- wlug - University of Waikato Mail Lists

Skype On Linux Is Broken
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 25 Feb '16

25 Feb '16

Seems like the Linux version of Skype has lost the ability to connect with Skype on other platforms. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/25/linux_skype_outage_outrage/>

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Linux On Windows?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 25 Feb '16

25 Feb '16

Microsoft has abandoned its “Astoria” project to allow Android apps to run essentially unmodified on Windows. <http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/02/microsoft-confirms-an…> Nevertheless, one interesting by-product of this effort remains: Tucked away inside the Windows 10 Insider Preview is a Linux-like operating system. The big question is what Microsoft is actually going to do with it.

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Software Freedom Conservancy: Distributing Linux With ZFS Is Illegal
by Peter Reutemann 25 Feb '16

25 Feb '16

'Phoronix reports that Bradley M. Kuhn and Karen M. Sandler at the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFS) have posted a blog post today arguing that Canonical's plan to distribute Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" with support for the ZFS file system violates the Linux kernel's GPLv2 license. On February 18, Dustin Kirkland at Canonical wrote on his blog: "We at Canonical have conducted a legal review, including discussion with the industry's leading software freedom legal counsel, of the licenses that apply to the Linux kernel and to ZFS. And in doing so, we have concluded that we are acting within the rights granted and in compliance with their terms of both of those licenses...The CDDL cannot apply to the Linux kernel because zfs.ko is a self-contained file system module — the kernel itself is quite obviously not a derivative work of this new file system. And zfs.ko, as a self-contained file system module, is clearly not a derivative work of the Linux kernel but rather quite obviously a derivative work of OpenZFS and OpenSolaris. Equivalent exceptions have existed for many years, for various other stand alone, self-contained, non-GPL kernel modules. Our conclusion is good for Ubuntu users, good for Linux, and good for all of free and open source software." The SFS's blog post of today states: "We are sympathetic to Canonical's frustration in this desire to easily support more features for their users. However, as set out below, we have concluded that their distribution of zfs.ko violates the GPL."' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/02/25/1846230 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Carnegie Mellon University Attacked Tor, Was Subpoenaed By Feds
by Peter Reutemann 25 Feb '16

25 Feb '16

'Back in November 2015 it was speculated that Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) helped the FBI attack the TOR network. Now, both the name of the university and the existence of a subpoena have been confirmed in a recent filing in one of the affected criminal cases: "The record demonstrates that the defendant's IP address was identified by the Software Engineering Institute ("SEI") of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU") [sic] when SEI was conducting research on the Tor network which was funded by the Department of Defense ("DOD")," an order filed on Tuesday in the case of Brian Farrell reads. Between January and July 2014, a large number of malicious nodes operated on the Tor network, with the purpose, according to the Tor Project, of deanonymising dark web sites and their users. The attack relied on a set of vulnerabilities in the Tor software—which have since been patched—and according to one source, the technique could unmask new hidden services within two weeks.' -- source: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/02/25/172245 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Linux Mint Hack Is an Indicator of a Larger Problem
by Peter Reutemann 24 Feb '16

24 Feb '16

"On February 20th, a hacker working under the handle 'Peace' took control of the website of Linux Mint, a popular Linux distribution derived from Ubuntu (and Debian) targeted toward non-technical users and power users unhappy with modern desktop environments. While these attacks are regrettable, and part of an infrastructure problem rather than a problem with the distribution itself, it increasingly appears that the Linux Mint team is spread too thin when it comes to security. The distribution itself blacklists updates that work perfectly in Ubuntu and Debian, and the graphical utilities don't update the kernel. Because the value added by Linux Mint is in Cinnamon, why do the developers need to distribute a broken version of Ubuntu when the Cinnamon DE could be distributed as an Ubuntu spin?" -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/02/24/1924229 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Linux Virtual Ethernet Bug Delivers Corrupt TCP/IP Data
by Peter Reutemann 22 Feb '16

22 Feb '16

"Vijay Pandurangan from Twitter warns about a Linux kernel bug that causes containers using Virtual Ethernet devices for network routing to not check TCP checksums. Examples of software stacks that use Virtual Ethernet devices are Docker on IPv6, Kubernetes, Google Container Engine and Mesos. The kernel flaw results in applications incorrectly receiving corrupt data in a number of situations, such as with bad networking hardware. The bug dates back at least 3 years or more – it is present in kernels as far back as the Twitter engineering team has tested. Their patch has been reviewed and accepted into the kernel, and is currently being backported to -stable releases back to 3.14 in various distributions. If you use containers in your setup, Pandurangan recommends that you deploy a kernel with this patch." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/02/22/1715202 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Knoppix image
by Ian Young 21 Feb '16

21 Feb '16

Hi Peter, Yes, I have the image thanks. ~ Ian Y

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Timeline Of Events: Linux Mint Website Hack That Distributed Malicious ISOs
by Peter Reutemann 21 Feb '16

21 Feb '16

"The Linux Mint website was hacked last night and was pointing to malicious ISOs that contained an IRC bot known as TSUNAMI, used as part of an IRC DDoSing botnet. While the Linux Mint team says they were hacked via their WordPress site, security experts have discovered that their phpBB forum database was put up for sale on the Dark Web at around the same time of the hack. Also, it seems that after the Linux Mint team cleaned their website, the hackers reinfected it, which caused the developers to take it down altogether." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/02/21/1548228 Ouch... Maybe time to switch to a Nikola generated site... Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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knoppix live install
by Ian Young 21 Feb '16

21 Feb '16

If there is some free time at Monday's meeting perhaps we could try an install of what i think is the latest Knoppix iso to USB, live as it happens. ~ Ian Y

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World’s cheapest Android smartphone goes on sale for just $3.67
by Peter Reutemann 19 Feb '16

19 Feb '16

"An Android-based smartphone costing about the same as a cup of coffee has been launched today in India by the local company Ringing Bells. The Freedom 251 costs 251 rupees (about £2.50 or $4), comes with a one-year guarantee, and has surprisingly decent specifications, on paper at least. The phone's price is not subsidised by a carrier contract: it really costs £2.50." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/02/worlds-cheapest-android-smartphone-g… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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