Matt Croydon::Postneo

Category: Open Source

  • Mono Developments

    Here’s the new news from the Mono team:

    • Mono now distributes a few new assemblies: Mono.Security.Win32 as a layer to use the crypto functionality on Win32. The Mono.Posix assembly which contains functionality for taking advantage of Unix facilities.
    • There’s a Mono site in Poland.
    • Stubs for the Gtk# documentation have been checked into CVS. If you want to contribute please read this message.
    • Mono development is moving quickly: Tim and Daniel have been improving the Oracle database provider and Sebastien Pouliot has got code signing to work using Authenticode with pure open source and managed code. Plenty of new VB.NET work from Marco (compiler) and Daniel (runtime). Also Jackson has resumed work on the IL assembler and the fully managed library to generate CIL images (Sergey wrote the first Mono.PEToolkit).

  • Network Utilities Module for Webmin

    This module sounds really useful:

    The Network Utilities Module for Webmin features tools like ping, traceroute, nslookup, nmap, whois, dig and an IP subnet calculator.

    I think I’ll be installing that on my linux boxen. [via freshmeat]

  • Castor 0.9.4.3

    Castor 0.9.4.3 is out:

    This release improves the stability of the framework and the new SourceGenerator.

    Here’s a quick description from freshmeat for those of you not familiar with Castor:

    Castor is the shortest path between Java[tm] objects, XML documents, SQL tables and LDAP directories. It provides Java to XML binding, Java to SQL/LDAP persistence, and then some more. Features include Castor XML: Java object to XML document, Castor JDO: Java object persistence to RDBMS, Castor DAX: Java object persistence to LDAP, Castor DSML: LDAP directory exchange through XML, XML-based mapping file specify the mapping between one model and another, in memory caching and write-at-commit which reduce JDBC operations, OQL query mapping to SQL queries, and EJB container managed persistence provider for OpenEJB.

  • wx.NET

    OSNews:

    wx.NET is a .NET wrapper for the multi-platform toolkit wxWindows. Additionally, Mono Weekly News is out and Includes a new interview, software announcements and the PHP/Mono integration. Also, there is work being done to try and port Mono to MacOSX. More info on the ongoing effort, in the list.

    I didn’t see anything Earth-shattering in Mono Weekly News, but it was an excellent wrapup of recent Mono events.

  • .NET Patents

    CNet:

    Microsoft is applying for a patent that covers a variety of functions related to its .Net initiative. But critics say if approved, the wide-ranging patent could stymie innovation.

    Hmm, this could suck big time for open source implementations of .NET such as Mono.

  • PostgreSQL 7.3.2

    PostgreSQL 7.3.2, a bugfix and vulnerability release, is out:

    This release addresses several overrun and memory leak issues that were found in recent weeks, so it is highly recommended that those running the 7.3.1 branch upgrade at their earliest convenience. This release is backwards compatible with the previous v7.3.x releases, and does not require a dump/restore to upgrade.

  • Flagpoleware

    Russ:

    Releasing your code as open source is a pain in the ass. I never realized this before, but after six months or so of having code out there, I’m realizing the truth of this. You’re always responsible for your code and it suuucks. The whole idea of OSS sounds great, “build it and they will come” and all that… but in reality it’s just a headache.

    Most of the projects (or prototypes) that I have released are pretty much Flagpoleware: run them up the flagpole and see if it is useful to anyone else.  I’d highly suggest reading the rest of Russ’ rantlet on small open source projects and support if you’re into that kind of thing.

  • 1 Year of OpenMosix

    Newsforge points out that OpenMosix is one year old today.

    Happy birthday, OpenMosix!

  • Decoding Base64 in Linux

    I found myself with a base64 encoded JPEG this afternoon that I needed to turn into a real live JPEG.  Don’t ask how, I think it was a miscommunication between mail clients.  I ended up turning to John Walker’s base64 utility for Linux.

    That’s right, I downloaded the text attachment from my web-based client, trimmed the text to the raw base64 encoded portion, ftp’d it to a server, grabbed it from an SSH session on my Linux box at home, ran base64 -d attachment.txt outfile.jpg, ftp’d it up and down, and now everything is well.

  • The Art of Unix Programming

    LWN:

    Eric Raymond informs us that a draft version of his book The Art of Unix Programming is now available for review. It can be found, along with the rest of Eric’s writings, at his new “catb.org” domain.

    From a section of the book:

    Though the term “open source” and the Open Source Definition were not invented until 1998, peer-review-intensive development of freely shared source code was a key feature of the Unix culture from its beginnings.

    For its first ten years AT&T’s original Unix was normally distributed with source code. This enabled most of the other good things that follow here.

    This work in progress looks quite promising.

  • Abandonware as Open Source Staring Points

    Looking for a project?  Scott Johnson suggests looking towards open source abandonware.

    That’s right, abandonware — the vast treasure trove of open source projects that have been started, some code has been released and then …. nothing.

  • GCC 3.2.2 Released!

    KernelTrap notes that GCC 3.2.2, a bugfix release, is out.

  • Gnome 2.2.0

    LWN notes that Gnome 2.2.0 has been released.

  • Mono Doc 0.1 Released

    From the Mono site: “A preliminary release of the Mono Documentation Browser is now availble. Release notes“

  • Linuxworld.com.au on Firebird

    NewsForge points to a Linux World Australia article about Firebird:

    When you think of open source databases, MySQL or PostgreSQL may first spring to mind. However, hot on their heels is Firebird, a relational database which has been a hotbed of development activity for the past two and a half years.

    Although a worldwide development effort, Firebird does have an Australian flavour: the FirebirdSQL Foundation (Inc.), an international non-profit organisation, was formed in New South Wales late last year. To discuss the Foundation and the development project, LinuxWorld talked to Helen Borrie, a Firebird project admin and documenter who is based in the Central Coast.

  • GPGrelay

    Speaking of public keys, here’s a SourceForge announcement for GPGrelay:

    GPGrelay is a small email-relaying server that uses GnuPG (the GNU Privacy Guard) to sign/encrypt (SMTP-Relay) or verifies/decrypts (POP3-Relay) emails. This enables many email-clients to send and receive emails that are PGP-MIME conforming. This release includes bugfixes and minor feature enhancements.

  • Blojsom: Download, CVS, Javadoc

    David Czarnecki has been hard at work on Blojsom.  It is available on SourceForge, committed to CVS, and the javadocs and site docs are available.

  • Apokapiptik’s PHP FTP Indexer

    Scott Johnson points to Apokaliptik’s FTP indexer, which is open source and written in PHP.

    Consider it filed in the back of my head.

  • Distributed Internet Backup System

    A quick link before I go to bed: DIBS: Distributed Internet Backup System:

    Since disk drives are cheap, backup should be cheap too. Of course it does not help to mirror your data by adding more disks to your own computer because a fire, flood, power surge, etc. could still wipe out your local data center. Instead, you should give your files to peers (and in return store their files) so that if a catastrophe strikes your area, you can recover data from surviving peers. The Distributed Internet Backup System (DIBS) is designed to implement this vision.

    Thanks for the pointer, Erik.  I’ll have to check it out in the morning.

  • Ximian Swag

    I ordered an Ximian and Mono tshirt this evening from the Ximian store.  I need a few more tshirts (well not really, but I always need more tshirts) plus I can score extra inside joke points in my C# class.

    On a serious note, I’m glad to throw a few insignificant bucks at Miguel and the Ximian crew.