● 01.06.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 06/01/2023: risiOS 37.1.1 Released

Posted in News Roundup at 9:19 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Server

=> ↺ Confluent expands Kafka Streams capabilities, acquires Apache Flink vendor | VentureBeat

• The ability to stream data is a core capability of the open-source Apache Kafka technology. Among the leading vendors that supports Kafka with commercial products and services is Confluent, which is led by the original creators of Kafka. Confluent had its initial public offering (IPO) in June 2021, with demand for real time data streaming continuing to grow.

=> ↺ Why you should use Docker and containers | InfoWorld

• A book published in 1981, called Nailing Jelly to a Tree, describes software as “nebulous and difficult to get a firm grip on.” That was true in 1981, and it is no less true four decades since. Software, whether it is an application you bought or one that you built yourself, remains hard to deploy, hard to manage, and hard to run.

• Docker containers provide a way to get a grip on software. You can use Docker to wrap up an application in such a way that its deployment and runtime issues—how to expose it on a network, how to manage its use of storage and memory and I/O, how to control access permissions—are handled outside of the application itself, and in a way that is consistent across all “containerized” apps. You can run your Docker container on any OS-compatible host (Linux or Windows) that has the Docker runtime installed.

• Docker offers many other benefits besides this handy encapsulation, isolation, portability, and control. Docker containers are small (megabytes). They start instantly. They have their own built-in mechanisms for versioning and component reuse. They can be easily shared via the public Docker Hub or private repository.

• Docker containers are also immutable, which has both security and operational benefits. Any changes to a container must be deployed as an entirely new, differently versioned container.

• In this article we’ll explore how Docker containers make it easier to both build and deploy software—the issues containers address, how they address them, when they are the right answer to the problem, and when they aren’t.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ Linux Distros Spying On People? – Are You Being Tracked – Invidious

• A quick video re-sharing information I believe is important to the Linux community concerning some peoples opinions on certain distros tracking users. Take a look and let me know what you think in the comments below.

=> ↺ Vanilla OS : The Next-Generation Linux Distro Is Here With STUNNING FEATURES ( FOR 2023) – Invidious

• This is the all-new Vanilla OS, and believe me when I say it, this innovative distro is the next step in the evolution of desktop Linux. Now I know you might be saying, “Great, another Linux distro, but why? And why do we need so many Linux distros anyway.” That is a good question. But the developers of Vanilla OS asked a better question. “Why not all the Linux distros, all at once”.

=> ↺ No, Arch isn’t n°1, X.org is dying, Meta fined €390 million: Linux – Open Source News – Invidious

=> ↺ Jackbox Party Pack 9 – Invidious

=> ↺ Ring Camera – What If My Neighbor Has One?

=> ↺ soon

• Why should we be concerned when our neighbor has a Ring doorbell? This video addresses the concerns and provides some better ideas without compromising privacy.

=> ↺ Sending Your Pee Print To The Internet

=> ↺ soon

• This week in the Weekly News Roundup, a new company will send your pee print to the cloud, Windows has more sideloading malware, and New York guts the already passed right to repair bill. We also visit SillyVille.

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Debugging, tracing and profiling training course materials published – Bootlin’s blog

• Back in November 2022, we announced the availability of a new training course titled Linux debugging, profiling, tracing and performance analysis.

• At the time, this training course was still being prepared, but since then Bootlin engineer Clément Léger finished the preparation and successfully delivered the training course to a group of participants.

=> ↺ Linux Plumbers Conference: LPC 2022 Attendee Survey Summary

• We had 206 responses to the Linux Plumbers survey in 2022, which, given the total number of in person conference participants of 401, and virtual participants of 320, has provided high confidence in the feedback.

• [...]

• Overall: 91.8% of respondents were positive about the event, with 6.3% as neutral and 1.9% were dissatisfied. 80.1% indicated that the discussions they participated in helped resolve problems. The BOF track was popular and we’re looking to include it again in 2023. Due to the fact we were having our first in person since the pandemic started, we did this event as a hybrid event with reduced in person registration compared to prior years, as we were unsure how many would be willing to travel and our venue’s capacity. The conference sold out of regular tickets very quickly after opening up registration though, so we set up a waiting list. With some the travel conditions and cancelations, we were able to work through the daunting waiting list, and offer spots to all of those on the list by the conference date. Venue capacity is something we’re looking closely at for next year and will outline the plan when the CFP opens early this year.

• [...]

• Events: Our evening events are feeling the pressure from the number of attendees especially with the other factors from the pandemic. The first night event had more issues than the closing event and we appreciate the constructive suggestions in the write-in comments. The survey was still positive about the events overall, so we’ll see what we can do make this part of the “hallway track” more effective for everyone next year.

Applications

=> ↺ 5 Best Free Android Emulators For Linux 2023 – Play Retro Titles – DekiSoft

• Ever since smartphones have made an entry into our lives they have had a lot of influence on our socio-cultural movements. As a user of Linux who can run phone apps right in your system means a lot to many. Android, which is the de-facto mobile OS, used by many people around the world also leverages its eco-system to achieve all objectives. This list has the 5 best Android emulators for Linux that are free to download Oh, and they are open-source too.

=> ↺ Best 9 Latex Editors for Windows 11 and Linux (2023 Selection)

• Because of the vast choices, we are sharing 9 of the best Latex editors compatible with Windows 11 and any Linux distro with a GUI.

=> ↺ 9 Free Open Source Avatar Generator Projects

• Here, we offer you the best open source and free Avatar creator that you can use totally for free. Even more, you can download, customize, and rebuild the projects with new functionalities on your local machine, as they are Open source apps.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How to Install CPU-X on Manjaro Linux

• CPU-X is free and open-source, which gathers information from the system’s CPU, motherboard, RAM, graphics card, and more, then displays this information in an easy-to-read format. The following tutorial will teach you how to install CPU-X on Manjaro Linux, utilizing the command line terminal with Manjaro’s package manager pamac.

=> ↺ How to Establish Remote Desktop Access to Ubuntu From Windows

• You’re in one room, sitting at a PC; the data you want is in another, on a computer running Ubuntu. If both computers are in the same house, no problem, but what if they’re in different offices? It might be a bit of a walk!

• The answer, therefore, is setting up a remote desktop connection. Learn how to set up a remote desktop from Windows to Ubuntu.

=> ↺ How to install FnF Spritesheet and XML Maker 4.2.5 on a Chromebook

• Today we are looking at how to install FnF Spritesheet and XML Maker 4.2.5 on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.

=> ↺ How To Install Cinnamon Desktop on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS – idroot

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Cinnamon Desktop on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Cinnamon is a free and open-source desktop environment for the X Window System that derives from GNOME 3 but follows traditional desktop metaphors. It was developed by Linux Mint, an operating system based on the Ubuntu distribution. It is among the best desktop environments for Linux Desktops designed for speed, flexibility, and advanced innovative features. One of the main features of Cinnamon is its flexibility and customization options. Users can change the layout and appearance of the desktop by using themes, applets, and desklets. Cinnamon also includes a range of built-in desktop applications, including a file manager, a text editor, and a terminal emulator.

• This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the Cinnamon Desktop environment on Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 22.04 and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint, Elementary OS, Pop!_OS, and more as well.

=> ↺ How to Install and Secure OpenSSH Server on Pop!_OS – TecAdmin

• OpenSSH is a popular open-source implementation of the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol, which is used to securely connect to and manage remote systems over a network. OpenSSH is included in many popular Linux distributions, including Pop!_OS, and it provides a wide range of tools and utilities for securely accessing and managing remote systems.

=> ↺ How to Open Port in Linux – TecAdmin

• In a Linux operating system, a port is a communication endpoint for either sending or receiving data over a network. Network ports are identified by a number, and each port number is associated with a specific type of network service. For example, port 80 is used for HTTP traffic, port 21 is used for FTP, and port 25 is used for email.

• In order to establish a network connection, you need to open a port on your Linux system. There are several methods for doing this, including using the built-in firewall programs FirewallD, UFW, and iptables. Each of these methods has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, and in this article, we will discuss how to open a port in Linux using each of these methods.

=> ↺ Linux DataOps: a career path with endless potential

• Are you looking for a career that combines the power of Linux with the excitement of big data? If so, Linux DataOps may be the perfect fit for you! In this rapidly growing field, professionals work to optimize and manage the data pipelines and workflows that drive businesses and organizations in the digital age. But what exactly is Linux DataOps, and why should Linux careers consider going into this field? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the opportunities and challenges of Linux DataOps careers, and provide tips and resources for those interested in pursuing this exciting and in-demand career path.

=> ↺ OpenSnitch: a simple application firewall for GNU/Linux

• OpenSnitch is an application firewall with a simple graphical interface that allows to easily accept or deny network connections from any program.

=> ↺ Automatic container updates with watchtower – Major Hayden

• Keeping things updated quickly becomes a monotonous task. I’m surrounded by devices that demand updates on different frequencies. Phones, computers, tables, cloud instances, containers, and even my car need constant attention for updates that improve security or fix bugs. (Sometimes the updates cause bugs, but let’s forget about those for now)

• My container infrastructure runs on Fedora CoreOS and it updates itself. It has an immutable layer underneath my containers that updates using ostree.

• However, keeping containers updated is a constant battle. Updating the containers themselves is fairly easy with a podman pull or docker pull followed by a stop and start. It’s a bit easier with docker-compose, but it’s still a nuisance to remember to update.

=> ↺ Sudo Configuration on Ubuntu and Linux Mint – OSNote

• System administrators can allow users to execute commands without passwords using Sudo rights, also known as superuser do. This command temporarily elevates privileges, allowing users to do crucial tasks without logging in as the root user. As a result, you must authenticate yourself by entering your login credentials into the system, confirming that you have the appropriate rights to perform tasks.

• However, providing this information again overtakes time, but there is a way that you can use it to disable the authentication. As a result, this article will show you how to create a password-less sudo on Ubuntu and Linux Mint. So is Linux mint good for beginners? I would say Linux Mint is one of the best Linux distro for Beginners. Linux mint requires the same hardware as Ubuntu, and Installing Linux Mint is easy, have a look here to download it.

=> ↺ What is a Binary File? – TecAdmin

• A binary file is a type of computer file that is stored in a binary format, which means that it is composed of a series of 0s and 1s that represent the data stored in the file. Binary files are often used to store data in a form that is more efficient or more compact than a text file.

• Binary files are used for a wide range of purposes, including storing executable programs, images, audio and video files, and data files. The most common type of binary file is an executable file, which is a program that can be run on a computer. Other common types of binary files include image files (such as JPEG, PNG, and GIF), audio and video files (such as MP3, AVI, and MOV), and data files (such as database files and spreadsheet files).

Games

=> ↺ FEX 2301 Tagged!

• Happy new year! A new month brings a new release of FEX-Emu, bringing in the new year.

• A large amount of work in this last month, showing that FEX-Emu isn’t slowing down even through the holiday season.

=> ↺ Reviewing Linux Gaming Predictions for 2022: Sirmikester – Boiling Steam

• We continue with the individual Linux gaming predictions that we shared back in January 2022. This time, it’s the turn of one of our guests, Sirmikester, to review his own predictions below.

=> ↺ Inscryption Review – Boiling Steam

• Yet another card game? Well, Inscryption certainly did look at the very least original when I first checked out the trailer a few months back. That was enough to convince me to try it out! The fact that it has recently received a Linux client was also a good sign.

• Inscryption is NOT yet another card game. There’s a lot more to it, and the card battles themselves also feel extremely different from what you may be used to. When you face your opponent, everything will be decided within a few minutes. Sometimes the card battles are over in just 30 seconds. But let me back track a little bit. You first need to understand the context.

• The first screen of the game shows a few typical options, and “new game” is greyed out. You have to “continue game” in order to start, while you have never saved anything up until now. Weird? Yes. You’ll understand that way later.

Desktop Environments/WMs

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ #77 Happy New Year! – This Week in GNOME

• Update on what happened across the GNOME project in the week from December 30 to January 06.

Distributions and Operating Systems

New Releases

=> ↺ risiOS 37.1.1 Release Notes

• Hello risiOS users! We hope your new year is off to a great start. We have released a minor update with a few bug fixes for your operating system.

• risiTweaks: Added an option to switch between light/default and dark styling within the risiTweaks tool. This option was already available in the Settings app, but we’ve added it to risiTweaks as well to make it easier to access. This was added after me watching a user in a YouTube video where a user tried to change the gtk3 theme to enable dark mode instead of toggling on dark mode in GNOME Settings. We hope this small change can prevent some confusion.

• risiWelcome: We’ve added mediainfo as a dependency for Kdenlive in the video production script. This fixes a missing dependency Kdenlive complains about.

• rTheme: rTheme has been updated to version 0.3. This update includes a fix for a bug involving GNOME Shell support, as well as backend changes to prepare rTheme for use on other distributions.

• risiOS ISO: This is the first ISO built using a new build system we are creating to make it easier to create Fedora based distributions. More info the come within the next 2 months…

• We’ve also updated a number of packages as part of this release. As always, we recommend keeping your system up to date to ensure that you have the latest features and bug fixes.

• Thank you for using risiOS!

BSD

=> ↺ Fancy a quick tour of DragonFly BSD 6.4? • The Register

• DragonFly BSD – or just DragonFly for short – is the youngest and most experimental member of the BSD family. Its latest release came out on the penultimate day of 2022. Although it’s not a major version, here at The Reg FOSS desk we thought it was time to take a look at DragonFly, as we’ve recently looked at the other members of the BSD family – as we describe in the sidebar.

• The big-ticket item in this version is hardware-supported virtualization in the NVMM hypervisor. NVMM (not to be confused with NVMe) appeared in DragonFly version 6.1.

• The name, slightly strangely, is short for the NetBSD Virtual Machine Monitor, because this hypervisor was ported over across from that sibling project, as described on the NetBSD blog.

• Project lead Matthew Dillon began Dragonfly BSD in 2003 as a fork of FreeBSD 4.8, the final release of the 4.x series. Unlike the other BSDs, Dragonfly BSD supports just one platform: x86-64. Its designers emphasize performance and scalability. It supports 128 CPU cores, 256 hardware threads, and up to a million processes, and claims multiprocessor scaling to rival Linux – a kernel with far more developers and investment than all of the BSDs put together.

PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva Family

=> ↺ OpenMandriva ROME – The rolling release – OpenMandriva

• OpenMandriva ROME Platinum candidate has been released a short time ago and we are confident it has been enjoyed by the users.

• To make sure you do not fall behind, we are announcing a new way to keep you up to date: ROME, the OpenMandriva rolling edition.

=> ↺ Firefox browser updated to 108.0.2 – PCLinuxOS

• Firefox is a damn good browser, with a very good reputation, and with enough firepower to keep both beginner and more advanced users happy. It’s somewhat sad that even though Firefox does so many things just right, the best thing about it is that it is not Chrome.

=> ↺ Cider 1.6.0 – PCLinuxOS

• Cider is a new cross-platform Apple Music experience based on Electron and Vue.js written from scratch with performance & visuals in mind. Requires an Apple ID. Access Apple Music from your Linux desktop!

=> ↺ KDE applications updated – PCLinuxOS

• The KDE applications suite has updated to 22.12.1 and now available in the PCLinuxOS software repository.

SUSE/OpenSUSE

=> ↺ World’s fastest supercomputer runs SUSE Linux | SUSE Communities

• Looking back at 2022, certainly one of the most dramatic leaps forward in the compute world was a supercomputer breaking the exascale barrier, meaning it can process more than a quintillion calculations per second — making it capable of performing the most complex computing tasks in the world and setting the stage for breakthroughs in climate modeling, astrophysics, genomics, medicine and a more efficient energy grid, just to name a few.

• [...]

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and the newer SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro version run “under the covers” as the embedded OS for many other systems and devices of which you may not be aware. My daughter was thrilled to send me a picture of a SUSE Linux Point of Service-powered terminal deployed at a well known grocer where she works saying “You never told me SUSE runs our cash registers!”.

=> ↺ openSUSE Tumbleweed – Review of the week 2023/01 – Dominique a.k.a. DimStar (Dim*)

• Almost 2% of 2023 is already behind us. Week 1 is, from experience, always a still rather quiet week. Many contributors are still with their families or are just stretching some vacation. But, of course, only ‘many’ and by far not all. Tumbleweed managed to release 7 snapshots since the last review (1230, 1231, 20230101…20230105).

=> ↺ Build system statistics – Zoltán’s Blog

• From time to time we should ask ourselves how are we doing. Are we successful, are we on the right track, are we heading to the right direction, are we fast enough, are we accelerating or slowing down? This time I am talking about the openSUSE Linux Distribution and about the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Fedora / Red Hat / IBM

=> ↺ QElectroTech version 0.90 – Remi’s RPM repository – Blog

• RPM of QElectroTech version 0.90, an application to design electric diagrams, are available in remi for Fedora and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8.

=> ↺ Tools to automate parts of my Fedora packager workflow | Ceci n’est pas une fromage

• I’ve just set up a Codeberg repo for some of the scripts I’ve been using to help reduce the number of keystrokes I need to perform daily task without breaking anything for anyone else.

=> ↺ Remi Collet: PHP version 8.0.27, 8.1.14 and 8.2.1

• RPMs of PHP version 8.2.1 are available in remi-modular repository for Fedora ≥ 35 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky…) and in remi-php82 repository for EL 7.

• RPMs of PHP version 8.1.14 are available in remi-modular repository for Fedora ≥ 35 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky…) and in remi-php81 repository for EL 7.

• RPMs of PHP version 8.0.27 are available in remi-modular repository for Fedora ≥ 35 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky…) and in remi-php80 repository for EL 7.

=> ↺ 5 security technologies to know in Red Hat Enterprise Linux | Enable Sysadmin

• Learn about some of the RHEL features that can help you protect your systems from threats.

=> ↺ 5 Harvard Business Review articles that resonated with CIOs in 2022

Debian Family

=> ↺ Finally making use of bpftrace

• I am old enough to remember when BPF meant the traditional Berkeley Packet Filter, and was confined to filtering network packets. It’s grown into much, much, more as eBPF and getting familiar with it so that I can add it to the suite of tips and tricks I can call upon has been on my to-do list for a while. To this end I was lucky enough to attend a live walk through of bpftrace last year. bpftrace is a high level tool that allows the easy creation and execution of eBPF tracers under Linux.

• Recently I’ve been working on updating the RetroArch packages in Debian and as I was doing so I realised there was a need to update the quite outdated retroarch-assets package, which contains various icons and images used for the user interface. I wanted to try and re-generate as many of the artefacts as I could, to ensure the proper source was available. However it wasn’t always clear which files were actually needed and which were either ‘source’ or legacy. So I wanted to trace file opens by retroarch and see when it was failing to find files. Traditionally this is something I’d have used strace for, but it seemed like a great opportunity to try out bpftrace.

=> ↺ Thorsten Alteholz: My Debian Activities in December 2022

• This month I accepted 276 and rejected 27 packages. The overall number of packages that got accepted was 288.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ What changing vehicle ownership habits and mobility trends mean for the future of the automotive industry | Ubuntu

• These past few years, we’ve observed major changes in vehicle ownership significantly impacting the future of the automotive industry. From vehicle ownership to car-sharing applications, our use of vehicles is completely changing. Let’s go through some of the major reasons for these changes and how they are shaping mobility trends.

=> ↺ Kubescape brings a new level of security to Charmed Kubernetes | Ubuntu

• The popular open-source platform Kubescape by ARMO has been recently announced as a fully managed operator called a Charm for Canonical’s Charmed Kubernetes distribution. This collaboration between Canonical and ARMO is exciting for the solution it enables for end users, ultimately resulting in hardened and more secure Kubernetes environments.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Liz and Eben honoured by The National Museum of Computing

• Last month, Raspberry Pi co-founders Liz and Eben Upton took a trip to The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) in Bletchley (home of the codebreakers) because TNMOC thinks they’re both really rather good.

=> ↺ Raspberry Pi co-founders Liz and Eben honoured by The National Museum of Computing

• The National Museum of Computing has a mission statement To bring to life the history and ongoing development of computing for inspiration, research, learning and enjoyment for the benefit of general and specialist publics of all ages.

=> ↺ The MacroPad Jukebox

=> ↺ E-Fidget – an RP2040-based haptic board

• Micha appeared on this weeks’ Show and Tell videocast discussing their project: E-Fidget. E-Fidget is a battery-powered haptic feedback based fidget spinner. It’s RP2040-based and 100% OSHW!

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

=> ↺ Jiri Eischmann: Account Verification: from Mastodon to CzechPoint

• When Twitter’s account verification policy began to change late last year, a debate about how to do identity verification for online accounts stirred. As I found out, the way Mastodon does it is surprisingly elegant.

• Previously, Twitter had a verification process for high-profile accounts (politicians, journalists, etc.). I honestly don’t know what that verification entailed, but after the Twitter takeover, Musk came up with the idea that anyone who pays $8 is eligible for verification. The ironic thing was that the new process didn’t actually include any identity verification at all. You paid $8, got a blue badge, and could impersonate anyone. This unsurprisingly didn’t work, so after a series of bummers over a short period of time, they discontinued this method of verification. They restarted it just recently and it seems to be as flawed as before.

• Not that I have any major need to have my social media accounts verified, but I was wondering if there was any way to verify an account on Mastodon, because there isn’t some central entity that can verify your accounts. I found out that Mastodon goes about it in a pretty elegant way. It outsources the authentication to internet domain administrators.

GNU Projects

=> ↺ The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard Comes to Guix Containers — 2023 — Blog — GNU Guix

• GNU Guix is different from most other GNU/Linux distributions and perhaps nowhere is that more obvious than the organization of the filesystem: Guix does not conform to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS). In practical terms, this means there is no global /lib containing libraries, /bin containing binaries,¹ and so on. This is very much at the core of how Guix works and some of the convenient features, like per-user installation of programs (different versions, for instance) and a declarative system configuration where the system is determined from a configuration file.

• However, this also leads to a difference in how many pieces of software expect their world to look like, relying on finding a library in /lib or an external tool in /bin. When these are hard coded and not overcome with appropriate build options, we patch code to refer to absolute paths in the store, like /gnu/store/hrgqa7m498wfavq4awai3xz86ifkjxdr-grep-3.6/bin/grep, to keep everything consistently contained within the store.

• It all works great and is thanks to the hard work of everyone that has contributed to Guix. But what if we need a more FHS-like environment for developing, testing, or running a piece of software?

Licensing / Legal

=> ↺ Sharing knowledge about the GNU family of licenses

• Copyright and licensing associate Craig Topham discusses the work done by the Licensing and Compliance Lab to answer licensing questions via articles, the FAQ, and email.

• I am truly grateful for the opportunity to serve a community where sharing is at the core of its purpose. It’s amazing that we can duplicate software so quickly — just a few taps on a keyboard or clicks of a mouse — to such great benefit. In the free software community, there are other elements that can be spread just as easily as computer source code. One of them is knowledge. From helping someone use free software to spreading the understanding of free software, knowledge comes in all shapes and sizes. This includes sharing knowledge of the GNU General Public Licenses (GPL) and free software licensing more generally.

• As the copyright and licensing associate at the Free Software Foundation (FSF), one of my tasks is to coordinate with licensing volunteers of the Licensing and Compliance Lab. As a part of the Lab, the licensing volunteers help the FSF share free software licensing knowledge. We do this together through the combined decades of experience and the plethora of licensing materials available on fsf.org and gnu.org. However, the world we live in constantly generates new curiosities and areas to explore, inevitably leaving people with new questions. When this happens, the Licensing and Compliance Lab is here to provide answers. Your support will help us continue to do so heading into the future. As free software licensing is a complex subject, we’re proud to provide this service to free software developers and other members of the community.

• Much like free software, knowledge requires someone to have it first in order to distribute it. When it comes to free software licensing knowledge, the licensing volunteers have it in abundance. Although a small group, they have answered over 1,300 questions sent in by those hoping to better understand how the family of GNU licenses work since the pandemic started in March 2020. I can honestly say that this work would have been impossible without the licensing volunteers.

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Setting Up a CI System Part 5: Time-sharing your test machines – mupuf.org

• This article is part of a series on how to setup a bare-metal CI system for Linux driver development.

=> ↺ An alternate ESP32 flashing utility

• esputil is a command line tool for managing Espressif devices. It is a replacement for esptool.py.

=> ↺ Compiling QML to C++: A 4x speedup

• As you may know, you can compile your QML code to C++ these days. There are multiple reasons why you would do this. One of them is that it leads you to better structured code by forcing you to declare the types you’re using. The most important one is that the resulting program will run faster.

• In my previous posts I’ve been rather cautious about the actual performance numbers. This is for a reason. The Qt Quick Compiler cannot translate any old JavaScript you throw at it, and depending on the exact characteristics of your code, the resulting speedup varies greatly. We’re constantly working on increasing the Qt Quick Compiler’s coverage of the QML language, but it’s still a long way to go.

=> ↺ Permission APIs in Qt 6.5

• Many features of today’s devices and operating systems can have significant privacy, security, and performance implications, if misused. As a result, it’s increasingly common for platforms to require explicit consent from the user before accessing these features.

=> ↺ libcpucycles – count CPU cycles on several architectu

• libcpucycles is a public-domain microlibrary for counting CPU cycles. Cycle counts are not as detailed as Falk diagrams but are the most precise timers available to typical software; they are central tools used in understanding and improving software performance.

Perl / Raku

=> ↺ This Week in PSC (092) | Perl Steering Council [blogs.perl.org]

• Having been off for two weeks, we spent a while just catching up with the state of the world. Not much of note to report this week.

Python

=> ↺ John Park’s CircuitPython Parsec: Short vs Long Press

• You can use a single button to mean two different things depending on how long you press it! Learn how to use a short duration vs. a long duration button press in CircuitPython.

=> ↺ Ross Burton: PySnooper and BitBake

• The biggest catch is remembering that BitBake classes and recipes are not Python, they just have Python blocks in, so you can’t decorate a function inside a class or recipe. In this case you’ll need to use with block.

• This looks like a very useful tool and I look forward to using it next time I’m tearing my increasingly greying hair out.

Java

=> ↺ How to Install NetBeans on Linux

• Apache NetBeans is an open-source IDE that lets you create desktop, mobile, and web applications in various programming languages such as C, C++, Java, PHP, etc. It is a popular choice of IDE for developers around the world due to its versatility, ease of use, and range of features.

• NetBeans is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Let’s look at some of the features of NetBeans and ways to install it on Linux.

Leftovers

Hardware

=> ↺ Qualcomm Snapdragon Satellite enables two-way messaging using the Iridium network

• You may soon be able to get true global coverage even in remote areas thanks to Qualcomm Snapdragon Satellite which will offer pole-to-pole coverage and two-way messaging for emergency use, SMS texting, and other messaging applications.

• Qualcomm made this possible through a partnership with Iridium to bring satellite-based connectivity to next-generation premium Android smartphones starting with devices based on Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform, while emergency messaging support was done in collaboration with Garmin.

Security

=> ↺ Remote Vulnerabilities in Automobiles – Schneier on Security

• This group has found a ton of remote vulnerabilities in all sorts of automobiles.

• It’s enough to make you want to buy a car that is not Internet-connected. Unfortunately, that seems to be impossible.

=> ↺ Web Hackers vs. The Auto Industry: Critical Vulnerabilities in Ferrari, BMW, Rolls Royce, Porsche, and More | Sam Curry

• During the fall of 2022, a few friends and I took a road trip from Chicago, IL to Washington, DC to attend a cybersecurity conference and (try) to take a break from our usual computer work.

• While we were visiting the University of Maryland, we came across a fleet of electric scooters scattered across the campus and couldn’t resist poking at the scooter’s mobile app. To our surprise, our actions caused the horns and headlights on all of the scooters to turn on and stay on for 15 minutes straight.

=> ↺ Reproducible Builds (diffoscope): diffoscope 231 released

• The diffoscope maintainers are pleased to announce the release of diffoscope version 231. This version includes the following changes:

• • Improve “[X] may produce better output” messages. Based on a patch by

• Helmut Grohne. (Closes: #1026982)

=> ↺ Qualcomm UEFI Flaws Expose Microsoft, Lenovo, Samsung Devices to Attacks

=> ↺ according to Microsoft’s troll army

=> ↺ Public Knowledge Commends FCC Vote To Strengthen Data Breach Notification Requirements – Public Knowledge

• Today, the Federal Communications Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to update data breach reporting requirements for telephone services. The proposed rules would strengthen the agency’s requirements for notifying consumers and federal law enforcement following discovery of a breach involving customer proprietary network information (CPNI). Public Knowledge applauds the Commission for this important, bipartisan effort to keep our personal telephone data safe, and ensure timely notice to law enforcement and the public of any breach.

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ WhatsApp Launches a Tool to Fight Internet Censorship

• Amid internet shutdowns in Iran, the encrypted messaging app is introducing proxy connections that can help people get online.

=> ↺ The Slow Death of Surveillance Capitalism Has Begun | WIRED

• SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM JUST got a kicking. In an ultimatum, the European Union has demanded that Meta reform its approach to personalized advertising—a seemingly unremarkable regulatory ruling that could have profound consequences for a company that has grown impressively rich by, as Mark Zuckerberg once put it, running ads.

• The ruling, which comes with a €390 million ($414 million) fine attached, is targeted specifically at Facebook and Instagram, but it’s a huge blow to Big Tech as a whole. It’s also a sign that GDPR, Europe’s landmark privacy law that was introduced in 2018, actually has teeth. More than 1,400 fines have been introduced since it took effect, but this time the bloc’s regulators have shown they are willing to take on the very business model that makes surveillance capitalism, a term coined by American scholar Shoshana Zuboff, tick. “It is the beginning of the end of the data free-for-all,” says Johnny Ryan, a privacy activist and senior fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.

=> ↺ ’Gut punch’: Meta bruised in EU data fight

• European regulators have laid down one of the biggest challenges so far to the multibillion-dollar business model of Facebook owner Meta, analysts said on Thursday.

• The Silicon Valley titan was handed a 390-million-euro ($413-million) fine on Wednesday as part of a years-long tussle with the European Union over data privacy.

• But more significantly, European regulators dismissed the legal basis Meta had used to justify gathering users’ personal data for use in targeted advertising.

• Meta makes its money from highly targeted ads, a system made possible only by understanding the behaviour of its users intimately.

=> ↺ [Old] Apple airtags as stalker tools | Stop at Zona-M

• Making everything, people included, easily trackable with no other skill than owning an iPhone and a few Euros to spare is obviously such a harmless idea that nobody could ever conceive abusing it. Except they do, of course. The Guardian recently reported that a woman discovered her ex-boyfriend was stalking her, thanks to an AirTag he had placed in the trunk of her car the last time they had met.

=> ↺ 3 important changes in how data will be used and treated

• Regula has presented their vision of the developments that will shape the industry’s landscape in 2023. Deepfakes, new cyber-hygiene norms, and demand for mature ID verification platforms are among some of the predictions for the next year.

• While more and more industries move their customer experiences to digital, online identity verification is becoming an essential part of our life. It lets people cope with all sorts of mission-critical activities online: opening bank accounts, applying for benefits, getting insurance payouts, and even getting medical advice.

• Still, the security of the digital IDV process is the number one concern that is forming the industry’s landscape and driving the majority of significant changes.

Environment

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ There are 10 Biggest Problems With Electric Cars… | Stop at Zona-M

• post on Medium describes ten fundamental problems with battery electric vehicle (BEVs) as a leading climate change mitigation option.

• Here, I argue that the first problem is the biggest, and that it should be too much for the industry, even if it were the only one.

• [...]

• To begin with, it makes no sense to expect that BEVs could replace cars as quickly as “normal” cars replaced carts and horses.

• That happened because cars were objectively better than horses in many ways. But BEVs are still just cars. In any REAL WORLD scenario, cars will never eliminate traffic, save you money, move you faster or find parking spots more quickly just by being electric.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ [Older] New Zealand is a bit less good today | Stop at Zona-M

• Censorship can indeed come from every side.

• [...]

• According to ZeroHedge, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern just called for an international alliance to censor speech.

Monopolies

=> ↺ AICOA’s Failure and the Future of Competition Policy in Congress – Disruptive Competition Project

• As the 118th Congress gets underway, it is useful to examine why the previous session’s “antitrust” efforts failed, and to consider how the House and Senate should proceed with competition and internet policy that would actually encourage innovation and competition while protecting America’s global edge in the technology sector.

• Despite much fanfare and promises by lawmakers and proponents, misguided antitrust legislation designed to weaken some of America’s most prominent technology companies was not even brought to a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives or the Senate. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (“AICOA”)(S.2992 / H.R.3816) failed to pass because of serious privacy, security, and content moderation problems that were identified early on but never adequately addressed by sponsors and supporters.

• The collapse of AICOA illuminates the fundamental problem with current antitrust efforts in Congress. For decades courts and antitrust agencies have put consumers first in their evaluation of competition in the economy. This attention to the consumer welfare standard has led to tremendous benefits for innovation and the broader economy. Current lawmakers are instead obsessed with the size or conduct of specific companies and how to exert pressure on them or break them up. It is time for Congress to return to basic economics and promote antitrust efforts from a grounded, evidence-driven perspective or the failures of this legislative approach will be repeated in the new Congress.

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

=> ↺ The Weighty Problem #diet

• I am over weight. I had started to get a handle on it back in early 2020, just in time for a pandemic, lockdowns and now nearly three years of nearly 100% home working.

=> ↺ Not in the mood for D&D

• The OGL 1.1 discussion is spoiling my appetite for D&D. What a mess.

=> ↺ Day 006: The room of glory of and the room of division

• Since I had not enough time yesterday to publish something, double ration today!

Politics

=> ↺ Antitheism

• I’m an atheist. In this post I’ll clarify why I think antitheism is a flawed position.

Technical

=> ↺ Thinkpad thermal paste replacement

• I live in a refurbished Thinkpad household. I use an X220 as my “daily driver” (lately it’s sometimes been more like a “weekly driver”, but whatever), while my wife has an X230. The X230 has been struggling against pretty severe overheating issues for a long time now. It doesn’t get hot enough to cross any alarm thresholds, triggering a shutdown or anything like that, but it routinely gets way too hot to comfortably use on a lap. So, I finally took advantage of recent holiday downtime to replace the thermal paste on both CPUs and clean the fans out with compressed air. This was by far the most substantial laptop maintenance work I’ve done. Back in the Good Old Days (TM) of IDE and ISA and PCI, when RAM capacity and CPU clocks were strictly Megaunit affairs, I knew pretty well what I was doing when it came to PC internals, and my teenage bedroom often resembled one of those iconic scenes from Serial Experiments: Lain, but it’s been a looong time and I’m well and truly out of the loop, hardware-wise. I didn’t become a laptop user until quite late in life, and so I’ve just never done anything other than replace hard disks or RAM.

=> ↺ Pocket Ereader and Austria

• I’ve had this little Eink “development” device, the M5Paper, for a while now and it has mostly been relegated to the fridge as a weather forecast dashboard and lately it’s just been in the drawer. I had high hopes that someone (not me, I’m not that smart) would develop some sort of multipurpose firmware that could do various useful things like reading text of different sorts and maybe some other PIM type stuff. That has not happened unfortunately and I was starting to consider selling it on to someone that can actually you know, develop things. Then I was going through my github stars and looking at the recently updated repos to see if anything interesting had happend with any of the projects I follow there when I saw this diy-esp32-epub-reader project. I have no recollection of finding this before or starring it. Maybe it was not very far along when I first discovered it so it left my brain rather quickly? Well I flashed it and it turns out it is quite serviceable as a super basic ereader! I mean really, really basic but it does get the primary job done of reading epubs and it fits in a pocket very nicely.

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