LDN Newsletter

Featured LDN Blogs

Hundreds of Jobs Posted on Linux.com
By Brian Proffitt
With Linux powering nearly every mobile device that hits the market, the demand for Linux-related jobs is rapidly growing despite national unemployment figures. Combine this with the ongoing success of companies such as Red Hat and it’s easy to see why demand for Linux professionals is on the rise.

Another Area of Linux Growth
By Brian Proffitt
Thanks to tech like Moblin and Android, netbooks, smartbooks, and smartphones are all the rage right now for consumers, but Linux is also showing up on the very sales counters where all of these devices are being bought.

When One Linux Project Wins, All Linux Triumphs
By Brian Proffitt
To say there was a lot of Linux news coming out of CES last week was an understatement. As I watched the morning TV shows present their inevitable "look-at-what-the-nerds-have-made-this-year" segments from the CES floor during the event, I had the distinct pleasure of turning to my family many times and proclaiming: "See that? Runs Linux."

Proud to be a Googler
By Ted Ts'o
Although I obviously had nothing to do with Google’s decision vis-a-vis China, having only started working there for a week, I was definitely glad to see it and it made me proud to be able to say that I work there. Kudos to Google’s management team for having made (IMHO) the right decision.

Here We Go Again: Video Standards War 2010
By Andy Updegrove
Betamax vs.VHS, HD DVD vs. Blu-ray and now DECE vs. Keychest. Can’t the consumer electronics industry and studios cut us a break?

Porting to Open Source--Where to Begin...
From FOSSBazaar
So once an entity decides to "open up" its proprietary product, what does it entail? Porting to open source operating environment is not similar to that of porting to a tightly managed operating environment (Windows, MAC OS X, HP-UX, Solaris) since there are more than a dozen varieties of Linux operating environments in the market, amongst them Ubuntu, Redhat, SUSE, Debian each with their own intricacies. Of course one can decide to build its own distro from scratch.

From the Internet

IBM's Big Win: Panasonic Dumps Exchange, Moves to LotusLive Cloud Services
Big move for open source software...

The Google Escalation and Open Source
How open source may be affected and could affect Google's row with China...

If Google Can Do It... Why Can't You?
So why aren't more big open source businesses...?

Automating Android with Ant
Compiling Android with something other than Eclipse...

Terracotta Polishes Quartz Job Scheduler
A new Java tool is now available...

Verizon Tips Pre Plus, and Palm Opens WebOS
How secure are virtual platforms?

Virtual Machines are No Security Blanket
So why aren't more big open source businesses...?

Mozilla Tries to Silence Add-on Developers' Scream
Troubled waters for Mozilla extension developers...

Featured LDN Blogs

CodePlex Foundation Reports on 100 Day Goals
By Andy Updegrove
Earlier this week, I noted the fact that the 100 day mark for the CodePlex Foundation had passed (on December 19) without any comment from the Foundation on how they had fared against their aggressive goals for that time period, including the replacement of the founding, interim Board of Directors, with a permanent board.

Smartbook Playing Field Wide Open for Linux
By Brian Proffitt
There's been a lot of technology predictions for the upcoming year, with Linux playing a big part in the future direction of tech. Fortunately, we won't have to wait long to see how some of those predictions will play out: it's just a mere three more days until the start of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

All Quiet on CodePlex Front Post-100 Day Mark
By Andy Updegrove
As you may recall, Microsoft announced back on September 10 that it had launched a new foundation “as a forum in which open source communities and the software development community can come together with the shared goal of increasing participation in open source community projects.”

Nouveau: A 2.6.33 Surprise
By Jonathan Corbet
Linus has released the 2.6.33-rc1 prepatch, closing the merge window for this development cycle. This kernel has a few features which will shake things up, with dynamic tracing being near the top as far as I am concerned. But, perhaps, the most interesting addition is one that almost nobody expected: a reverse-engineered driver for NVIDIA graphics chipsets called “Nouveau.”

David and Goliath II: i4i Wins (Again) over Microsoft
By Andy Updegrove
Yesterday a very small company won a very big victory against a very large software vendor. The small company is i4i, a Canadian company that claimed that the large company had not infringed its patent accidentally, but knowingly and willfully, after engaging in discussions relating to the very same technology in question.

A Concise Introduction to Free and Open Software
By Andy Updegrove
If you’re like me, you became fully aware of free and open source software only gradually, rather than suddenly and all at once. In my case, the process was somewhat schizophrenic, because I was personally involved, through my clients, in some of the evolutionary steps of FOSS itself, and only realized in retrospect how they fit into the whole picture.

From the Internet

Firefox Development Dilemma: Tweak or Overhaul?
How to approach updating software...

Software Development's Winners and Losers, 2009 Edition
Who's ahead, who's behind in software development?

A Virtual Solution for Mobile Development
How VirtualBox can duplicate any environment for developing...

Featured LDN Article

Shuttleworth Stepping Down as Canonical Head, Silber New CEO in 2010
By Brian Proffitt
After five years as CEO of Canonical Ltd., Mark Shuttleworth is stepping down from that role, as current Canonical COO Jane Silber steps up as the new executive leader of the popular Linux distribution vendor.

From the Internet

openSUSE Build Service Integrates with openDesktop.org to Reach 150,000 contributors
Another cool build service outlet is coming...

Fulfillment Center Aims to Protect Companies from GPL Lawsuits
More market reaction from the latest BusyBox lawsuit...

Life After Death or Living Dead? Open Source is No Guarantee
EtherPad rescued, but will it be DOA?

10 Important Linux Developments Everyone Should Know About
Recapping 10 years of developerWorks...

How to Avoid Modern Day Public GPL Floggings
GPL'd source code must be published, but how...?

The Five Distros That Changed Linux
The game-changer Linux distros...

Former BusyBox Contributor Upset About GPL Lawsuit
Perens left out of his creation's legal challenges...

Mono 2.6 Released, Supports LLVM Generation
The next release of Mono ships...

Announcing LinuxCon 2010
Highlighting our upcoming LinuxCon...

The Relevancy of ODF 1.0
What to do with ODF 1.0...

One Android to Rule Them All?
Can the Android platform dominate in 2010?

Community Meetings: Rock Not Ramble
Making your community prosper...

FOSDEM 2010: Call for Presentations
The 2010 events season begins to get into full swing...

Open Source Licensing Detection Gets More Competitive
OpenLogic joins the license detection competition...

Code Tutorial: Make Your Application Sync with Ubuntu One
How to code for cloud synchronization...

Featured LDN Articles

Olswang Open Source Summit
From FOSSBazaar
On 1st December Olswang held their third and final Open Source Summit in London. For one reason or another I'd been unable to attend the 2007 and 2008 events and was glad to last week be finally able to make it along. Olswang are a law firm and so as you would expect the summit focused on open source legal matters. We were treated to a keynote from Bruce Perens and the overall quality of the event was very high. Numerous topics were covered over the course of the morning and a few notes follow.

Licenses are Not the Hard Part
From FOSSBazaar
This week, I will have the opportunity to meet in-person with many others who have focused attention on legal aspects of FOSS. The European OpenSource & Free Software Law Event will be held in Brussels on December 9, 2009

Featured Blogs

Smart Phones, eBooks, and the Same Old, Same Old
By Andy Updegrove
Ah yes — “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Isn’t that how the old saw goes? Or, in the more impatient parlance of today, simply “Same old, same old.” So perhaps it should be no surprise that the old proverb would also hold true in the rough and tumble world of standards.

2010 Linux Events Foster Community, Business Opportunities
By Brian Proffitt
The technology event season has come to a close, as the holidays approach and 2009 draws to its end.

Get One, Give One Shares Benefits of LF Membership
By Brian Proffitt
As you get your holiday shopping done, you may find yourself wondering what you can get for the student in your life. Thanks to a new Linux Foundation program, if you sign up for an individual membership with the LF, the LF will donate a free one-year student membership either to a student you know, or students who are seeking a sponsored membership.

Browser Shares Reveal True Benefits of Open Source
By Brian Proffitt
There was a good story on Ars Technica last week about the current state of browser share on the Internet. Browser news is always interesting because it gives us one window into how far open source has come on the desktop.

From the Internet

Canonical Launches Bazaar Commercial Support
Bazaar gets some commercial support from founder Canonical...

Tech Tip: Add Latitude/Longitude Information to Photos
Geotag your photos with this handy script...

Fedora Switching From CVS To Git
Another distro moves to git for source control...

Mono Speaks C# 4.0
A new release of Mono adds new functionality...

Zemlin: 'Industry Transformation Depends on Linux' (Q&A)
How Linux keeps thriving and growing...

More Special Variables in Perl: Outputs
Examining special Perl variables...

New Version of JavaScript Approved
JavaScript approval slooowly moves ahead...

Featured LDN Article

Vim 201: An Intermediate Guide to Vim
By Joe Brockmeier
Ready to boost your Vim skills? Many use Vim, but don't make use of nearly all the features. In this guide, we'll take a look at some of the intermediate features offered by Vim, including abbreviations, word completion, and editing multiple documents in the same Vim session.

Featured Blog

Chrome OS Sparks Vendor Enthusiasm, Innovation
By Brian Proffitt
Some of you might be too young to remember the space race: the frenzied decades of the '50s and '60s where the US and the USSR poured massive resources to be the First [Anything] in space. But all of us might have a chance to watch some of this in microcosm as OEM vendors jockey for the coveted "first Chrome OS netbook shipped" position.

From the Internet

2.6.32 is Out! But a Word of Caution Around CFQ
An in-depth report on the latest Linux kernel release...

Is Eclipse an Open Source Community or Trade Association?
Balancing business and community is not always easy with open source...

'Ubuntu Needs a Longer Release Schedule!'
Jono Bacon on cadence...

Intel Launches Atom SDK Beta for Netbook App Developers
A new SDK for Moblin-on-Atom developers...

Qt Gets Cuter: 4.6 Brings Expanded Platform Support
Maemo gets official Qt support...

Got An App? Make It A PortableApp
Portability tools for your favorite application...

GCC 4.5 Steps Closer To Release
GCC 4.5 is on the way...

rPath Heaves Javelin at Red Hat
The student supports the master...

Under the Hood of Native Web Apps for Android
"Off-line" mobile application development...

Eclipse Tells Ex-Community Director to 'Go Away'
The darker side of community...

CommonJS Effort Sets JavaScript on Path for World Domination
JavaScript beyond the browser...

GUADEC 2010 Moves to The Hague
The next GUADEC has been announced...

Featured LDN Article

Code Reduction is Job #1
From FOSSBazaar
If you manage a large software organization, should code reduction be the first bullet in your 2010 strategy?

Featured Blog

Putting Trust in the Cloud
By Brian Proffitt
What struck me about this situation is how banks can simply change their policies to suit the needs of their corporate clients at the expense of the retail clients. And, I could not help but draw the parallel: how will policies for storing our personal data be developed as more and more cloud providers and services ask us to keep all of our electronic "stuff" out on the cloud?

From the Internet

When Designing for Moblin, Think Like a Mobile User, Part 2
More details on interface design for mobile Linux...

Eclipse 4 Goes a Mile Further
What's ahead for Eclipse...

Linux is Best for PHP Development
As if this was a big surprise...

Get Your Moblin Netbook Development and Testing Toolkit On
Best-practice tools for embedded development...

Proprietary Software: Still Not Doomed, Sorry
Making room for all license models...

The 'Wisdom of Crowds' Loses Steam
Is "community" a fading proposition?

Chrome Extensions Gallery Opened to Developers
Preparing for the extensions launch...

Featured LDN Articles

Vim 101: A Beginner's Guide to Vim
By Joe Brockmeier
Ever wanted to learn Vim, but weren't sure how to start? No problem. We have you covered! This will be the first of a four-part (possibly longer) series covering how to use Vim and where to start using the world's best text editor.

Chrome OS Now Open Sourced, Gearing for 2010 Release
By Brian Proffitt
Though there was no formal Chrome OS release announcement made yesterday by Google, the Mountain View, CA company did give media a sneak peek at the new Linux-based operating system while announcing that as of November 19, the entire Chrome OS project will be available for open source development.

Featured Blogs

Open Source Gets Bigger CeBIT Spotlight
By Brian Proffitt
The strong growth of open source in IT will be demonstrated with its prominent placement at the world's largest computer event, CeBIT 2010.

The Birth of the SGIP (Live from Denver)
By Andy Updegrove
Over the next ten years, tens, and possibly hundreds of millions, of new platforms are going to be put into place in the United States as part of a new national infrastructure; an equal number will be installed in Europe (many are already being installed). The same may happen in other parts of the world as well.

Corporate IT Policies More Linux-Friendly
By Brian Proffitt
As the week began, I had the fortune to come across an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal that addressed the problem employees face all-too-often in the workplace: the hardware and software workers are required to use based on their company's IT policies is often out of date with the technology they can purchase and use at home as consumers.

From the Internet

PHP 5.3.1 Released
Security fixes a big part of this interim release...

More Fun With Bash Quoting
Spicing up bash quoting...

How The X Stack In Ubuntu 10.04 LTS May Look
X development on Ubuntu LTS begins...

The Future of Linux is Google
Who will be at the Linux helm moving forward?

Open Web Foundation Releases Open Specification Agreement
Ten new specs from the OWF are out...

Find Directories Over a Certain Size
Building a script to improve find...

Communities Vs. Teams: Open Source Needs Both
How to balance work in open source...

Featured LDN Article

Cox, Gleixner, Ts'o Elected to Technical Advisory Board
By Brian Proffitt
One of the more important functions is the annual Technical Advisory Board (TAB) election, which was held this year at the Japan Linux Symposium in Tokyo. Today, we've announced the results of that election.

Featured Blog

Cross-Platform Coding for Visual Studio Developers via Mono
By Brian Proffitt
One of the big challenges facing Linux development is the straightforward issue of actually having developers to write the code.

From the Internet

Perl.org Refresh Goes Live
A new look for Perl.org...

Python 3 Moratorium Now Official
Making Python 3 more stable...

PHP Founder Takes Flight from Yahoo!
Job moves for Rasmus Lerdorf...

Atom SDK Now Available from Intel, and a Developer Challenge!
A chance to earn from coin for writing Atom aps...

Go: New Open Source Programming Language from Google
Like C, only faster...

SAP CTO Calls for Java Foundation
Calls for re-examining the governance of Java...

SFLC Tech Director Finds One New GPL Violator Every Day
The problem seems more prevelant than first thought...

Reiser4 May Go For Mainline Inclusion In 2010
With just a few outstanding items, will Resier4 see the light of kernel day?

Google Opens Up its JavaScript Development Toolbox to All
Google opens some dev tools to get a sense of Closure...

After 5 Years, Firefox Faces New Challenges
Happy birthday to Firefox...

Perl Far From Dead, More Popular Than You Think
Really. Perl feels perfectly fine...

German Federal Cross of Merit for KDE Founder
High kudos indeed for Herr Ettrich...

Featured LDN Article

Beginner's Guide to Linux Desktops Backups: Basic Strategies and Tools
By Marco Fioretti
We regular computer users depend so much on digital documents that it would be crazy not to make our best to make sure that we will never lose them, no matter what happens.

Featured Blogs

The Importance of an Open Internet
By Brian Proffitt
The concept of net neutrality is an issue that's been bandied about for a few years now in the US--among several other political hot potatoes you have probably heard about.

Checking In on CodePlex
By Andy Updegrove
It’s been more than a month since I last wrote about the CodePlex Foundation, the new open source initiative announced by Microsoft in early September. While things were pretty quiet at the Foundation site for some time, that changed on October 21, when the Foundation posted its new Project Acceptance and Operation Guidelines, a key deliverable that gives insight into a variety of aspects of the Foundation’s developing purpose and philosophy.

Digitization and the (Vanishing) Arts of the Book
By Andy Updegrove
It’s easy to appreciate the wonders of the Web, and all of the riches that the Internet brings into our lives. All of which makes it easy indeed not to notice the things that tend to slip away, as the collateral damage of progress. Recently, we woke up to the fact that if we don’t care about document formats, our personal and public documents may disappear into a digital Black Hole of no return.

From the Internet

EclipseCon 2010 Call for Papers
The call for papers is out for EclipseCon...

Package Management With Zypper
A good overview of Zypper...

Distributions Are the Strength of Linux
The fundamental importance of distributions...

Next-Generation Linux File Systems: NiLFS(2) and exofs
Take a tour of the latest cutting-edge filesystems...

October 2009 Browser Stats: Firefox Finally Passes IE6
Web developers, take note...

Bringing Theora to YouTube (The Hard Way)
Working with Greasemonkey and other scripting tools...

One FatELF Binary To Run Them All
A Mac concept applied to Linux...

Android is Sprint-ing Ahead
Building more apps for Android...

GNOME and KDE Development Course
A new development course for desktop development...

DebConf10 Debian Conference Set for August in NYC
Debian developers set to hit the Big Apple...

Featured LDN Article

An Introduction to Python Objects
By Micah Ferrill
In the world of computer languages, nothing speaks louder than who adopts its usage. The Python language hit a home run with Google adopting it for a high percentage of their internal and public (Google App Engine) projects. One of the things that makes the Python language appealing to so many is how it treats everything as an object. This makes the language inherently object-oriented but not so complex and wordy that it can’t be understood by beginning programmers.

Featured Blogs

The Constantine Code and the Missing Standard!
By Andy Updegrove
One of the realities that every standards professional must deal with is the sad fact that everyone else in the world thinks that standards are...

A Tokyo Travelogue
By Jon Corbet
So I’ve just returned from Tokyo, where I attended the 2009 Kernel Summit and the first ever Japan Linux Symposium. My body clock is expected sometime later this week. It was a tiring but rewarding week, and not just because the sushi was so good.

From the Internet

Gentoo Optimizations Benchmarked
Benchmarking Gentoo and Ubuntu...

openSUSE-Medical Looking for Developers
A new distro is in the works for medical personnel...

Linux-Aware Atom Debugging Arrives
Hardware debugging tools for Atom...

Linux Incorporated
Seeing Linux grow up...

A Hackfest To Improve Linux Video Playback
Setting a goal to improve VDPAU...

Featured LDN Articles

Maemo 5, N900 Centerpiece Maemo Summit 2009
By Nathan Willis
Nokia played host to 400 developers, enthusiasts, and smartphone power users over the October 9-11 weekend at its Maemo Summit in Amsterdam. Maemo is Nokia's handheld Linux distribution, available since 2005 on the company's Internet Tablet line: the 770, N800, and N810. This year's summit centered around two milestones--the release of Maemo 5, and the debut of Nokia's N900, the highly-anticipated successor to the tablet line that adds cell phone functionality, potentially putting a portable Linux system in the hands of smartphone customers worldwide.

An Inside Look at the Ubuntu Release Cycle
By Jono Bacon
In the Ubuntu world, we release a new version of Ubuntu every six months, and inside each Ubuntu release cycle we cram in a huge amount of work. Through the cycle there is a sync with Debian, a merge of our patches, six alpha releases, a beta, a release candidate and all the feature development, bug fixing and other work that goes into making our favorite Operating System.

Featured Blogs

Cloud Computing Too Costly in the Long Term?
By Brian Proffitt
During their own Sept. 29 Cloud Computing Summit, IDC made what at first glance sounded like a self-defeating statement: clouds, in the long run, are actually a more expensive option than a company running its own datacenter. That, needless to say, got my attention.

It’s Time for Obama to Come Out for FOSS
By Andy Updegrove
Some of the best software available is open source, but non-proprietary software has enemies as well as friends. Not surprisingly, then there’s been plenty of fog on Capitol Hill about free and open source software (FOSS) for a decade now.

From the Internet

FatELF to Bring Universal Binaries to Linux
Another approach to application packaging...

Avoid Trap Of Proprietary Cloud Tooling: Use Simple API
Maintaining standards in cloud development...

Proposal: Moratorium on Python Language Changes
Guido van Rossum throws out a new idea...

Parallel Programming: Non-optimal Is as Non-optimal Does
Looking at high-end parallel programming...

When Designing for Moblin, Think Like a Mobile User: Part 1
How to develop for Moblin devices...

Widget Wonderland for WebOS
How to develop integrated WebOS apps...

Why Open Source Companies Need to Give Up Control
Balancing corporate and community needs...

Developer Days 2009: Qt Grows
A report from this year's European Qt Developer Days...

GPLv2 Ambiguities Linger On
The legal complexities of the GPLv2 are still being examined...

Study Shows Open-Source Code Quality Steadily Improving
Coverity continues to hammer the point hom about higher-quality open code...

Featured LDN Articles

New Benefits Offered for Individual LF Members
From the Linux Foundation
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, the Linux Foundation today announced that individual members now qualify for employee purchase pricing from Dell, HP and Lenovo.

Home Automation with Linux
By Nathan Willis
Home automation may sound like a science-fiction dream, but in reality it is not only commonplace, but relatively simple to get started, especially with Linux.

Linux Succeeds Across the Board
By Bill Claybrook
There are several areas where Linux and open source software are doing great, especially in the new technologies where open source encourages innovation

Featured Blog

Bringing Linux to Small Business
By Brian Proffitt
We are all impressed and excited by the success of commercial Linux vendors. Red Hat, Novell, Canonical, Mandriva, Oracle, and a host of other Linux companies are making great strides in delivering performance and value to the enterprise marketplace.

From the Internet

Monomania
Jeremy Allison analyzes Mono...

Gentoo: “We're Not Dead”
Reports of Gentoo's demise are greatly exaggerated...

OpenOffice.org Migrating to Mercurial
A new source code management system for OO.o...

Tuning CFQ - What Station is That?
Checking out the Completely Fair Scheduler...

Ubuntu's Design Team: Make It Look Good, Run Better
Building a better interface...

Swarm: Open Source Web App Scaling
Tackling the scaling problem of cloud computing...

Are App Stores Evil?
Keeping up with distribution models...

Don't Be Evil Means Don't Be Evil
Dealing with the fallout from recent Android scuffles...

Practically Groovy: SwingBuilder and the Twitter API, Part 1
Making Java work with Swing...

Featured LDN Articles

General Programming on the GPU: The Prefix Sum
By Ben Martin
So far in this series on running C++ code on the GPU we have looked at sorting vectors of integers, floating point types and strings. Moving the execution of this code to the GPU was relatively straightforward using the Thrust library. Numeric types required only that the vector be copied to VRAM before calling the thrust::sort() function instead of std::sort().

The Kernel Newbie Corner: "initrd" and "initramfs"--Some Unfinished Business
By Rob Day
Since a few people seemed interested, I'm going to expand on last week's column on initramfs and initrd and summarize what we know so far, tie off a few loose ends and throw in a little more information at no extra charge.

Featured Blogs

Cisco Contest Milepost on Journey to Open Innovation
By Brian Proffitt
It's interesting what the same thing means to different people. We see it time and again in the Linux world, of course, as the myriad approaches to Linux have created different distros, desktop environments, applications... put something as malleable as Linux and open source software in front of a bunch of really talented people, and you get some really fantastic output.

Watch the 2009 Linux Plumbers Conference
By Brian Proffitt
Right after LinuxCon this year was the co-located Linux Plumbers Conference. This is not an official Linux Foundation event, per se, but we work closely with the organizers to help them any way we can. It's a great event for system and kernel developers to attend, and this year was no exception.

LinuxCon: Keynote, Session Videos Available Now
By Brian Proffitt
While there's little substitute for actually attending an event, so many things were said and done at this year's LinuxCon, we had to get videos of the event out for public viewing as soon as we could.

From the Internet

The Open Source Initiative’s Corporate Status is Suspended
What is the potential impact of OSI's current lack of legal status?

More Bash Redirections
Bash redirects explored...

I Have a Schedule to Keep--IO Schedulers
Defining schedulers in the Linux kernel...

Palm Launches Open Source Developer Program
Palm opens webOS app development...

BlazeDS for PHP Developers
Bringing Flex and Java to the PHP table...

Tech Tip: Meld for Visual Diffs
Exploring Meld...

Using Lists in webOS--Mastering the Oldest Mobile Profession
Don't worry, the scope narrows down quickly...

Perl 5.11 Released
More Perl goodness...

Linux Foundation To Take Stab At 3D Patent Issue
Ongoing patent issues in OpenGL...

Featured LDN Articles

C++, the GPU, and Thrust: Strings on the GPU?
By Ben Martin
Last time around we took a look at the Thrust library which allows you to take advantage of the GPU almost as simply as substituting the thrust namespace for the std namespace. While this works well for numeric types, this time around we'll take a look at if we can use thrust with strings too.

The Kernel Newbie Corner: "initrd" and "initramfs"--What's Up With That?
By Rob Day
This week, I'm not going to write a formal column so much as just free associate a bit regarding an exchange we had recently on the Kernel Newbies mailing list regarding the ideas of initrd and initramfs, and what they're for and, most importantly, how they differ.

Featured Blogs

Red Hat Files New Brief in Software Patent Case
By Brian Proffitt
The fight against software patents got a big boost yesterday when one Linux company filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court urging it to uphold last year's Bilski vs. Doll decision in the Federal appeals court. That vendor was Red Hat, which really comes as no surprise.

Further Reflections on the CodePlex Foundation: The Glass Half Full
By Andy Updegrove
Two weeks ago, I wrote an analysis of the governance structure of the CodePlex Foundation, a new open source-focused foundation launched by Microsoft. My opinion, as expressed in that piece, was that significant changes (which I outlined) would need to be made to the Foundation before it would be taken seriously by Microsoft’s competitors, and more especially, by individual open source developers.

From the Internet

Give Away The Platform, Sell The Tools
An interesting suggestion on promoting open source OS...

Will Friction Between Microsoft and Open-Source Community Cause Flames?
Will CodePlex be useful to the open source community?

New X.Org Release Process Has Been Reached
X.Org is still working on their release plan...

Spring Framework 3.0 RC1 Released
Open source Java development...

Making Linux Binaries Simple: Automate 'Em
Looking at better packaging...

Sharing Linux
The strengths of the Linux community...

Open Source is a Platform, Not a Product
Another success benchmark for open source...

Mozilla Developers Move to Palm
Developer moves in the embedded space...

GPL Vs. Free Software Foundation
Is the FSF causing devs to distance themselves from the GPL?

Google Irks Android Developers with Cyanogen Move
How tightly will Google control Android?

Featured LDN Articles

C++, the GPU, and Thrust: Sorting Numbers on the GPU
By Ben Martin
Version 1.0 of Thrust was released in May 2009 and is available under the Apache License version 2.0. There is a NOTICE file which also contains the Boost license and a small paragraph by Hewlett-Packard Company. So it appears there is really a mixture of open source licenses applied to the Thrust library. Thrust is completely implemented in header files, so installation for development consists of downloading the zip file and expanding it somewhere.

LinuxCon: Community, Collaboration Key to HP's OSS Strategy
By Brian Proffitt
Addressing the LinuxCon attendees in his Wednesday keynote on "The Freedom to Collaborate," HP Open Source & Linux Chief Technologist Bdale Garbee announced the launch of a new HP-sponsored web portal for supporting non-commercial Linux distributions.

LinuxCon: Linux Success In the Key of Desktop
By Brian Proffitt
Linux has been a big success in a lot of areas, but there are still some things that need to be fixed, according to openSUSE Community Manager Joe Brockmeier.

New Moblin Netbook Unveiled at IDF
By Brian Proffitt
Dell has announced the availability of a Moblin v2-based netbook model, the Dell Inspiron Mini 10V. In a joint announcement made at the Intel Developer's Forum today, Dell, Canonical, and Intel showcased the new device, which is expected to go on sale September 24 on Dell.com.

LinuxCon: Desktop Should Be Better Than Windows
By Brian Proffitt
There are three big areas of opportunity for Linux in the near future: cloud computing, mainframe, and Linux' future on the desktop. That was one of the main messages of a keynote from IBM's Dr. Robert Sutor, who addressed the morning crowd at LinuxCon Monday.

LinuxCon Roundtable: Kernel's Future Still Bright
By Brian Proffitt
An all-star line-up of Linux kernel developers met with a packed room of Linux users and developers this afternoon at LinuxCon, to give their take on what's right--and what's wrong--with the Linux kernel today.

Swine Flu: How the Open Source Community May Cope Well
By Todd R. Weiss
As the swine flu threat continues across the nation and around the world, the open source community could potentially make it through any epidemics or pandemics better than other groups, especially those in formal, structured workplaces and schools.

Featured Blogs

LinuxCon: Shuttleworth's Three Methods to Improve FOSS Development
By Brian Proffitt
Cadence, quality, and design were the core themes of Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth's closing keynote talk at LinuxCon. Speaking before a combined session of LinuxCon and the co-located Linux Plumber's Conference, Shuttleworth drilled home the importance of these concepts in the Linux development ecosystem, particularly cadence.

Fake Linus Torvalds Revealed
By Brian Proffitt
Just after the popular kernel panel roundtable at LinuxCon today, Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin took the stage and announced the time had come to reveal the identities of the Fake Linus Torvalds who had inundated the Linux Foundation's Twitter feed in recent weeks with humorous, sometimes startling, comments.

From the Internet

Building Your Own Linux Kernel, Part 1
A new tutorial on kernel building...

Moving Up The Rings
Improvements in open source code continue...

Linux is Bloated, Just Not How You Think
Addressing the "bloated" Linux kernel...

Red Hat: Linux Pays Off - And Isn't Bloated
Good news for Red Hat...

Simple API Is Part Of A Rising And Open Tide To The Cloud
Moving towards cross-cloud APIs...

Open Source Appeal: It Comes Down to Costs
Costs as open source incentive... a surprise?

Study Shows Open-Source Code Quality Steadily Improving
Things are getting better...

Linux And The 'B' Word: Bloat
Is the Linux kernel really bloated?

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Take Advantage of Your GPU with Minimum Fuss From Programs
By Ben Martin
Graphics cards are always becoming faster and able to perform more tasks in parallel. In recent years graphics cards have also gained more "general computing" facilities. Things that were impossible or very difficult, like changing the flow of a program running on the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) are now easily accomplished. Many of the general computing tasks which are typically handled by the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of the computer can now be performed by the GPU as well. This has lead to a group of APIs such as CUDA and OpenCL for developing code that runs on the GPU.

Virtualization Leader Citrix Joins The Linux Foundation
From the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation has announced that Citrix Systems has become its newest member. Citrix is a leading provider of virtualization; cloud computing, and software as a service (SaaS) offerings for companies worldwide, including 99 percent of Fortune 500 enterprises. Citrix leads the open source Xen hypervisor project which is based on Linux.

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The Cloud and Future Innovation: Nuclear Winter or New Opportunity?
By Brian Proffitt
The big drivers for this shift, in my opinion, are two-fold: first, the flexibility and stability of Linux allows it to be ported to all of these different platforms, which forms a great basis for the growth of this new model. The second, which is no big surprise, is the cloud. After all, the platform-as-a-window model only works if there's something good to look at. If my bay window looks out over an alley rather than a river, you can see how it wouldn't have much appeal.

Traveling in Real Time
By Jon Corbet
So I am hitting the road next week. It should be no surprise that LinuxCon and the Linux Plumbers Conference are coming up. I have a talk (the well-travelled Kernel Report) and the kernel developers’ panel, both on Monday; I fully expect to be tired by the end. There’s a lot of other interesting stuff happening at LinuxCon, which is being held for the first time ever. I’m looking forward to seeing how it comes out.

LinuxCon Keynote Series: An Interview with IBM’s Bob Sutor
By Amanda McPherson
In the run up to LinuxCon, we’ve sat down with a number of the conference’s keynote speakers. This week it’s IBM’s Vice President of Open Source and Linux Bob Sutor. Bob is kicking off LinuxCon with his keynote, “Regarding Clouds, Mainframes, Desktops and Linux,” and also participating in a panel discussion with Oracle’s Monica Kumar and Adobe’s Dave McAllister on Open Standards and Linux. Bob is a well known authority on Linux and open standards (as well as a writer and guitar player), so we’re extremely pleased to have him speak at LinuxCon. I caught up with him via email last week.

The CodePlex Foundation: First Impressions (and Recommendations)
By Andy Updegrove
Well, it’s been a busy week in Lake Wobegon, hasn’t it? First, the Wall Street Journal broke the story that Microsoft had unwittingly sold 22 patents, not to the Allied Security Trust (which might have resold them to patent trolls), but to the Open Inventions Network (which might someday assert them back against Microsoft).

From the Internet

Mozilla Picks Up Firefox Development Pace with 'Sprint' Updates
Sprint season is open on Firefox...

A 'Donut' for Google Android Developers
The SDK is out for Android 1.6...

Switching to Linux: A Windows Developer’s View
A cautionary tale for Microsoft: it's easy to switch to Linux...

I Feel the Need for Speed: Linux File System Throughput Performance, Part 1
Filesystem performance benchmarks with fdtree...

Linux 2.6.31's Best Five Features
A round-up of the latest kernel features...

IBM Claims Patents Promote Open-Source Love
Is there a need for software patents?

Linux Plumbers Conference Schedule Posted
Information about next week's Plumber's Conference, co-located with LinuxCon.

Apple Opens Grand Central; Challenges Impede Linux Adoption
Open code, but maybe not a clear path to Linux...

LinuxCon 2009 Tutorial
A new tutorial from Greg K-H

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openSUSE Build System: Building DEB Packages
By Ben Martin
Last time around we built packages for siproxd for Fedora and openSUSE. This time we'll look at how to create a deb package for Ubuntu using OBS. I'll assume you have some familiarity with creating deb files already.

The Kernel Newbie Corner: Kernel Debugging with proc "Sequence" Files--Part 3
By Robert Day
Finally, after two installments of the basics of debugging with sequence files, we're going to finish off by demonstrating the power of sequence files with an example that actually, well, sequences its output. And I'm going to admit up front that a bit of what follows is going to be speculation since much of the documentation on sequence files is either incomplete, inconsistent or, sadly, wrong.

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2.6.31 is Out
By Jonathan Corbet
After a development cycle lasting exactly three months (June 9 to September 9), Linus Torvalds has released the 2.6.31 kernel. This cycle saw the inclusion of almost 11,000 different changes from over 1100 individual developers representing some 200 companies; a minimum of 16% of the changes came form developers representing only themselves. In other words, over the last three months, Linux kernel developers were putting 118 changes into the kernel every day. That is a lot of work.

Protecting Linux from Microsoft (Yes, Microsoft Got Caught)
By Jim Zemlin
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal’s Nick Wingfield broke a story on Microsoft selling a group of patents to a third party. The end result of this story is good for Linux, even though it doesn’t placate fears of ongoing attacks by Microsoft. Open Invention Network, working with its members and the Linux Foundation, pulled off a coup, managing to acquire some of the very patents that seem to have been at the heart of recent Microsoft FUD campaigns against Linux. Break out your white hats: the good guys won.

From the Internet

New Google Summer of Code Statistics Posted
The results for Summer of Code are in...

Microsoft Launches Open Source Foundation
Microsoft's new open source gambit: CodePlex Foundation...

Building Linux Audio Applications 101: A User's Guide, Part 2
Continuing a look at building an audio application...

New, Updated Drivers Coming To Linux 2.6.32
Now that 2.6.31 is out, let's look ahead to 2.6.32...

Hacking the webOS
Developing for Palm's webOS...

Third Plasma Summit Lifts KDE Desktop To Higher Grounds
The report out of Tokamak III...

Why Did Microsoft Sell Off 22 'Linux-Related' Patents?
Analysis of OIN's recent patent moves...

Metadata Performance Exploration Part 2: XFS, JFS, ReiserFS, ext2, and resier4
Benchmarking more filesystems...

Debian Switches to Upstart
Working with the LSB...

Setting Up an Ubuntu chroot for Development Testing Using schroot and debootstrap
Putting together a testing environment...

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openSUSE Build System: Building RPM Packages
By Ben Martin
Last time around we talked about the openSUSE Build System (OBS), how it can build packages for a range of Linux distributions from openSUSE, Fedora, Ubuntu, Mandriva, through to the enterprise offerings SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) and Red Hat Enterprise. This time we'll get our hands dirty by rolling a package for siproxd version 0.7.1.

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RHEL 5.4 Story Avoids Sad Vendor Lock-In Ending for Clouds
By Brian Proffitt
The big news coming out of Red Hat for this year's Red Hat Summit is, at first blush, a little anti-climatic. The release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 seems like just another point release for an already stable and successful operating system. A few more bells and whistles, but not much to get users carried away. But dig a little deeper into the technology coming out in this release, and the strategy behind it, and you will find a narrative that describe how open source will be a leader in the growing cloud arena. The RHEL 5.4 announcement is just the beginning of the story.

Can’t Make it to LinuxCon this Year? Watch Online for Free
By Amanda McPherson
2009 is shaping up to be one of the worst years in modern memory for corporate travel funding, which is one reason I’m extremely grateful that the registrations for LinuxCon so far have been good. Because of the tough economic climate, we wanted to make sure Linux users and developers all over the world could participate in LinuxCon without leaving their cube/office/RV/tent/etc.

PS3 Slim Roadmap Leaves Linux Cluster Users Lost
By Brian Proffitt
The announcement earlier this month for the new Playstation 3 (PS3) Slim model caused some consternation for Linux users, as it revealed that PS3-maker Sony would no longer support the "Install Other OS" feature that currently operates on existing PS3 machines.

Open vs. Closed: the iPhone’s Future or Folly?
By Andy Updegrove
Steve Jobs is a genius of design and marketing, but his track record on calling the right balance between utilizing proprietary arts and public resources (like open source and open standards) is more questionable. Two news items caught my eye today that illustrate the delicacy of making choices involving openness for the iPhone platform - both geopolitically as well as technically.

From the Internet

How To Land A Spot In The Spotlight - Part II
Continuing the the series on how to use the press...

Metadata Performance of Four Linux File Systems
File system benchmarking revisited...

Building Linux Audio Applications 101: A User's Guide, Part 1
Building audio apps...

Red Hat Launches Catalyst Program to Spur Ecosystem Collaboration
A new vendor program is launched...

How To Land A Spot In The Spotlight - Part I
Getting your work noticed by a wider audience...

Hands-On: Multiple Activities and Data Persistence in Android
Building an Android application...

Using Social Networks to Foster Open Source Projects
Get more participation for your project...

Redis: Lightweight key/value Store That Goes the Extra Mile
Using a key/value store that doesn’t compromise functionality for performance...

Accessing SQLite in C
Getting to a SQLite database...

Living on the Edge of Rails [Parts 3 & 4]
Parts 3 and 4 of this continuing series, with a sidetrack into Ruby...

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openSUSE Build System: Building Binary Packages for Many Linux Distributions at Once
By Ben Martin
The openSUSE Build System can be used to build binary packages for many versions of many Linux distributions without the need for you to have all these distributions installed.

The Kernel Newbie Corner: Kernel Debugging Using proc "Sequence" Files--Pt 2
By Robert Day
This week, we'll pick up where we left off last week and continue discussing simple kernel and module debugging using seq_file-based proc files. And given the amount of material left to cover, we'll spend this week finishing off the issues related to the simpler, non-sequence proc files...

How Moonlight 2.0 Fits into Novell's Linux and Open Source Plans
By Todd R. Weiss
Now that Novell Inc.'s Mono open source project finally last week released the beta version of its Moonlight 2.0 code after several months of delays, what's its potential impact for Linux users and the open source community?

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Kernel Improvements, Controversies Will Be Focus of Roundtable
By Brian Proffitt
One of the more popular sessions at LinuxCon is sure to be the Linux Kernel Roundtable, featuring several notable kernel developers, including Jonathan Corbet and Linus Torvalds. Moderating the Roundtable is James Bottomley, Distinguished Engineer at Novell, Director of the Linux Foundation and Chair of its Technical Advisory Board. Bottomley is Linux Kernel maintainer of the SCSI subsystem, the Linux Voyager port and the 53c700 driver.

The Perils of Linux Maturity: Torvalds Fakes Emerge in Twittersphere
By Jim Zemlin
Rolex, movies, Gucci, and even Sharpie pens, among other consumer goods, are well known for reaching a level of ubiquity where people start producing fakes or knock-offs. From our industry, even Steve Jobs’ personal brand warranted a knock-off in the form the FakeSteveJobs blog. Linux, too, has reached that level of ubiquity and maturity. We all use Linux every day via our bank ATMs, our cars, our netbooks, the Internet (Google, Facebook and more), and the list goes on.

From the Internet

NHIN Code-a-Thon May Change Government Attitude Toward Open Source
A government-run bug-hunt...

Git Changes the Game of Distributed Web Development
Improving collaboration with Git...

KDE Struggles with Feature Requests
The relationship between users and developers...

Learn Linux, 101: A Roadmap for LPIC-1
A helpful new series from developerWorks...

Aug. 25, 1991: Kid From Helsinki Foments Linux Revolution
An historic day indeed...

FSF to Host a Mini-Summit on Women in Free Software
Bridging the gender gap in open source...

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Updated Study Reveals More Developers Working on Linux Kernel
From the Linux Foundation
After 16 months, The Linux Foundation has published an update to its April 2008 study on Linux kernel development. The new report, written by original authors and kernel developers Jonathan Corbet and Greg Kroah-Hartman, and the Linux Foundation’s Amanda McPherson, reveals that a net of 2.7 million additional lines of code have been added to the Linux kernel in those 16 months.

Put Your Syslog Messages in a Database Over the Network: Part 2
By Ben Martin
Last time around we looked at the theory behind the over-the-network syslog message delivery into a PostgreSQL database. This time we'll get our hands dirty and make it happen.

The Kernel Newbie Corner: Kernel Debugging Using proc "Sequence" Files--Pt 1
By Rob Day
Over this column and the next one (and possibly the one after that, depending on how detailed we get), we're going to discuss kernel and module debugging using proc files. Specifically, we're going to discuss the seq_file implementation of proc files, which represents the newest and most powerful variation of the proc files we're interested in.

What VMware Acquisition of SpringSource Means to Development, Virtualization
By Todd R. Weiss
Now that virtualization vendor VMware Inc. announced last week that it's acquiring enterprise open source vendor, SpringSource Inc. for $420 million, what's it really mean for both companies and their customers?

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When the Contribution Model Fails
By David Goemans
I'm a big advocate of Open Source software. I feel that there really is no reason to close software source for the most part, and in general, closed libraries are very frustrating for me as a developer. However Open Source has it's flaws. The contribution model may be one of it's greatest strengths, but is also a big weakness.

How Safe is your Credit/Debit Card?
By Andy Updegrove
Cybersecurity is an increasingly frequent topic in the news, and this week brought word of the indictment of someone who must be the leading contender for the title, Master Cybercriminal of All Time (Payment Card Fraud Division): Albert Gonzalez.

From the Internet

Oracle-Sun Marriage Gets DoJ's Blessing
US regulators clear the deal, but what about the EU?

Living on the Edge of Rails [Parts 1 & 2]
A new series that rides the Rails...

Fixing Linux
How to plug the recent gcc compiler hole in Linux...

Bespin Cloud Editor Gains Collaborative Editing Feature
Develop inside your web browser...

Perl 5.10.1 RC2 Released
Perl 5 development continues...

Kernel Log - Coming in 2.6.31 - Part 2: Graphics, Audio and Video
More details on Linux 2.6.31...

Who's Behind That Kernel You're Using?
Coverage of the latest LF whitepaper...

A Proposal for Unifying Java Modularisation
The quest for Java modularization...

Rails vs. Grails vs. Helma: The JVM Web Framework Smackdown, Part 2
A closer look at Grails and Helma...

PySide - LGPL Python Bindings for Qt
Qt for Python programmers...

Rails vs. Grails vs. Helma: The JVM Web Framework Smackdown, Part 1
The quest for the best JVM Web Framework...

Requests for Linux Drivers Flowing In
Linux is in the hardware driver's seat more and more...

Happy Birthday Debian
Sweet sixteen for Debian GNU/Linux...