Juraj Bednar writes “I made a really short interview with Mark Mitchell, GCC Release Manager. He is talking about infamous gcc-2.96 release, new features of gcc-3.0 and where should gcc go. I hope you’ll like it even if it’s so short.”

– By Grant Gross –

Developers of embedded applications based on Linux will soon have a new tool that helps them negotiate through all the software license issues they might bump into. You might think of the soon-to-be-released Lineo Embedix SDK GPL Compliance Toolset as a intellectual property lawyer on a CD, but critics of intellectual property protections might not be fans of Lineo’s new product.

The GPL Compliance Toolset is actually designed to alert embedded developers of not just the GNU General Public License, but also 41 other licenses, that they might run into while developing embedded applications. Licenses covered include the LGPL, BSD, and Lineo’s own license. Announced this week in a letter from Lineo v.p. Tim Bird, the toolset is billed as part of an “anti-FUD” campaign Lineo is launching to ease embedded developers’ concerns about creating programs based on GPL or Open Source licenses. Recently, Microsoft has falsely accused the GPL as being “viral,” as forcing developers to open up the source code to anything based on GPLed software.

In his letter, Bird says the toolset will help developers get beyond that Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt spread by Microsoft. “Many embedded developers assume that including Open Source as a component of an overall solution forces them to publish the
combined solution to the Open Source community,” he writes. “This assumption is not correct.”

What the toolset does is scan your applications in development, lists all the licenses used and how they’re being used, and in some cases, allows the developer to automatically update the application to be in compliance with those licenses. The toolset’s Code Review Wizard can also evaluate developer coding habits and areas of exposure.

While the toolset is optimized to use with Lineo’s embedded Linux OS, other developers could use the toolset to check their applications in development, as well, says Dan Montierth, general manager for the Lineo tools division. Developers should make sure they’re using standard license tags on an application they work with, beyond the embedded OS applications.

Lineo created some controversy this week by paying to license FSM Labs’ patented RTLinux technology as another way to help embedded developers avoid confusion, and the toolset might prompt some critics. Just as some developers will use the toolset to comply with licenses, others might use it to protect more intellectual property than they may have previously. Instead of Open-Sourcing any applications where there’s doubt, they now won’t have doubt, a critic might argue, and the result is fewer applications released as Open Source.

But Montierth says the toolset will encourage more developers to work with embedded Linux, and that’s a good thing. “We had several customers who, quite frankly, liked us, and they really wanted to work with us, but they were so afraid of GPL contamination issues,” he says. “You have two camps — you have the camp that’s spreading all this fear, saying, ‘If you use Linux, you’d better run, because you’re going to get contaminated,’ and then you have other camp that says, ‘It’s not a problem, we don’t have issues.’

“The truth is, it depends,” he adds. “Do you have intellectual property you worry about protecting? Is that IP tied close to the kernel? If it is, you have to follow these steps.”

Montierth says Lineo isn’t trying to make those Open-Sourcing decisions for developers or company, just give them knowledge to make their own decisions. “Knowledge is power, and at least they know what they’re doing,” he says. “Before, you had engineers who’d be submitting stuff, and thinking either they were protected, or they didn’t know or care.

“What were doing for people is giving them the knowledge to make the decision,” he adds. “It’s up to them to make a business case. What we’re going to tell them is, ‘Here is where you’re crossing the line as far according to the license. If you want to [release] the program, great, it’s up to you.”

The Lineo Embedix SDK GPL Compliance Toolset will be on display at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo later this month. Lineo expects to release the product, now in beta, in early September.

Network World
Fusion: “Virus writing group 29A on Wednesday denied
that any of its members created the Code Red
or the Code Red II worm. The denial came after
a German media report pinpointed 29A as the
brains behind the malicious Internet worms.

A Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) report on
Tuesday said that 29A has been bragging on
online chat rooms about unleashing Code Red
onto the ‘Net. DPA also described 29A as a
Dutch hacker group.”

eWEEK: “Software companies are scrambling to analyze the possible legal
repercussions of a recent patent issued to McAfee by the U.S. Patent
Office. The patent is unusually broad, potentially giving McAfee the
rights to key technologies used by both competitors and partners
alike.

Some areas that fall under the jurisdiction of the patent include
auto-updating, subscription services and certain software that
initiates downloads without prompting users. The company has taken
a stand to protect its newfound ownership, telling the media that
parties can either work with McAfee or engineer around it.”

eWEEK: “Besides making sure their software plays well with Apple Computer
Inc.’s new Unix-based OS, developers of core Mac applications such
as Adobe Photoshop and QuarkXPress must grapple with
compatibility issues affecting popular — and often mission-critical
— third-party plug-ins. Though the migration to Mac OS X is, in the
face of Apple’s system strategy, inevitable, many professional users
within a corporation may resist the move if they find the change
comes at the cost of their favorite plug-ins.”

CNET News.com: “After lying low for a couple of years, MPEG-4–the successor to the
technologies that spawned the MP3 audio explosion–is catching on
with developers who are taking advantage of its ability to manipulate
digital music and video files. PEG-4 is a wide-ranging set of audio and video technologies
designed in part to condense large digital packages into small files
that can be easily transmitted online, much like today’s most common
media formats, such as MP3, RealVideo and Windows Media.”

Developer.com introduces Jordan Dimov’s article on using Perl to validate
forms and increase security: “How can we make software that
withstands malicious input attacks? We can start by minimizing the set of
entities our software trusts and by vigorously validating all input.”

New York, USA – Rauch Medien (http://www.rauchmedien.com) announced that they began shipping Pentium 4 Xeon systems in 2U chassis in early August, 2001. This marks the first time that Xeon systems have been shipped in a 2U form factor. Previously, 2U chassis were too small to handle the cooling requirements of these high-power systems. But recent developments in power supply and chassis technology have now made this possible.

Power in a box

Rauch Medien?s dual-Xeon 2U server, the Prolinium 2860, is the most powerful computer of its size. This is because 2 Xeon 1.7 MHz processors are packed into a computer 3.5 inches tall. “This allows for an unprecedented amount of Intel processing power per cubic inch,” said Robert Lodato, Marketing Director for Rauch Medien. “It gives you blazing speed and the stability you expect of Intel.” Cory Rauch, Director of Technology for Rauch Medien, had this to say: “This is an extremely powerful system designed for users who need extremely high throughput. The 800 MHz Rambus memory is literally 3 times the speed of the next fastest product available. It can push 6.4 gigabytes per second through its 4 Rambus Channels. For memory intensive applications, this is the way to go.”

Features

The Prolinium 2860 can be packed with up to 438 GB of high-performance SCSI hot-swap storage, 2 GB 800 MHz Rambus memory, dual 1.7 GHz+ Intel Pentium 4 Xeon processors, and remote administration with web based control panel. All of this fits inside a standard 19-inch wide by 24-inch deep 2U rack-mount chassis. And there is still room for options like RAID, gigabit Ethernet, and up to 14 network ports. A wide selection of operating systems are supported including Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD.

Like all Rauch Medien servers, the Prolinium 2860 is designed for easy setup and management. Simply plug it in and use ServerCommand, the easy-to-use web interface, to aid in the installation. In addition, administration can be performed remotely through this built-in web-based control panel. Tasks such as setting up new servers, and services can all be performed via this web-based control. Email alerts can also be setup to allow the administrator to be alerted on service failure via email.

Availability

The Prolinium 2860 server is now available in a sleek, black 2U rack-mount chassis with dual 1.7 MHz Xeon processors for prices starting at $3239 (USD). It can be ordered now on the Rauch Medien web-site at www.rauchmedien.com. For those who require even more power, 4-way and 8-way Xeon configurations are available in the larger 4U rackmount chassis. Rauch Medien?s roadmap includes 1.8 GHz and 2.0 GHz models slated for September.

About Rauch Medien

Rauch Medien, headquartered in New York, USA, develops, manufactures, and markets computer hardware and software. Rauch Medien?s products are designed for high-quality and ease-of-use. They are continually developing new, innovative products to solve IT problems. Rauch Medien also maintains the operating system and computer tech site OSFAQ (www.osfaq.com).

News Release
For Immediate Release
For More Info Contact
Robert Lodato
Sales & Marketing
Rauch Medien
sales@rauchmedien.com

PR Newswire has this press release from Microsoft. “Tonight, more than 300 people
representing a broad cross-section of the technology industry will mark the
20th anniversary of the IBM PC at a dinner hosted by
Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill
Gates and Intel Corporation Chairman Andy Grove. The event, celebrating an
indispensable asset in homes and businesses worldwide, will be held at the
Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, Calif.”

The Register points out that Apple has settled its legal action against an ex-staffer who allegedly leaked
company secrets.

“Actually, it withdrew its action some time ago, but the papers have only recently
been filed with the court and made public.”