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Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" released

fedoraproject.org

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Re: Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" released

#61

Post by rwg »

uvdiv wrote: post #58
rwg wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is several years old now, but it is an overview of a (failed) attempt to replace Linux's existing random implementation with Fortuna, an improved variant of the Yarrow algorithm used by FreeBSD, and a comparison with Linux's existing random implementation. http://jlcooke.ca/random/ This is a thread on LKML about adding support to Linux's random implementation for Intel's RdRand instruction. You have to read all…

How is it unreasonable for open-source OS developers to be concerned about closed-source blobs in cryptographic components?

Also, I don't remember anyone getting publicly bent out of shape about including AES-NI support in Linux's CryptoAPI. (I'm unsure why people would think Intel would backdoor RdRand but not the AES-NI instructions.)

Re: Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" released

#62

Post by DoubleMalt »

cowsaysoink wrote: post #17
saljam wrote: post #14

Why don't distributions provide an image that can be dd'd onto a USB stick? I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds USB mass storage infinitely more convenient than CDs nowadays. Sure, they provide a USB image creator, but you have to have a fairly standard (and graphical, last time I checked) Linux installation first. And sure, you can extract the files and make one yourself, but is that really necessary? This goes…

Ubuntu iso's can be dd'd onto a usb stick as well as fedora.

Well ... I did my last 7 (at least) Ubuntu installs by dd'ing Ubuntu isos to a USB stick without a hitch ...

Re: Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" released

#63

Post by dchest »

rwg wrote: post #61
uvdiv wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it unreasonable for open-source OS developers to be concerned about closed-source blobs in cryptographic components?

Also, I don't remember anyone getting publicly bent out of shape about including AES-NI support in Linux's CryptoAPI. (I'm unsure why people would think Intel would backdoor RdRand but not the AES-NI instructions.)

The output of AES-NI is easy to verify. You can't verify random numbers generator.

Re: Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" released

#64

Post by bcl »

saljam wrote: post #14

Why don't distributions provide an image that can be dd'd onto a USB stick? I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds USB mass storage infinitely more convenient than CDs nowadays. Sure, they provide a USB image creator, but you have to have a fairly standard (and graphical, last time I checked) Linux installation first. And sure, you can extract the files and make one yourself, but is that really necessary? This goes…

Yes, you can dd the Fedora iso images directly onto USB. They will boot on BIOS, UEFI and even Macs (newer ones work better than old).

I use: dd if=Fedora-18-x86_64-DVD.iso of=/dev/sdd iflag=direct oflag=direct bs=4M

The bs=4M is important, otherwise dd uses 512b blocks which totally kills the throughput to the flash which is erased in blocks.

Re: Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" released

#65

Post by [deleted] »

aw3c2 wrote: post #33
elehack wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arch? Don't know if they support SELinux, but they use SystemD and are rolling-release. For me, the 6-month release cycle is a major reason why I am using Fedora rather than Arch. With a rolling release, I am constantly distracted by monitoring what is new; 6-month releases allow me to batch my curiosity into 1-2 days of heightened but less prolonged distraction.

Upgrades in Arch often require manual editing of files and an understanding what is done. Sadly that is not suitable for "friends and family".

[deleted]

Re: Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" released

#66

Post by zanny »

rmk2 wrote: post #45
zanny wrote: post #11

If there were a rolling release Fedora, I'd be all over that as a drop-in alternative to Ubuntu for friends and family. * Systemd > Upstart in performance usability (for me, at least). * selinux > apparmor when properly integrated (personal preference, but it sees more active development and feature parity). * RPMs and debs are basically the same thing except not. I have to say adding repos in Ubuntu is much easier t…

Have you looked at openSUSE, and specifically openSUSE Tumbleweed[1]? * systemd * apparmor[2] * RPMs + One Click Install[3] * YaST[4] For what it's worth, I have been using Tumbleweed for quite a while now and the last two upgrades (11.4 > 12.1 > 12.2) have been unproblematic, the 12.1 > 12.2 one went without even a single conflict or problem. [1]: http://en.opensuse.org/Tumbleweed -- Tumbleweed has been initiated Gr…

I never heard of tumbleweed from suse, time for more distro tinkering!

I don't have too much against AppArmor, and it is easier to configure, but I see selinux as a project with more momentum behind it. AppArmor has switched hands a lot recently.

Re: Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" released

#67

Post by sethish »

JamesMcMinn wrote: post #43
rjknight wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the particularly bad bits? Gnome 3.4 feels OK to me - it happens to be a good fit for the "large number of low-resolution monitors" setup I'm currently enduring, as each monitor can have a separate full-screen app, which seems to be how Gnome wants you to do things. That said, I'm going to be trying Cinnamon shortly.

Nautilus has had an overhaul, too many changes for me to list them all, but some of the more noticeable ones: The separation of "Places" and "Bookmarks". It sounds reasonable, however you cannot modify what is in the Places menu, so even if the folder doesn't exist, you're stuck with it. I don't have a Videos folder, but I cannot remove it from the sidebar. They've also removed the tree view from Nautilus, I used it…

This was precisely what I was looking for before I upgraded to 3.6, thank you. I'm worried about switching to 3.6 now, I've invested a lot of time and energy making gnome-shell_3.4 usable for me. This sounds like it breaks a lot.

Re: Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" released

#68

Post by sethish »

donniezazen wrote: post #25

Between cutting edge Fedora and Bleeding edge Arch, my vote goes to Arch. It does take a long time to setup Arch but after that most packages can be grabbed from repo or AUR unlike Fedora that recommends manual compiling.

Examples? The only things I have to compile are python packages with c-extensions and the occasional small daemon like xcape.

Re: Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" released

#70

Post by zurn »

rwg wrote: post #59
uvdiv wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it unreasonable for open-source OS developers to be concerned about closed-source blobs in cryptographic components?

The entire CPU is "closed source." If you can't trust the CPU, then it's game over for everything you're doing on the CPU.

Trust isn't binary. Backdooring or exploitably bungling the deterministic parts of the CPU without getting caught is much harder than doing the same for the RNG part. Black box RNG's are notoriously hard to evaluate.
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