[tahoe-dev] TWN 32

Mon May 28 13:50:56 UTC 2012

Welcome to the Tahoe-LAFS Weekly News (TWN).  Tahoe-LAFS_ is a secure,
distributed storage system. `View TWN on the web`_ *or* `subscribe to TWN`_.
If you would like to view the "new and improved" TWN, complete with pictures;
please take a `look`_.

.. _Tahoe-LAFS: https://tahoe-lafs.org
.. _View TWN on the web: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/TahoeLAFSWeeklyNews
.. _subscribe to TWN: https://tahoe-lafs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tahoe-lafs-weekly-news
.. _look: https://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN32.html

Announcement and News
=====================

TWN Celebrates One Orbit Around the Daystar
- -------------------------------------------

Today, we celebrate the one year anniversary of Tahoe-LAFS Weekly
News.  So many excited things happened in the Tahoe-LAFS universe this
past year.  We saw the release of Tahoe-LAFS `1.8.3`_, `1.9`_ and
`1.9.1`_.  There was not `one`_, not `two`_, but `three`_ Tahoe-LAFS
Summits.  Tahoe-LAFS received a `new server`_.  Numerous Tahoe-LAFS
grids appeared in `Virginia Tech`_, San Franscisco (`Noisebridge`_) and
location unknown (`Cryto Coding Collective`_ and `JonDonym`_).  Tahoe-LAFS'
influence could be seen in projects like `Nilestore`_, `FreedomBox`_,
`Tamias`_ and `Cryptosphere`_.  We even saw the founding of a company
who donated their work back to Tahoe-LAFS, in `Least Authority
Enterprise`_ (LAE) |LAE|.  We are really excited in where Tahoe-LAFS is
going and that "provider-independent" security is catching on all over.

.. _`1.8.3`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN14.html
.. _`1.9`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN17.html
.. _`1.9.1`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN21.html
.. _`one`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/Summit
.. _`two`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/Summit
.. _`three`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN25.html
.. _`new server`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN17.html
.. _`Virginia Tech`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN18.html
.. _`Noisebridge`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/~zooko/TWN13.html
.. _`Cryto Coding Collective`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN30.html
.. _`JonDonym`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN16.html
.. _`Nilestore`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/~zooko/TWN11.html
.. _`FreedomBox`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN17.html
.. _`Tamias`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN20.html
.. _`Cryptosphere`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN24.html
.. _`Least Authority Enterprise`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN15.html

Thoughts from the Scribe
- ------------------------

When Zooko |zooko| suggested I write a weekly Tahoe-LAFS newsletter a
year ago, I was a little unsure.  I was not sure what I would write
about or if I would be able to provide stories which would capture the
attention of the incredible community surrounding Tahoe-LAFS.  I must
say now that I am ever so grateful for this opportunity.  I can't
express my thanks enough, but I will do my very best to below.

First, I would like to thank the readers.  If it wasn't for you, this
newsletter, wouldn't exist.  Your exceptional feedback (see below) makes
writing TWN a sheer joy.  I look forward to doing this every week and
that is in large part due to you.

I would like to thank the development and support team of Tahoe-LAFS.
Thank you for the gift of Tahoe-LAFS.  I hope I help more people realize
what a special thing we have here.  In particular, I would like to
thank Zooko, Brian |brian| and David-Sarah |davidsarah|.  Your
brilliant discussions on the mailing list and IRC stretched the limits
of my brain, forcing me to look up numerous things.  Thank you so much
for expanding my knowledge.  Thank you to Peter |peter|.  Your
interview helped convince me that I didn't need to be a developer to
contribute to an OSS project in a meaningful way.  That interview did
more to encourage me to continue than you will ever know.  Thanks to
Kevan |kevan| for being my first interview.  Thanks to Marcus |marcusw|
for forwarding me all the tab completion fails :).  Lastly, thanks to
the many whom, I didn't get to mention.  You have made me a better
person and not just technically.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank You to Atlas Networks
- ---------------------------

We would like to say thank you to `Atlas Networks`_ |AtlasNetworks| for
their continued support and generous donation of four servers.  As noted
in `TWN #14`_, "In addition to the generosity of their hardware
donation, Atlas Networks provide the Tahoe-LAFS project with remote
consoles and technical support, including complete OS reinstalls."  As a
way of showing my appreciation, I will be moving my last VPS over to
Atlas Networks.  Thank you for your support.

.. _Atlas Networks: http://atlasnetworks.us
.. |AtlasNetworks| image:: AtlasNetworks.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: Atlas Networks
   :target: http://atlasnetworks.us
.. _`TWN #14`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN14.html

Redundant Array of Independent Clouds Makes a Big Splash
- --------------------------------------------------------

The `article on RAIC`_ in last week's TWN made a tremendous splash.
Numerous tweets regarding it appeared on Twitter.  The following,

"Redundant Array of Independent Clouds -- Dropbox, Googledrive, memopal,
... http://j.mp/MviO55" [`0`_]

was retweeted 22 times and favorited by 41 users.  Numerous other news
channels picked it up and ran with the story.  TWN experienced a large
increase in the number of subscribers this past week.  My feelings tell
me it was largely a result of this story.  So congratulations to Deigo
"sickness" Righi |sickness|, your idea resonates with a lot of people.

.. _`article on RAIC`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN31.rst
.. _`0`: https://twitter.com/newsycombinator/status/203984643253477376

Free/Open Source Project of the Week
- ------------------------------------

One of the `first FOSS projects`_ we wrote about was `git-annex`.  Back
then, Tahoe-LAFS was made a `backend`_ to git-annex.  git-annex is a tool
that uses all of git's machinery for identifying and tracking files, but
stores the actual complete contents of the files in a separate location
instead of in the git repo itself.Now the developer, Joey Hess, is in
the middle of a very ($9,842 pledged) successful `Kickstarter campaign`_.
Congratulations Joey on achieving your funding and we look for to the
new features which result.

.. _`first FOSS projects`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN1.html
.. _`git-annex`: http://git-annex.branchable.com/
.. _`backend`: http://git-annex.branchable.com/special_remotes/
.. _`Kickstarter campaign`:
   http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeyh/git-annex-assistant-like-dropbox-but-with-your-own/

Glowing Quotes
==============

Two glowing quotes this week.  The first comes from a user, Saint
Germain, in `response to answers to their question`_

"Wow, you guys don't do things by half...
I was not expecting such a detailed answer !
After 12 years on linux, it never ceases to amaze me how open and
friendly the open source community is."

This last set is regarding the TWN.  I would like to personally thank,
j_s and Zooko for such glowing personal reviews.

"whoever put together this newsletter is clearly doing a great job for
that community" [`1`_]

"Amen!! Patrick "marlowe" McDonald has really given us a gift by
publishing the Tahoe-LAFS Weekly News every week. We're coming up on the
Tahoe-LAFS Weekly News one-year anniversary next week. ☺" [`2`_]

.. _`response to answers to their question`:
   https://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2012-May/007368.html
.. _`1`: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3997429
.. _`2`: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3997548

Tahoe-LAFS on Twitter
=====================

@SGgrc have you ever looked at Tahoe-LAFS (distributed encrypted
filessytem) http://bit.ly/K26V47 [`3`_]

This is awesome - a redundant, distributed file system: tahoe-lafs
http://buff.ly/L7NtQM [`4`_]

Here's the entry in Duplicati's blog where they announce the addition of
Tahoe-LAFS backend: http://identi.ca/url/69931029 [`5`_]

.. _`3`: https://twitter.com/tvgtvg/status/204143972778639360
.. _`4`: https://twitter.com/ddrager/status/204195040120143872
.. _`5`: https://twitter.com/zooko/status/205002859576705024

- From the tahoe-dev Mailing List
===============================

Potential use of personal backup
- --------------------------------

As mentioned above, a new user, Saint Germain was unsure of Tahoe-LAFS'
ability to be used for `personal backups`_.  Guido Witmond included some
of the reasons to use Tahoe-LAFS for personal backup:

* it's easy to setup, although not yet "Parent-proof";
* it works out-of-the-box on many platforms;
* it is encrypted by default;
* only you have the key, so no one else can read your data, unlike the
  other cloud providers;
* that it shows the 'health' of your data; and allows to repair it. [`6`_]

Zooko provided one of the better `descriptions of Tahoe-LAFS`_, I have
experienced the privileges to read.  I may have to steal it and place it
in the introductory documentation.

On a side note, Saint Germain is writing an article on new backup
software for the French site, linuxfr.org and may add Tahoe-LAFS to the
article.  Regardless of whether the article includes Tahoe-LAFS, we
would love to see it.

.. _`personal backups`:
   https://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2012-May/007349.html
.. _`6`: https://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2012-May/007350.html
.. _`descriptions of Tahoe-LAFS`:
   https://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2012-May/007365.html

Patches Needing Review of the Week
==================================

There is one (1) ticket still needing review for 1.9.2:

* `#1115`_: add servers-of-happiness to reports (post-repair says 10
  hosts have good shares but there only 4 hosts)

There are five (5) ticket still needing review for 1.10.0:

* `#937`_: 'tahoe run' doesn't work for an introducer node
* `#1539`_: stop putting pkg_resources.require() into .tac files
* `#1159`_: stop using .tac files: make it possible to change appname,
  Python package-directory name, perhaps other names
* `#1693`_: flogtool doesn't get automatically provided
* `#1240`_: add functional test of ResponseCache in favour of
  MDMFSlotReadProxy's cache

There are three (3) tickets still needing review of 1.11.0:

* `#1265`_: New Visualizer is insufficiently labelled/documented (plus
  layout problem)
* `#1382`_: immutable peer selection refactoring and enhancements
* `#1569`_: rerecord and review pluggable backends for landing on trunk

.. _`#1115`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1115
.. _`#937`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/937
.. _`#1539`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1539
.. _`#1159`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1159
.. _`#1693`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1693
.. _`#1240`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1240
.. _`#1265`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1265
.. _`#1382`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1382
.. _`#1569`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1569

- ----

*The Tahoe-LAFS Weekly News is published once a week by The Tahoe-LAFS*
*Software Foundation, President and Treasurer: Peter Secor*
*. Scribes: Patrick "marlowe" McDonald* |marlowe| *, Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn*
*, Editor: Zooko.* `View TWN on the web`_ *or* `subscribe to TWN`_
*. Send your news stories to* `marlowe at antagonism.org`_ *— submission
deadline: Friday night.*

.. _marlowe at antagonism.org: mailto:marlowe at antagonism.org
.. |zooko| image:: zooko.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: zooko
   :target: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/AboutUs
.. |peter| image:: psecor.jpg
   :height: 35
   :alt: peter
   :target: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/AboutUs
.. |marlowe| image:: marlowe-x75-bw.jpg
   :height: 35
   :alt: marlowe
   :target: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/AboutUs
.. |davidsarah| image:: davidsarah_bw.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: davidsarah
   :target: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wikiAboutUs
.. |brian| image:: warner.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: brian
   :target: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/AboutUs
.. |marcusw| image:: marcus.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: marcusw
.. |sickness| image:: sickness.jpg
   :height: 35
   :alt: sickness
.. |kevan| image:: kevan.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: kevan
.. |LAE| image:: LAE.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: Least Authority Enterprises
   :target: http://leastauthority.com

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