[4482] in linux-announce channel archive
Linux-Announce Digest #774
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Digestifier)
Tue May 18 18:13:06 2004
From: Digestifier <Linux-Announce-Request@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu>
To: Linux-Announce@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu
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Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 18:13:03 EDT
Linux-Announce Digest #774, Volume #4 Tue, 18 May 2004 18:13:03 EDT
Contents:
jailkit 0.8 release (Olivier)
FROM INDIA: FLOSS concept booklet... ("Frederick Noronha (FN)")
Debian Weekly News - May 18th, 2004 (fwd) ("Frederick Noronha (FN)")
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 14:35:35 CST
From: Olivier <olivier@lx.student.wau.nl>
Subject: jailkit 0.8 release
Jailkit is a set of utilities to limit user accounts to specific files
using chroot() and or specific commands. Setting up a chroot shell, a
shell limited to some specific command, or a daemon inside a chroot jail
is a lot easier using these utilities.
Jailkit has been in use for a while on CVS servers (in a chroot and
limited to cvs), sftp/scp servers (both in a chroot and limited to
sftp/scp as well as not in a chroot but only limited to sftp/scp), and
also on general servers with accounts where the shell accounts are in a
chroot.
http://olivier.sessink.nl/jailkit/
Changelog:
*** Jailkit 0.8 ***
- wildcard expansion for jk_lsh, useful for commands like 'scp server:*
/tmp'
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From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <fred@bytesforall.org>
Subject: FROM INDIA: FLOSS concept booklet...
Date: 18 May 2004 21:55:00 GMT
========== Forwarded message ==========
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 18:46:45 +0530
From: Aniruddha Shankar <karim@sarai.net>
Subject: FLOSS "Concept Booklet":Contributions/Criticism/Addenda solicited
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Hello.
I work in a non-profit organisation (www.sarai.net) that is deeply
involved in and committed to Free/Libre/Open Source Software. We're in
the process of creating and publishing a _Concept Booklet_ on
Free/Libre/Open Source Software that will, hopefully, be accessible even
to people with an extremely limited understanding of computers and
absolutely no knowledge of open source/free/libre software. In
collabroation with one such layperson, we created a set of questions on
free software and are in the process of generating the answers and the
additional content for the concept booklet. We'd be thrilled if you
people would contribute as many answers as you can to the questions that
we have outlined below. Of course, please feel free to comment on the
existing questions and to make additions to them.
All contributions will be gratefully acknowledged. The booklet will be
published under the Creative Commons/Share Alike License and distributed
free or at a nominal cost. We will, of course, be providing a full
version online, including print-quality PDFs.
This call for contributions from the wider community interested in
free/libre/open source software is an effort to extend the methodology
used in creating free software into the arena of collaborative
publishing. All contributions, no matter how small, trivial or _obvious_
they might seem, are extremely valuable to us. Please, do take the time
to read the questions and contribute, if possible. I apologise to those
who are subscribed to two or more of the lists to which this is posted
for the crosspost. Please feel free to forward this email to people or
entities that you feel might be helpful.
Cheers,
Aniruddha Shankar
Intro / Concept:
What is free software?
Well tell me what's not " free" about other kinds of software?
So " free" means that I don't have to spend any money then?
How is Free Software actually made?
So how is this different from the production of other kinds of software?
So the term Free Software is a legal definition then?
What do you mean by " Copyleft" ? What's wrong with copyright? How is
this different?
Is this Copyleft against the law?
What does GNU GPL stand for?
If this software is free as you say then why do we need legislation to
protect it?
What other licenses exist to protect Free Software?
Okay so I can see that Free Software is legal but surely if I duplicate
something that means that someone is losing out somewhere along the way?
History of F.S:
When did this whole Free Software thing start? How long have people been
using it for?
So Free Software actually pre-dates Microsoft?
So are you saying that in some ways the history of Free Software and the
internet run parallel to one another?
Okay, but now what is Linux? When did that come about?
So how this changed the development of software in general?
Who's this Stallman character then? Where does he fit into the picture?
How do you see the future development of Free Software?
Production Methodology:
How is Free Software actually made?
What kinds of people make Free Software?
But I still don't understand why anyone would want to give away their
work for free? What's in it for them!?
What do you mean by a Digital Commons?
In what ways could I benefit from involving myself in this Digital Commons?
Arguments for using F.S:
I'm still not convinced. Surely a big computer company knows best when
it comes to designing software? Why would I want to use software
designed by an amateur?
But what about bugs? Surely Free Software is more likely to be virus prone?
So you're saying that Free Software actually evolves at a faster pace
than closed software?
Software that can be modified actually runs better than closed software
then?
Free Software is only something used by computer enthusiasts, right?
Have any established organizations actually used Free Software to their
advantage?
Personal Relationship to F.S:
What kinds of problems might I expect to encounter using F.S?
Okay but why would I want to modify my software anyway?
Look, I'm no computer whiz! Isn't it easier for me to just use packaged
software? Who do I turn to when something goes wrong?
But how do I know I can trust someone not linked to a big company that
has a reputation to uphold?
Won't this cost me more than just calling someone out through the
help-line of an established computer company?
Well what do I have to lose from using Free Software?
Okay so how would I begin to install Free Software on my machine?
Glossary:
- --
Aniruddha 'Karim' Shankar
The Sarai Programme
Key ID: 0xA037AD2B
Public Key Fingerprint:
9167 C0E7 A679 0906 7E47 83C0 8499 2B77 A037 AD2B
To get my public key, search http://pgp.mit.edu for my email id.
To directly import my key into your keyring, run
gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys A037AD2B .
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Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iD8DBQFAqLs6hJkrd6A3rSsRAnM/AJ97T14ztuABNlWolokpoF6koxeOcgCgvLGZ
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 17:03:36 CST
From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <fred@bytesforall.org>
Subject: Debian Weekly News - May 18th, 2004 (fwd)
========== Forwarded message ==========
===========================================================================
Debian Weekly News
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2004/20/
Debian Weekly News - May 18th, 2004
===========================================================================
Welcome to this year's 20th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for
the Debian community. In an [1]interview Miguel de Icaza [2]said that
Debian's community commitment is fantastic, but it is a very hard
platform to support for an independent software vendor. Philip Charles
also [3]announced new K6 mini [4]iso [5]images.
1. http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=6989
2. http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=6989&page=2
3. http://lists.debian.org/debian-hurd/2004/05/msg00034.html
4. http://na.hurd.gnuab.org/pub/debian-cd/K6/
5. http://eu.hurd.gnuab.org/pub/debian-cd/K6/
Two Debian Developers died. Debian [6]mourns the loss of two project
members. Manuel Estrada Sainz (ranty) and Andrés García (ErConde) were
killed in a tragic car accident while returning from the [7]Free
Software conference held in Valencia, Spain. The Debian Project honors
their good work and strong dedication to Debian and Free Software. The
contributions of both Manuel and Andrés will not be forgotten, and
other developers will continue their work.
6. http://www.debian.org/News/20040515
7. http://www.lliurex.net/congres/cas/
Status of Java to main Effort. Arnaud Vandyck [8]reported on the
progress of moving packages that use Java but can be run without the
aid of non-free software from contrib to main. A number of packages
have been moved to main and new releases of [9]GNU Classpath,
[10]SableVM, and [11]Kaffe promise further steps ahead. Two of the
major issues currently being looked at are making [12]gjdoc a proper
javadoc replacement and building [13]ant with Free Software only.
People wanting to help can start by inspecting packages labeled as
unknown on the [14]Java to main wiki.
8. http://lists.debian.org/debian-java/2004/05/msg00023.html
9. http://www.gnu.org/software/classpath/classpath.html
10. http://www.sablevm.org/
11. http://www.kaffe.org/
12. http://packages.debian.org/gjdoc
13. http://packages.debian.org/ant
14. http://java.debian.net/index.php/MovingJavaToMain
Debian powers Binoculars. The world's largest selection of
[15]binoculars is powered by Debian GNU/Linux as Jon Thralow
[16]reported. The site uses a technology they call dynamically
generated HTML. The pages are regenerated every five minutes and
pushed to the web server as static pages. This looks similar to the
technique used for the Debian website itself with regeneration just
more frequently.
15. http://www.binoculars.com/
16. http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/05/12/157257
Status of GNOME 2.6 for unstable. Sebastien Bacher sent in another
[17]status report covering GNOME 2.6 in Debian. The reason is to ask
the release team for advice regarding the transition to unstable,
given the [18]progress the packages have made in the last few weeks.
The packages have been [19]tested by many users without any major
issues reported. In response Anthony Towns [20]told him that many
architectures are still missing and that GNOME is ready when
everything has been uploaded to experimental and only the version
number needs to be bumped up for unstable.
17. http://lists.debian.org/debian-release/2004/05/msg00064.html
18. http://pkg-gnome.alioth.debian.org/package-status.html
19. http://wiki.debian.net/index.cgi?GnomeTwoDotSixFAQ
20. http://lists.debian.org/debian-release/2004/05/msg00071.html
Should Sun use Debian GNU/Linux? David Edmondson [21]argued that Sun
should base their GNU/Linux efforts on Debian. A key advantage of
Debian is the breadth and depth of applications just an apt-get away.
Glynn Foster [22]agreed with him and noted that for the most part
Debian 'Just Works'.
21. http://www.dme.org/log/2004/05/14/linux-debian-bad-news
22. http://www.gnome.org/~gman/blog//15052004
Supporting more Features. Eric Dorland [23]wondered how Debian should
handle requests to activate compile-time controlled features. He
[24]asked to [25]enable deactivated features or split out packages
with these features enabled, but the maintainers were concerned by
feature-creep and having to maintain more packages than needed.
Matthew Palmer [26]suggested to either create new binary packages, to
add the features into the existing packages or to make it very easy
for the user to rebuild the package to support the optional feature.
23. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/05/msg00811.html
24. http://bugs.debian.org/222421
25. http://bugs.debian.org/231472
26. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/05/msg00813.html
Removing System Accounts. Stephen Gran [27]wondered how system
accounts should be treated upon removal if they were created upon
package installation. Wouter Verhelst [28]explained that it may be a
good idea to leave the system user since arbitrary files could still
be owned by it.
27. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/05/msg01151.html
28. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/05/msg01156.html
Right of Publicity. Branden Robinson [29]explained why he is annoyed
by no-advertising clauses in several licenses. In the United States,
there are several legal [30]remedies available to people whose names
or likenesses are misappropriated for advertising or promotional
purposes. In order to prevent similar misuse no special clause is
needed. Branden seeks information on how this is handled in other
countries in order discourage no-advertising clauses more actively.
29. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/05/msg00540.html
30. http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/publicity.html
IBM Public License. Frank Lichtenheld [31]stomped over the [32]IBM
Public License again and wondered if it is suited for Debian. [33]MJ
Ray and [34]Walter Landry raised some concerns. However, this license
is already used for [35]postfix as Steven Augart [36]pointed out.
31. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/05/msg00597.html
32. http://www-124.ibm.com/developerworks/oss/license10.html
33. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/05/msg00600.html
34. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/05/msg00603.html
35. http://packages.debian.org/postfix
36. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/05/msg00617.html
Sendmail Open Source License. Richard Nelson [37]reported that a new
license for [38]sendmail is discussed and the authors are seeking
feedback. In particular they want to know whether the new license is
as acceptable as the sendmail 8 license. [39]Henning Makholm and
[40]Nathanael Nerode asserted that a license is non-free if one is
forced to go to San Francisco to defend ones innocence.
37. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/05/msg00598.html
38. http://packages.debian.org/sendmail
39. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/05/msg00636.html
40. http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/05/msg00742.html
Concerned about new GPL Version. Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho is
[41]concerned about the [42]Free Software Foundation (FSF) developing
the next generation GNU [43]General Public License (GPL). One of the
rumours about potential changes involve a requirement to post sources
of GPL'd software that is used to power a website, which would
probably fail the [44]Debian Free Software Guidelines. He also
wondered whether differences about the GNU [45]Free Documentation
License are symptoms of a deeper difference of opinion between Debian
and FSF.
41. http://www.kaijanaho.info/antti-juhani/blog/en/debian/gpl-dfsg.html
42. http://www.fsf.org/
43. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
44. http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines
45. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
Security Updates. You know the drill. Please make sure that you update
your systems if you have any of these packages installed.
* [46]mah-jong -- Denial of service.
* [47]heimdal -- Potential buffer overflow.
46. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-503
47. http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-504
New or Noteworthy Packages. The following packages were added to the
unstable Debian archive [48]recently or contain important updates.
48. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main
* [49]amavis-stats -- Virus statistics RRDtool frontend for Amavis.
* [50]aspell-bn -- Bengali Wordlist for Aspell.
* [51]bittornado -- Bittorrent client with enhanced GUI and curses
mode.
* [52]diogenes -- Web content management system.
* [53]hspell-gui -- Graphical front-end for the hspell hebrew spell
checker.
* [54]kstreamripper -- KDE frontend for streamripper.
* [55]lksctp-tools -- User-space access to Linux Kernel SCTP -
command-line tools.
* [56]mtink -- Status monitor and configuration tool for Epson
inkjet printers.
* [57]perlindex -- Index and query Perl manual pages.
* [58]siproxd -- SIP proxy/redirect/registrar.
* [59]tcng -- Linux traffic control language interpreter.
49. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/amavis-stats
50. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/aspell-bn
51. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/bittornado
52. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/web/diogenes
53. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/text/hspell-gui
54. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/kstreamripper
55. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/lksctp-tools
56. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/misc/mtink
57. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/perlindex
58. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/siproxd
59. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/tcng
Debian Packages introduced last Week. Every day, a different Debian
package is [60]featured from the testing distribution. If you know
about an obscure package you think others should also know about, send
it to [61]Andrew Sweger. Debian package a day introduced the following
packages last week.
60. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/
61. http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=debaday
* [62]binclock -- binary clock for console with color support.
* [63]mywiki -- Personal wiki on GNUstep or Cocoa environment.
* [64]srs -- Command-line Sender Rewriting Scheme client.
* [65]telnet -- The telnet client.
* [66]procmail -- Versatile e-mail processor.
* [67]whitespace -- Programming language where only whitespace
counts.
* [68]regexplorer -- Visual regular expression explorer.
62. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/13221.html
63. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/13432.html
64. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/13601.html
65. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/13874.html
66. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/14220.html
67. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/14410.html
68. http://www.livejournal.com/users/debaday/14835.html
Orphaned Packages. 2 packages were orphaned this week and require a
new maintainer. This makes a total of 159 orphaned packages. Many
thanks to the previous maintainers who contributed to the Free
Software community. Please see the [69]WNPP pages for the full list,
and please add a note to the bug report and retitle it to ITA: if you
plan to take over a package.
69. http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/
* [70]imwheel -- Program to support the "wheel" on most new mice.
([71]Bug#249533)
* [72]libmail-audit-perl -- Perl library for creating easy mail
filters. ([73]Bug#248606)
70. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/imwheel
71. http://bugs.debian.org/249533
72. http://packages.debian.org/unstable/perl/libmail-audit-perl
73. http://bugs.debian.org/248606
Want to continue reading DWN? Please help us create this newsletter.
We still need more volunteer writers who watch the Debian community
and report about what is going on. Please see the [74]contributing
page to find out how to help. We're looking forward to receiving your
mail at [75]dwn@debian.org.
74. http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/contributing
75. mailto:dwn@debian.org
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