Achieving effective security takes constant discipline and effort on everyone’s part – not just one team or group within a company. That was Mårten Mickos’s message in his keynote speech appropriately titled, “Security is Everyone’s Responsibility,” at The Linux Foundation’s recent Open Source Leadership Summit (OSLS).
Mickos, CEO of HackerOne, which he described as a “hacker-powered security company,” told the audience that $100 billion has been spent on cybersecurity, yet, “Half of the money is wasted. We’ve been buying hardware and software and machines and walls and all kinds of stuff thinking that that technology and [those] products will make us secure. But that’s not true.”
The majority of modern Linux distributions default to the ext4 filesystem, just as previous Linux distributions defaulted to ext3, ext2, and—if you go back far enough—ext.
If you’re new to Linux—or to filesystems—you might wonder what ext4 brings to the table that ext3 didn’t. You might also wonder whether ext4 is still in active development at all, given the flurries of news coverage of alternate filesystems such as btrfs, xfs, and zfs.
We can’t cover everything about filesystems in a single article, but we’ll try to bring you up to speed on the history of Linux’s default filesystem, where it stands, and what to look forward to.
I drew heavily on Wikipedia’s various ext filesystem articles, kernel.org’s wiki entries on ext4, and my own experiences while preparing this overview.
Heather Kirksey held up her smartphone. “How often do you stare at your smartphone? How often do you use the Internet on your phone?” asked the vice president of network functions virtualization (NFV) and director at the Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV), speaking at the Open Networking Summit. “That’s why you have to care about open source networking. We are transforming the global telecommunications infrastructure.”
Perhaps you still think of networking in terms of hardware infrastructure: the Wi-Fi router in your office, the cables hiding in the plenum, or the Internet backbone cablethat a backhoe just ruined. However, moving forward, tomorrow’s networks will be built from open sourcesoftware-defined networks (SDNs) running on a wide range of hardware including the open source Open Compute Project (OCP).
SDN and NFV started with OpenFlow in 2011. OpenFlow was based on a simple idea: to “exploit the fact that most modern Ethernet switches and routers contain flow tables (typically built from TCAMs) that run at line rate to implement firewalls, network address translation, quality of service, and to collect statistics.” With that architecture, you could create what they called “programmable networks.”
Since then, several open source projects have built on this basic idea of using software, instead of custom hardware, for networking needs. Developers, vendors, and customers are all moving forward with SDN, NFV, and related programs as fast as they can.
Spanish computer maker Slimbook has unveiled the Slimbook Curve, an all-in-one with a 24-inch curved screen made for GNU/Linux.
The all-in-one is available with either Intel Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs and can be configured with 8GB or 16GB DDR4 memory with a 32GB option coming soon.
Continuous delivery is becoming a standard, if you implement the right process you get a predictable deployment. When a change is made in the code, most of the time the build, test, deploy and monitor steps are followed. This is the base for anyone willing to apply automation to their release process.
If a failure is detected during the monitoring phase, then an operator has to verify and rollback the failing release to the previous known working state. This process is time consuming and not always truthful since it requires someone to keep an eye on the monitoring dashboard and react to it.
If the team is well structured and applies the devops way of working, then there will be someone on duty who receives an alert when something goes wrong. Alerts are triggered based on metrics, but still, after receiving the alert, the person on duty has to turn on their laptop (if not on-site), take a look at the graph, think for a moment, realise that the issue is coming from the last release and decide whether or not there is a need to roll back.
Git, the distributed revision-control system that’s become the default tool for source code control in the open source world, turns 13 on April 7. One of the more frustrating things about using Git is how much you need to know to use it effectively. This can also be one of the more awesome things about using Git, because there’s nothing quite like discovering a new tip or trick that can streamline or improve your workflow.
In honor of Git’s 13th birthday, here are 13 tips and tricks to make your Git experience more useful and powerful, starting with some basics you might have overlooked and scaling up to some real power-user tricks!
The first time you tried to use the git command to commit a change to a repository, you might have been greeted with something like this:
*** Please tell me who you are.
Run
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
to set your account's default identity.
What you might not have realized is that those commands are modifying the contents of ~/.gitconfig, which is where Git stores global configuration options.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are the two terms that are trending these days and sometimes even used interchangeably. However, both the terms are not the same. While AI involves machines that can perform tasks that are characteristic of human intelligence, ML enables modern computers to learn without being explicitly programmed. Basically, ML has evolved from AI via pattern recognition and computational learning theory.
Big companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM, and Amazon are heavily investing in their own R&D (Research and development), as well as purchasing startups that have made progress in areas like ML, neural networks, natural language and image processing.
In this article, we have listed 5 best open source frameworks for AI development that seem particularly promising or interesting:
There are so many distributions of Linux. Some of those distributions go a very long way to differentiate themselves. In other cases, the differences are so minimal, you wonder why anyone would have bothered reinventing that particular wheel. It’s that latter concern that had me wondering why antiX and MEPIS communities would come together to create yet another distribution—especially given that the results would be an Xfce edition of antiX, built by the MEPIS community.
Does building antiX with an Xfce desktop warrant its own distribution? After all, antiX claims to be a “fast, lightweight and easy to install systemd-free linux live CD distribution based on Debian Stable.” The antiX desktop of choice is LXDE, which does certainly fit the bill for a lightweight desktop. So why retool antiX into another lightweight distribution, only this time with Xfce? Well, as anyone within the Linux community knows, variance adds flavor and a good lightweight distribution is a worthwhile endeavor (especially in preventing old hardware from making its way to the landfill). Of course, LXDE and Xfce aren’t quite in the same category. LXDE should be considered a true lightweight desktop, whereas Xfce should be considered more a mid-weight desktop. And that, my friends, is key to why MX Linux is an important iteration of antiX. A mid-weight distribution, built on Debian, that includes all the tools you need to get your work done.
But there’s something really keen within MX Linux—something directly borrowed from antiX—and that is the installation tool. When I first set up a VirtualBox VM to install MX Linux, I assumed the installation would be the typical, incredibly easy Linux installation I’d grown accustomed to. Much to my surprise, that antiX installer MX Linux uses could be a real game changer, especially for those on the fence about giving Linux a try.
So even before I began kicking the tires of MX Linux, I was impressed. Let’s take a look at what makes the installation of this distribution so special, and then finally have a go with the desktop.
You can download MX Linux 17.1 from here. The minimum system requirements are:
A CD/DVD drive (and BIOS capable of booting from that drive), or a live USB (and BIOS capable of booting from USB)
A modern i486 Intel or AMD processor
512 MB of RAM memory
5 GB free hard drive space
A SoundBlaster, AC97 or HDA-compatible sound card
For use as a LiveUSB, 4 GB free
Installation
Out of the gate, the MX Linux installer makes installing Linux a breeze. Although it may not be the most modern-looking installation tool, there’s little to second-guess. The heart of the installation begins with choosing the disks and selecting the installation type (Figure 1).
Figure 1: One of the first installer screens for MX Linux.
The next important screen (Figure 2) requires you to set a computer name, domain, and (if necessary) a workgroup for MS Networking.
Figure 2: Setting network names.
That ability to configure a workgroup is the first bit to really stand out. This is the first distribution I can remember that offers this option during installation. It also should clue you in that MX Linux offers the ability to share directories out of the box. It does, and it does so with aplomb. It’s not perfect, but it works without having to install any extra package (more on this in a bit).
The last important installation screen (that requires user-interaction) is the creation of the user account and root password (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Setting up your user account details and the root user password.
Once you’ve taken care of this final screen, the installation will complete and ask you to reboot. Upon rebooting, you’ll be greeted with the login screen. Login and enjoy the MX Linux experience.
Usage
The Xfce desktop is quite an easy interface to get up to speed with. The default places the panel on the left edge of the screen (Figure 4).
Figure 4: The default MX Linux desktop.
If you want to move the panel to a more traditional location, right click a blank spot on the panel and clickPanel > Panel Preferences. In the resulting window (Figure 5), click the Mode drop-down to select from between Deskbar, Vertical, or Horizontal.
Figure 5: Configuring the MX Linux Panel.
The difference between the Deskbar and Vertical options is that, in the Deskbar mode, the panel is aligned vertically, just like in the vertical mode, but the plugins are laid out horizontally. This means you can create much wider panels (for widescreen layouts). If you opt for a horizontal layout, it will default to the top—you will have to then uncheck the Lock panel check box, click Close, and then (using the drag handle on the left edge of the panel) drag it to the bottom. You can then go back into the Panel Settings window and re-lock the panel.
Beyond that, using the Xfce desktop should be a no-brainer for nearly any experience level … it’s thateasy. You’ll find software to cover productivity (LibreOffice, Orage Calendar, PDF-Shuffler), graphics (GIMP), communication (Firefox, Thunderbird, HexChat), multimedia (Clementine, guvcview, SMTube, VLC media player), and a number of tools specific to MX Linux (called MX Tools, that range from a live-USB drive creator, a network assistant, package installer, repo manager, live ISO snapshot creator, and more).
Figure 6: Sharing out a directory to your network.
Samba
Let’s talk about sharing folders to your network. As I mentioned, you won’t have to install any extra packages to get this to function. You simply open up the file manager, right-click anywhere, and select Share a folder on your network. You will be prompted for the administrative password (set during installation). Upon successful authentication, the Samba Server Configuration Tool will open (Figure 6).
Figure 7: Configuring the share on MX Linux.
Click the + button and configure your share. You will be asked to locate the directory, give the share a name/description, and then decide if the share is writeable and visible (Figure 7).
When you click the Access tab, you have the choice between giving everyone access to the share or just specific users. Here’s where the problem arises. At this point, no users will be available for sharing. Why? They haven’t been added. In order to add them, there are two possibilities: From the command line or using the tool we already have open. Let’s take the obvious route. From the main window of the Samba Server Configuration Tool, click Preferences > Samba Users. In the resulting window, click Add user.
A new window will appear (Figure 8), where you need to select the user from the drop-down, enter a Windows username, and type/retype a password for the user.
Figure 8: Adding a user to Samba.
Once you’ve clicked OK, the user will be added and the share will be accessible, to that user, across your network. Creating Samba shares really can be that easy.
The conclusion
MX Linux makes transitioning from just about any desktop operating system simple. Although some might find the desktop interface to be a bit less-than-modern, the distribution’s primary focus isn’t on beauty, but simplicity. To that end, MX Linux succeeds in stellar fashion. This flavor of Linux can make anyone feel right at home on Linux. Spin up this mid-weight distribution and see if it can’t serve as your daily driver.
Learn more about Linux through the free “Introduction to Linux” course from The Linux Foundation and edX.
This week in Linux and open source news, Juniper Network’s OpenContrail is rebranded as a Linux Foundation project, the FierceTelecom Senior Editor reviews dominant themes at ONS North America 2018 & more!
1) “Juniper Networks’ open-source network virtualization platform OpenContrail has finished migrating to the Linux Foundation and rebranded itself as Tungsten Fabric.”
2) “The themes laid out at [ONS] will likely continue to evolve throughout the year as service providers move forward with their virtualization plans.”
Dear programmer! I think it’s time we talk about regular expressions. What do you think?
Yes, I understand you know them and can use in most common real-life situations. It’s great! I know some programmers, for whom more complicated regular expressions are quite a black magic. Even though they may have quite a few years of experience. But I don’t want to preach you about how to build a regexp1 to get your problem solved. I intend to explain how they work internally and what consequences it might have for us.
So, where do we start? It actually begins with mathematics.
