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Tuesday, November 21, 2006

How To Compile A Kernel - The SuSE Way

Each distribution has some specific tools to build a custom kernel from the sources. This article is about compiling a kernel on SuSE systems. It describes how to build a custom kernel using the latest unmodified kernel sources from www.kernel.org (vanilla kernel) so that you are independent from the kernels supplied by your distribution. It also shows how to patch the kernel sources if you need features that are not in there.

I have tested this on SuSE 10.1.

posted at 01:57 AM. tags: .

Friday, November 17, 2006

Is the Microsoft-Novell deal dead on arrival?

The potentially historic Microsoft-Novell pact announced last week, whereby Microsoft would grant patent peace to users of Novell's Suse Linux software in exchange for royalty payments paid by Novell to Microsoft, will be dead by mid-March, promises Eben Moglen, the general counsel of the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The FSF controls the license that governs the distribution of Linux and many other key forms of free and open-source software.

The license, known as the GNU General Public License (GPL), had already been in the process of revision. In an interview with me this morning, Moglen promised that the foundation will now make "further changes" to the GPL that will make crystal clear that the Novell-Microsoft pact, or any similar pact, will violate it.

posted at 03:57 PM. tags: .

Friday, November 17, 2006

Ballmer: Linux users owe Microsoft

In comments confirming the open-source community's suspicions, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer today declared his belief that the Linux operating system infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property.

In a question-and-answer session after his keynote speech at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) conference in Seattle, Ballmer said Microsoft was motivated to sign a deal with SUSE Linux distributor Novell Inc. earlier this month because Linux "uses our intellectual property" and Microsoft wanted to "get the appropriate economic return for our shareholders from our innovation."

posted at 07:57 AM. tags: .

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Samba Team Asks Novell to Reconsider

The Samba Team disapproves strongly of the actions taken by Novell on November 2nd.

One of the fundamental differences between the proprietary software world and the free software world is that the proprietary software world divides users by forcing them to agree to coercive licensing agreements which restrict their rights to share with each other, whereas the free software world encourages users to unite and share the benefits of the software.

posted at 01:56 PM. tags: .

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Microsoft’s developer patent pledge “worse than useless” says SFLC

While the Software Freedom Law Center is still sifting through the details of Novell’s patent covenant agreement with Microsoft to protect each others’ customers and the GPL implications, it has spoken out on Microsoft’s pledge not to sue unsalaried open source developers.

In short, it doesn’t like it. “It's worse than useless, writes Bradley Kuhn, SFLC CTO. “Don't be confused by the illusion of a truce; developers are no safer from Microsoft patents now than they were before.”

posted at 01:56 AM. tags: .

Friday, November 10, 2006

Novell opens legal books to GPL pundits

Novell has partnered with the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) to ensure that its partnership with Microsoft does not violate any terms of the General Public Licence.

"The SFLC has been offered cooperation by Novell sufficient to permit a confidential audit to determine whether the licence provisions of the GPL have been complied with," SFLC chairman Eben Moglen told vnunet.com.

posted at 12:56 AM. tags: .

Friday, November 10, 2006

Why Microsoft won’t assault Linux

Whenever Microsoft makes an agreement with a competitor, its actions are viewed with a fair bit of suspicion. The recent agreement between Novell and Microsoft is no exception. Plenty around the blogosphere wondered aloud where the exploding pens were hidden, and on ZDNet, David Berlind believed that the Novell agreement, coupled with previous agreements with Sun, leaves the way clear for Microsoft to make a full legal assault on both RedHat - vendor of the leading Linux distribution - and open source products in general.

Some degree of suspicion is understandable. No one would mistake Microsoft for a company that is good at losing money. Every agreement Microsoft enters into surely is done with an eye towards whether or not it will benefit Microsoft.

posted at 12:56 AM. tags: .

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Is Microsoft Going to Start a Linux War?

In a surprise announcement, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer seems to be doing a deal with Novell and the SUSE Linux folks. Apparently, the goal is to make Linux interoperable with Windows and perhaps move some apps onto the Linux platform. What could be brewing? Does it make any sense that Microsoft is going to embrace Linux in a big way? After all, Ballmer used to demean it.

I think something is up, and it was probably triggered by Larry Ellison's announcement at the recent Oracle OpenWorld event that his company would sell support services for Red Hat Linux. I suspect that the big enterprise players are each going to jump on one of the various Linux boats and start a software war.

posted at 12:55 AM. tags: .

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Novell: We Surrender

Three years ago this week, ailing software maker Novell paid $210 million to acquire Suse, a German version of the free operating system called Linux. Novell hoped that by embracing Linux, an alternative to the decidedly unfree Windows operating system from Microsoft, it could revive its dying software business.

On Thursday, Novell effectively conceded that this effort has failed. On stage with Microsoft in San Francisco, Novell announced that the two companies would cooperate to make the Windows operating system and Linux work well together. More significantly, Microsoft will resell Novell's version of Linux, and Novell will start paying royalties to Microsoft in exchange for Microsoft's pledge not to enforce patent claims against Novell and its customers.

posted at 12:55 AM. tags: .

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Novell and Microsoft: The Vista Impact

There is nothing more indicative of change than the recently announced partnership between Novell and Microsoft.

Unlike the Sun partnership, which seemed to be more about Sun getting money from Microsoft than anything truly material, this one has teeth and addresses the critical needs of both companies and the customers who use their products. It easily makes SuSe Linux the favored product and creates the strongest argument yet that the Microsoft of today isn’t the Microsoft of a few years ago.

posted at 12:55 AM. tags: .

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Novell/Microsoft deal: good for Novell, good for Linux?

Microsoft? Microsoft is giving a Linux distribution it's blessing? Novell is working with its arch-enemy of over 20-years?

It still seems unbelievable. but it did happen. Microsoft is "supporting" Linux, and both companies are working together to improve interoperability between Windows and Linux.

posted at 10:55 PM. tags: .

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Microsoft and Novell call truce

Microsoft and Novell have settled a long-running dispute - enabling Novell's version of the Linux operating system to work better with Windows.

Many businesses prefer Linux as it can be tailored to a company's needs - but Microsoft has been reluctant to allow its products to work alongside it.

posted at 05:55 AM. tags: .

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Novell-Microsoft: How many times can you sell your soul?

I would not be comfortable turning Microsoft salespeople loose on my customers. They are armed to the teeth with discounts and incentives to beat any competitor. The announcement that Novell and Microsoft will work together to improve interoperability between Windows and Novell's SuSE Linux, as well as cross-promote and support one another's products strikes me as eerily like one of those movies with Christopher Lee as Dracula.

Every time you see an old Dracula film, the same fool is making a deal with Drac to achieve eternal life, a life you know, as the viewer, is going to be awful and short. "Don't do it!" you want to shout at the screen, and so it is with this deal between the maker of Windows and the acquirer, as Novell once staked its future on UNIX, of SuSE Linux.

posted at 04:55 AM. tags: .

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Microsoft-Novell pact blasted by Open Saucer

A lead developer on the Open Source Wine project, Tom Wickline, has warned that Microsoft's deal with Novell is a cunning plan by Vole to take control over the commercial customer's use of Free Software.

Speaking to the INQ, Wickline said that the Volnovo pact would have significant negative implications for the Open Source movement.

posted at 04:55 AM. tags: .

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Reality check: Microsoft isn't waving the white flag

It makes for good headlines, but the reality is Microsoft isn't conceding anything with its newly minted Novell alliance.

There is no hell freezing over, no snowballs melting and definitely no white flags fluttering over the Microsoft headquarters building. Microsoft is not conceding that desktop Linux is gaining ground. It's not admitting that its closed-source strategy has failed.

posted at 04:55 AM. tags: .

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Microsoft and Novell's concession to tech reality

I knew that this would be a strange day. On the ride over to Microsoft's impromptu press conference, the taxi driver began riffing about how rainy days were good for sleeping in and watching porn.

A few minutes later, I had a front-row seat to watch Steve Ballmer publicly put the final coda on a decade of dispute in the computer industry as he posed for a handshake with Ron Hovsepian, his opposite number at Novell.

posted at 04:55 AM. tags: .

Friday, November 03, 2006

Microsoft, Novell Reach Accord on Linux

Microsoft Corp. reached a rapprochement with a major seller of the Linux operating system, a deal that makes a kind of peace between two opposing camps in the software industry.

The deal with Novell Inc. is designed to make it easier for customers to use both Linux and Microsoft's Windows software. It puts new pressure on Red Hat Inc., a Linux seller whose shares were recently roiled when Oracle Corp. announced plans to offer its own technical support for Red Hat's products.

posted at 12:55 AM. tags: .

Friday, November 03, 2006

Joint letter to the Open Source Community from Novell and Microsoft

Over the past six years, we've seen the effect that the open source community has had on Microsoft. They've shared some source code, driven community projects like IronPython and WiX, and they continue to work with a number of open source software companies like JBoss, SugarCRM, XenSource, and Zend.

However, today's news is a big step forward for the Linux market. Today, for the first time, Microsoft is collaborating directly with a Linux and Open Source software vendor. With this news, Microsoft is saying that Linux is an important part of the IT infrastructure.

posted at 12:55 AM. tags: .

Friday, November 03, 2006

Novell-Microsoft: What They Aren't Telling You

Today Novell and Microsoft announced a partnership in which Microsoft has made some unlikely-seeming promises regarding Linux. What aren't they telling you? First, you can be sure that Microsoft's not out to help a competitor. This announcement paves the way for Microsoft to implement significant control over commercial customer's use of Free Software. And it has significant negative implications for Open Source in general.

There are two significant announcements. First, that Novell and Microsoft are entering into a patent cross-license, and second, that Microsoft is promising not to assert its patents against individual non-commercial developers. The bad part is that this sets Mirosoft up to assert its patents against all commercial Open Source users. There are also some little bonuses for Microsoft, like Novell will help Microsoft turn back the Open Document Format and substitute something Microsoft controls.

posted at 12:55 AM. tags: .

Monday, October 30, 2006

openSUSE 10.2 Beta 1 Report

As you know openSUSE released the first beta in the 10.2 developmental cycle on the 26th and tuxmachines has been checking it out in preparation for our report. This feature and version freeze release came with quite a few annoying bugs, but most didn't apply to my testing. I did encounter a coupla problems of my own and little or no new eye candy was found. But how did the system perform overall?

The installer was the same as we've grown accustomed to basically. This release the installer went back to full screen (at least here) and something happened to the fonts. They seemed very jagged and faded out in places. That was weird. The only new feature I picked up on was the new types of installs. LVM appeared previously, but this release I noticed EVMS is now available (although there seems to be some bugs with this option). Reiserfs was still the default filesystem and reiser4 was still not available. One of the most annoying bugs concerns the installation of Grub. It will overwrite your MBR no matter what you choose in the configuration and I've seen reports that it won't even write it correctly rendering your system unbootable. I avoided this issue by choosing not to install a bootloader at all (which is my normal method anyway). But if you're gonna test this release, I'd suggest having a livecd handy. Most of my hardware was detected properly although, as stated earlier, I did have some minor issues.

posted at 12:55 PM. tags: .
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