• How to install Firefox on elementary OS 5.1 Hera

• Linux sysadmin basics: User account management with UIDs and GIDs

• Install Grafana & integrate with Prometheus for complete monitoring

• Identify all amazon cloudformation scripts recursively using ripgrep

• Efficient Monitoring and Root Cause Analysis in Complex Systems

• Automation: The key to modern software-defined infrastructure

The development framework Qt is available both as Open Source and under paid license terms. Two decades ago, when Qt 2.0 was first released as Open Source, this was exceptional. Today, most popular developing frameworks are Free/Open Source Software1. Without the dual licensing approach, Qt would not exist today as a popular high-quality framework.

There is another aspect of Qt licensing which is still very exceptional today, and which is not as well-known as it ought to be. The Open Source availability of Qt is legally protected through the by-laws and contracts of a foundation.

The KDE Free Qt Foundation was created in 1998 and guarantees the continued availability of Qt as Free/Open Source Software2. When it was set up, Qt was developed by Trolltech, its original company. The foundation supported Qt through the transitions first to Nokia and then to Digia and to The Qt Company.

In case The Qt Company would ever attempt to close down Open Source Qt, the foundation is entitled to publish Qt under the BSD license. This notable legal guarantee strengthens Qt. It creates trust among developers, contributors and customers.

The KDE Free Qt Foundation is a cooperation between The Qt Company on the one hand and KDE on the other hand. KDE is one of the largest Free Software communities for general purpose end-user software, founded in 1996. In case of ties, KDE has an extra vote, ensuring that The Qt Company does not have a veto on decisions.

My in-depth presentation below provides an overview of the history of the Foundation and describes its importance for Qt today. It explains in detail why the existence of the Foundation has a positive influence on the long-term market success of Qt.

Patch review is a process by which newcomers and experts debate proposed changes to a codebase–a textual description of how a particular human-created system is to function. In KDE, we use Phabricator for this, but we’re switching to GitLab soon. Both serve the same purpose: to provide a forum where proposed changes can be discussed, revised, and decided upon.

[...]

Rushing isn’t such a huge deal as long as you have a QA process and discrete releases. These tools provide time for regressions to be fixed and rough edges to me smoothed out. When patches can be evaluated in a safe sandbox of sorts and subsequently tweaked before their effects are released to users, it’s not so bad to move quickly. But you can’t expose your users to the churn stirred up by a fast process; it needs to be contained internally.

Lesson for politicians: You don’t need so much process surrounding lawmaking if you don’t roll out all approved changes immediately. Before new bills take effect, let them simmer for a while in a “release branch” where they can undergo QA so that regressions can be found before they’re inflicted on unsuspected citizens (users)!

As software people, there are lessons we can take from our governments’ successes (and more often these days it seems, their failures), because this aspect of our professions overlaps quite a bit. It also exposes an uncomfortable truth: changing the rules and behaviors of a system that effects everyone is inherently political. That’s why we invented patch review processes: to make sure that important voices are heard, that the system doesn’t become inhumane for people who depend on it, and that its overall trajectory is positive.

Personally I’m a lot more sanguine about the prospect of this in software than government right now, and I think that’s something that needs to change. The efficacy and positive societal impacts of our governments’ lawmaking seems to be at a bit of an ebb at this moment in time. But there may come a point in time when our experience in patch review becomes useful on a larger stage, and benefits not only users of KDE software, but also the people of the world. We shouldn’t shy away from politics. Our everyday experiences in KDE are in fact the prefect preparation! Far from being distant and scary, it’s something we’re engaging in–and succeeding at–every time we contribute to KDE.

FreeMesh W1326 LTE Router Mesh Network Access FreeMesh has launched an open-source mesh router, the WE1326 LTE FreeMesh Router (included are two nodes) that runs OpenWrt open-source operating system...

• Kubernetes 1.17: Stability

  We’re pleased to announce the delivery of Kubernetes 1.17, our fourth and final release of 2019! Kubernetes v1.17 consists of 22 enhancements: 14 enhancements have graduated to stable, 4 enhancements are moving to beta, and 4 enhancements are entering alpha.

• Kubernetes 1.17 Feature: Kubernetes Volume Snapshot Moves to Beta

  The Kubernetes Volume Snapshot feature is now beta in Kubernetes v1.17. It was introduced as alpha in Kubernetes v1.12, with a second alpha with breaking changes in Kubernetes v1.13. This post summarizes the changes in the beta release.

• Kubernetes 1.17 Feature: Kubernetes In-Tree to CSI Volume Migration Moves to Beta

  The Kubernetes in-tree storage plugin to Container Storage Interface (CSI) migration infrastructure is now beta in Kubernetes v1.17. CSI migration was introduced as alpha in Kubernetes v1.14.

  Kubernetes features are generally introduced as alpha and moved to beta (and eventually to stable/GA) over subsequent Kubernetes releases. This process allows Kubernetes developers to get feedback, discover and fix issues, iterate on the designs, and deliver high quality, production grade features.

• 5 of Android’s biggest tech controversies of 2019

• Android eID API support launched by Qualcomm, 5G smartphone biometrics provided by Goodix

• Best new mobile games on iOS and Android – December 2019 round-up

• Google Calendar on Android finally allows changing events’ calendars

• Pixel 4 gets automatic robocall screening, improved location accuracy, and more

In comparison to other operating systems, Linux offers a dedicated environment for programmers that is free and more dedicated to user’s privacy and security. This is why Linux’s popularity has increased drastically over the years.
Whether you’re looking at buy a laptop with pre-installed Linux or want to run it on parallel with a Windows operating system, you’ve come to the right place. Read on below to find out some interesting specifications of the top ten Linux laptops you can buy at the most affordable prices.

• How to Create a Simple Honeypot with Spring Boot

• How to Find High CPU Consumption Processes in Linux

• How to Install YetiForce on Ubuntu 18.04

• How to add Oracle Linux public repository in SUSE Manger

• How to set up Varnish cache on Ubuntu 18.04

• Show all current listening programs by port and pid with SS instead of netstat

• 74 Bash Operators Examples

After releasing their successful rounds of notebook computers, laptops, single-board PCs and Linux smartphones, Pine64 is back with another incredible launch. The company is set to bring a smartwatch based on the Linux operating system that focuses solely on the needs of developers.

Pine64: History

Mainly known as Pine Microsystems, Inc., the US origin company sells and manufactures computer hardware and software. After the company’s 1st product, the Pine A64, a single-board computer in 2015, the company went on with the same name after that. Later, it released successors of the Pine family that included notebooks and smartphones for the public.

PineTime Smartwatch

The PineTime project came under attention in September 2019 when the company on their official Twitter account announced it. The news came right after Pine64 made the existence of its PinePhone public. In the coming year, with the success of the Librem 5 smartphone and PinePhone soon to hit the markets, it is a perfect time to introduce a companion device that goes along with other Linux devices.

• Debian GR on init systems - Ballot paper format

  You are allowed to reorder the choices on your ballot paper, and this is effective.

  That is, you can take the ballot paper in the CFV and edit the lines in it into your preferred order with cut and paste. You can look at the letters, or the Secretary's summary lines, when you do that.

  It's important to use a proper text editor and not linewrap things while you do this.

  After, that you can simply write numbers 1 to 8 into the boxes down the left hand side.

  Rank all the options. That way when you get your vote ack back, any parse failure will show up as a blank space in the ack.

• Debian init systems GR - voting guide

  If you don't know what's going on, you may wish to read my summary and briefing blog post from a few weeks ago. There are 7 options on the ballot, plus Further Discussion (FD). With this posting I'm trying to help voting Debian Members (Debian Developers) cast their votes.

  I am going to be neutral about the technical merits of systemd. My advice does not depend on your opinion about that.

  So my advice here is addressed to people who like systemd and want to keep running it, and developing with it, as well as, of course, people who prefer not to use systemd. I'm even addressing readers who think systemd has useful features which they would like Debian packages to be able to use.

  However, I am going to be opinionated about one key question: My baseline is that Debian must welcome code contributions to support running without systemd, just as it welcomes code contributions for other non-default setups. If you agree with that principle, then this posting is for you. Unfortunately this principle is controversial. Several of the options on the current GR mean rejecting contributions of non-systemd support. So in that sense I am not neutral.

• The Best Android Apps & Games of 2019

• 5 Essential Apps to Stay Safe on Android - Phandroid

• 10 Android highlights from 2019

• Here are 6 new things your next Android phone could do

• Google Stadia review: This could be big (Update: Three weeks later)

• Talk Android's Holiday Gift Guide (2019)

• Are cheap Android phones worth it?

• Sharpin is a DIY bartop pinball cabinet that runs on Android and won't break the bank

• Sony Xperia 1 Android 10 update may have improved the fingerprint scanner

• How to clear your Google search history on your Android phone or tablet

• DEAL ALERT: You Can Get Xiaomi Mi Box S Android TV Streaming Player For Just $29.99 (Normally $50), Plus $10 in VUDU Credit

• Black Desert Mobile Launches On Android, Servers Live In 2 Days

• If Android battery life improves in 2020, we can thank iPhone 11

• Carrier Services update brings RCS messaging to more Android phones

MYIR’s industrial-temp “MYC-C8MMX” module runs Linux on an up to 1.8GHz i.MX8M Mini Quad. It’s available as part of a “MYD-C8MMX” board that provides GbE, WiFi/BT, MIPI DSI/CSI, LVDS, M.2, and mini-PCIe with SIM slot.

Like the MYC-JX8MX COM and MYD-JX8MX dev board announced in June, MYIR’s $79 and up MYC-C8MMX module and $169 and up MYD-C8MMX board expand upon an NXP i.MX8 SoC. This time, MYIR has tapped the i.MX8M Mini rather than the slower, but 4K-ready i.MX8M. Other similar, COM-and-carrier implementations of the Mini include Boardcon’s SOM-IMX8M-MINI with EM-IMX8M-MINI.

Radxa’s Dual ($25) and Quad ($35) SATA HATs work on the Raspberry Pi 4 or Rock Pi 4 at up to 400 MB/s via USB 3.0. There’s also a faster, 800 MB/s $49 “Penta SATA HAT” for the Rock Pi 4 that uses PCIe to support 5x drives.

You can find a few SATA HATs for the Raspberry Pi 4 that support single SATA or mSATA connections, such as Geekworm’s $26 X825 or Renkforce’s $19 SATA Extension Board, but Radxa’s new line of SATA HATs for network attached storage (NAS) applications appear to be the first to support multiple SATA connections. Such a feat is possible on some other hacker boards such as FriendlyElec’s $25, quad-SATA 4X SATA HAT for the NanoPi M4, which like the Rock Pi 4 and similar, DP-enabled Rock Pi 4B, runs Linux on a PCIe-enabled Rockchip RK3399.

• SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 5 is Generally Available

  As you know, SUSE Linux Enterprise service packs are released on a yearly cadence. Service Pack 5 is the next service pack since the release of Service Pack 4 in Dec 2018. In addition, Service Pack 5 is also the last service pack for SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 release. With the release of SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 5 on December 9th, general support for SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 4 will end on June 30th, 2020. Customers wishing to maintain support of their SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 4 installations after June 30, 2020 can continue support through the purchase of Long Term Service Pack Support.

  [...]

  If you are currently running SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP4, you can migrate to Service Pack 5 as part of your active subscription until June 30, 2020.

• Developing Leaderboard for GNOME Hackers

  After completing my Google Summer of Code assignment, I had an idea in my mind for a project where the hard-working people on GNOME, known as GNOME Hackers, could be appreciated based on the amount of work they do for the FLOSS community. In the quest for the same, I wrote a leaderboard web app, GNOME Hackers. It was an awesome experience and I utilized my weekends very well by learning many new things. I will give a brief of them below.

• Counting down the days using bash

  Need to know how many days there are before some important event? Let Linux bash and the date command help with that!

• How to Boost Your Programming Skills

  Anyone with an old computer that they don't use anymore should install Ubuntu on it in order to improve their programming skills. It's a free Linux-based operating system that can run on a wide range of hardware. Successfully using Ubuntu will require you to learn more about Python, which is considered one of the most simplified and beginner-friendly programming languages in use today. - Bryce Welker, The Big 4 Accounting Firms

• Canonical sponsors WSLConf at Microsoft HQ [Ed: Mark Shuttleworth donates money to Microsoft's attacks on GNU/Linux]

  Canonical is announcing today it will be a featured sponsor of WSLConf, the first conference dedicated to the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) platform. WSLConf is scheduled for March 10th-11th, 2020 and is being held on the campus of Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The conference brings together developers, start-up founders, academics, enterprise, community members, and teams from Microsoft and Canonical around Windows Subsystem for Linux. The conference will include two densely-packed days of presentations and workshops on the latest developments on the rapidly evolving platform.

• Mozilla Addons Blog: Secure your addons.mozilla.org account with two-factor authentication

  Accounts on addons.mozilla.org (AMO) are integrated with Firefox Accounts, which lets you manage multiple Mozilla services from one login. To prevent unauthorized people from accessing your account, even if they obtain your password, we strongly recommend that you enable two-factor authentication (2FA). 2FA adds an extra layer of security to your account by adding an additional step to the login process to prove you are who you say you are.

  When logging in with 2FA enabled, you will be asked to provide a verification code from an authentication application, in addition to your user name and password. This article on support.mozilla.org includes a list of supported authenticator applications.

  Starting in early 2020, extension developers will be required to have 2FA enabled on AMO. This is intended to help prevent malicious actors from taking control of legitimate add-ons and their users. 2FA will not be required for submissions that use AMO’s upload API.

  Before this requirement goes into effect, we’ll be working closely with the Firefox Accounts team to make sure the 2FA setup and login experience on AMO is as smooth as possible. Once this requirement goes into effect, developers will be prompted to enable 2FA when making changes to their add-ons.

• Embracing digital transformation with containerisation and Kubernetes

  While digital transformation is creating new business opportunities, it is also bringing a host of challenges and technological barriers with its wave of progress. With changes ongoing and always around the corner, organisations are having to re-evaluate how they can modernise their often-out-dated digital infrastructure in order to keep up. Is there any way to make the transition simpler?

  Enter Kubernetes. The word is taken from ancient Greek, where it translates as ‘helmsman’ or ‘pilot’. So, it makes sense that your IT business strategy can be guided, not through the Aegean, but through the waters of digital transformation towards stability and efficiency. What began life as Google’s original open source container-orchestration system, has now paved the way for a reliable precedent to automating, controlling and extending modern IT applications.

• Datacenters Are Hungry For Servers Again

  Server consumption is a pretty good proxy for how enterprises of all shapes and sizes feel about their particular business. And judging by the number of machines and the aggregate revenue they drove in the third quarter – despite all of the uncertainty in the world – they must be feeling pretty good.

• Sniff, jam and hijack Bluetooth Low Energy devices with Btlejack

  Bluetooth Low Energy Swiss-army knife or Btlejack is a small software client designed to be used with the BBC Micro:Bit mini PC and can be used with one or more devices running a dedicated firmware. Once installed you will be able to sniff, jam and hijack Bluetooth Low Energy devices. Current version of this tool (2.0) supports BLE 4.x and 5.x.

  “Btlejack relies on one or more BBC Micro:Bit. devices running a dedicated firmware. You may also want to use an Adafruit’s Bluefruit LE sniffer or a nRF51822 Eval Kit, as we added support for these devices. The BLE 5.x support is limited, as it does only support the 1Mbps Uncoded PHY and does not support channel map updates.”

  “You need a UNIX based system (for example a Raspberry Pi). If you use the BBC Micro:Bit, you will need one to three Micro:Bit devices (three devices recommended) and for each device one free USB port. The power consumption of a Micro:Bit is rather low, so you can use a single USB port and a passive hub for powering the three recommended units.”

• I2CMini is tiny USB to I2C Bridge for your PC or SBC (Crowdfunding)

  Last year, we wrote about Excamera Labs SPIDriver tool to control and monitor SPI devices from your computer, but this year the company launched another similar product for I2C: I2CDriver.

• Congatec Conga-SMX8-Nano SMARC 2.0 CoM Features NXP i.MX 8M Nano Processor

  Congatec Announces Ultra-Low-Power SMARC 2.0 CoM Congatec has come out with a new CoM, the Conga-SMX8-Nano that carries up to 4x ARM Cortex-A53 and 1x Cortex-M7 cores with a full spectrum of options...

China began building its own operating system to replace Microsoft Windows or iOS in 2013, with the help of a British company Canonical.

Canonical was founded by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth to market commercial support and related services for Ubuntu, a Linux-based operating system which is open-source and not owned by an individual or company.

Canonical provided technical support to build Chinese users an Ubuntu open-source operating system named Kylin, at the request of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Earlier this year the US banned American companies from doing business with Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. Google, Intel and Qualcomm stopped working with the technology company.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson hinted that the future of Chinese technology companies in the UK could be on the line after vowing not to involve Huawei in upcoming 5G networks if it would create a rift with security allies like the US.

• YouTube Music rolls out gapless playback for albums on Android and web

• Samsung Galaxy Note 10 & S10 5G stable Android 10 update coming soon

• No Android 10/One UI 2.0 beta program coming for the Galaxy Fold

• Google Maps Incognito mode comes to iOS, Android adding bulk Timeline delete

An nameless reader writes:
The Free Software program Basis is holding its annual fundraiser, with a aim of attracting 600 new members by the tip of December. (New members to date: 112.) “We’re nonetheless combating the oppressive nature of proprietary software program,” explains the marketing campaign’s net web page. “Now we have made strong inroads, and the neighborhood is as passionate as ever.”

As a 501(c)(3) charity the group’s membership dues are all tax deductible, and affiliate memberships are simply $10 a month ($5 for college kids). They arrive with particular advantages together with as much as 5 electronic mail aliases within the member.fsf.org area, eligibility to hitch the nonprofit Digital Credit score Union, free admission to the annual LibrePlanet convention in Boston, and 20% reductions on FSF merchandise and GNU gear (together with this pleasant stuffed child gnu).

Also: Mark J. Wielaard: Software Freedom Conservancy Donor Match

• It’s Time to Upgrade to Python 3 – Time Is Running Out!

  As of January 1, 2020, Anaconda will no longer be adding new packages built for Python 2.7 to repo.anaconda.com default channels. The Python 2.7 packages available prior to that date will remain available.

  This means, for instance, that if there is a newly released version of TensorFlow after the first of the new year – it will not be available in defaults for Python 2.7.

  The one exception is that Python 2.7.18 is slated to be released in mid-April 2020 according to PEP-0373. Packages for Python 2.7.18 will be built and made available on the repo.anaconda.com defaults channel.

• MicroPython: An Intro to Programming Hardware in Python

  Are you interested in the Internet of Things, home automation, and connected devices? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to build a blaster, a laser sword, or even your own robot? If so, then you’re in luck! MicroPython can help you do all of those things and more.

  [...]

  Python’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent years. These days, it’s used everywhere from DevOps to statistical analysis, and even in desktop software. But for a long time, there was one field where Python use was conspicuously missing. Developers working with microcontrollers had not yet adopted the language.

  All of that changed in 2013 when Damien George launched a Kickstarter campaign. Damien, an undergraduate at Cambridge University, was an avid robot programmer. He wanted to move the Python world from machines that worked with capacities in the gigabytes down to the kilobytes. His Kickstarter campaign was an attempt to back his development while he turned his proof of concept into a finished implementation.

  Many developers jumped at the chance, not only to use Python on microcontrollers but also to get an early version of Damien’s own reference hardware, which was built especially for the task! In fact, by the end of the campaign, Damien had blown past his £15,000 goal. Thanks to over 1,900 backers, he reached just shy of £100,000.

• Creating Command Line Utilities with Python's argparse

  Most of the user-facing software comes with a visually pleasing interface or via a decorated webpage. At other times, a program can be so small that it does not warrant an entire graphical user interface or web application to expose its functionality to the end-user.

  In these cases, we can build programs that are accessible via a Command Line Interface, or CLI.

  In this post, we will explore Python's argparse module and use it to build a simple command-line tool to help us shorten URLs swiftly.

• Learn all About Installing & Updating Packages in Python

  In this tutorial, we will learn the basics of installing, working and updating packages in Python. First, we will learn how to install Python packages, then how to use them, and finally, how to update Python packages when needed. More specifically, we are going to learn how to install and upgrade packages using pip, conda, and Anaconda Navigator.

  Now, before we are going to learn how to install Python packages we are going to answer the question “what is a package in Python?”

Back in September we wrote about Facebook's Roman Gushchin working on a new slab memory controller/allocator implementation that in turn could provide better memory utilization and less slab memory usage. This wasn't ready in time for the 5.5 kernel but a revised patch series was sent out last week.

Roman continues to talk up this new slab memory controller with it turning out much better than the existing slab memory code, which he says in Facebook production workloads is only seeing 45~65% slab utilization and at best case around 85%. This controller rework aims for better slab utilization and also sharing of slab pages between multiple memory cgroups. The memory accounting is done now per-object rather than per-page, among other changes.

Also: KubeCon gets bigger, the kernel gets better, and more industry trends