Well, with ENUM you can still have those two numbers, each referring to their own set of services. One for home use and one for work. Where's the problem?
leto, I believe the author of PowerDNS, among other people, was acutely aware of such interoperability issues and has been endlessly advocating source port randomization and related measures. It took a Kaminsky to make the DNS world - too busy with DNSSEC as the "Endloesung" - to finally turn an eye towards reality again, and rush out a measure that was already implemented years and years ago by DJB and had been in an IETF draft for about 2 years. And you dare to write this? Wow!
You *will* tune it out. The description of the sound instantly reminded me of the simple "psssssssst" (a sharp almost whistling hiss) used by people in certain cities to grab the attention of taxi drivers, tourists, anyone. At first I *always* turned when I heard it. Now, I hardly pay attention.
I felt similar. What's worse: it now occasionally happens that I'm on autopilot and hit Ctrl-Alt-Del to log in on a Non-NT server which of course promptly reboots if I didn't yet fix its keymap to prevent this... AAAARGH.
[...] it is in the interests [...] of Linux as a whole.
In this context, `Linux as a whole' sounds distinctly silly. You remind me of people living in Amsterdam or in Paris who tend to forget that there's more than one city in their country. What you seem to forget here is that Gnome and KDE are not desktops specifically for Linux. To illustrate: I have used both KDE and Gnome, but neither on Linux.
Also (but this has been brought up by other people as well): what on earth is wrong with having more than one desktop to choose from? The same is true for any other piece of software.
Also, it's convenient for Microsoft to support the BSD license, as it's a frequent source of Microsoft applications. (Run 'strings' on ftp in Windows NT/2k and you'll see)
Is this bad? God forbid that they write these things themselves! There's no end to the grief that poorly implemented basic network utils (or protocol stacks) will cause.
One would think that the LGPL would be a more appropriate license for driver code. Isn't it hard or practically impossible to integrate this in non-GPL open source systems?
Not that I'm waiting for Winmodem drivers (I'll use a real modem thank you) but there may come a time that there is practically no choice (think of laptop-integrated winmodems).
Well, we've had a similar setup for quite a few years now (server and router in a closet and some 5 analog leased lines behind that) and I can tell you from experience that our 33k6 uplink used to be quite workable. Granted, eventually we had to move a few heavy websites to hosting facilities elsewhere and upgrade our uplink to 64k, but a T1 would be overkill.
Of course we don't have people who download a lot. I think that the average slashdotter should opt for (A/S)DSL. But our 'customers' simply want 24x7 email, host small web servers that generate maybe ten hits a day, and browse a little. They're happy.
Of course you're right about these claims being unjustified, but, with the exception of Israel and Tibet, the situation at this moment is such that there's simply no turning back.
The problem is that, possibly just because of this dark aspect of American history (occupying a territory and slaughtering the inhabitants), the US never does a damn thing to fight similar crimes elsewhere in the world, except where they have economic interests. In the case of Tibet, the US (and the rest of the western world) simply keeps their hands in their pockets. Israel even received active support.
I don't think that the new record is something to attribute to FreeBSD. It has been known for quite some time that FreeBSD was able to do this, but network bandwidth has always been the bottleneck. I'll stick my feather in the ass of the guys hosting the server.
Actually, I was surprised to see that ftp.freesoftware.com 'only' supports 3000 simultaneous users. If I recall well, that used to be 5000 on ftp.cdrom.com
I don't need to tell anyone what the weakness will be when this scheme uses a fixed key. So, they say they want to generate a new key each time the system restarts (sic!). Last time I booted my server it had been up for 817 days. To me it seems completely bogus to base your design on the assumption that you will reboot frequently. (Or, for that matter, on any assumption at all)
I'll bite (too much of a rabid fbsd-lover not to...)
- How many version numbers can you actually cross like this?
YMMV, but in my experience it works quite well. I'll make an exception for the a.out -> ELF transtion nightmare. That was bad. Rule-of-thumb: don't cross major version numbers. And read the mailing lists.
- What sorts of problems/pitfalls might the *BSD newbie run into trying this...?
Cryptic error messages. If you're not familiar with a platform, anything it throws at you will be cryptic. Not kidding: VMS sometimes really stumps me with trivial stuff. I just ask someone who has more experience. It's the way to learn.
- If your net connection is too slow/unreliable to even think about doing make world via the net
Irrelevant. You don't do a make world via the net. You do a make world from your local/usr/src which has been brought up-to-date by cvsup. Works quite beautifully over crappy Internet links.
Actually it took me a while before I started to use X precisely because of the steep hill you describe. Eventually I painstakingly managed to install it under 2.2.5 by hand. So I know what you're talking about.
However, last time I looked, and that was 4.0, I was very happy to find that the install program led me by the hand into the graphical X setup and it really was an immediate success. It even let me choose a desktop environment and before the first reboot I had *everything* running includeing KDE. I have no doubt that should I have chosen Gnome, the out-of-the-box experience would have been the same.
So I'd say the time to give it a try has come.
And once the initial install is done, upgrading is nearly trivial. I've actually been running 4.1 since yesterday since I had noticed a version number bump in the source tree and decided to do the old make world trick.
There used to be a time when it was normal that netizens could be traced back and identified. The advent of dialup accounts and free providers have put an end to this, and I've always felt that that was a Bad Thing for the Internet. You now have all sorts of anonymous cowards who conduct mischief and are a nuisance.
I'd say that every initiative to restore a bit of the old traceability paradigm is an initiative to be welcomed. If you can't stand that, you have the option of not using our (the other netizen's) infrastructure. In that case I wish you good riddance.
They won't challenge GPL. Why would they? It's easy to avoid these problems. If they really want their own proprietary changes to the code they would use a non-GPLed free Unix.
But actually I think their talk about Linux is PR in itself. ("Look how cool we are; we're considering to use the coolest OS on earth.")
From my own experience: I quit a job some 3.5 years ago. I had just installed a 386 with Linux as a gateway machine/proxy server between the company's LAN and a leased line to NLnet (now UUNET). That was the first and only Unix-like box there (except one Sun in the software development department) and it sat in a cupboard where nobody noticed it.
Over a year ago I saw their new sysadmin and he told me they were going to replace that setup by an NT server 'real soon now'.
However, I just did a quick scan and it sure looks like they still haven't changed a thing, except for the portmaster that is now connecting it to a higher-speed link. The network services on that box are the same as when I left.
It's called "GPS receiver plus optional serial cable".
I don't know the PalmPilot, but if it's worth its salt, it will have a serial port and can be programmed. The lingo that you should use to talk to your GPS is fairly well documented.
Well, they seem to have missed one thing: saying that free software (or open source software; they don't really distinguish) comes under the GPL is a bit blunt. Let's not forget that the GPL puts restrictions on what you can do with the code. GPL is open source for sure, but free...?
As Jordan Hubbard pointed out, Satoshi Atami (in his mail to FreeBSD-announce) was mistaken in calling this 3.1-stable. It should be 3.0-stable. Anyway, just calling it FreeBSD-stable is always correct;)
It's important to note that the ports collection will probably no longer be maintained for 2.2 and a.out support will be dropped too (over time) so this is the time to consider upgrading.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, with ENUM you can still have those two numbers, each referring to their own set of services. One for home use and one for work. Where's the problem?
leto, I believe the author of PowerDNS, among other people, was acutely aware of such interoperability issues and has been endlessly advocating source port randomization and related measures. It took a Kaminsky to make the DNS world - too busy with DNSSEC as the "Endloesung" - to finally turn an eye towards reality again, and rush out a measure that was already implemented years and years ago by DJB and had been in an IETF draft for about 2 years. And you dare to write this? Wow!
You *will* tune it out. The description of the sound instantly reminded me of the simple "psssssssst" (a sharp almost whistling hiss) used by people in certain cities to grab the attention of taxi drivers, tourists, anyone. At first I *always* turned when I heard it. Now, I hardly pay attention.
I felt similar. What's worse: it now occasionally happens that I'm on autopilot and hit Ctrl-Alt-Del to log in on a Non-NT server which of course promptly reboots if I didn't yet fix its keymap to prevent this... AAAARGH.
Quite often. It's the rule rather than the exception. Ever heard of 'hot potato routing'? Do a search and you'll understand.
[...] it is in the interests [...] of Linux as a whole.
In this context, `Linux as a whole' sounds distinctly silly. You remind me of people living in Amsterdam or in Paris who tend to forget that there's more than one city in their country. What you seem to forget here is that Gnome and KDE are not desktops specifically for Linux. To illustrate: I have used both KDE and Gnome, but neither on Linux.
Also (but this has been brought up by other people as well): what on earth is wrong with having more than one desktop to choose from? The same is true for any other piece of software.
Also, it's convenient for Microsoft to support the BSD license, as it's a frequent source of Microsoft applications. (Run 'strings' on ftp in Windows NT/2k and you'll see)
Is this bad? God forbid that they write these things themselves! There's no end to the grief that poorly implemented basic network utils (or protocol stacks) will cause.
One would think that the LGPL would be a more appropriate license for driver code. Isn't it hard or practically impossible to integrate this in non-GPL open source systems?
Not that I'm waiting for Winmodem drivers (I'll use a real modem thank you) but there may come a time that there is practically no choice (think of laptop-integrated winmodems).
Well, we've had a similar setup for quite a few years now (server and router in a closet and some 5 analog leased lines behind that) and I can tell you from experience that our 33k6 uplink used to be quite workable. Granted, eventually we had to move a few heavy websites to hosting facilities elsewhere and upgrade our uplink to 64k, but a T1 would be overkill.
Of course we don't have people who download a lot. I think that the average slashdotter should opt for (A/S)DSL. But our 'customers' simply want 24x7 email, host small web servers that generate maybe ten hits a day, and browse a little. They're happy.
Can't we make a separate "US" section or something? I would feel that local issues don't belong on /.
Of course you're right about these claims being unjustified, but, with the exception of Israel and Tibet, the situation at this moment is such that there's simply no turning back.
The problem is that, possibly just because of this dark aspect of American history (occupying a territory and slaughtering the inhabitants), the US never does a damn thing to fight similar crimes elsewhere in the world, except where they have economic interests. In the case of Tibet, the US (and the rest of the western world) simply keeps their hands in their pockets. Israel even received active support.
It is a shame.
I don't think that the new record is something to attribute to FreeBSD. It has been known for quite some time that FreeBSD was able to do this, but network bandwidth has always been the bottleneck. I'll stick my feather in the ass of the guys hosting the server.
Actually, I was surprised to see that ftp.freesoftware.com 'only' supports 3000 simultaneous users. If I recall well, that used to be 5000 on ftp.cdrom.com
I don't need to tell anyone what the weakness will be when this scheme uses a fixed key. So, they say they want to generate a new key each time the system restarts (sic!). Last time I booted my server it had been up for 817 days. To me it seems completely bogus to base your design on the assumption that you will reboot frequently. (Or, for that matter, on any assumption at all)
I'll bite (too much of a rabid fbsd-lover not to...)
/usr/src which has been brought up-to-date by cvsup. Works quite beautifully over crappy Internet links.
- How many version numbers can you actually cross like this?
YMMV, but in my experience it works quite well. I'll make an exception for the a.out -> ELF transtion nightmare. That was bad. Rule-of-thumb: don't cross major version numbers. And read the mailing lists.
- What sorts of problems/pitfalls might the *BSD newbie run into trying this...?
Cryptic error messages. If you're not familiar with a platform, anything it throws at you will be cryptic. Not kidding: VMS sometimes really stumps me with trivial stuff. I just ask someone who has more experience. It's the way to learn.
- If your net connection is too slow/unreliable to even think about doing make world via the net
Irrelevant. You don't do a make world via the net. You do a make world from your local
Actually it took me a while before I started to use X precisely because of the steep hill you describe. Eventually I painstakingly managed to install it under 2.2.5 by hand. So I know what you're talking about.
However, last time I looked, and that was 4.0, I was very happy to find that the install program led me by the hand into the graphical X setup and it really was an immediate success. It even let me choose a desktop environment and before the first reboot I had *everything* running includeing KDE. I have no doubt that should I have chosen Gnome, the out-of-the-box experience would have been the same.
So I'd say the time to give it a try has come.
And once the initial install is done, upgrading is nearly trivial. I've actually been running 4.1 since yesterday since I had noticed a version number bump in the source tree and decided to do the old make world trick.
There used to be a time when it was normal that netizens could be traced back and identified. The advent of dialup accounts and free providers have put an end to this, and I've always felt that that was a Bad Thing for the Internet. You now have all sorts of anonymous cowards who conduct mischief and are a nuisance.
I'd say that every initiative to restore a bit of the old traceability paradigm is an initiative to be welcomed. If you can't stand that, you have the option of not using our (the other netizen's) infrastructure. In that case I wish you good riddance.
They won't challenge GPL. Why would they? It's easy to avoid these problems. If they really want their own proprietary changes to the code they would use a non-GPLed free Unix.
But actually I think their talk about Linux is PR in itself. ("Look how cool we are; we're considering to use the coolest OS on earth.")
--B
I thought it was an article about Samba...
--B
From my own experience: I quit a job some 3.5 years ago. I had just installed a 386 with Linux as a gateway machine/proxy server between the company's LAN and a leased line to NLnet (now UUNET). That was the first and only Unix-like box there (except one Sun in the software development department) and it sat in a cupboard where nobody noticed it.
Over a year ago I saw their new sysadmin and he told me they were going to replace that setup by an NT server 'real soon now'.
However, I just did a quick scan and it sure looks like they still haven't changed a thing, except for the portmaster that is now connecting it to a higher-speed link. The network services on that box are the same as when I left.
--B
It's called "GPS receiver plus optional serial cable".
I don't know the PalmPilot, but if it's worth its salt, it will have a serial port and can be programmed. The lingo that you should use to talk to your GPS is fairly well documented.
Voila!
--B
Well, they seem to have missed one thing: saying that free software (or open source software; they don't really distinguish) comes under the GPL is a bit blunt. Let's not forget that the GPL puts restrictions on what you can do with the code. GPL is open source for sure, but free...?
--B
It's important to note that the ports collection will probably no longer be maintained for 2.2 and a.out support will be dropped too (over time) so this is the time to consider upgrading.
Well, there goes my uptime