Linden Lab is making the source code for the Second Life Viewer available to everyone. Talented developers from around the world will be able to collaborate with Linden Lab to refine and enhance the experience for all residents of Second Life.

The Second Life source code is available under the GNU General Public License, version 2.0, with a FLOSS exception, as well as under alternative terms for proprietary applications.

This could wind up being very significant.

Linden Labs Open Sources Second Life Client

This site provides information about and links to BBC open source projects. It lists projects developed by the BBC where the source code has been released as open source. The site doesn't cover the many open source projects to which the BBC has contributed, but only those that the BBC has initiated and managed itself.

BBC - OpenSource

] Heritrix is the Internet Archive's open-source,
] extensible, web-scale, archival-quality web crawler
] project.
]
] Heritrix (sometimes spelled heretrix , or misspelled or
] missaid as heratrix / heritix / heretix / heratix ) is an
] archaic word for inheritess . Since our crawler seeks to
] collect the digital artifacts of our culture for the
] benefit of future researchers and generations, this name
] seemed apt.

The odds just went up greatly that MemeStreams will keep a cache and revision record of every page that get's meme'd. (Add that to the list of everything else we have promised..)

I have not had a chance to look at this in depth yet, it just hit my radar. (via BoingBoing)

OSS'ing this was a great move. I was thinking about trying to get a part-time job working down at the Internet Archive. I'm a big supporter of everything they are doing over there..

Heritrix - Home Page - Archive.org open sources crawler

] Open-source developers have long done their work in the
] public eye. Now they're doing it under an academic
] microscope.
]
] Walt Scacchi, a senior research scientist at the
] University of California at Irvine's Institute for
] Software Research, has been looking at open-source
] projects from an analytical perspective, studying the
] open-source model in an ongoing, 10-year project that
] draws some comforting conclusions for open-source
] sponsors and developers.

] People are breaking away from the tradition of the
] individual artist, saying there's another way to build
] upon the work of others.

Open source under the microscope |CNET.com

so as you may or may not know the author of this article is the author and distributor of a few open source projects, one most notable project is the Airjack project...this is a tool (a driver actually) for raw 802.11 frame injection and the sort, its what i used to break things for my blackhat lecture...

i no longer actively maintain this project, but i still distribute it, and ill give help on it...and if someone has a really good question i really help and sometimes expand functionality...

anyways, i get email all the time about it, most of it them are asking for support on some level, most are actually polite, respectful, ie, dont piss me off...

every now and then i get a gem, one that is in leet speak, from the most vial script kiddie that has ever picked up a keyboard...id like to share some of the anger and frustration with you, the anonymous internet goer, in the hopes that i can somehow cathartically dispell these feelings...

----

ok first thing you need to know is this...if you are asking a stranger for free software that they spent time to write and make useful, then you are asking them for a favor...believe me there are many projects i work on and very very very few i make public...so if you have any troubles with it, go about things as you would when asking a stranger for a favor...

i cant begin to tell you how often i get people upset because i didnt help them adiquitely in their eyes, or because i wont add a feature, or because it is hard to install, ive even been accused of embedding malicious viruses in my OPEN SOURCE code (something very untrue, its open source for god's sake)...

some ground rules before you ever email a free software project maintainer...

1) know what the program/tool is, that includes what its supposed to do, the general type of program it is (driver, user space application, command line, x app, etc), what os it runs on, what os it doesnt run on...and again, what its supposed to do...you'd think that would be a prerequisite for even wanting a thing, but nope, later you'll see its not...

2) if you have trouble installing the program, this is not my problem...i clearly already have this installed and sence i owe you nothing, i have no obligation to help you install it...that said i made it public because i wanted to share, so i am more than happy to help you install it...

3) i dont write documentation because i like writing documentation...so if i have any, documentation, i have it there to help you, not me, i already know how it works...so read the documentation and dont ask me to paste it to you in email...the documentation is faster and bothers me less...

4) if you find a bug, its not my problem, i might fix it, i might not, your bug is your problem, not mine, if it works for me then im happy...thats not to say that i wont fix the bug, what that means is i have no obligation to fix the bug...believe me 99 times out of 100 im mo... [ Read More (2.3k in body) ]

They're only frequently asked questions because no-one reads the FAQ

] A group of open-source advocates and critics will meet
] behind closed doors Wednesday afternoon, in the first of
] at least two meetings in search of a compromise on what
] could be the first bill in the United States to encourage
] the use of open-source software by a state government.
]
] The bill, introduced by Oregon Rep. Phil Barnhart,
] D-Eugene, last month, would require the state to consider
] using open-source software when buying new programs.
] Although the bill does not specifically mandate
] open-source software over proprietary software, the bill
] does say it cannot be excluded from the selection
] process. The bill, HB 2892, also says open-source options
] can "significantly reduce the state's costs of obtaining
] and maintaining software."

ZDNet: Open-source battle rages in Oregon

] A schism has struck the XFree86 movement, an open-source
] graphics project key to Linux and several other operating
] systems, resulting in the expulsion, by the core group in
] charge of the project, of one of its members.

Schism hits key open-source group | CNET News.com

] MySQL still lacks many features big customers want, but
] the software maker and CEO Marten Mickos have dazzling
] opportunities ahead.

MySQL vs. PostgreSQL. Anyone seen a good _recent_ comparison? I have used both. Both rock. Both come with highly recommended from me. I have no religious preference to either.

For those who are curious, currently MemeStreams is using a PostgreSQL database for its backend.

Fortune.com - Fast Forward - Can an Open-Source Database Threaten Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM?

From Dagmar:
] Hey while I'm sitting here staring at it, here's something
] I think is pretty useful. It's a late descendant from all
] those non-executeable stack patches for gcc so you can
] build somewhat hardened binaries if you're not chronically
] addicted to rpms. This one seems to be the most reasonable
] to work with that I've seen as well. It doesn't require
] you to keep older copies of your compiler around, since you
] tell it to build protected binaries with a new -f argument
] (usually passed through CFLAGS).

Thoughts on RPM..

If you consider youself a serious admin, on any system that uses RPMs, and you can't work with SRPMs to the extent of being able to drop in patches and whatnot.. You are missing a key skillset. RPM foo is uber useful.

I keep the SRPMs handy for all the key software I'm using, so I can drop in quick patches, do quick rebuilds that are ready to push out to multiple machines, and make custom versions of stuff with ease.. I do like being able to lean on the vendor for quick updates, but I also like the ability to tweak/extend what they give me, and be able to carry along those changes. RPM is actually pretty good for this.. Its easy to drop in patches, rebuild, and push out new packages fast. My own personal rule is that if it sits on a port that any hostile networks (internet) can get at, I'm prepared to drop in patches and rebuild it at will..

There is a link on this to a page with patches and instructions for how to apply this to the RH62 RPMS. Its a simple process. You can adapt it to 7 or 8.. You can script it. Make it something you can kickstart. Etc. I've done similar.

That being said.. This is cool. I like this. I'm going to check it out.

I'm also glad to see Dagmar posting stuff.. :)

GCC extension for protecting applications from stack-smashing attacks

The best place to get your warez.

freshmeat.net