Seatbelts and Transporting ComputersSeatbelts and Transporting Computers
I’ve just read an interesting post at Making Light about seat-belts [1]. In Australia seat-belt use is mandatory, you can be fined for failing to wear one – and the[...]
Computer Security and Political CensorshipComputer Security and Political Censorship
I’ve just been disappointed to read about the DNI (Defence in the National Interest) web site closing down [1]. The final blog post says “In the meantime, I’ll leave everything[...]
SCO Unix and ProftpdSCO Unix and Proftpd
I recently had the misfortune to be compelled to install Proftpd on SCO Unix. There’s nothing wrong with Proftpd of course, but everything is wrong with SCO. LDFLAGS=-L/usr/ucblib ./configure –libdir=/usr/ucblib[...]
Car Drivers vs Mechanics and Free SoftwareCar Drivers vs Mechanics and Free Software
In a comment on my post about Designing Unsafe Cars [1] Noel said “If you don’t know how to make a surgery, you don’t do it. If you don’t know[...]
Designing Unsafe CarsDesigning Unsafe Cars
The LA Times has an interesting article about problems with Toyota and Lexus cars [1]. Basically there are problems where the cars have uncontrolled acceleration (there seems to be some[...]
Laptop ReliabilityLaptop Reliability
Update: TumbleDry has a good analysis of the Square Trade report [0]. It seems that there are significant statistical problems in Square Trade’s analysis and a possible conflict of interest.[...]
Planning Servers for FailurePlanning Servers for Failure
Sometimes computers fail. If you run enough computers then you encounter failures regularly. If the computers are important then you need to plan for the failure. An ideal situation is[...]
Some Tips for Shell Code that Won’t Destroy Your OSSome Tips for Shell Code that Won’t Destroy Your OS
When writing a shell script you need to take some care to ensure that it won’t run amok. Extra care is needed for shell scripts that run as root, firstly[...]
First Dead Disk of SummerFirst Dead Disk of Summer
Last night I was in the middle of checking my email when I found that clicking on a URL link wouldn’t work. It turned out that my web browser had[...]
Debian SSH and SE LinuxDebian SSH and SE Linux
I have just filed Debian bug report #556644 against the version of openssh-server in Debian/Unstable (Squeeze). Â It has a patch that moves the code to set the SE Linux context[...]