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Microsoft ‘thwarts’ its rivals, states charge

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
“States suing Microsoft Corp. for damaging competition accused the company yesterday of using the Windows operating system desktop as a
means to thwart rivals and maintain control over the technology industry.”

Using the source, issue I

Steven writes “This is the first issue of LinuxGuru’s new weekly column with news and links about Free Software and Linux development. Article here on LinuxGuru.net.”

Category:

  • Open Source

Learning to use X11

Author: Benjamin D. Thomas

“A tutorial discussing how to use X11 fully and effectively.

When I started programming many years ago, on a system very, very different from what we use now, producing graphical output from programs was easy;
all the necessary commands were usually built right into the language. Later, when I moved to C and UNIX, things were no longer simple. Not only does
C not include any graphics manipulation functions, per se, but all graphical output in UNIX has to go through the standard UNIX windowing system: the
X Window System, release 11, version 6.6 (its current incarnation), or X11 for short.”

Understanding Linux file permissions

Author: Benjamin D. Thomas

jleveille writes “Understanding Linux file and directory permissions can be daunting for the new Linux user the first time they need to use them, but are easy to understand once you start using them on a regular basis, there are a couple of different ways to set permissions and the way you do it is your choice.We have the symbolic method:
$chmod o+x myfile
And the Absolute (Octal) method which is my choice:
$chmod 755 myfile

We cover both along with changing groups and owners.”

Building a secure kiosk with embedded Linux

Author: JT Smith

LinuxDevices.com:
“In this informative and entertaining technical article, embedded developer Patrick Glennon relates his experiences in creating a small Linux-based system for a client that required robust, easy-to-use, low-cost kiosks for conducting surveys at hotels. Glennon makes use of Intrinsyc’s CerfPod as the kiosk’s base platform, and equips it with open source software such as the Familiar project’s Linux distribution for the iPAQ and the Dillo browser.”

Bynari finds missing link

IBM: “Tom Adelstein of Bynari Systems, Inc. (www.bynari.net) has found the missing piece to enable corporate migration from Windows to Linux systems… Adelstein’s team wrote the two DLLs that make up InsightConnector so that he could sell Bynari’s InsightServer. Together these two solve the problem of letting employees use Outlook on their PCs while connecting with their non-Microsoft e-mail servers.”

Mind the ether with network monitors

Earthweb CrossNodes: “The wise network admin employs an array of tools to monitor network
activity. There are almost as many monitoring apps as network admins,
here are some I’ve found to be useful and versatile. I like color
pictures and graphs, you can’t beat scary little red icons for quickly
identifying trouble spots.” Read more here.

Category:

  • Security

Slackware Security Advisory: sudo

Slackware: “New sudo packages are available to fix a security problem which may allow
users to become root, or to execute arbitrary code as root.”


New sudo packages are available to fix a security problem which may allow
users to become root, or to execute arbitrary code as root.

Here's the information from the Slackware 8.0 ChangeLog:

----------------------------
Thu Apr 25 12:00:50 PDT 2002
patches/packages/sudo.tgz:  Upgraded to sudo-1.6.6.
  This version of sudo fixes a security problem whereby a local user may gain
  root access through corruption of the heap (Off-By-Five).
  This issue was discovered by Global InterSec LLC, and more information may
  be found on their web site:
  http://www.globalintersec.com/adv/sudo-2002041701.txt
The discussion on the site indicates that this problem may only be exploitable
  on systems that use PAM, which Slackware does not use.  However, in the
  absence of proof, it still seems prudent to upgrade sudo immediately.
  (* Security fix *)
----------------------------


WHERE TO FIND THE NEW PACKAGES:
-------------------------------

Updated sudo package for Slackware 7.1:
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-7.1/patches/packages/sudo.tgz

Updated sudo package for Slackware 8.0:
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-8.0/patches/packages/sudo.tgz

Updated sudo package for Slackware -current:
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-current/slackware/ap/sudo-1.6.6-i386-1.tgz


MD5 SIGNATURE:
--------------

Here is the md5sum for the package:

Slackware 7.1:
1f2eb2c0e01c5d2182431cc401f78a89  sudo.tgz

Slackware 8.0:
d0598233fefeb9d37450eec10a087e07  sudo.tgz

Slackware -current:
26c70a9a740823353300b23f110b3cca  sudo-1.6.6-i386-1.tgz


INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
--------------------------

As root, upgrade to the new sudo.tgz package:
# upgradepkg sudo.tgz

Remember, it's also a good idea to backup configuration files before
upgrading packages.

- Slackware Linux Security Team
  http://www.slackware.com

Category:

  • Security

Caldera Security Advisory: squid

Caldera: From Squid advisory SQUID-2002:2 : Error and boundary conditions
were not checked when handling compressed DNS answer messages in
the internal DNS code (lib/rfc1035.c). A malicious DNS server
could craft a DNS reply that would cause Squid to exit with
a SIGSEGV.


____________________________________________________________________________

                Caldera International, Inc.  Security Advisory

Subject:                Linux: squid compressed DNS answer message boundary failure
Advisory number:        CSSA-2002-017.0
Issue date:             2002 April 25
Cross reference:
____________________________________________________________________________


1. Problem Description

        From Squid advisory SQUID-2002:2 : Error and boundary conditions
        were not checked when handling compressed DNS answer messages in
        the internal DNS code (lib/rfc1035.c). A malicious DNS server
        could craft a DNS reply that would cause Squid to exit with
        a SIGSEGV.


2. Vulnerable Supported Versions

        System                          Package
        ----------------------------------------------------------------------

        OpenLinux 3.1.1 Server          prior to squid-2.4.STABLE2-4.i386.rpm

        OpenLinux 3.1 Server            prior to squid-2.4.STABLE2-4.i386.rpm


3. Solution

        The proper solution is to install the latest packages.


4. OpenLinux 3.1.1 Server

        4.1 Package Location

        ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/updates/OpenLinux/3.1.1/Server/current/RPMS

4.2 Packages

        ce1fbb905f270ca49d9151b6b40507c9        squid-2.4.STABLE2-4.i386.rpm/

        4.3 Installation

        rpm -Fvh squid-2.4.STABLE2-4.i386.rpm/

        4.4 Source Package Location

        ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/updates/OpenLinux/3.1.1/Server/current/SRPMS

4.5 Source Packages

        b5001b17b2b841a6cd8b196d5789db64        squid-2.4.STABLE2-4.src.rpm


5. OpenLinux 3.1 Server

        5.1 Package Location

        ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/updates/OpenLinux/3.1/Server/current/RPMS

5.2 Packages

        9a72c528ba333d87e1d6719340ee768b        squid-2.4.STABLE2-4.i386.rpm

        5.3 Installation

        rpm -Fvh squid-2.4.STABLE2-4.i386.rpm

        5.4 Source Package Location

        ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/updates/OpenLinux/3.1/Server/current/SRPMS

5.5 Source Packages

        cd38d3243263a06eba7c20c836709711        squid-2.4.STABLE2-4.src.rpm


6. References

        Specific references for this advisory:

                http://www.squid-cache.org/Advisories/SQUID-2002_2.txt

Caldera OpenLinux security resources:
                http://www.caldera.com/support/security/index.html

Caldera UNIX security resources:
                http://stage.caldera.com/support/security/

This security fix closes Caldera incidents sr862189, fz520428,
        and erg711999.


7. Disclaimer

        Caldera International, Inc. is not responsible for the misuse
        of any of the information we provide on this website and/or
        through our security advisories. Our advisories are a service
        to our customers intended to promote secure installation and
        use of Caldera products.


8. Acknowledgements

        This vulnerability was discovered and researched by zen-parse
        <zen-parse@gmx.net>.

____________________________________________________________________________

Category:

  • Migration

Why you want Linux, or not.

John Gowin writes “If anything is creating a stir in the world of computing these days, it’s definitely Linux.

You may have heard a lot of things about Linux, or not much at all, depending on what you read and who you talk to. Comments range from how incredible Linux is and how it will be a serious threat to Microsoft, to how difficult it is to use, and how there’s no software support. Well, every tidbit you hear gained life from some sort of truth, but it’s hard to put all the facts together when they’re being fired at you from all over the place. With this article I hope to tell a prospective Linux user what he or she needs to know to make the decision to switch. I’m not talking enterprise server stuff here, you can find information on that all over the place. I’m talking about the OS on your home PC that you’re probably using right now.

Read the article here

Category:

  • Migration