Code Execution Bug in Linux Kernel puts Every System at Risk
https://www.cyberkendra.com/2019/05/code-execution-bug-in-linux-kernel-puts.html

https://redd.it/boqjx0
@r_linux

Recommendation: Goodvibes is an online radio player with a well-thought UI and tray icon implementation
https://redd.it/bp8twv
@r_linux

Why Linux Desktop 'Failed': A discussion with Mark Shuttleworth

[https://youtu.be/6jAuj1Lb0ew](https://youtu.be/6jAuj1Lb0ew)

https://redd.it/bp955m
@r_linux

Linux maintainers appreciation post! These are the latest commits to the kernel before 5.1.12 - these guys do some amazing work
https://redd.it/bp9igz
@r_linux

My 11 year old son wrote a game in BASH Shell on Linux.

Hi! I'm teaching my son to code. He's 11, so none of that scratch stuff -- we're working in C on Linux. I taught him to write shell noscripts in BASH to make his life easier, and I told him, go write something, anything you want, and I'll get you some chips and ice cream. This is what he came up with. He's getting pretty good, that crafty sod :)

#!/bin/bash

#Strings and variables
ranoppo=$((`od -An -N2 -i /dev/random | tr -d " "` % 6 + 1))
oppohealth=$((`od -An -N2 -i /dev/random | tr -d " "` % 10 + 20))
playerhealth=$((`od -An -N2 -i /dev/random | tr -d " "` % 10 + 10))
oppodam=$((`od -An -N2 -i /dev/random | tr -d " "` % 5 + 1))
potion_used=0

#Start
echo -n "What is your name? "
read n
echo -n "Your opponent is ... "

#Picking opponent
if [ $ranoppo -eq 1 ]; then
echo "an Orc!"
echo "It does $oppodam damage."
fi

if [ $ranoppo -eq 2 ]; then
echo "a Stick monster!"
echo "It does $oppodam damage."
fi

if [ $ranoppo -eq 3 ]; then
echo "a Giant slug!"
echo "It does $oppodam damage."
fi

if [ $ranoppo -eq 4 ]; then
echo "a Zombie!"
echo "It does $oppodam damage."
fi

if [ $ranoppo -eq 5 ]; then
echo "a Fighting bear!"
echo "It does $oppodam damage."
fi

#The program loop begins
while [ $playerhealth -gt 1 ]; do
playerdam=$((`od -An -N2 -i /dev/random | tr -d " "` % 6 + 1))
oppodam=$((`od -An -N2 -i /dev/random | tr -d " "` % 5 + 1))
echo
echo
echo "Your health is $playerhealth."
echo "Your opponent's health is $oppohealth."
echo
echo "Do you want to //attack// your opponent?"
echo "Or use Health //potion// ?"
echo -n "Choice: "
read movement

if [ $potion_used -lt 1 ]; then
if [ ${movement,,} == "potion" ]; then
echo
echo "You drink the Health potion and gain 20 health!"
playerhealth=$((playerhealth + 20))
potion_used=1
fi
else
echo "Oh no, you're out of potions!"
fi

if [ ${movement,,} == "attack" ]; then
echo
echo "You attack your opponent."
echo "The opponent attacks back!"
oppohealth=$((oppohealth-playerdam))
fi

echo
echo "The opponent attacks!"
playerhealth=$((playerhealth - oppodam))

if [ $oppohealth -lt 1 ]; then
echo
echo
echo "==============================="
echo "| You defeated your opponent! |"
echo "|-----------------------------|"
echo "| You win! |"
echo "==============================="
echo
exit
fi

done

echo
echo
echo "=================================="
echo "| Oh no! You have 0 health left! |"
echo "|--------------------------------|"
echo "| Game over! |"
echo "=================================="
echo

BTW, I am keeping a diary of how I teach my son Linux and Computer Programming. You might want to check it out at [helloneo.ca](https://helloneo.ca). We're going to be doing great things together... great things!

https://redd.it/bpa0fk
@r_linux

New Kernels with Patches for MDS, The Latest Side-Channel Vulnerability In Intel CPUs, are now available. Greg Kroah-Hartman stressed that all users of Intel CPUs made since 2011 MUST upgrade.
https://linuxreviews.org/intel-mds-patches

https://redd.it/bp9zs9
@r_linux

Nextcloud and Nitrokey collaborate, testing U2F tools, working on FIDO2 and more!
https://nextcloud.com/blog/nitrokey-and-nextcloud-collaborate-on-securing-private-clouds/

https://redd.it/bpab1y
@r_linux

Superpaper v1.1.1 released - the multi monitor wallpaper manager gets a Linux package, GUI, and UX & performance improvements

[Superpaper on GitHub](https://github.com/hhannine/Superpaper) [Releases](https://github.com/hhannine/Superpaper/releases)

​

[Photo](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hhannine/Superpaper/branch-resources/readme-banner.jpg) of Superpaper with alignment corrections enabled. The displays are a 27" 4K on the left and a 25" 1440p in portrait on the right.

# Superpaper

Superpaper is a cross-platform multi monitor wallpaper manager that I wrote especially for Linux since I couldn't find anything similar, but since it's python other platforms fell essentially for free.

## New in this release:

* GUI
* Wallpaper profile configuration
* General settings
* Error dialogs/messages and hopefully more robust error handling in general
* Help dialog
* Linux binary, no more hassle with dependencies
* Alignment test tool designed to help with dialing in all the settings
* Performance
* Better threading for heavier tasks
* Misc.:
* Fix URL in about dialog
* Fix for CLI offset handling
* Fix monitor sorting issue when using alignment corrections if display order detected badly
* Logging fix, attempt to better log uncaught exceptions
* File handling fixes: handle empty folders and non-image types
* Windows: handle Windows's negative offsets correctly
* Other improvements and changes

## Supported Linux desktop environments / window managers:

* BSPWM (via feh)
* Budgie
* Cinnamon
* Gnome
* i3 (via feh)
* KDE
* LXDE
* Mate
* Pantheon
* XFCE

## Features

* Set a single image across all displays
* Set different image on every display
* **Pixel per inch correction**: span an image flawlessly across displays of different shapes and sizes!
* **Bezel correction**
* Manual pixel offsets for fine-tuning
* Slideshow with configurable file order from local sources
* **Command-line interface**
* Tray applet for slideshow control
* Configuration GUI
* Hotkey support for easy slideshow control (Only Linux and Windows)
* Align test tool to help fine tune your settings

https://redd.it/bpayg6
@r_linux

Remove duplicate lines of a file preserving their order in Linux
https://iridakos.com/how-to/2019/05/16/remove-duplicate-lines-preserving-order-linux.html

https://redd.it/bpceb3
@r_linux

Borg 1.1.10 released (full changelog)
https://github.com/borgbackup/borg/blob/1.1.10/docs/changes.rst#version-1110-2019-05-16

https://redd.it/bpc68l
@r_linux

What’s New in Ephemeral 5
https://medium.com/@cassidyjames/whats-new-in-ephemeral-5-3b2e8cb6f5e9

https://redd.it/bpb5vk
@r_linux

The 101 of ELF files on Linux: Understanding and Analysis - Linux...
https://linux-audit.com/elf-binaries-on-linux-understanding-and-analysis/

https://redd.it/bpcrhj
@r_linux

For Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) do you know about Linux's options for people with disabilities?

Hi all. For this GAAD, I thought I'd bring it to Linux, the operating system for everyone! For users, do you know that there are ways to make text larger, or the whole screen? Or have the screen spoken to you? These are accessibility tools, but can be used by anyone for many reasons too, just like Audio Books.

​

For developers, have you tested your packages with screen readers, magnifiers, and other tools? It's not very hard. To start, try out Orca, from [https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/](https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/)

​

Your distro should come with Orca by default, and if not, you can add it. To start Orca, the most universal way to start is by opening your "run command" panel, ALT+F2 on Gnome and Mate, and typing "orca" without quotes, and pressing enter. You'll hear a robotic voice, eSpeak, say "screen reader on." Now, to move around programs, use the keyboard. Tab through controls, arrow through text, Alt+Tab through windows, Control+Tab through panes and sections. Orca even works with the Mate and Gnome Terminals fairly well, but there is Fenrir, a terminal screen reader, for more heavy lifting in the Terminal.

​

You can read more about Orca on its Gnome help page. Note that Orca does not work well with KDE for now, unfortunately. Mate is the most accessible desktop, and Gnome comes in close.

​

If you'd rather just look at user interfaces of accessible apps, see Firefox, Audacious, and Pidgin.

​

So, for all developers who consider accessibility, thank you so much for allowing me, and many others, to use Linux and the freedom that it offers. For developers that may be interested in accessibility, check out [linux-a11y.org](https://linux-a11y.org) and see if there is anything that catches your eye, or I am always available for questions, and am running Fedora Mate 30 for testing.

​

Thanks for reading all this, and happy Global Accessibility Awareness Day!

https://redd.it/bpf0pb
@r_linux

KDE Plasma 5.16 Beta: Your Three Week Notification of a More Tidy and Composed Desktop
https://kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.15.90.php

https://redd.it/bpf4wp
@r_linux

My company is asking me if Linux should be allowed as employee OS. Need good arguments to convince them!

**TL;DR: I have a chance on convincing my IT company to add GNU/Linux to the OS that employees can pick for their computers and I need some good arguments why they should allow this.**

​

Hi everyone, I work as a developer for a mid size company in Germany (around 1k employees) and in about 10 days **I have a meeting where I have to explain why GNU/Linux could be a valid alternative for the employees' computers**.

In this meeting it will be discussed which OS the company should officially support and allow their employees to use. Currently the official supported OS is Windows 10 with no admin rights (the OS is fully managed by Office IT).

Many Developers and Operations are complaining for years about this lack of options and recently an internal survey was sent to 150 of them to ask which OS they want to use and if they want to have admin rights. Some really interesting numbers came out of the survey because less than 23% of the people would like to stay with Windows 10 and the remaining 77% is split almost evenly between choosing GNU/Linux and Mac OS.

Office IT is already dealing with Mac OS because of the UX Designers and iOS developers so Mac OS will be almost definitely added since they have already some experience managing it. **For GNU/Linux**, sadly, **is going to be more difficult**, mostly **because of the opposition of the Office IT**, that is missing the internal knowledge of this OS.

The CTO decided to schedule a meeting with all the heads of the various departments, including Security and Office IT to decide which Operative Systems the company should support. I am also invited to this meeting, together with another colleague, because for more than one year we are taking part in a Linux Proof Of Concept inside the company (we are using exclusively GNU/Linux in our daily work).

They want to know from us what is our experience and what works fine and what does not. I don't have any particular issue beside not being able to do audio/video conferences with Webex Teams, mostly because Cisco doesn't provide a GNU/Linux client for it, but I can easily use my Smartphone for these calls. Proxy, Exchange, VPN, everything works just fine for me and my colleague.

Anyway I would like to use this meeting to try to convince the participants that including GNU/Linux, together with Mac OS and Windows would be the best choice. But for this **I need some valid arguments**.

And this is why I am writing here, because I would like to ask the community for help in finding these arguments.

I have already thought about some but I'm not sure how good they are:

1. **tech employees want to be able to pick their favorite OS**. Why? Because people is more productive if it use an OS that they are comfortable with. Because it is frustrating to switch between different OS in the office and at home (especially if is an imposed decision). Because the ability of making this choice can have a weight when someone is evaluating if he should join the company or not (if you check [StackOverflow survey](https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018#technology-_-developers-primary-operating-systems), 1 out of 4 developers has GNU/Linux as preferred OS).
2. **if you have to deploy on GNU/Linux, it is better to also develop on GNU/Linux**. I got this answer from several colleagues. Some are very frustrated when they try to use Docker on Windows, even with the Windows Subsystem For Linux, because it doesn't just work like it does on GNU/Linux (their words, not mine).
3. **you'll save money on hardware**. As I said before, is practically sure that Mac OS will be added as an option and, if you don't allow the people who want GNU/Linux to have it, they will probably pick Mac as fallback. This means buying dozens, if not hundreds, of expensive Mac Book Pro instead of cheaper and easily upgradeable Dell notebooks. It will also be easier to convert a GNU/Linux notebook into a Windows one and the other way around if, for some reason, some

one is not happy with their choice.
4. **possibly saving some license costs**. If an employee doesn't need to use Microsoft Office, the license cost can be saved. I have Libreoffice installed and, for the few times a month I have to open a PowerPoint presentation or an Excel spreadsheet, it is good enough. Not sure if we can save also the cost of the Windows license but that can also be an additional plus.
5. **instead of Office IT, the community can provide support**. By community I mean an internal to the company community of GNU/Linux users: if you want to use GNU/Linux you must be aware that Office IT will only deliver the hardware and than you'll have to do everything on your own. There will be a public space on the Company wiki, maintained by the community, where you can find instructions on how to setup your machine, and there will be a dedicated Webex Teams text chat group where it will be possible to give and get live help from other colleagues. But if you want to just have Office IT to fix your issue, you should stick to Windows.

These are the main arguments I found so far but **I would be really grateful if I can get more here**.

Beside the arguments to allow using it, **I need to make also the Security team happy**, they have some concern: **they want a way to check on all the employee machines if the OS is correctly patched and what packages are currently installed**. It would be great if someone here could give me some technical advice on how this can be done (some software/tool name that can do this would be a good start).

Some questions that might raise:

* **Are we talking about using GNU/Linux on servers or desktop?** We are talking about desktops (mostly Dell notebooks). All the company servers are already running Red Hat Enterprise Linux or CentOS.
* **Why Fedora?** Because the company uses RHEL and CentOS on all the servers and they wantet to stick to the Red Hat world as much as possible when the POC was created (at first they even tried to use CentOS but the outdated packages made using the latest notebook a nightmare). But Ubuntu 18.04 got already approved by the License team because of Windows Subsystem for Linux so, it is not completely excluded.
* **Do you want to convince your company to use exclusively GNU/Linux?** No, as I said, the company currently only allow Windows on employees' computers, soon will allow to pick Mac as an alternative and I have a chance to convince them to add also GNU/Linux as an option.
* **Why should I spend time helping you?** Because the company I work for has around 1000 employees and you could help making many penguin users happy providing some valid argument for this topic.

https://redd.it/bpgmad
@r_linux

Permissively-licensed MTP device implementation

Introducing cmtp-responder - a permissively licensed Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) responder implementation which allows embedded devices to provide MTP services and supports a core set of MTP operations.


[https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/blog/2019/05/16/permissively-licensed-mtp-device-implementation/](https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/blog/2019/05/16/permissively-licensed-mtp-device-implementation/)

https://redd.it/bpfgpk
@r_linux

Nextcloud 16 is out with machine learning based security & smart usability, ACLs and more
https://nextcloud.com/blog/nextcloud-16-introduces-machine-learning-based-security-and-usability-features-acl-permissions-and-cross-app-projects/

https://redd.it/bpaaui
@r_linux

new password manager

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to share a great discovery I made last year. I am a heavy user of the command line and I had long been searching for a good password manager that fit my way of working. I found it in [Avendesora](https://avendesora.readthedocs.io). I find most other password managers very constraining and cumbersome. And I am not comfortable trusting the security of pre-packaged or cloud-based managers.

You can run Avendesora from the command line, or you can link it to a hot key so that you can auto-type passwords into running applications such as a web browser or a terminal window.

Avendesora is capable of both storing and generating secrets like passwords and security questions, and its generator is very flexible. And unlike most password managers that are designed largely to just manage usernames and passwords, Avendesora is designed to hold a wide variety of information about an account and make it easily available.

Just to give an example of how flexible it is, I have an account at a cryptocurrency exchange that contains two different usernames (public and private), 4 different passwords (login, trading, funding, and master), and a time-based second-factor (OTP). With Avendesora I can enter my username, login password, and OTP in a single keystroke. Approving an action that requires a secondary password also requires a single keystroke, Avendesora recognizes the page from the URL and uses the appropriate password.

Avendesora also has a nice API, which I use to write little utilities that need access to account information or passwords. For example, I used it to export selected accounts to BitWarden so I can access them on my phone.

Avendesora is free software, is written in Python, and uses GPG for encryption. I have looked at the source; it is cleanly and thoughtfully written. I find no hint of questionable code. It seems well documented and well supported.

I have been using Avendesora for a while now and love it. I recommend that you check it out.

\-Tiana

https://redd.it/bpghcr
@r_linux

GNOME Gtk+ bindings for NodeJS
https://github.com/romgrk/node-gtk

https://redd.it/bpcgry
@r_linux

MDS / Zombieload Mitigations Come At A Real Cost, Even If Keeping Hyper Threading On [Benchmarks]
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MDS-Zombieload-Initial-Impact

https://redd.it/bpk59e
@r_linux