Slashdot Mirror
FreeBSD 4.8 RC2 / i386 Now Available
Dan writes "FreeBSD Release Engg. Team's Murray Stokely announces the availability of FreeBSD 4.8 RC2 for i386, he says that the alpha build is in progress. You can download 4.8 RC2 mini iso, install iso's, etc. from FreeBSD ftp site or from one of the mirror sites."
The word on the grapevine is (especially in light of the recent deal of isonews.com) is that programs that are commonly used to move software are being bugged magic lantern style by the Federal Gestapo, with FlashFXP's culled data being used as evidence against several people recently in Federal Court! Beware, you may be inviting the vampire in with this software!
A few of my friends have been bitten by DeWeese's shyster tactics. I have too. I can only say avoid this man. He will not answer questions directly, he will not tell you what is the payload of encrypted packets and he insinuates a symbol-less stripped binary created by an obscure (but good) compiler could be reverse engineered enough to prove it is not Trojaned. Its crap. Its dodgy crap. And until the encrypted payload is decrypted, and some source code is released, you have to take his word. And don't; because if you can't trust him to give you the free upgrades he promised because you have 5 computers at home and now you are a pirate if he detects you using FFXP_666 on any of them even if its not at the same time. Try a dual boot, and you'll get the blacklist. Try FFXP on WINE, you'll get the blacklist. Think before paying. This stuff is going to haunt you. And notably absent, OS X and a unice version. Guess he isn't very savvy at writing portable code, probably busy cutting deals with Ashcroft, Robert Mueller, Louis Freeh, Robert Holleyman [BSA], Comet Cursor, Alexa, Aureate, Aureate, Gator and backdooring your computer and canceling registrations and blacklisting people to be bothered with you and your plebian needs. Guess we sheeple are born to serve the masters like Count DeWeese and his squadron of Shylock lawyers with that EULA of DEATH. Just read it. This man is sick, and you will be knifed in the back by him. Read the EULA, see the packets encrypted. No source. And disassembling this wont tell you one way or another what it does for sure. It may not have spyware in it, it might BE spyware. Your info - sold - to the lowest forms of life on earth. No source code, lots of general distrust from many sources, and refusal to completely deny that his calling home is anything more than registration and blacklist data. It's encrypted, so your private information, even yours ftp site list, your machine's sid, your media players GUID, all sorts of UIDs, your life sold down the river to a black-hearted money grubbing heathen. I am appalled DeWeese and his minions have so successfully pulled wool over everyone's eyes. This is as bad as the Nazis with the Reichstag fire! I can't believe Charles the totalitarian and his army of mediocritomatons had the review history wiped out here! He did that to mask the evil at hand. He has sold his own user community to marketers, and his program makes undocumented undesired connections to the internet. He has revoked registrations without cause, had possibly sent ftp saved site data to law enforcement, and frequently uses encrypted payloads in packets so packet sniffer can't tell what the packet has in it. I would hope for your sake you don't save passwords with FlashFXP, our your friends FTP site may become "exhibit A" in a federal court. Beware. WARNING FLASH FXP 2.X IS A TROJAN
And all previous build before and most likely all to come. I implore every use of this software to be weary and on guard! I would have a good firewall with a drop all, allow exception rule set, ethereal, windump/[tcpdump on *nix], and a pcap lib, or use sniffer, and get ready to watch this thing with hawk eyes. Given the author's tradition of reporting usage, selling information to marketing companies, and revoking registrations without cause, we must be prepared for his latest Trojan horse. The program is delightful, irresistible, for it is feature laden, stable. But its target is warez users, and I strongly feel this warez-centric program serves to report to the government the biggest abuses. Remember, that the information he claims is benign is encrypted, so you will never see the payload of this machinations an
i guess nobody cares???
[note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]
When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.
Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.
FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.
It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.
So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.
Discussion
I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.
From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.
There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.
Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.
Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?
Shouts
To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.
To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. It's wh
Is BSD Dying? Trolls! Make with the trolling. Jeez...
Recursive (adj.): see 'Recursive'
Provided you will only do that
make; make installl
once in a year or so, i dont think there is much
of a problem not having a "real" binary jdk.
N*M, where N is the number of machines I have, and M is the number of FreeBSD + Java updates in a year. That is not acceptible.
In the meantime dont get used to be afraid
of compilations, since
- you might forget how to recompile your lovely linux kernel
I get no joy from building kernels, and FreeBSD wants me to do this too often already.
- even worse you might start considering MSoft.
Actually, I'm migrating toward OSX...