[4350] in linux-announce channel archive
Linux-Announce Digest #642
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Digestifier)
Tue Jan 6 16:13:07 2004
From: Digestifier <Linux-Announce-Request@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu>
To: Linux-Announce@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu
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Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 16:13:02 EST
Linux-Announce Digest #642, Volume #4 Tue, 6 Jan 2004 16:13:02 EST
Contents:
Educating officialdom... ("Frederick Noronha (FN)")
[SLUG] Suncoast LUG Meetings (Paul M Foster)
Release of Konserve v0.10 -- A KDE backup application (Florian Simnacher)
CGIpaf 1.3.0rc1 released (staf wagemakers)
ANN: tex-refs, V0.3.1, References for TeX and Friends (Michael Wiedmann)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 16:55:12 CST
From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <fred@bytesforall.org>
Subject: Educating officialdom...
BraveGNUIndia * By Frederick Noronha
=================================================================================
Education officialdom
JUST A FEW days before the deadline expired, two talented friends now
working for Red Hat circulated a request-for-discussion. Thanks to Trevor
Warren <twarren@redhat.com> and Biju Chacko <botsie@symonds.net> for putting
this issue on the community's agenda.
Harshprabha, joint-director of the Indian department of information
technology's e-commerce section wants feedback via apatki@mit.gov.in.
Maybe every supporter of getting Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS)
into governments should have sent in submissions. I didn't; but rushed off
to Linux Bangalore 2003. Even if one has disagreements with the priorities
of the mother of all Open Source meetings in the country, it has always been
a great place to learn more and meet up with people....
To cut short the officialese, the DoIT is in the process of framing "various
rules and regulations". It's needs to finalise electronic forms, and the
manner and format in which electronic records are to be filed, or payment is
to be made. So, would secure electronic records be better off if created in
"Open Source" software?
Two scenarios were created. Under one, PDF files were suggested, and the
risks of proprietorial software were highlighted. These included the risks
of Trojanized software, non-evaluation of source-code to evaluate the
software for hidden threats, and in any case, the 'open source' software
would not be made compulsory for transactions between private parties.
In the other option -- actually the choice presented first -- the
officialdom raised concerns about "security in open source software as all
the developers who are hosting source document on the web do not generally
take the responsibility". Three other arguments were (i) the lack of
infrastructure for approving software available from "various varieties"
(ii) that FLOSS might "not be acceptable to the public at large" and (iii)
that adopting FLOSS "could become a legal issue".
Such confused arguments need to be dismissed for what they're worth. Are we
simply missing the point about what benefits FLOSS world can offer India?
In Bangalore itself in early December, Atul Chitnis put it well when he
listed the advantages of the use of FLOSS (or "Open Source", to use the
preferred term there). These ranged from lower initial costs, to the fact
that open standards are used, and that there's no vendor lock-in. FLOSS also
offers multiple support options, the ability to audit the software, a rapid
response to security issues, enhanced stability, and the very real
possiblity for fostering more innovation.
Then, there's the reality of FLOSS building local skills, and encouraging
technological self-dependence. "Combined with cost, security is perhaps the
most important factor pushing FLOSS in every country outside the United
States," argues the interesting 'Free as in Education' report
(www.itfirms.co.za/research.html). Does it make sense for a country claiming
to be a "software super-power" to depend on standards and technologies built
half-way round the globe, and controlled from there?
But let's look beyond just technological efficiency and security. Richard M.
Stallman, the philosopher behind much of today's FLOSS idealism and
dedication, has made an interesting argument in
www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html -- on why schools should use exclusively
free software.
Says RMS: "There are general reasons why all computer users should insist on
free software. It gives users the freedom to control their own computers --
with proprietary software, the computer does what the software owner wants
it to do, not what you want it to do. And it gives users the freedom to
cooperate with each other...."
But, says he, there are 'special' reasons: "School should teach students
ways of life that will benefit society as a whole. They should promote the
use of free software just as they promote recycling. If schools teach
students free software, then the students will use free software after they
graduate. This will help society as a whole escape from being dominated (and
gouged) by mega-corporations. Those corporations offer free samples to
schools for the same reason tobacco companies distribute free cigarettes: to
get children addicted. They will not give discounts to these students once
they grow up and graduate."
Proprietary software rejects the thirst for knowledge, as RMS argues.
If officials want to really understand FLOSS, let them simply play their
role in fighting some major obstacles to its spread in countries like ours.
These include the fact that the "bureaucracy is perhaps the most fundamental
barrier to the wider adoption of FLOSS" and the reality that corruption is
"another ingredient" that keeps out cost-efficient and competitive FLOSS
technologies because "companies with enough cash can buy off decision
makers" (as cited in the 'Free as In Education' report available on the
itfirms.co.za URL).
--
The author is a Goa-based freelance writer, and co-founder of
www.bytesforall.org. Email fred@bytesforall.org
Copyleft 2003. This column may be reproduced in its entirity with credit to
the writer and the magazine.
--
Frederick Noronha : http://www.fredericknoronha.net Ph 0091.832.2409490
Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org Ph 0091.832.2409783
http://fredericknoronha.blogware.com Cell 0 9822 122436
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------------------------------
From: Paul M Foster <paulf@quillandmouse.com>
Subject: [SLUG] Suncoast LUG Meetings
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 00:05:22 CST
*************************************
* Suncoast Linux Users Group (SLUG) *
* Meeting Schedule *
*************************************
TAMPA ****************************************************
14 January 19:00-21:00 Tampa
(second Wednesday of each month)
*** Room uncertain ***
Humanities Bldg, Room 322 (note change of room)
Hillsborough Community College
Dale Mabry Campus
4001 Tampa Bay Blvd
Tampa, FL
See http://www.hccfl.edu/pollock/Docs/DM-Map.htm for directions.
SARASOTA/BRADENTON ***************************************
21 January 18:00-21:00 Sarasota
(third Wednesday of each month)
Honeywell
8323 Lindbergh Court
Sarasota, FL
See http://www.bish.net/directions/
ST PETERSBURG ********************************************
26 January 19:00-21:00 St Petersburg
(usually last Monday of each month)
St Petersburg Public Library, Main Branch
Auditorium
3745 Ninth Ave North
St Petersburg, FL 33713
727-893-7724
See http://www.suncoastlug.org/meetings.html#stpete for directions.
DUNEDIN **************************************************
31 January 10:00-12:00 Dunedin
(usually fourth Saturday of each month)
Dunedin Public Library,
223 Douglas Ave.,
Community Room A.
Dunedin, FL
See http://www.suncoastlug.org/meetings.html#dunedin for directions.
BRANDON **************************************************
5 February 20:00-22:00 Brandon
(first Thursday of each month)
Brandon Barnes & Noble
Brandon Town Center
Brandon, FL
See http://www.suncoastlug.org/meetings.html#Brandon for directions.
NEW PORT RICHEY ******************************************
7 February 13:00-15:00 New Port Richey
(first Saturday of each month)
New Port Richey Public Library
(second level meeting rooms)
5939 Main St.
New Port Richey, FL
See http://www.suncoastlug.org/meetings.html#npr for directions.
***********************************************************
ACTIVITIES:
Meetings include:
1) Presentation: As indicated.
2) Question & Answer Session.
3) Raffle and free stuff!
Bring your boxes, questions, problems, and plenty of good cheer!
(And don't forget to start your installs early!)
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 11:42:10 CST
From: Florian Simnacher <simnacher@gmx.de>
Subject: Release of Konserve v0.10 -- A KDE backup application
=====BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE=====
Hash: SHA1
Hello,
this is the release of Konserve v0.10
Konserve is a small backup application for the KDE 3.x
environment. It lives in the system tray and is able to create
regularly backups of several directories or files.
Changes in this version:
* It is first checked if data has been modified since the last
backup was made
* Drag and Drop now works for remote files too
* New tips added
* Documentation update
Bugfixes in this version:
* The backup url can be a remote directory. The generation of
unique filenames now works
* The help button in the wizard really starts the help viewer
* Konserve follows links and includes the targets of the links
into the backup
* A check is performed if the last backup was successfull.
You can get it on:
http://www.simnacher.net/konserve/konserve.html.
There is also a link to the documentation and screenshots.
Special credits this time go to Janne Lähteenmäki for
implementing the check if files have changed since the
last backup. Thanks Janne!
Regards,
Florian Simnacher
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 11:52:02 CST
From: staf wagemakers <staf@patat.org>
Subject: CGIpaf 1.3.0rc1 released
About:
cgipaf is a combination of three CGI programs. passwd.cgi, which
allow users to update their password, viewmailcfg.cgi, which allows
users to view their current mail configuration, and mailcfg.cgi, which
updates the mail configuration. All programs use PAM for user
authentication. It is possible to run a script to update SAMBA
passwords or NIS configuration when a password is changed. mailcfg.cgi
creates a .procmailrc in the user's home directory. It is possible to
run a mail configuration script to enable other mail configurations like
vacation. A user with too many invalid logins can be locked. The minimum
and maximum UID can be set in the configuration file, so you can specify
a range of UIDs that are allowed to use cgipaf.
CGIpaf 1.3.0rc1 is the first release candicate of CGIpaf 1.3.0 and is
available at:
http://staf.patat.org/cgipaf/develop/
Changes:
This release has support for more advanced mail configuration scripts.
ChangeLog:
* version 1.3.0rc1 ( 6 Jan 2004 )
+ autoconf has been upgraded to 2.57: the build host is auto-detected
+ new variables:
_POST[] array : An associative array of variables with the original
HTTP POST
post_string : A string with the original HTTP POST
message : A string with the default message
+ new directives to enable more advanced mail configuration scripts:
run_viewmailcfg, mailcfg_check. a sample perl vacation script is included.
+ set_script_filename and unset_script_filename directives
( useful if you want to use a php script )
* version 1.3.0pre4 ( 30 May 2003 )
+ new forward method to avoid mail looping
* version 1.3.0pre3 ( 28 Apr 2003 )
+ BUGFIX: setuid(0) added before the passwd run_success script, to
re-enable smbpasswd support. which was broken in the previous release.
* version 1.3.0pre2 ( 31 Mar 2003 )
+ NetBSD support
+ BUGFIX: 1.3.0pre1 didn't compile on FreeBSD
+ merged from CGIpaf 1.2.1
- example in Brazilian Portuguese added ( Thanks to Fabricio Machado )
- improved forward_to emailaddress testing
- added test for mail headers like 'Precedence: bulk' to avoid replying
to maillinglists etc.
- code cleanup
* version 1.3.0pre1 ( 2 Jan 2003 )
+ linuxconf virtual mail password files supported added
regards,
--
staf
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------------------------------
From: Michael Wiedmann <mw@miwie.in-berlin.de>
Subject: ANN: tex-refs, V0.3.1, References for TeX and Friends
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 13:06:31 CST
We are pleased to announce a new release (V0.3.1) of the documentation
project "References for TeX and Friends". This is an ongoing project
with the goal to provide help/reference files for LaTeX (and his
friends like ConTeXt, Metapost, Metafont, etc.) using a
state-of-the-art source format, DocBook/XML.
Changes:
- More work on PDF
- Modularized XSL stylesheet files
- Corrected some typos
For more information see: http://www.miwie.org/tex-refs/
--
Michael Wiedmann <mw@miwie.in-berlin.de>
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------------------------------
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