Oh, I agree. All of the production servers at school run Stable, but all of my machines at home run Unstable. I know how to dig in and fix things, and my home machine can stand to be down for an hour or so every 4 months, or have things go a bit weird occasionally before I nail them down. I will happily take that for being able to run the latest Mozilla, Pan, etc. But people depend on the servers; newspapers in which advertisers have bought space have to come out every week on time, and the radio station has to stream its audio 24/7. Maybe a useful metric is: if you have to announce downtime on the machine, you want to run Stable on the machine:)
[and you can also "selectively de-stabilize" Stable depending on your needs. For example, one machine serves as a terminal for the DJs to use the Web-based playlist entry system. Mozilla 1.0, which ships with Woody, has an annoying bug WRT passing POST variables (it doesn't seem to actually set the value of the variable name used for the submit button input entity). This affects some of my PHP scripts, and so that machine gets Mozilla from Testing. I view this as an acceptable risk, considering how Mozilla is improving so much in all areas between releases, and Mozilla is unlikely to affect icecast.]
1. Configuring BIND can indeed be difficult. It has multiple configuration files, and it's easy to make a mistake that will throw off everything. You also have to figure out a way to run it as non-root and chroot, since it doesn't come this way by default.
I tried DJBDNS and it was easy, even with a split DNS setup. And it has never had a security vulnerability. http://cr.yp.to
2. Mac OS X can use Samba for access. OS 9 needs to have netatalk installed. Netatalk is a bit ugly (but not terrible) partially because it's an ugly protocol.
3. "Unix does not prevent you from doing stupid things, because that would also prevent you from doing clever things." Since you didn't give specifics, I can't either, but the GUI apps tend to be "less Unix-y", and maybe that's what you want.
4. To rehash the argument above, have you tried a coherent system of packages such as Debian's?
Many people are confused as to what "stable" really means wrt Debian. It is talking about the stability of the entire collection of packages with respect to each other. e.g.:
1. Unless two packages are marked as conflicting (sendmail and postfix), they can be installed at the same time, and WILL work properly. This is because there are thousands of packages that are all "officially included" in Debian. No vast cesspool of "contrib." Perhaps as a result of this, people who do have to provide debs "outside" of Debian tend to behave themselves.
2. When security updates come out, you will not be surprised by new behaviour. Bugfixes will be backported to the versions that shipped as "stable", so you only get the changes you absolutely need.
Debian has packages for many tools that originated with other distributions, including linuxconf. You might just want to give it a try.
The command line options of ssh and scp are designed to correspond (where possible) to the command line options of rsh and rcp. This is so that it is easy to encourage people to replace the insecure r-services with their secure equivalents.
So, the answer to your question is that these programs ARE consistent. They're just not consistent in the direction you were expecting, possibly because you never used rsh and rcp (I didn't, I only discovered *nix in 1997 or so).
Better schools, yes (and there's another horribly underpaid position which doesn't get nearly the respect it deserves). But more prisons? The United States has a higher percentage of its population in prisons than any other nation. I'd much rather examine the reasons for that than keep building prisons until everyone lives in them.
Two interesting points, one which was brought up in the article and one which wasn't:
I'm a resident of Maryland, and employed by a state university. The previous administration made a mess of our finances (which were excellent up until then), and now the state is suffering budget cuts, particularly in higher education. This has resulted in hiring freezes, elimination of positions, and layoffs.
I've been voting in elections here for almost 8 years now, and I don't seem to recall us having problems like Florida's. Baltimore uses a system where you mark a paper with a special pen, and the paper is fed to a machine. It looks like a standard multiple-choice test, not confusing at all. Why is it absolutely necessary for us to be the first state to buy these shiny new toys when our financial situation is so dire? This will just bring more pressure to legalize gambling (although we already have a state lottery and Keno, so I don't see why people upset about real casinos aren't protesting those).
Second, remember that Maryland is a UCITA state. Under UCITA, isn't software required to be fit for the purpose for which it is designed? There's also something in there WRT implied warranties concerning data. It will be interesting to see whether this plays a part.
I found the freshmeat project record for Jatha, and it appears that you haven't made a single front page announcement. No offense, but it's sort of unreasonable to expect people to discover your project if it doesn't hit the front page, unless it's so great that people find the project record via other means.
Every time a new release comes out, you can [should] use the "add release" link to submit a front page announcement. This also updates the version number, and gives you a chance to update the URLs. You'll often see a spike in hits from these announcements (unless, of course, your project is totally uninteresting, but we can't help you with that).
Don't you need a driver's license to drive the R.V.s?
I'm sure you can be left quite alone if you become a hermit in the mountains, and while there are certain advantages to that lifestyle, I think I'll pass.
Because Linux is the one getting the popular press, running entire city governments and schools, and getting the attention of your boss. Your _average_ boss might ask you about Linux, but you will have to ask them about BSD.
Besides, if they were going to copy features from open source operating systems, I don't think it would be feasible to directly use code on the kernel level. They'd have to reimplement the features anyway, so who cares about the license (as long as none of their developers are exposed to the code)? The same thing could work on the application level, or they could find an application under a BSD-style license.
His point is that this isn't necessarily "competition", or rather, Microsoft doesn't feel the need to compete. Their browser has most of the market, and will likely keep it due to being included with their operating system, which has a very similar chunk of the market. Yes, Mozilla, Opera, Safari, etc. have all of these great features, but that isn't driving Microsoft to implement great features of their own. In fact, they have just announced that their browser will basically stand still for 2 years. That's some audacity; isn't that a big part of what led people to abandon Netscape 4 in favor of IE?
I was looking at ways to administer Windows Update centrally for all of the desktop machines of a division of a medium-sized research university (a few dozen machines, maybe, but spread out inconveniently). The best I could come up with (without regularly disturbing people trying to work) was telling Windows to automatically install updates when folks were usually at lunch. Maybe there are commercial products that are more flexible/powerful; if someone can point one out to me (that we can afford in times of severe Maryland budget cuts), I'd be interested.
But you can do almost anything you want to update Linux systems, for free. Don't want to apply packages until you've tested them? Understandable; you can set up a central APT repository (for Debian, Mandrake, Red Hat, or Conectiva) and have your machines automatically update from packages you've placed there post-testing. You can even sidestep the whole issue and update the files themselves without actually using the package manager, by using rsync-over-ssh or similar (there's a program to do this better, and it isn't rdist, but the name escapes me at the moment).
I don't know of a way to remotely update a Windows system manually without disturbing whatever the user is doing. Of course, updating X, the kernel, etc. would require eventually disrupting their work, but you can restart the machine when it's convenient for them.
Also, keep in mind that Windows Update is only free after you have purchased Windows, and wasn't Microsoft hinting about charging for some updates?
That's http://lists.essential.org/1998/am-info/msg01536.h tml You left off the "l" at the end (and now slashcode is inserting a space in mine, so it won't be completely correct either).
BUGTRAQ sometimes has several "Linux security problem announcements" in one day, but these are generally all of the distributions announcing updated packages for the same vulnerability (once referred to by Theo DeRaadt as "spam":). Additionally, security problems in the actual base OS (whatever you want to include: kernel, system libraries, and a few window managers) are not very common; more than half the time, it's a vulnerability in some application I've never used, simply because so much more is included with a Linux distribution than with Windows.
So while Microsoft may have made marked improvements in stability, I don't think they're quite ready to start talking about security yet. Since they "proved" that the browser is an integral part of their operating system (and Win2klite hasn't materialized), I'd like to see a year go by where the base components of a Linux system (heck, include Mozilla) have less security announcements than those of a Microsoft system.
For the record, I'm not rabidly anti-Microsoft. The platform does have its advantages, but none of them currently apply to me.
El Guapo, Enon, Freezepop, The Stereo Total. If you like electronic pop at all and at least one of these bands does not blow you away, I will be very surprised. Those other artists you mentioned would be destined for what we at WMBC term "the ass bin".
The Amish evaluate new technologies continually on the basis of whether they will help to bring familes and communities together, or help to drive them apart. There's currently a big debate over cell phone use. Phones are useful, but Amish don't want to be interrupted during a family meal or a personal conversation. Often, they keep the phone in its own place, away from the house. Then there is less temptation to use it when it isn't necessary, and it doesn't become a distraction.
Everything that you want to happen/are predicting is already happening.
There's a huge market of artists on independant labels, or their own/no label. There are tons of small music clubs/bars that cater almost exclusively (if not exclusively) to these artists, and radio stations (cough) that do the same. Walk into an independant record store, or buy the CD at the show, and it will be far less than the going rate of RIAA-backed plastic, and almost always have a higher percentage of quality songs. The adage that you have a lifetime to make your first album and 6 months to make your second is not true of bands that are not put under huge commercial stress. Live in Podunk? Go to cdbaby, emusic, or the Apple store, or buy it straight from the band's site.
All of this is already there, but it will not be handed to you like mainstream music. It takes more effort, but (as is usually the case with effort) can be far more rewarding.
I don't see where you are disagreeing that we shouldn't fix the opinions of copyright holders with legislation. People will either seek out better music, or one way or another be forced to pay for the mainstream commercial stuff. That is fine with me, just as it is fine that those who accept Microsoft's terms can continue to use their software. The Internet has made it even easier to be on the side of the little guy. There's just SO MUCH of everything available that I don't need to be bothered with whatever percentage of it has demonstrated that it doesn't really want me to enjoy it.
The copyright holder, in the case of musical compositions, is not usually making decisions about "his work", but someone else's. The artist almost never has the rights to their own work.
This can be important. Various artists, some big name (I believe the Smashing Pumpkins were one) were far more ready to embrace music on the Internet than the copyright holders, but of course, the artists couldn't really do anything about it as they were under contract to the label.
Is it their fault for signing to a major? Technically yes, but it's hard to blame them, even for me. It's nice to see someone like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs get mainstream radio play, but it doesn't happen very often. If you want the big audiences, you sign to the big labels, and lose your rights.
I think that the limits on copyright should be much shorter than they currently are, but I think that within those limits, people should be free to do what they want with their work. It's a shame it's often not up to the artists, but I don't think we can rightly change that with legislation.
POSIX doesn't define everything (other posters have pointed out that many of the differences are really extensions because of the GNU tools, which typically have more functionality than their POSIX/Unix equivalents), and having a single set of guidelines will really help to alleviate the "This works on Red Hat but not Mandrake or anything else" problem.
We'll take your example of RPM. The standard doesn't mean that everyone has to use RPM as their primary package format; they just have to be able to use RPM packages, which Debian can thanks to alien. So if you have an RPM of Commercial-Closed-Source-XYZ, it can be installed on your LSB-compliant system, and it will have a reasonable idea of where to find what it needs.
KDE and GNOME are cooperating to create common APIs so that software can be written for both at once. This is the same thing. Distributions can still do many things to set them apart from each other, like the strict package management of Debian. But having common ground for developers to target is a huge plus.
bobb:/# apt-get install emacs21 . . . 0 packages upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 156 not upgraded. Need to get 13.2MB of archives. After unpacking 42.0MB will be used.
Eeesh. But yes, Debian is great for installing only what you need (you can even use auto-apt to install it as you need it). The base system doesn't even include less or man, last I checked. But that's OK since things are so easy to install.
Also note that newer Red Hat installers will not run on older machines, and I don't know if every distribution can be installed over a serial connection. So Debian may be a good choice for other reasons.
Most of the posts in this article, including the parent, focus on "How do I alter myself to fit in reasonably well with society?" People who don't do this are generally labled insane, or eccentric "at best." But these people are often the most fascinating, and create the best art. Go to the Visionary Art Museum in Washington D.C. Handel's Messiah? Written in one manic fit.
You have heard the saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none." The same is true of life; if you are a well-balanced person, or even partially well-balanced, then you will never accomplish the types of things that someone maniacally driven in one direction can do.
It is true that you need some small amount of "sanity" to survive long enough to create. You have to remember to eat, wear clothes, not kill people, etc. In the case of many geniuses, it's a fine line.
I am a balanced person, largely because I can't make up my mind. I resent it often, but I realize that it's probably the way for me. Is it "healthier"? Yes. But we need the "crazy" people too. Let's not be so quick to medicate them all out of existance.
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Theodore Roosevelt was also the first American to earn a black belt in Judo.
And going the other way, don't forget Jesse "The Body" Ventura's stint as Governor (independant, no less).
And a counter-quote (not necessarily exact words, and the source is uncertain):
"Aye, and that's why in England you'll raise fine horses, while in Scotland we'll raise fine people."
Oh, I agree. All of the production servers at school run Stable, but all of my machines at home run Unstable. I know how to dig in and fix things, and my home machine can stand to be down for an hour or so every 4 months, or have things go a bit weird occasionally before I nail them down. I will happily take that for being able to run the latest Mozilla, Pan, etc. But people depend on the servers; newspapers in which advertisers have bought space have to come out every week on time, and the radio station has to stream its audio 24/7. Maybe a useful metric is: if you have to announce downtime on the machine, you want to run Stable on the machine :)
[and you can also "selectively de-stabilize" Stable depending on your needs. For example, one machine serves as a terminal for the DJs to use the Web-based playlist entry system. Mozilla 1.0, which ships with Woody, has an annoying bug WRT passing POST variables (it doesn't seem to actually set the value of the variable name used for the submit button input entity). This affects some of my PHP scripts, and so that machine gets Mozilla from Testing. I view this as an acceptable risk, considering how Mozilla is improving so much in all areas between releases, and Mozilla is unlikely to affect icecast.]
1. Configuring BIND can indeed be difficult. It has multiple configuration files, and it's easy to make a mistake that will throw off everything. You also have to figure out a way to run it as non-root and chroot, since it doesn't come this way by default.
I tried DJBDNS and it was easy, even with a split DNS setup. And it has never had a security vulnerability. http://cr.yp.to
2. Mac OS X can use Samba for access. OS 9 needs to have netatalk installed. Netatalk is a bit ugly (but not terrible) partially because it's an ugly protocol.
3. "Unix does not prevent you from doing stupid things, because that would also prevent you from doing clever things." Since you didn't give specifics, I can't either, but the GUI apps tend to be "less Unix-y", and maybe that's what you want.
4. To rehash the argument above, have you tried a coherent system of packages such as Debian's?
Many people are confused as to what "stable" really means wrt Debian. It is talking about the stability of the entire collection of packages with respect to each other. e.g.:
1. Unless two packages are marked as conflicting (sendmail and postfix), they can be installed at the same time, and WILL work properly. This is because there are thousands of packages that are all "officially included" in Debian. No vast cesspool of "contrib." Perhaps as a result of this, people who do have to provide debs "outside" of Debian tend to behave themselves.
2. When security updates come out, you will not be surprised by new behaviour. Bugfixes will be backported to the versions that shipped as "stable", so you only get the changes you absolutely need.
Debian has packages for many tools that originated with other distributions, including linuxconf. You might just want to give it a try.
The command line options of ssh and scp are designed to correspond (where possible) to the command line options of rsh and rcp. This is so that it is easy to encourage people to replace the insecure r-services with their secure equivalents.
So, the answer to your question is that these programs ARE consistent. They're just not consistent in the direction you were expecting, possibly because you never used rsh and rcp (I didn't, I only discovered *nix in 1997 or so).
Better schools, yes (and there's another horribly underpaid position which doesn't get nearly the respect it deserves). But more prisons? The United States has a higher percentage of its population in prisons than any other nation. I'd much rather examine the reasons for that than keep building prisons until everyone lives in them.
Two interesting points, one which was brought up in the article and one which wasn't:
I'm a resident of Maryland, and employed by a state university. The previous administration made a mess of our finances (which were excellent up until then), and now the state is suffering budget cuts, particularly in higher education. This has resulted in hiring freezes, elimination of positions, and layoffs.
I've been voting in elections here for almost 8 years now, and I don't seem to recall us having problems like Florida's. Baltimore uses a system where you mark a paper with a special pen, and the paper is fed to a machine. It looks like a standard multiple-choice test, not confusing at all. Why is it absolutely necessary for us to be the first state to buy these shiny new toys when our financial situation is so dire? This will just bring more pressure to legalize gambling (although we already have a state lottery and Keno, so I don't see why people upset about real casinos aren't protesting those).
Second, remember that Maryland is a UCITA state. Under UCITA, isn't software required to be fit for the purpose for which it is designed? There's also something in there WRT implied warranties concerning data. It will be interesting to see whether this plays a part.
http://freshmeat.net/faq/view/39/
I found the freshmeat project record for Jatha, and it appears that you haven't made a single front page announcement. No offense, but it's sort of unreasonable to expect people to discover your project if it doesn't hit the front page, unless it's so great that people find the project record via other means.
Every time a new release comes out, you can [should] use the "add release" link to submit a front page announcement. This also updates the version number, and gives you a chance to update the URLs. You'll often see a spike in hits from these announcements (unless, of course, your project is totally uninteresting, but we can't help you with that).
Don't you need a driver's license to drive the R.V.s?
I'm sure you can be left quite alone if you become a hermit in the mountains, and while there are certain advantages to that lifestyle, I think I'll pass.
Because Linux is the one getting the popular press, running entire city governments and schools, and getting the attention of your boss. Your _average_ boss might ask you about Linux, but you will have to ask them about BSD.
Besides, if they were going to copy features from open source operating systems, I don't think it would be feasible to directly use code on the kernel level. They'd have to reimplement the features anyway, so who cares about the license (as long as none of their developers are exposed to the code)? The same thing could work on the application level, or they could find an application under a BSD-style license.
His point is that this isn't necessarily "competition", or rather, Microsoft doesn't feel the need to compete. Their browser has most of the market, and will likely keep it due to being included with their operating system, which has a very similar chunk of the market. Yes, Mozilla, Opera, Safari, etc. have all of these great features, but that isn't driving Microsoft to implement great features of their own. In fact, they have just announced that their browser will basically stand still for 2 years. That's some audacity; isn't that a big part of what led people to abandon Netscape 4 in favor of IE?
I was looking at ways to administer Windows Update centrally for all of the desktop machines of a division of a medium-sized research university (a few dozen machines, maybe, but spread out inconveniently). The best I could come up with (without regularly disturbing people trying to work) was telling Windows to automatically install updates when folks were usually at lunch. Maybe there are commercial products that are more flexible/powerful; if someone can point one out to me (that we can afford in times of severe Maryland budget cuts), I'd be interested.
But you can do almost anything you want to update Linux systems, for free. Don't want to apply packages until you've tested them? Understandable; you can set up a central APT repository (for Debian, Mandrake, Red Hat, or Conectiva) and have your machines automatically update from packages you've placed there post-testing. You can even sidestep the whole issue and update the files themselves without actually using the package manager, by using rsync-over-ssh or similar (there's a program to do this better, and it isn't rdist, but the name escapes me at the moment).
I don't know of a way to remotely update a Windows system manually without disturbing whatever the user is doing. Of course, updating X, the kernel, etc. would require eventually disrupting their work, but you can restart the machine when it's convenient for them.
Also, keep in mind that Windows Update is only free after you have purchased Windows, and wasn't Microsoft hinting about charging for some updates?
That's http://lists.essential.org/1998/am-info/msg01536.h tml
You left off the "l" at the end (and now slashcode is inserting a space in mine, so it won't be completely correct either).
> CC is not about security it is about trust.
Hey, you just used the terms CC and security in the same sentence.
BUGTRAQ sometimes has several "Linux security problem announcements" in one day, but these are generally all of the distributions announcing updated packages for the same vulnerability (once referred to by Theo DeRaadt as "spam" :). Additionally, security problems in the actual base OS (whatever you want to include: kernel, system libraries, and a few window managers) are not very common; more than half the time, it's a vulnerability in some application I've never used, simply because so much more is included with a Linux distribution than with Windows.
So while Microsoft may have made marked improvements in stability, I don't think they're quite ready to start talking about security yet. Since they "proved" that the browser is an integral part of their operating system (and Win2klite hasn't materialized), I'd like to see a year go by where the base components of a Linux system (heck, include Mozilla) have less security announcements than those of a Microsoft system.
For the record, I'm not rabidly anti-Microsoft. The platform does have its advantages, but none of them currently apply to me.
Have you ever read BUGTRAQ? phpnuke IS a vulnerability. You might want to look into Postnuke, or something completely unrelated.
El Guapo, Enon, Freezepop, The Stereo Total. If you like electronic pop at all and at least one of these bands does not blow you away, I will be very surprised. Those other artists you mentioned would be destined for what we at WMBC term "the ass bin".
The Amish evaluate new technologies continually on the basis of whether they will help to bring familes and communities together, or help to drive them apart. There's currently a big debate over cell phone use. Phones are useful, but Amish don't want to be interrupted during a family meal or a personal conversation. Often, they keep the phone in its own place, away from the house. Then there is less temptation to use it when it isn't necessary, and it doesn't become a distraction.
Everything that you want to happen/are predicting is already happening.
There's a huge market of artists on independant labels, or their own/no label. There are tons of small music clubs/bars that cater almost exclusively (if not exclusively) to these artists, and radio stations (cough) that do the same. Walk into an independant record store, or buy the CD at the show, and it will be far less than the going rate of RIAA-backed plastic, and almost always have a higher percentage of quality songs. The adage that you have a lifetime to make your first album and 6 months to make your second is not true of bands that are not put under huge commercial stress. Live in Podunk? Go to cdbaby, emusic, or the Apple store, or buy it straight from the band's site.
All of this is already there, but it will not be handed to you like mainstream music. It takes more effort, but (as is usually the case with effort) can be far more rewarding.
I don't see where you are disagreeing that we shouldn't fix the opinions of copyright holders with legislation. People will either seek out better music, or one way or another be forced to pay for the mainstream commercial stuff. That is fine with me, just as it is fine that those who accept Microsoft's terms can continue to use their software. The Internet has made it even easier to be on the side of the little guy. There's just SO MUCH of everything available that I don't need to be bothered with whatever percentage of it has demonstrated that it doesn't really want me to enjoy it.
The copyright holder, in the case of musical compositions, is not usually making decisions about "his work", but someone else's. The artist almost never has the rights to their own work.
This can be important. Various artists, some big name (I believe the Smashing Pumpkins were one) were far more ready to embrace music on the Internet than the copyright holders, but of course, the artists couldn't really do anything about it as they were under contract to the label.
Is it their fault for signing to a major? Technically yes, but it's hard to blame them, even for me. It's nice to see someone like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs get mainstream radio play, but it doesn't happen very often. If you want the big audiences, you sign to the big labels, and lose your rights.
I think that the limits on copyright should be much shorter than they currently are, but I think that within those limits, people should be free to do what they want with their work. It's a shame it's often not up to the artists, but I don't think we can rightly change that with legislation.
POSIX doesn't define everything (other posters have pointed out that many of the differences are really extensions because of the GNU tools, which typically have more functionality than their POSIX/Unix equivalents), and having a single set of guidelines will really help to alleviate the "This works on Red Hat but not Mandrake or anything else" problem.
We'll take your example of RPM. The standard doesn't mean that everyone has to use RPM as their primary package format; they just have to be able to use RPM packages, which Debian can thanks to alien. So if you have an RPM of Commercial-Closed-Source-XYZ, it can be installed on your LSB-compliant system, and it will have a reasonable idea of where to find what it needs.
KDE and GNOME are cooperating to create common APIs so that software can be written for both at once. This is the same thing. Distributions can still do many things to set them apart from each other, like the strict package management of Debian. But having common ground for developers to target is a huge plus.
bobb:/# apt-get install emacs21
.
.
.
0 packages upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 156 not upgraded.
Need to get 13.2MB of archives. After unpacking 42.0MB will be used.
Eeesh. But yes, Debian is great for installing only what you need (you can even use auto-apt to install it as you need it). The base system doesn't even include less or man, last I checked. But that's OK since things are so easy to install.
Also note that newer Red Hat installers will not run on older machines, and I don't know if every distribution can be installed over a serial connection. So Debian may be a good choice for other reasons.
Most of the posts in this article, including the parent, focus on "How do I alter myself to fit in reasonably well with society?" People who don't do this are generally labled insane, or eccentric "at best." But these people are often the most fascinating, and create the best art. Go to the Visionary Art Museum in Washington D.C. Handel's Messiah? Written in one manic fit.
You have heard the saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none." The same is true of life; if you are a well-balanced person, or even partially well-balanced, then you will never accomplish the types of things that someone maniacally driven in one direction can do.
It is true that you need some small amount of "sanity" to survive long enough to create. You have to remember to eat, wear clothes, not kill people, etc. In the case of many geniuses, it's a fine line.
I am a balanced person, largely because I can't make up my mind. I resent it often, but I realize that it's probably the way for me. Is it "healthier"? Yes. But we need the "crazy" people too. Let's not be so quick to medicate them all out of existance.