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MkLinux BIND 9 Update

An update for BIND 9 has been added to the updates area to fix a critical denial of service vulnerability. The updated packages are at:

WARNING:

I had to nuke a couple of patches to make this thing build, and one of those involved the locations for the config files. It looked like they weren't needed anymore anyway, but apparently they were. I just discovered this issue, and I've decided it isn't worth spending another 24 hours to roll another build that doesn't have the problem since it's so easy to work around. Before upgrading from previous versions of BIND 9:

sudo mkdir /usr/var
sudo mkdir /usr/etc
cd /usr/etc
sudo ln -s /etc/named.conf .
sudo ln -s /etc/rndc.conf .

After making those changes, the upgrade process should be fairly painless if you are upgrading from a previous BIND 9. If you are upgrading from the old BIND 8, you're probably in a world of hurt, starting with the hassle of generating an rndc key or modifying your configuration to disable it.... :-D

The MkLinux Team



Thu 30 July, 2009

MkLinux Time Zone Update

A time zone update is now available on the ftp site to correct for a change in U.S. Daylight Savings Time (DST) schedule. To install, download the file tzdata-2007c-1.el4.noarch.rpm (DR2.1 and newer) or usr_share_zoneinfo.tar.gz (DR2 and earlier) from the updates area on ftp.mklinux.org, then run one of the following commands (as appropriate):


sudo rpm --install tzdata-2007c-1.el4.noarch.rpm --replacefiles    # RPM version
cd / ; sudo tar -xvpf /path/to/usr_share_zoneinfo.tar.gz           # tar version

Or, if your version of MkLinux does not have RPM (MkLinux R2 and earlier), type:

sudo rpm --install tzdata-2007c-1.el4.noarch.rpm --replacefiles

Check the time. If it is correct, you're done. Otherwise, the /etc/localtime file was probably incorrectly created as a hard link or copy instead of a symbolic link. To fix this, first try the following command:


sudo tzselect

The tzselect utility will prompt you to choose a new time zone. If that works, you're done. If that fails (or if your system does not have tzselect), type the following commands (as appropriate):

cd /etc                                               # change to /etc
sudo rm -f localtime                                  # remove the old localtime file
sudo ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/EST5EDT localtime      # for Eastern time only
sudo ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/CST6CDT localtime      # for Central time only
sudo ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/MST7MDT localtime      # for Mountain time only
sudo ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/PST8PDT localtime      # for Pacific time only

Note: the extra RPM option to overwrite files is necessary because most MkLinux versions did not ship with a separate time zone info package, and it wasn't worth the effort to build a patched RPM for multiple ancient versions of glibc. As a fortunate side effect, however, this single tarball or RPM (if installed as described above) should work with any version of MkLinux from DR1 up through R2 on any CPU architecture that MkLinux has ever supported.

The MkLinux Team

Mon 12 March, 2007

MkLinux Pre-R2 Mirrors
A shortlist of Unofficial Pre-R2 ISO image download locations is now available on the Mirrors page, Please, if you download the image, and have the Drivespace and Bandwidth available, E-mail sfalken@dumpsterdivers.net with the URL for your download site.

The MkLinux Team

PS. The links are near the bottom of the page.....

Sun 11 August, 2002

Mklinux Pre-R2 Update
Recently added, is a page listing the new/updated packages in the Pre-R2 image, versus the Pre-R1 image, have a look, HERE

The MkLinux Team

Tues 6 August, 2002

MkLinux Pre-R2 Released!
As of 5th August 2002, there is now a User-Contributed Pre-R2 release candidate to MkLinux, while not changing any major parts of the distribution, it offers some much needed updates to the packages, including many security updates. Mirror List soon to follow, as the ISO image makes it's way upstream. (At the moment it is NOT available on ftp.mklinux.org)

The MkLinux Team

Mon 5 August 2002

Commercial Email Policy
Use of this server signifies that you agree to comply with the terms of the MkLinux.ORG Commercial Email Policy.

The MkLinux Team

Mon Jun 21 2002

World Without Borders Chat

World Without Borders will be hosting a web what with David Gatwood of the MkLinux team on Monday, August 7th at 7 p.m. Pacific time (10 p.m. Eastern, etc.). For more information, visit their web site at www.wwbchat.com. This chat is archived for your reading.

The MkLinux Team

Mon Jul 31 2000

Performa/PowerMac 5200/5300/6200/6300 family support

As of July 31, 2000, the PowerMac 5200/5300/6200/6300 family of computers, and their Performa equivalents, are officially supported in MkLinux. Please NOTE that only the 6214 has been tested, so there may be some small snags in some of the others.

CAVEATS:

  • Sound is not supported yet. That's the next priority....
  • SCSI is working, but rather slow. It's partially hardware at fault, and partially a lack of pseudo-DMA code. Oh well. It "mostly works." As always, your mileage may vary.
  • Serial is untested. It should work, but again, YMMV.
You can download the kernel from ftp://ftp.mklinux.org/pub/kernels/wip/Mach_Kernel.PERFORMA.gz The README file is here, in the same directory.

The MkLinux Team

Mon Jul 31 2000

International Keyboard Maps Needed

In an effort to make the upcoming release of MkLinux as widely accessible as possible, we are looking to obtain console and X keyboard maps for as many nationalities as possible. So if you have maps for non-US keyboards, we would like to hear from you. Etsushi Kato has graciously offered to coordinate the inclusion of new keyboards into the distribution and installer. If you have files to contribute, please contact Etsushi directly or through the mklinux-setup mailing list.

The MkLinux Team

Mon Dec 20 1999

Preliminary MkLinux R1 CD Designs

We are nearing the point of completion for the new MkLinux CD release. Now we have to begin worrying about the little details which get taken for granted. One of these is the art design for the new CDROM. We have a number of tentative designs available for people to view and comment on. This represents a lot of hard work for many people, we want a design which will be both memorable and professional. Take a look at the current possibilities and let us know what you think. If you have design ideas of your own, feel free to contribute them.

Jon Harms is providing space for publicly displaying the preliminary designs at MkLinux CD Designs. We hope to provide a polling booth so that you can vote on the look of your new distribution.

The MkLinux Team

Sat Dec 11 1999

MkLinux Counter Project

This is to announce a counter project for MkLinux users. The point of this counter project is to get an indication of the popularity of MkLinux and of the number of users using MkLinux. This counter will try to protect email addresses as well as possible by hiding the list behind a password protected web page. The password will be listed on the web page but it will be necessary to enter it once that function is implemented.

I have the way to add to the project but viewing the list of people without adding an item is not currently allowed. I will add that in the near future.

To add yourself to the list please visit: MkLinux Counter

This will allow you to add to the database and once you add yourself then you will be able to see the last 100 users entered. After a day or two I will have the ability to list ALL users that are entered, behind a password. This password will stop email SPAM scanners of web pages.

To see the current list visit: showall and enter user name mklinux and password mklinux.

Jon Harms

FTP and Mirror Problems

If you have been visiting any of the mirror sites of ftp.mklinux.org, you may have noticed that things are in the complete state of chaos that we had previously feared. Unfortunately, it looks as though things may remain in that state for a couple of more weeks due to bandwidth limitations. Over the weekend of October 23-24, there were over 1.2 Gigabytes of file changes on the server. This requires the mirror sites to completely rebuild their archives instead of making the usual incremental updates. Coupling this with bandwidth limitations and disk drive problems on ftp.mklinux.org, the mirror sites are badly out of sync with the distribution. This should only be a temporary situation. We apologize for the inconvenience.

The MkLinux Team

Fri Oct 29 1999

FTP being Reorganized

A couple of news items about the ftp site at mklinux.org.

If you haven't heard, the ftp site has a very limited number of anonymous ftp connections available. Since ftp.mklinux.org is currently being serviced over MontaVista Software's DSL line, we've had to limit the number of people who can access the site. So please, people, download the distribution from one of the mirror sites.

For the next couple of days, we are going to be playing around with the organization of the ftp site. Directories and files are likely to move around frequently, while this is ongoing. The situation should stabilize before the end of the week. During this time, the rpm2html database pages may have many broken links. Please be patient. We hope to improve the site in the long run, but we will have to go through a brief period of chaos to get there.

The MkLinux Team

Mon Oct 18 1999

New pre-R1 Updates

This is just a quick note to let people know that I've updated a number of packages on the ftp.mklinux.org site. You should probably wait to let the changes propagate out to the mirror sites before downloading them.

More than 90 packages were upgraded and about 20 new packages were added. A brief listing of the most important changes:

  • Upgrade to SysVinit-2.77
  • Upgrade to XFree86-3.3.5
  • Upgrade to glib-1.2.5 and gtk-1.2.5
  • Upgrade to most of the gnome packages
  • Upgrade of WindowMaker to 0.61.1
  • Upgrade of e2fsprogs
  • Upgrade of dump-restore
  • Upgrade of rpm package

Addition of KDevelop and Kdbg. Our current packages are lacking the Qt and KDE API documentation. As a result, the online help currently doesn't work. I intend to fix this problem soon, but I thought people might like to play with these packages while I'm working on it.

Addition of Sawmill window manager and related packages. (librep, rep-gtk, sawmill, sawmill-gnome)

Addition of Pan, a gnome based news reader. Pan is still pretty rough, but it shows some promise. You should probably only try it if you want to give the author some feedback about problems.

Addition of many non-English ispell dictionaries.

Known Problems which have been fixed.

The Glade package was failing to install an important file needed for converting glade's XML format into C code. As a result, glade would core dump if you attempted to generate source code from your project. This problem has now been fixed.

The utility last (from SysVinit) no longer reports crashes erroneously.

There is a caveat to upgrading the SysVinit package. Your machine may not shutdown cleanly the first time after upgrading this package. I don't know if the event was an aberration on my system or not, but the first time after upgrading e2fsprog and SysVinit, my system paniced during the final stage of the shutdown process. This may be completely unrelated to the package upgrades. Before placing this package on the server, I rebooted my machine multiple times to see if the event recurred. It never did.

Portsentry has been modified to shut down correctly with the newer versions of initscripts. In order to fix this problem, I've reworked how portsentry is integrated into the system. If you are running portsentry and you choose to upgrade this package, you should probably shutdown the currently running daemon before upgrading the package. Then restart the daemon after the upgrade. This will prevent a trivial error message when shutting down the system.

Many packages which would not build properly with gcc-2.95.1 and later have had work arounds provided. Among the list of such files are Mesa, cdf, and many C++ programs that don't meet the latest compiler's strict standards for function prototypes.

Known Problems which have not yet been fixed.

The current version of xfig still core dumps on start up. This is a compiler induced bug. Unless we can trace down the compiler bug which is generating this bad code, we will probably have to rebuild the package with an earlier compiler.

Gnorpm 0.9 doesn't seem to work correctly with the current version of rpm. Still looking for a solution. :-(

Have fun! We're getting close, people.

The MkLinux Team

Mon Oct 11 1999

More pre-R1 Updates

Well, another couple of weeks have rolled around and I've updated many packages in the pre-R1 distribution. The vast majority of these package changes are simple minor version changes. About 140 packages were upgraded in total this weekend.

We do have a number notable changes. First, we've decided not to taunt Apple's lawyers by making eMac the default enlightenment theme on the distribution. The theme is still part of the distribution (for now), but you have to select it yourself if you wish to use. The default enlightenment theme is now minEguE. It's a terrible name with a simplistic, unobtrusive appearance.

I've been holding off on updating some of the gnome packages while the gnome-print libraries went through some growing pains. The print facilities are somewhat operational, so I've updated Gnumeric, the spreadsheet program, to the latest version. Printing is still problematic, so don't expect too much.

Printing works now in AbiWord. If you haven't tried this word processor, you should give it a try.

The MkLinux Team

Sun Sep 12 1999

pre-R1 Updates

There have been a number of major updates to the MkLinux pre-R1 distribution this week. Probably, the most important was a fix to the archive of the MacOS side files to eliminate a number of problems. The extraneous mach_options line in the lilo.conf file has been removed, and the Mach Kernel file has been replaced with one of David Gatwood's official GENERIC 7 kernels. If you have experienced difficulties with installation on your machine be sure to check that you have removed the bus_speed mach_options line from your lilo.conf file.

We have made a number of security updates to packages in the pre-R1 distribution. The affected packages are telnet, wu_ftpd, traceroute, netkit-base, libtermcap and tcp_wrappers.

The new set of compilers is available. Gcc 2.95.1 is the successor to the egcs compiler set.

The MkLinux Team

Wed Aug 30 1999

rpm2html Database Added

We've added an rpm2html database to the mklinux.org web site. The index can be viewed with any web browser. You will find it useful to track the addition of new packages to the distribution. It can also we used to determine package dependencies, discover what package installs a particular file and even to view the package change logs.

Note: The rpm2html database has since been removed.



Sun Aug 8 14:36:14 EDT 1999

MkLinux Radio Interview

Jaime Magiera, host of a radio show called Interactive Technologies at the University of Michigan (http://www.wcbn.org/it/), will be broadcasting a discussion with Gilbert Coville and David Gatwood, on Tuesday, July 27. They discuss the history and current development of MkLinux. It's very informative to developers and users alike.

Jaime has posted the Quicktime file of the recorded interview for the perusal of the MkLinux Community. The file is embedded in the document, so you will need to use a web browser with a quicktime plugin to hear the recording.

Check it out at http://www.wcbn.org/it/IT0010.html

Monday, July 26, 1999

MkLinux Rescue Disk

Takashi Oe, has built a "rescue disk" for MkLinux. The disk is distributed as a binhexed Stuffit archive. You should unpack it onto your Macintosh System disk. It will create a mach_servers folder containing a vmlinux_rescue linux server. The server contains a ram disk loaded with many tools which will be useful in emergency situations.

The archive file is available at ftp.mklinux.org.

Thanks, Takashi!

Monday, July 5, 1999

Updated MkLinux Rawhide instructions

The MkLinux Rawhide installation instructions have been updated with tips on how to install from a local HFS disk and a list of known bugs. If you run into any problems, a good place to ask is through the mklinux-setup mailing list.

Sunday June 27, 1999

MkLinux CVS Repository Relocated

The CVS repository containing the source code for MkLinux has been relocated from the globegate.utm.edu server to mklinux.org. Attempts to update your source code from globegate will no longer work. You will need to retarget your sandbox to the new repository. The following script will assist you in making the transition.

#!/bin/bash
set -x
if [ $# != 0 ]; then
  for x in `find $1 -name Root`;
  do
    path2=`dirname $x`
    oname=$x
    savename=$path2/Root.orig
    cp $oname $savename
    sed "s/globegate\.utm\.edu/mklinux\.org/" $savename > $oname
  done
else
  cp ~/.cvspass ~/.cvspass.orig
  sed "s/globegate\.utm\.edu/mklinux\.org/" ~/.cvspass.orig > ~/.cvspass
fi

Copy this script to a file and make it executable. Name it something like retarget_cvs. Run the script with the path to the root of the source tree you need to retarget.

retarget_cvs /path/to/root/of/tree

This will correctly retarget each directory in the tree to access mklinux.org. Since you must be logged into the repository to update, you will either need to login to mklinux.org as you did for globegate, or run the script without a command line argument. This will modify the .cvspass file in your home directory to point to mklinux.org instead globegate.utm.edu.

Be sure that you run the script as the user who is logged into the globegate!

Tuesday Jun 22, 1999

MkLinux Web Banners

Robert Fout has created a series of MkLinux web banners to be displayed on web sites. Show off your use and support of MkLinux. Let people know that you're out there, and not "Down for the count."

The complete set of banners is available here or by clicking on the banner at the bottom of www.mklinux.org's home page.

Sunday May 30, 1999

MkLinux Rawhide Installer

Kaoru Fukui has built an MkLinux installer which can be used to install the new LinuxPPC Developer's Release 1, based RedHat Rawhide distribution. This is a glibc2 based distribution which is binary incompatible with the current DR3 distribution. The packages for this distribution are the basis for both Yellow Dog Linux and LinuxPPC, Inc. R5.

This installer should be considered a pre-release alpha version. (Only because I've never tried it.) The installer isn't an official distribution of mklinux.org...at this time. However, it is likely to be the basis for a CD distribution produced by the group behind mklinux.org, so we need people to pound on it and let us know what works and what doesn't.

Please let Kaoru Fukui know of any problems which you have with the installer. A good way to do this would be through the mklinux-setup mailing list.

Sunday May 30, 1999

Regular Columns to Begin

Have you found a unique solution to a problem using MkLinux? Are you using a little known application which you would like to review and recommend to the MkLinux user community? Or maybe you just have a useful tip worth sharing?

Well, now you have a chance! We, here at www.mklinux.org, want to begin a regular column giving users a chance to tell their stories. Perhaps you have used MkLinux to manage a small network? Perhaps you have used it to work as a file server in a small business? Perhaps you were able to get PPP working the first time?! If you have solved an interesting technical problem, we encourage you to send us your story.

The publication frequency of the column will depend upon the number of contributions we receive, but we promise to keep them coming at least on a monthly basis even if we have to write them all ourselves. In fact, David Gatwood has already volunteered to write the first column. He has promised us a "State of the Union" message on MkLinux.

If you need or want an editor or coauthor, we will be happy to provide those services. Just remember, the success of this effort is up to you.

Thursday May 27, 1999

Power Linux Released

Power Linux by Japan Photografix is a Linux distribution based on MkLinux DR3 and features some recent software updates such as the Generic #6 kernel, Window Maker 0.20.3, and Netscape 4.5. This distribution comes from Japan and the installation program is in Japanese too. Power Linux was featured in May's edition of Mac Power magazine (again Japanese) in a "Lite" version of their distribution and a live filesystem so users can test Power Linux before installation. This Lite version lacks programming and server capabilities, which you can obtain by purchasing the full version or by other means.

www.mklinux.org Server Relocated
Thanks to the generous support of Montavista Software, we have a new home. Gilbert Coville has made arrangements with his new employer to host the MkLinux.org web server. Our new digs are on a stable T1 connection, so our connection should be accessible 24/7. We now have enough bandwidth to make an ftp site a real possibility.

Sunday May 9, 1999

Video4Linux

Michel Lanners and Takashi Oe have donated support for the Plan B video-input on the PowerMac 7x00/8x00 series of computers. The Plan B port for MkLinux is available from the Globegate CVS repository. Takashi Oe reports that Xawtv has been ported to run on Plan B equipped machines running MkLinux.

Countdown to 2.2

In other news, Takashi Oe is currently leading efforts to port the Linux 2.2.x kernel to run on the Mach Kernel. There is still quite a lot of work to do before the job is completed, but the work has begun at last! The preliminary work will soon be placed in the Globegate CVS repository.

Welcome to our new web site!

This site was developed by the MkLinux community, for the MkLinux community. Our thanks go to many volunteers for generous contributions of money, equipment, services, etc.

Thanks especially to Gilbert Coville and Rich Morin for financial contributions and our domain name registration and to MontaVista Software for our Internet connection.

In the coming months, we hope to become a regular stopping place for you on the web. Our goal is to keep you abreast of the latest developments in the MkLinux community and to provide you with the resources to make MkLinux a powerful and enjoyable tool for your daily work.

Rather than put up an all too familiar "Under Construction" sign, I'll simply state that this site went "live" with only 24 hours notice. Only a tiny fraction of the content planned by the web team was available on that first day, and we are still working to create content. So keep an eye on the site and watch us work.

Welcome again to the New MkLinux.org!

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Contact the web team at mklinux-www@mklinux.org.

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