The recent news regarding Red Hat’s decision to limit access to the source code of their Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) distribution has garnered considerable attention. "It is wise to make sure security and IT compliance aspects are addressed. Perhaps more open source Linux distributions will appear in the near future and offer another alternative to CentOS Linux." . Starting in 2004, right from its inception, every iteration of the commercial RHEL offering triggered a corresponding release of CentOS. These iterations mirrored RHEL, albeit with modifications to eliminate the Red Hat branding and other minor updates. The presence of open source CentOS Linux facilitated swift installation of a free RHEL variant, rendering it accessible for diverse purposes spanning from development to production environments. In January 2014, Red Hat joined the CentOS project. Under a new CentOS governing board, they became the main sponsor and driver of the CentOS project. They continued to be an open source downstream alternative to RHEL. On December 8, 2020, the CentOS project and Red Hat set a new end-of-life (EOL) date for CentOS Linux 8. They shifted focus and investment into a new Linux distribution, CentOS Stream, with a rolling release model. EOL means that the community stops releases regardless of the severity of a bug or a vulnerability. Today, CentOS versions 6 and 8 are already EOL, and version 7 is the last, with EOL set for June 30, 2024. This announcement immediately sparked new projects to fill the CentOS gap. New open source projects such as Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux took off quickly, gaining contributors, sponsors and users. Fast forward to June 21, 2023, when Red Hat announced it would no longer publicly publish RHEL on git.centos.org. The link for this article located at DevOps.com is no longer available. . CentOS's evolution, influenced by Red Hat, transitioned to CentOS Stream, leading to new projects like Rocky and AlmaLinux that emphasize reliability andstability in Linux. CentOS Migration, Red Hat Changes, Open Source Options, Linux Distribution Changes. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
The Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board reports on what was found in its complete examination of University of Minnesota patches, putting out the fire between the Linux kernel community and the University of Minnesota (UMN). . The fire between the Linux kernel community and the University of Minnesota (UMN) is being put out. Thanks to an ill-thought-out Linux security project , two UMN graduate students tried to insert deliberately buggy patches into Linux . Greg Kroah-Hartman, the well-respected Linux kernel maintainer for the Linux stable branch, responded by banning not only them but any UMN-connected developers from contributing to the Linux kernel. Now, UMN has addressed the Linux kernel developer's community's concerns . And, in a message to the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML) , the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board (TAB) and volunteer senior Linux kernel maintainers and developers have reported on what they found when they closely and thoroughly examined patches from UMN academics. The link for this article located at ZDNet is no longer available. . The tension surrounding the collaboration between the Linux developer community and the University of Minnesota (UMN) is being resolved.. Linux Foundation, Kernel Community, Technical Review. . Brittany Day
Developers of open source software projects should be just as concerned about security as anyone developing a proprietary app. However, the nature of the two development processes can be very different at times, and debate still rages about which is inherently more secure -- a secret code kept by a company, or a public one that all eyes can see. Just as important is how each community reacts once a problem is spotted.. Code hunters are spotting with greater frequency defective coding that could open security holes in free and open source (FOSS) software. The Open Source Report 2008 and the Architecture Library Report, conducted by Coverity for the U.S. Department Homeland Security Cybersecurity Open Source Hardening Project, shows more than 10,000 defects fixed since project launch in March 2006. The link for this article located at Tech News World is no longer available. . Engineers ought to prioritize safety within open source applications, since vulnerabilities can lead to significant issues requiring collective vigilance.. Open Source Practices, Security Management, Code Defects. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Publicity surrounding the JavaScript flaw shows “the open source system is working,. The imperfections in Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox Web browser should not be seen as disturbing problems but as opportunities to show the system works, according toopen source Latest News about open source advocates. A controversy erupted over Firefox security Latest News about Security based on a report from the Danish security firm Secunia Latest News about Secunia, which said an error in Firefox could allow hackers to gain sensitive information. While some software experts question Mozilla’s ability to patch up vulnerabilities in a timely way, others say the whole point of having an open source community is to address problems without having to have developers reside under a single roof. So far, open source software, such as theLinux Latest News about Linux OS and Firefox application, have been marred with fewer hacking episodes, but security professionals point to the fact that open source products are not prominent targets of attack -- yet.. The flaws in the Chrome browser showcase the advantages of open source in tackling vulnerabilities.. Firefox Security, Open Source Response, JavaScript Flaw. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
The adoption of the Mozilla Foundation's browser by millions of non-technical users could be the biggest test yet of open source development. . The news late last week of a potential security vulnerability in the open source browser Firefox led to some fiery and frenetic reader contributions to our TalkBack service. The majority of replies were from fans of community development, as is usual with articles about open source software; software created by passionate individuals is bound to arouse passion. While many of the replies were fairly constructive, pointing out that the security flaw wasn't actually that severe or highlighting the higher frequency of exploits in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, some of the TalkBack was far less objective. The link for this article located at ZDNet UK is no longer available. . The conversation about a possible vulnerability in Chrome highlights the complexities of collaborative software engineering.. Mozilla Firefox, open source software, community reactions. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
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