/dev/null2

FOSDEM Rough Notes

It has been about two weeks now since I was at FOSDEM, but I still have my notes to write up, which is rather bad. Anyhow, this is the slight writeup of the notes I took over the two days.

Software Patents
We need ethical patents, not just for software but for things such as business practises and medication. If you want to support ethical patents visit EthiPat.org.

Patents are used as a form of extortion. Patent holders for patents which are not applicable in the European Union will approach companies saying that they have infringed on a patent and expect them to pay up. It is quite similar to how the RIAA behave in the the USA with music.

Liberating Java
Patent holders who are 'community' members put the community at risk when the patent holders are put at risk. That is if RedHat have patents on things in FOSS programs they will not sue them since they like FOSS, but if RedHat is bought then the FOSS program writes may be sued.

Sun are Pro-GPLv3 because of the strong patent clauses.

tinyMail
Documentation is very, very important - write the documentation before you implement the feature, then revise the documentation. This way your application will always have good up to date documentation. This means that others find it easier to use your application and contribute to it.

Gnome Marketing

Freedom is about not having to ask permission That is if you have an idea go for it, you don't need the permission of people like Gnome. If it is a bad idea then people will tell you later or the idea will flop.

Write to your MP lobbying for Free Software etc.

Guerrilla marketing of products e.g. Gnome works.

If you want Gnome people to talk at your LUG, CompSoc or whatever email for speakers - everyone is approachable. They may be 'rockstar' programmers, but they are also real people like you and I; thus you can approach them if you want something.

Security Testing
OSSTMM is a security manual, written by the guy who gave the talk, Pete Herzog.

We are all dependant on others. The computer user is dependant on the sysadmin, the sysadmin is dependant on learning about new vulnerabilities etc.

Developers should test their own programs. When building a firewall, don't just build it but try to topple it once it has been built, this way you know where your weaknesses will lie.

People need to think for themselves - don't use tools! If the security people can't think for themselves they may get into deep problems when they face new exploits and attacks.

All the following are limitations: - Vulnerabilities - Weaknesses - Concerns - Exposures - Anomalies

all of these are equal when you start looking at a system - their value changes with the controls and situation.

GPLv3
Governments may want hardware DRM to protect economy etc. (this is very prevalent in Germany where Siemens etc. lobby the government). - GPLv3 is to prevent this kind of scenario.

"Brilliant people like to argue" - Gorge Greve

Microsoft is now under pressure because Vista is crap. It is now time to strike for the benefit of Free Software.

Advocate the use of Open Standards, this will lead to Open Platforms.

Tongue Tied

Today, since it was Saint David's Day we were allowed to ware our own clothes, not our school uniform to school. To this I attached my two Free Software badges, a GNU head and GPLv3. The idea was to try and do my bit promoting Free Software around the school.

While talking to some people, they noticed the badges, all good so far. They asked about them, so I tried to answer; but I couldn't. I know all about Free Software, I understand it and I have absolutely no idea how to transfer it's basic ideas in a few sentences to the 'average Joe'. I'm not sure if it's me, or if it is actually hard to articulate these ideas, most likely a bit of both, but I intend to sort this out for the next time by trying to put together some kind of small Free Software advocacy explanation.

All Quiet on the Welsh Front

The winter exam season in upon me. This means I will not be visiting the Libervis Network much, if at all for the next two weeks. I'll try and catch up with things after that.

Kill The Noise

I dislike noise when it comes to computing. You might not think there is much noise while computing, but due to all the moving parts in the various drives and fans the noise can get very frustrating.

But why is it frustrating? I don't find the noise of sawing frustrating as a saw through a plank of wood do I? No. I don't find the noise made by typing frustrating either. It's the constant background humming which gets me - the typing and the sawing seem to have a purpose, and the noise stops when you stop, but the humming doesn't seem to do anything.

The fans are spinning around hundreds of times a minute, the hard drive spins around thousands of times a minute. This all seems to create tension as I think it raises your hart beat ever so slightly - you're anticipating the next thing to come around, and you want it to come around as fast as your fans are spinning; all these moving parts are giving a new, speedier rhythm to your life. With this speedier rhythm to life attention span seems to drop, and concentration can become difficult, this can of course lead to lower productivity.

Thus I look forward to the day we have large volume stable solid state storage, highly efficient passive cooling (even maybe using your computer's heat to cook your supper) in our computers, and it'll be normal, unlike now where having a liquid cooled computer suggests you like fragging people in the latest FPS. Once we get to such a stage there will (hopefully) be next to no noise and the RPMs will no longer manage our rhythm.

This is really a post with me bitching about the noise my computer makes and has absolutely no facts to back it up; but it would be nice if some scientist somewhere did some research into computer noise v. productivity.

podplayer

After downloading bashpodder; I wanted a small script to play my unplayed podcasts. So I came up with this:
#!/bin/bash
# Iestyn Pryce
# podplayer.sh - a wrapper for mplayer to help play podcasts
# Needs mplayer to run
# Public Domain

# which file to play
playfile=$1

# make sure the list of played files exists
touch ~/podcasts/played_pods.lst

# if the file has been played, say so and exit
if [ `grep ${playfile##/*/} ~/podcasts/played_pods.lst | wc -l` -gt 0 ]; then
echo "You've already played this podcast!"
exit
fi

# play the file and add the filename to the list
mplayer $playfile && echo ${playfile##/*/} >> ~/podcasts/played_pods.lst

It's pretty simple, but does what I want. I'm putting it in the public domain.

Java is Free!

Today Sun announced that they have Freed Java.

This is the main gist of the announcement:

Specifically Sun is announcing:

* GPL v2 license for Sun's Java SE (JDK) and Java ME implementations, and adding this license to Sun's Java EE implementation.

* First release of code for the JDK and for Sun's Java ME implementation, projects and communities.

* Roadmap for future code releases and community development.

This means that Java is Free. Which means it can be used on Free platforms, and learnt by people who want only to use Free programming languages. This is a great thing to happen, since people have been pushing for the Freeing of Java for years, the hope with its Freeing people in the Free Software world may use it, instead of having the luke-warm response there has been so far.

Oh, well I'm rather happy about this. Next on the list: nVidia drivers.

GPL'ing Java

Yet again there seems to be a spate of people saying that Sun are going to be GPL'ing Java. Though I'm sceptical about this since there were similar stories going around earlier in the year.

I'd think it great if they did release Java under the GPL since it would enable it to be truly multi-platform by becoming compatible with Free platforms. I've read a few things recently about how Java has been speeding up recently on things such as server side applications, thus I'd love to try out the language, and if it were GPL'd I'd try it.

Guadec 2007

I've just found out when Guadec 2007 is going to be: 15-21 July 2007 at UCE Conservatoire, Birmingham, UK. So I'm very happy since my exams will have been over for about a month, and I'll celebrate my 18th in a truly geeky style.

Microsoft, Novell and all that razz

Okay it has been a few days since Novell and Microsoft announced that they would collaborate. With this announcement ripples of shock spread through the Free Software and Open Source communities, with many people blogging, writing, commenting and discussing the possible implications. Now it is is my turn.

Firstly I'll look at the good things about this agreement (yes there are a few good things - honestly):

It shows that Microsoft acknowledges the existence of the GNU/Linux platform as a serious contender - it is no long a thing for pinko leftist commies.

There is a chance that more businesses will switch over to Novell/Linux. This will spread the name 'Linux' a little further, and may in turn lead people to learn about Free Software (but the chance is slim).

Secondly I'll look at the bad, evil things this agreement brings up:

On the issue of Software Patents. This agreement basically legitimises Microsoft's claim that their patents reside in various FOSS projects. They can now say "Hey look at Novell, they accept that FOSS breaches our patents, so what we say must be true - get into bed with us and you'll have the same protection, otherwise see you in court". It reminds me of what SCO has been trying to do for years. The worrying thing is that this agreement seems to legitimise Microsoft's claim that they 'own' parts of GNU/Linux. The thing is I don't know what the point of it is for Novell, since I havn't heard of any patent infringements - even in projects such as Mono which seems to be a clone of Microsoft's .NET framework.

Now onto the Open XML stuff. I don't understand why anyone would want to support a crappy file format such as Open XML. We have a very good, well recognised format in the form of ODF. People worked hard with ODF to get it recognised by standard authorities, and to have it work, have it better than both the old .doc format and the now Open XML one. By supporting Open XML Novell are making all the hard work done in getting ODF to where it is useless - now we support Microsoft while Microsoft doesn't support us, we support crap while they don't support near-perfection.

Thirdly to look at who gets covered by the agreement (especially in regards to patents). The main people covered by the agreement are people who use SuSE Linux Enterprise Server and Desktop - that is Novell customers. Also it seems to cover people who contribute to openSuSE and non-commercial users of GNU/Linux (so what does that mean? people who only use their computers to write family letters and e-mail, that is do no online shopping or write a letter on behalf of the boss?). This helps no one save Novell and Microsoft (which as previously said will most likely sue companies and people who don't whore for them). Thus from this we gain that this agreement is for Novell and Microsoft as companies, not for the benefit of software. Also this deal only runs for 6 years, so after the 6 years the 'not sue Novell customers for patent infringements' will no longer exist.

Conclusion

I think Novell have shot themselves in the foot, while Microsoft is slowly increasing the arsenic in Novell's tea.

Why do I think this? Well this announcement has pissed off a huge number of people in the Free Software and Open Source communities. Thus they are less likely to use, test and contribute to openSuSE, which would have been a great testing ground for the SLEDs of the future. Now Novell will have to spend more money on testing etc. making any rise in profit from the deal (from rise in share price or more customers) negligible.

Now onto how Microsoft are poisoning. As I've said the deal only lasts for 6 years, meaning that Novell may very well be sued after the 6 years are up, when they may be worth more, and thus be sued for more. Also it has turned the community against Novell - this will damage Novell further.

This is a watershed moment for Linux. It fundamentally changes the rules of the game.

-- this is a quote from the Novell/Microsoft open letter to the community.

It states the situation perfectly, this is a watershed, it opens the door to patent litigation, and the circumnavigation of the GPL's spirit.

Good move Novell - You've given huge power to Microsoft and alienated the community and your contributors; all for money and profit - may you burn in /dev/null.

'Database Nation: The...

...death of privacy in the 21st century" -- I finished this book today after a marathon afternoon of reading. In general this book covers how people's privacy is encroached upon in several ways, as well as how it has changed during the past century. It does this in a methodical way by viewing different aspects such as identity theft, spy satellites, different ways of proving identity, national security and credit rating databases. Simson Garfinkel exposes the true weaknesses there are in our society in regards to our privacy. I will not look at a membership application form, or a product registration slip in the same way again.

One downside for me living in the UK was that the book was US centric; thus discussions pertaining to particular laws were not that useful or revealing to me, but I can see them very useful for US citizens. Another slight downside is the age of the book, having been first published in 2000, and with the research having taken place during the late 1990s it did seem rather old at times, and since September the 11th 2001 there have been further curtailments to civil liberties and privacy in the US, with acts such as the Patriot Act being passed.

Despite these caveats I enjoyed the book, and it has made me aware of the many problems there are when it comes to our privacy. At times the book did scare me, especially the way it described how easy it was for peoples' information to be bought and sold; but as a result of reading it I feel more prepared when it comes to defend my privacy.

Interesting Idea by Thomas Thurman

I was looking at Planet Gnome today, and read a post by Thomas Thurman, read: here. A pretty interesting idea.

Musings on Kernel Filesystem Politics

Kernel politics seems a strange thing. It seems that the ext4 FS has been merged into Andrew Morton's -mm patchset[1]. I find it amazing that ext4 has reached such a stage so soon, since I only remember the discussion of ext4 on LKML about 3 months ago, while Reiser4 still hasn't been merged with the kernel despite being around for more than two years.

From various things I've read it seems that Hans Reiser has been in some tension with people in the kernel community in regards to his Reiser4 filesystem, they didn't want to take his filesystem on. Of course with the news of Hans Reiser's arrest on suspicion of the murder of his wife, Reiser4 may disappear under the horizon, as people may not want to be connected to a possible felon's filesystem.

This isn't much of a post, but it marks my curiosity with kernel politics, where one filesystem gets merged before another, despite being younger.

Yes I do use ReiserFS.

[1] - http://kerneltrap.org/node/7224

Bitter-Sweet Software

This has been a week where I've noticed various problems with the GNU/Linux platform. I've been using GNU/Linux for over two years now and had good fun with it, being able to do all I did on Windows, save play computer games (which I feel I've now grown out of) and CAD (which is still the main reason I have a box with Windows on it). I've been able to do everything else; write documents, manipulate images, print things, import images from my camera, scan things etc. It has even given me a good platform for learning to program.

Yet, I feel this week that things have got to pot. On Monday I wished to import images from my digital camera onto my system, under Blag. But whatever I tried gphoto2 errored out. I tried on Gentoo and it worked if I was root when importing the images. The version of gphoto on Blag was newer than that on Gentoo - so why the heck didn't it work? I don't think things should regress like this. I tried to upgrade gphoto2 to the latest version which explicitly stated that it supported my camera, but again no go, why? because gphoto needed a version of libusb which (for all I could see) was only available via CVS, and I don't like running CVS code as a dependency to a stable program.

Yesterday, seeing Don Scorgie's post on Labyrinth I wished to give it a go. I downloaded the source, ran configure, which complained about a lack of various libs and utilities, which I installed. But it still complained about pygobject, saying I didn't have a new enough version installed, despite just installing the latest available version. Thus, again I hit a brick wall which I couldn't surmount.

Now today I wished to print off a simple .png image I'd made in Inkscape. But whenever I tried to print it, the whole image never appeared on the paper, despite the printing preview being okay and having the right printer drives installed. One needs patience with GNU/Linux I feel.

These problems and occurrences have led to two thoughts. One being "what the hell's the point with all this Free Software if I can't get things to work?". The second is, "Damn this Free Software needs a lot of work. At least it allows me to work on it if I wish to improve it. It gives me the freedom to poke about, give some detailed bug reports if I wish, and create patches if I wish."

I'm keeping the second thought in mind. I feel that GNU/Linux is better at many things in comparison to Windows. I feel the last hurdle will be to get everything working all the time, that there will not be regressions in code, and that I don't have to be poking about in config files etc. if I don't wish.

I now hope to learn how the innards of these programs work, and try to fix them. I hope in a year from now I will have contributed more than translations to projects, I hope to be able to contribute code and documentation. We will see if this hope bares any fruit.

European Software Patent Enfoncement by the Back Door?

Reading the BBC's News website I came across this article: SanDisk faces MP3 licence dispute.

I read the article, it's about an Italian patents company getting an injunction on SanDisk showing some new flash MP3 players at a trade show due the licencing of the MP3 codec.

Okay, there is as patent on the decompression algorithm for MP3 encoded files. But in Europe there are no software patents... so I'm a bit lost on how the hell the patent company got an injunction since SanDisk say they don't use the same code to decompress the algorithm.

This is madness - will I get my computers confiscated for having free programs which allow me to play proprietary file formats such as .mp3 as well as DVDs. I know these are illegal in the USA, but here in Europe too? Are they bringing software patent enforcement in by the back door?

MS Quote Database

(Anti-)Microsoft Quote Database. - too good not to share.

"Microsoft programs are generally bug-free. If you visit the Microsoft hotline, you'll literally have to wait weeks if not months until someone calls in with a bug in one of our programs. 99.99% of calls turn out to be user mistakes.... I know not a single less irrelevant reason for an update than bugfixes. The reasons for updates are to present more new features." -Bill Gates