold on the first day of DEF CON (and then sold out). The Pineapple run it's own Linux, based on OpenWRT, is packed with open source tools including Karma, DNS Spoof, SSL Strip, URL Snarf, Ngrep and more and is powered by g a 400MHz Atheros AR9331 MIPS processor, 32MB of main memory and a complete 802.11 b/g/n stack.
Is this a tool that will be used for good — or for evil?

Submission + - NSA General Shouts Back At Black Hat Heckler (esecurityplanet.com)

darthcamaro writes: General Keith Alexander , the man behind the NSA's prism effort delivered a keynote at the Black Hat conference today. He attempted to set the record straight claiming what they do is all lawful and is saving American lives. During the keynote, General Alexander was heckled by someone in the audience that yelled out,"You should read the constitution."

The General responded, "I have and so should you."

Submission + - New Jersey Has Fastest Growth In the U.S for High Broadband Adoption. (enterprisenetworkingplanet.com)

darthcamaro writes: The U.S. is gaining ground in the global race for the fastest Internet broadband speeds. According to the latest Akamai State of the Internet report, the U.S. first quarter 2013 average broadband speed was 8.6 Mbps which is a 27 percent year-over-year increase. When it comes to high broadband access, with speeds of 10 Mbps or more, New Jersey is growing at yearly growth rate of 100 percent. Currently 45 percent of all Internet connections in the Garden State are 10 Mbps or higher.

Submission + - Female Kernel Dev Tells Linus Torvalds to Stop Using Threatening Language (internetnews.com) 1

darthcamaro writes: The Linux Kernel Development Mailing List can be a hostile place for anyone. It's an environment where foul language from Linus Torvalds is the norm and the tone of some conversations can be threatening. Now Intel developer Sarah Sharp is taking a stand and she wants the LKML to become a more civil place.

Seriously, guys? Is this what we need in order to get improve -stable? Linus Torvalds is advocating for physical intimidation and violence. Ingo Molnar and Linus are advocating for verbal abuse. Not *fucking* cool. Violence, whether it be physical intimidation, verbal threats or verbal abuse is not acceptable. Keep it professional on the mailing lists.


Submission + - Researchers now pulling out of DEF CON in response to anti-Fed position (secureideas.com)

darthcamaro writes: Earlier today it, /. had a story about DEF CON's position on not allowing U.S. Federal agents attend the annual hacking conference. We're now starting to see the backlash from the hacker community itself with at least two well respected hackers pulling out of the DEF CON speaking sessions so far.

The issue we are struggling with, and the basis of our decision, is that we feel strongly that DEF CON has always presented a neutral ground that encouraged open communication among the community, despite the industry background and diversity of motives to attend," Security research Kevin Johson wrote. "We believe the exclusion of the "feds" this year does the exact opposite at a critical time.


Submission + - Android Master Key Vulnerability Checker now Live (esecurityplanet.com)

darthcamaro writes: Last week, Rain Forrest Puppy (aka Jeff Forristal) first disclosed the initial public report about an Android Master Key flaw. Code was released earlier this week for attackers to exploit the flaw — but what about users? Google has claimed that it has patched the issue but how do you know if your phone/carrier is safe? Forristal's company now has an app for that. But even if your phone is not patched, don't be too worried that risks are limited if you still to a 'safe' app store like Google Play.

The only way an Android user can be attacked via this master key flaw is if they download a vulnerable application. "It all comes down to where you get your applications from," Forristal said.


Submission + - Xen 4.3 Released With New XSM-Flash Security (serverwatch.com)

darthcamaro writes: The Xen project is out with its first release as Linux Foundation Collaboration Project. Xen 4.3 can now scale up to 750 virtual CPUs and can support up to 5 TB in physical memory. The release also includes a tech preview of ARM and Open vSwitch support. On the security front, the new XSM-Flash capabilities could be a real game changer providing real granular level security controls (a la SELinux) to virtual machines.

"XSM allows administrators or developers to exert fine-grained control over a Xen domain and its capabilities, whereas SELinux provides that control over the kernels capabilities," Lars Kurth, community manager, Xen Project. "Specifically, XSM makes it possible to define permissible interactions between domains (VMs), the hypervisor itself, and related resources such as memory and devices. "


Submission + - Secure Boot Coming to SUSE Linux Servers (serverwatch.com)

darthcamaro writes: UEFI Secure Boot is a problem that only desktop users need to worry about right? Well kinda/sorta/maybe not. SUSE today is releasing SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 SP3 which will include for the first time — support for UEFI Secure Boot. Apparently SUSE sees market demand for Secure Boot on servers too.

Our market analysis shows that UEFI Secure Boot is a UEFI extension that does not only cover desktops, but might very well also be deployed and even required on server systems going forward," Matthias Eckermann, Senior Product Manager at SUSE said. /blockquoteL


Submission + - LibreOffice Calc Set to Get GPU Powered Boost from AMD (datamation.com)

darthcamaro writes: We all know that the open source LibreOffice Calc has been slow — forever and a day. That's soon going to change thanks to a major investment made by AMD into the Document Foundation. AMD is helping LibreOffice developers to re-factor Calc to be more performance and to be able to leverage the full power of GPUs and APUs.

"The reality has been that Calc has not been the fastest spreadsheet in the world," Suse Engineer Michael Meeks admitted. "Quite a large chunk of this refactoring is long overdue, so it's great to have the resources to do the work so that Calc will be a compelling spreadsheet in its own right."


Submission + - Subversion 1.8 Released But Will You Still Use Git? (developer.com)

darthcamaro writes: Remember back in the day when we all used CVS? Then we moved to SVN (subversion) but in the last three yrs or so everyone and their brother seems to have moved to Git, right? Well truth is Subversion is still going strong and just released version 1.8. While Git is still faster for some things, Greg Stein, the former chair of the Apache Software Foundation, figures SVN is better than Git at lots of things.

With Subversion, you can have a 1T repository and check out just a small portion of it, The developers don't need full copies," Stein explained. "Git shops typically have many, smaller repositories, while svn shops typically have a single repository, which eases administration, backup, etc."


Submission + - 1 Year After World IPv6 Launch - Are We There Yet? (enterprisenetworkingplanet.com)

darthcamaro writes: One year ago today was the the official 'Launch Day' of IPv6. The idea was that IPv6 would get turned on and stay on at major carriers and website. So where are we now? Only 1.27% of Google traffic comes from IPv6 and barely 12 percent of the Alexa Top 1000 sites are even accessible via IPv6. In general though, the Internet Society is pleased with the progress over the last year.

"The good news is that almost everywhere we look, IPv6 is increasing," Phil Roberts,technology program manager at the Internet Society said. "It seems to be me that it's now at the groundswell stage and it all looks like everything is up and to the right."


Submission + - If You Don't Get Your Way In an Open Source Project Do You Stay or Go? (enterprisenetworkingplanet.com)

darthcamaro writes: The largest open source effort in the history of networking is now facing its first big challenge — as one of the core founding member of the OpenDaylight Foundation is leaving. OpenDaylight is an effort led by the Linux Foundation to build open source Software Defined Networking tech. Big Switch, the founder of the open source Floodlight controller, didn't get everyone to adopt their approach so they are leaving. While Big Switch is trying to paint the story as open source vs goliath, the Linux Foundation's OpenDaylight people don't see it that way.

"In this case the developer community combined technology from multiple sources (including BSN), which the company obviously didn't like. Open source is based on compromise and working together. Sometimes strong motivations and investor goals can get in the way of that. In the spirit of open source, we fully expect BSN to honor its commitments to this project."


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