Comment Adressing the concerns/confusion/questions. (Score 5) 89
I have seen alot of comments here about the 'lame' name, concerns on US export restrictions, backdoors in the code, auditing of code, BSD style development, etc, etc, etc. So, let's just try to address any and all concerns anyone may have.
1. Export regulations. We do have developers in other places besides the US. We also have distribution points that are not located in the US. The project leadership does originate in the US, but that does not limit us from at all. All cryptographic components are worked on by developers outside the US, and distributed from sites outside the US. There is more to this distribution besides the cryptographic components, and therefore US developers are not hindered from helping out with the project. We do audit ALL source code that has been released, and we invite you to do the same.
2. Backdoors and code auditing. Since we do audit the code, and invite you to do the same, there need not be any worries about backdoors. We are trying to PROMOTE security and the idea that linux is a secure OS. By putting backdoors in code this would not only hurt our credibility, but the credibility of the linux community in general.
3. The 'lame name'. Ok. This one is not quite as complicated as you all may think. It comes down to several things really. First, as someone else has pointed out, the name is mainly based on myth and legend of the golden apple, inscribed with Kallisti. Planted by the goddes of dischord, or chaos. Now, whoever has lately tried to reserve a domain name can tell you, try getting chaos.org, or net, or whatever. So, we had to be creative. Does it sound a little bit 'script-kiddie'ish? Probably. Can the name change? Maybe. Does everyone like the name? Probably not. Do we care? Doubtful. It comes down to this: If you like what we are doing, great, if not, great.
In closing, we are not asking anyone to trust us. In fact, we are hoping you don't. Be paranoid, check out our code. We invite you to, as we have.
kha0s is not for the light of heart in this stage. In the future this will change as we add things to the distribution to allow seasoned professionals and newcomers alike to install, configure and run kha0s without having to worry about whether you did or did not forget to turn on ssh and disable rlogin.
Should anyone wish to learn more about the project, or help in the development effort, you can subscribe to our mailing list. Send an email with the subject: Subscribe to kha0s-dev@kha0s.org and you will be subscribed.
M. Adam Kendall
mak@kha0s.org
http://kha0s.org
1. Export regulations. We do have developers in other places besides the US. We also have distribution points that are not located in the US. The project leadership does originate in the US, but that does not limit us from at all. All cryptographic components are worked on by developers outside the US, and distributed from sites outside the US. There is more to this distribution besides the cryptographic components, and therefore US developers are not hindered from helping out with the project. We do audit ALL source code that has been released, and we invite you to do the same.
2. Backdoors and code auditing. Since we do audit the code, and invite you to do the same, there need not be any worries about backdoors. We are trying to PROMOTE security and the idea that linux is a secure OS. By putting backdoors in code this would not only hurt our credibility, but the credibility of the linux community in general.
3. The 'lame name'. Ok. This one is not quite as complicated as you all may think. It comes down to several things really. First, as someone else has pointed out, the name is mainly based on myth and legend of the golden apple, inscribed with Kallisti. Planted by the goddes of dischord, or chaos. Now, whoever has lately tried to reserve a domain name can tell you, try getting chaos.org, or net, or whatever. So, we had to be creative. Does it sound a little bit 'script-kiddie'ish? Probably. Can the name change? Maybe. Does everyone like the name? Probably not. Do we care? Doubtful. It comes down to this: If you like what we are doing, great, if not, great.
In closing, we are not asking anyone to trust us. In fact, we are hoping you don't. Be paranoid, check out our code. We invite you to, as we have.
kha0s is not for the light of heart in this stage. In the future this will change as we add things to the distribution to allow seasoned professionals and newcomers alike to install, configure and run kha0s without having to worry about whether you did or did not forget to turn on ssh and disable rlogin.
Should anyone wish to learn more about the project, or help in the development effort, you can subscribe to our mailing list. Send an email with the subject: Subscribe to kha0s-dev@kha0s.org and you will be subscribed.
M. Adam Kendall
mak@kha0s.org
http://kha0s.org
