Linux 5.14 kernel released: 08/30/2021 After two months of development, Linus Torvalds has released the Linux 5.14 kernel. Among the most notable changes: new system calls quotactl_fd() and memfd_secret(), removal of ide and raw drivers, new I/O priority controller for cgroup, SCHED_CORE task scheduling mode, infrastructure for creating loaders for verified BPF programs. The new version received 15883 fixes from 2002 developers, patch size - 69 MB (changes affected 12,580 files, added 861501 lines of code, removed 321,654 lines). About 47% of all changes introduced in 5.14 are related to device drivers, approximately 14% of changes are related to updating code specific to hardware architectures, 13% are related to the network stack, 3% are related to file systems and 3% are related to internal kernel subsystems. https://lkml.org/lkml/2021/8/29/382

Beta version of Multitextor: 08/31/2021 A beta version of the console cross-platform text editor Multitextor is available. The project code is written in C++ and is distributed under the BSD license. Linux, Windows, FreeBSD and macOS is supported. Ready assemblies are generated for Linux ( snap ) and Windows. https://github.com/vikonix/multitextor

A completely free version of the Linux-libre 5.14 kernel is available: 08/31/2021 The Latin American Free Software Foundation, with a short delay, published a completely free version of the Linux 5.14 kernel - Linux-libre 5.14-gnu1 , stripped of firmware elements and drivers containing non-free components or pieces of code whose scope is limited by the manufacturer. In addition, Linux-libre disables the kernel's functions for loading non-free components that are not included in the kernel distribution, and removes the mention of using non-free components from the documentation. https://www.fsfla.org/pipermail/linux-libre/2021-August/003439.html

NTFS-3G Releases with Vulnerability Elimination: 08/31/2021 More than four years after the last release, NTFS-3G 2021.8.22 package is out. It includes a free driver operating in user space using the FUSE mechanism and a set of utilities ntfsprogs for manipulating NTFS partitions. The project code is distributed under the GPLv2 license. The driver supports reading and writing data on NTFS partitions and can run on a wide range of operating systems that support FUSE, including Linux, Android, macOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, QNX, and Haiku. The driver-provided implementation of the NTFS file system is fully compatible with Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10. The ntfsprogs suite of utilities allows you to perform operations such as creating NTFS partitions, integrity checking, cloning, resizing and recovering deleted files. Common components for working with NTFS used in the driver and utilities have been moved to a separate library. https://sourceforge.net/p/ntfs-3g/mailman/ntfs-3g-devel/?viewmonth=202108

ONLYOFFICE Docs 6.4 online editor: 08/31/2021 The ONLYOFFICE DocumentServer 6.4 release has been published with the server implementation for ONLYOFFICE online editors and collaboration. The project code is distributed under the free license AGPLv3 . In the near future, ONLYOFFICE DesktopEditors update is expected, built on a single code base with online editors. Desktop editors are designed as desktop applications that are written in JavaScript using web technologies, but combine client and server components in one set, designed for self-sufficient use on the user's local system, without accessing an external service. For collaboration at your facilities, you can also use the Nextcloud Hub platform , which provides full integration with ONLYOFFICE. https://www.onlyoffice.com/blog/2021/08/onlyoffice-docs-v6-4-with-conditional-formatting/

New version of SMPlayer: 09/01/2021 SMPlayer 21.8 multimedia player, that provides a graphical add-on over MPlayer or MPV, has been released. SMPlayer features a lightweight interface with the ability to change themes, support for playing videos from YouTube, support for downloading subtitles from opensubtitles.org, flexible playback settings (for example, you can change the playback speed). The program is written in C++ using the Qt library and is distributed under the GPLv2 license. https://blog.smplayer.info/smplayer-21-8-has-been-released/

Armbian 21.08 Released: 09/01/2021 The Armbian 21.08 Linux distribution has been released, providing a compact system environment for a variety of ARM-based single board computers, including various Odroid, Orange Pi, Banana Pi, Helios64, pine64, Nanopi and Cubieboard models powered by Allwinner, Amlogic, Actionsemi, Freescale / NXP, Marvell Armada, Rockchip and Samsung Exynos. They package bases of Debian 11 and Ubuntu 21.04 are used, but the environment is completely rebuilt using its own build system with the inclusion of optimizations to reduce the size, increase performance and apply additional protection mechanisms. For example, the /var/log partition is mounted using zram and stored in RAM in a compressed form and flushed to the drive once a day or at shutdown. The /tmp partition is mounted using tmpfs. The project supports more than 30 variants of Linux kernel builds for different ARM and ARM64 platforms. https://forum.armbian.com/topic/18874-armbian-2108-has-been-released/

Linux From Scratch 11 and Beyond Linux From Scratch 11 Released: 09/02/2021 New editions of Linux From Scratch 11 (LFS) and of Beyond Linux From Scratch 11 (BLFS), as well as editions of LFS and BLFS with systemd. Linux From Scratch provides instructions for building a basic Linux system from scratch using only the source code of the required software. Beyond Linux From Scratch complements LFS instructions with information on building and configuring about 1000 software packages covering a variety of applications, from DBMS and server systems to graphical shells and media players. A major change in the version number is due to the transition to a common hierarchy of executable files and libraries, which implies placing all files in the /usr hierarchy using symbolic links to redirect the contents of /bin to /usr/bin, /sbin to /usr/sbin and /lib to /usr/lib. https://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/sympa/arc/lfs-announce/2021-09/msg00000.html

Nitrux 1.6.0 Releases with NX Desktop: 09/02/2021 The Nitrux 1.6.0 distribution, built on Debian, KDE technologies and the OpenRC init system has been published. The distribution develops its own NX Desktop, which is an add-on over the user's KDE Plasma environment. AppImages are being promoted to install additional applications. The boot images are 3.1 GB and 1.5 GB in size. The developments the project makes, are distributed under free licenses. NX Desktop offers a different style, its own implementation of the system tray, notification center and various plasmoids, such as a network configurator and a media applet for volume control and playback control of multimedia content. They also include applications from the MauiKit suite , including the Index file manager (you can also use Dolphin), Note text editor, Station terminal emulator, Clip music player, VVave video player and Pix image viewer. https://nxos.org/changelog/release-announcement-nitrux-1-6-0/

Release of KDE Plasma Mobile 21.08: 09/02/2021 The release of the mobile platform KDE Plasma Mobile 21.08 is out, based on the mobile edition of the Plasma 5 desktop, the KDE Frameworks 5 libraries, the Ofono phone stack and the Telepathy communication framework. To display graphics in Plasma Mobile, the kwin_wayland composite server is used, and PulseAudio is used for sound processing. At the same time, the release of a set of mobile applications, Plasma Mobile Gear 21.08, has been prepared. Qt, a set of Mauikit components and the Kirigami framework are used from the KDE Frameworks,to create the application interface, which allows you to create universal interfaces suitable for smartphones, tablets and PCs. https://www.plasma-mobile.org/2021/08/31/plasma-mobile-gear-21-08/

Release yt-dlp: 09/02/2021 There was a new release of yt-dlp, a utility to download audio and video from services like YouTube. The utility is a fork of youtube-dl based on the now -defunct youtube-dlc project. The main focus of the development of yt-dlp is on adding new features and fixes, as well as maintaining all the relevant features of the original project. https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/tag/2021.09.02

OpenWrt 21.02.0 Released: 09/05/2021 A major new release of the OpenWrt 21.02.0 is out, targeting use in various network devices such as routers, switches and access points. OpenWrt supports many different platforms and architectures and has a build system that allows you to easily and conveniently cross-compile, including various components in the assembly, which makes it easy to create a ready-made firmware or disk image adapted for specific tasks with the desired set of pre-installed packages. Builds are generated for 36 target platforms. https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/2021-September/036260.html

Wayland-based KDE session is stable: 09/05/2021 Nate Graham, who leads the QA team for the KDE project, announced the stabilization of the KDE Plasma desktop using the Wayland protocol. Nate has already personally switched to using a KDE session based on Wayland in his daily work and all the standard KDE applications are satisfactory, but some problems with third-party applications remain. Recent changes to KDE mention the implementation of the ability to use a drag-and-drop interface between programs using Wayland and running using XWayland. The Wayland-based session resolved several issues with NVIDIA GPUs, added support for changing the screen resolution on startup in virtualization systems, improved background blur, ensured preservation of virtual desktop settings, and provides the ability to change RGB settings for the Intel video driver. https://pointieststick.com/2021/09/03/this-week-in-kde-gazillions-of-bugfixes/

Ultimaker Cura 4.11 released: 09/12/2021 A new version of Ultimaker Cura 4.11 is available, providing a graphical interface for preparing models for 3D printing. Based on the model, the program determines the scenario for the operation of a 3D printer with the sequential application of each layer. In the simplest case, it is enough to import the model in one of the supported formats (STL, OBJ, X3D, 3MF, BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG), select the speed, material and quality settings and send the print job. There are plugins for integration with SolidWorks, Siemens NX, Autodesk Inventor and other CAD systems. The CuraEngine engine is used to translate the 3D model into a set of 3D printer instructions . The project code is written in Python and is distributed under the LGPLv3 license. The GUI is built with frameworkUranium using Qt. https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/releases/tag/4.11.0

Revolt - alternative to Discord: 09/12/2021 The Revolt project develops a communications platform aimed at creating an open source analogue of the proprietary Discord messenger. Like Discord, the Revolt platform is focused on creating platforms for communication between communities and groups with common interests. Revolt allows you to run your own communication server at its facilities and, if necessary, ensure its integration with a website or communicate using available client applications. For fast server deployment, a Docker container image is offered. The next releases are expected to support bots, a full-fledged moderation system and modules for integration with Discord and Matrix. They plan to implement support for secure chats (E2EE Chat), which use end-to-end encryption on the side of the participants, in the long run. https://revolt.chat/

Terraform Project news: 09/13/2021 HashiCorp explained why they recently added a note to the open source configuration management platform Terraform repository about temporarily suspending peer review and accepting community pull requests. The note was perceived by some contributors as a crisis in Terraform's open development model. Terraform developers were quick to reassure the community and stated that the added note was misunderstood and was added only to clarify the decrease in parsing activity from the community due to lack of staff. The process of recruiting new engineers is currently underway, and the staffing problems are planned to be resolved in a few weeks, after which they will also receive pull requests from the community. There are currently over a hundred open engineering positions on the HashiCorp job list . https://www.hashicorp.com/blog/terraform-community-contributions

MidnightBSD Project Server Hacked: 09/12/2021 The developers of the MidnightBSD project, who develop a desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD with elements ported from DragonFly BSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD, warned users about identifying traces of a compromise on one of their servers. The hack was carried out through the exploitation of the CVE-2021-26084 vulnerability discovered at the end of August in the proprietary Confluence collaboration engine (Atlassian provided the opportunity to use this product for free for non-commercial and open source projects). Apparently, the attack was not targeted and the MidnightBSD project became one of the victims of massive hacks of servers with vulnerable versions of Confluence, after the attack, malware was installed aimed at mining cryptocurrency. Currently, the software of the compromised server has been reinstalled from scratch and 90% of the services disabled after the hacking and has been returned to service. It was decided to postpone the upcoming release of MidnightBSD 2.1 https://twitter.com/midnightbsd/status/1434543206067159041

A third party is trying to trademark PostgreSQL in Europe and the US: 09/13/2021 The PostgreSQL DBMS development community faced an attempt to take over the project's trademarks. Fundación PostgreSQL, a non-profit organization not officially affiliated with the PostgreSQL developer community, has registered the PostgreSQL and PostgreSQL Community trademarks in Spain, and has applied for similar trademarks in the US and the European Union. https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/trademark-actions-against-the-postgresql-community-2302/

PostgreSQL conference to be held in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia: 09/16/2021 On September 30, Nizhny Novgorod will host PGConf.NN - a free technical conference on PostgreSQL DBMS. The organizers are Postgres Professional and the iCluster association of IT companies. The talks will start at 14:30. Venue - Technopark “Ankudinovka” (Akademika Sakharov st., 4). Pre-registration is required. https://pgconf.ru/202109

Budgie desktop migrates from GTK to EFL libraries from Enlightenment project: 09/15/2021 The developers of the Budgie desktop environment have made the decision to move away from the GTK library in favor of the Enlightenment Foundation Library (EFL), developed by the Enlightenment project. The results of the migration will be offered in Budgie 11. Notably, this is not the first attempt to move away from GTK - in 2017 the project already made a decision to switch to Qt, but later revised plans in the hope that the situation would change in GTK4. As for Solus, the project will continue to form an alternative version based on GNOME, but this version will be marked as not curated by the project and allocated to a separate section on the download page. After the release of Budgie 11, developers will evaluate its capabilities compared to GNOME Shell and will decide to continue building the build with GNOME or discontinue by providing tools for migrating to the build from Budgie 11. In the Solus build with the Budgie 11 desktop, they planned to revise the composition of applications, replacing the GNOME applications for analogues, including those developed within the project. For example, they plan to develop their own application installation center. https://joshuastrobl.com/2021/09/14/building-an-alternative-ecosystem/

LibreOffice 8.0 new tabbed interface layout available 09/17/2021 Muttakin Rizal, one of the designers LibreOffice office suite, has published in his blog, a possible development plan the user interface of LibreOffice 8.0. The most notable innovation is the built-in support for tabs, through which you can quickly switch between different documents, similar to how switching between sites is carried out in modern browsers. If necessary, each tab can be unpinned in the form of a separate window, or vice versa, convert the window into a tab. It is also possible to collapse all tabs into a drop-down list accessible by pressing the “^” button. The header also shows a LibreOffice button to launch the initial interface, which was previously shown when starting or closing all documents, to open a file, visually evaluate recently opened documents, or create a new document based on a template. Instead of the classic menu bar (File, Edit, View, etc.), there is a panel with basic commands such as print, as well as tabs for switching toolbars. All functions of the old menu bar have been moved to the drop-down menu displayed when a separate Menu button is pressed. The panel also offers a new search form that, in addition to document content, includes searching commands, comments, and the help system. In the upper right corner there is a button for quickly switching between design styles (that is, returning to classic / traditional / standard). https://libreofficemaster.blogspot.com/2021/07/libreoffice-80-ui-mockup.html

Oracle removes restriction on commercial use of JDK: 09/17/2021 Oracle has changed the license agreement for JDK 17 (Java SE Development Kit), which provides reference assemblies of tools for developing and running Java applications (utilities, compiler, class library, and JRE). Starting with JDK 17, the package is delivered under the new NFTC (Oracle No-Fee Terms and Conditions) license , which allows free use in personal and commercial projects, and also allows use in commercial environments. Moreover, the restrictions on confirmation of download operations on the site have been removed, which allows downloading the JDK automatically from scripts . The NFTC license also implies the ability to receive free quarterly updates with the elimination of bugs and vulnerabilities, but these updates for LTS branches will not be released for the entire maintenance period, but only for another year after the next LTS version is released. https://blogs.oracle.com/java/post/free-java-license

Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS release: 09/17/2021 Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS is out. This release includes only cumulative package updates that address vulnerabilities and stability issues. Kernel and software versions correspond to version 18.04.5. The main goal of the new release is to update the installation images for the amd64 and arm64 architectures. The installation image resolves key revocation issues while fixing the second variant of the BootHole vulnerability in the GRUB2 boot loader. Thus, the ability to install Ubuntu 18.04 on systems with UEFI Secure Boot has been restored. It makes sense to use the presented image only for old equipment, and for new systems, the release of Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS is more relevant. Previously installed systems could receive all the changes present in Ubuntu 18.04.6 through the standard update installation system. Support for the release of updates and security fixes for the server and desktop editions of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will last until April 2023, after which updates will be for paid support (ESM, Extended Security Maintenance) for another 5 years . https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2021-September/000272.html

GIMP 2.10.28 Released: 09/18/2021 Version 2.10.26 was skipped due to a serious bug detected at a late stage in the development of the release. Packages in flatpak format are available for installation (snap package is not ready yet). The release mainly includes bug fixes. All efforts to build functionality are focused on the preparation of the GIMP 3 branch, which is in the pre-release / testing phase . https://www.gimp.org/news/2021/09/18/gimp-2-10-28-released/

An OpenCL frontend written in Rust is being developed for Mesa 09/19/2021 Red Hat's Karol Herbst, who is involved in the development of Mesa, the Nouveau driver, and the OpenCL open stack, has published rusticl, an experimental software implementation of OpenCL (OpenCL frontend) for Mesa written in Rust. Rusticl acts as an analogue of the Clover frontend already present in Mesa OpenCL and is also developed using the Gallium interface provided in Mesa . The development was presented on September 17 at the XDC 2021 conference (X.Org Developers Conference). The goal was to study Rust, work out the best ways to integrate Rust into Mesa, try out creating API implementations in another language, and test the compatibility of Rust components with the rest of the C code. https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/karolherbst/mesa/-/tree/rusticl/src/gallium/frontends/rusticl

The Windowsfx project with Windows11 interface: 09/18/2021 A preview release of the Windowsfx 11 distribution is available, aiming to recreate the Windows 11 interface and Windows -specific visual effects. The environment was recreated using a specialized WxDesktop theme and additional applications. Ubuntu 20.04 and the KDE Plasma 5.22.5 desktop are used as the base. A 4.3 GB iso image is available for download. The project is also developing a paid inage that includes additional features that bring the environment closer to Windows, such as a configurator, a voice assistant, Active Directory support and access to the OneDrive service. https://www.windowsfx.org/index.php/release-news/windowsfx-operating-system

Testing the KDE Plasma 5.23 desktop 09/19/2021 A beta version of the custom Plasma 5.23 shell is available for testing. You can test the new release through the Live build from the openSUSE project and the build from the KDE Neon Testing edition project. Packages for various distributions can be found on this page. The release is expected on October 12th. https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/5/5.22.90/