OMAP4 Kernel Vulnerability Fixed for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

On July 2nd, Canonical announced that a vulnerability was found in the Linux kernel packages, this time affecting the OMAP4 kernel of the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) operating system.

The CVE-2012-2375 Linux kernel vulnerability affects Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) OMAP4. As usual, you can click on the link to see how it affects your system, or go here for in-depth descriptions, as it affects other operating systems as well.

The security flaws can be fixed if you upgrade your system to the linux-image-3.2.0-1415-omap4 package. Don't forget to reboot your computer after the upgrade!

ATTENTION: Due to an unavoidable ABI change, the kernel packages have a new version number, which will force you to reinstall and recompile all third-party kernel modules you might have installed. Moreover, if you use the linux-restricted-modules package, you have to update it as well to get modules that work with the new Linux kernel version.

GNU C Library 2.16 Officially Released

The GNU C Library, used as *the* C library in the GNU systems and most systems powered by Linux kernel, is now at version 2.16.

Highlights of GNU C Library 2.16:

· Support for the IA-64 has been moved to ports;
· ISO C11 support has been improved;
· Support for anything but ELF binary format has been removed;
· More generic and 64-bit performance optimizations to math functions have been implemented;
· Compatibility code for Linux kernel versions before 2.4 has been removed;
· Expf for x86-32 and x86-64 has been optimized;
· Math library bug fixes have been implemented.

A complete list of changes and updates can be found in the official announcement.

The GNU C Library is primarily designed to be a portable and high-performance C library. It follows all relevant standards including ISO C99 and POSIX.1-2008.


Download GNU C Library 2.16

Pure OS 5.0

Pure OS is a Debian based distribution that features the GNOME desktop environment. Version 5.0 was released a few days ago, bringing updates for all core parts and applications of the system and some new additions on the default set of the included applications.

PureOS comes with:

• GNOME 3.4.2
• Linux Kernel 3.3.6
• LibreOffice 3.5.4
• Iceweasel 13.0
• Icedove 10.0
• Transmission
• Fillezilla
• Banshee
• VLC
• Brasero
• GIMP 2.8
• GParted
• Evince
• Eye of Gnome

You will find Pure OS in the form of a multilanguage (26 languages) DVD with many hundreds of included packages. If the DVD is not enough, you can always use the user friendly Ubuntu – software center to install more things that you may need.

I believe that basing a distribution on Debian testing is a great thing to do. I used many distributions with Debian’s testing repositories, and never had stability issues. These repositories are maybe the golden mean between latest versions and stability.

I encourage everyone that is seeking for a gnomish adventure this week to install Pure OS 5.0 and tell us how it went!

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Download Webmin 1.590

Webmin, Web-based interface for system administration for Unix.
Webmin is a web-based interface for system administration for Unix. Using any browser that supports tables and forms (and Java for the File Manager module), you can setup user accounts, Apache, DNS, file sharing and so on. Webmin consists of a simple web server, and a number of CGI programs which directly update system files like /etc/inetd.conf and /etc/passwd. The web server and all CGI programs are written in Perl version 5, and use no external modules. This means that you only need a Perl binary to run Webmin.

Download Webmin 1.590

Fedora 17 Officially Released for IBM System z 64-bit

Dan Horák proudly announced this past weekend, on June 29th, that the Fedora 17 (Beefy Miracle) operating system for IBM System z (s390x) 64-bit systems is now available for download.

Dubbed Beefy Miracle, Fedora 17 comes with a lot of new features, enhancements and updated packages, among which we can mention Linux kernel 3.3.4, systemd integration, GNOME 3.4.1 desktop environment with the GNOME Shell interface, GIMP 2.8, and the KDE Software Compilation 4.8.3 environment.

"There was a little inconsistency between the Fedora and Everything repositories requiring a last minute respin, but the Fedora 17 GA release for the IBM System z is finally here."

"This time again a bit closer the primary when we count the number of available packages," said Dan Horák in the announcement.

Download Fedora 17 for IBM System z 64-bit

Ultimate Edition 3.4

Ultimate Edition 3.4, now based on Ubuntu 12.04 and featuring the GNOME 3 desktop, has been released: "Ultimate Edition 3.4 was built off Ubuntu 12.04 'Precise Pangolin'. All updates fully applied, old kernels purged, new initrd and vmlinuz rebuilt. Ultimate Edition 3.4 is what 2.6 series was - a stable environment. GNOME, the default environment is rock solid. Ultimate Edition 3.4 has a new GTK+ 3 theme and a comprehensive set of software packages. I have really placed thought and diligence into what this product is. Ultimate Edition 3.4 takes things to a whole new level. It was developed with stability in mind, sorry KDE users, we will catch you in Ultimate Edition 3.5. This OS will be my primary OS for some time to come. That statement alone says a lot for my feeling on this operating system." Here is the brief release announcement with screenshots. Download (MD5): ultimate-edition-3.4-x86.iso (2,922MB), ultimate-edition-3.4-x64.iso (3,080MB).