[tahoe-lafs-weekly-news] TWN #14

Fri Oct 14 16:20:16 PDT 2011

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: http://tahoe-lafs.org
.. _View TWN on the web: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/TahoeLAFSWeeklyNews
.. _subscribe to TWN: http://tahoe-lafs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tahoe-lafs-weekly-news
.. _look: http://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN14.html

Announcements and News
======================

Tahoe-LAFS v1.8.3 Released
- --------------------------

The Tahoe-LAFS project released version 1.8.3_ and 1.9.0a2 to address a
security issue.  A vulnerability was discovered in all versions from 1.3.0 to
1.8.2 and 1.9.0a1.  This vulnerability allowed a malicious attacker to delete
files.  To be able to delete the file, an attacker must know its 'storage
index'. An upgrade to 1.8.3 resolves this issues.  The `known issues
document`_ provides the technical information regarding this issue.

.. _1.8.3: http://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2011-September/006675.html
.. _known issues document: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/browser/trunk/docs/known_issues.rst

Announcing the Second International Tahoe-LAFS Summit
- -----------------------------------------------------

The Summit will have technical presentations of new features, design
discussions, and probably a lot of coding!

There will be live audio and video available for remote participants. `Help
us organize the Summit`_ on the wiki.

.. _Help us organize the Summit: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/Summit
.. _Mozilla: https://www.mozilla.org
.. |mozilla| image:: Mozilla_logo-35x35.svg
   :height: 35
   :alt: Mozilla
   :target: https://www.mozilla.org
.. _Google: https://google.com
.. |google| image:: Google-logo-x35.svg
   :height: 35
   :alt: Google
   :target: https://google.com
.. _Adobe: https://www.adobe.com
.. |adobe| image:: Adobe_logo-x35.svg
   :height: 35
   :alt: Adobe
   :target: https://www.adobe.com
.. _Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com
.. |microsoft| image:: Microsoft_Logo_Historical.svg
   :height: 25
   :alt: Microsoft
   :target: https://www.microsoft.com

1.9.0a2 Release
- ---------------

1.9.0a2_ was released.  In addition to the security fix mentioned above, this
release incorporates the following fixes:

* 'tahoe debug' commands now understand MDMF caps and shares (`#1507`_)
* Recent Uploads And Downloads shouldn't miss 'tahoe put' (`#1079`_)
* tests run slightly faster, still kinda painful
* 'tahoe put --mutable-type=.." implies --mutable
* fewer dropped errors (and lost-progress bugs) in mutable retrieve
* tolerate linux-3.0 in platform detection code (`#1536`_)

The following work remains for the 1.9.0 release:

* docs improvements
* minor fixes: really really minor
* packaging tests
* Foolscap needs a new release, so make sure Tahoe-LAFS is compatible

We highly encourage everyone to throughly test this release.  The more bugs
we find in the alpha, the less in the beta and the quicker 1.9.0 arrives.
Currently, there is a possibility of a Halloween release of 1.9.0.

.. _1.9.0a2: http://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2011-September/006697.html
.. _#1507: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1507
.. _#1079: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1079
.. _#1536: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1536

tahoe-lafs.org Outage
- ---------------------

tahoe-lafs.org `experienced multiple outages`_ over the last several days.
The outages were the result of a router which was acting up.  The router has
been replaced.  We apologize for any inconvenience these outages may have
caused.

We are in the process of migrating the server to a new virtual server with
professional hosting instead of being an old server humming away in someone's
garage.

.. _experienced multiple outages: http://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2011-October/006701.html

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

The *Free/Open Source Project of the Week* is HekaFS_, formerly known as
"CloudFS". Like Tahoe-LAFS, HekaFS offers provider-independent
confidentiality by encrypting all of the data on the client side, with an
encryption key unknown to the server. It is built on top of GlusterFS_, and
it inherits most of the performance and scalability of GlusterFS. It also has
the same network and filesystem semantics of GlusterFS. In contrast,
Tahoe-LAFS invents new semantics such as provider-independent immutability.

The HekaFS project is lead by Jeff Darcy |jeffdarcy| and sponsored by RedHat
|redhat|. In addition to sponsoring HekaFS, RedHat just announced that they
are buying the Gluster company.

.. _HekaFS: http://hekafs.org
.. _GlusterFS: http://gluster.org
.. |jeffdarcy| image:: jeff_darcy-bw.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: Jeff Darcy
   :target: http://pl.atyp.us
.. |redhat| image:: RedHat-logo-x35.svg
   :height: 35
   :alt: RedHat
   :target: https://www.redhat.com/

Commercial Supporter of the Week
================================

The Tahoe-LAFS project would like to thank `Atlas Networks`_ |AtlasNetworks|
for their generous donation of four servers. 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.

.. _Atlas Networks: http://atlasnetworks.us
.. |AtlasNetworks| image:: AtlasNetworks.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: Atlas Networks
   :target: http://atlasnetworks.us

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

Performance Measurements
- ------------------------

Brian Warner |brian| has been using the Atlas Networks servers to do
performance measurements of Tahoe-LAFS. These measurements `show some
performance issues`_, including one that arises when using large values of K
(number of shares needed). Ticket 1264_ has details.

.. _1264: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1264
.. _show some performance issues:
.. http://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2011-September/006683.html

Tahoe-LAFS web-app
- ------------------

Brian Warner `suggested`_ the notion of a "Tahoe-LAFS web-app", in which both
the data and the code (Javascript) are stored in a Tahoe-LAFS grid and the
browser loads them and runs the Javascript app. This would have a similar
effect to the `TiddlyWiki-on-Tahoe-LAFS`_ hack, and to the `Unhosted`_
|unhosted| project.

.. _TiddlyWiki-on-Tahoe-LAFS: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tiddly_on_tahoe
.. _Unhosted: http://unhosted.org
.. _suggested: http://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2011-September/006690.html
.. |unhosted| image:: unhosted-logo.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: Unhosted
   :target: http://unhosted.org

Ifconfig Error Message
- ----------------------

Kill Your TV posted an issue with `Arch Linux and 1.8.3`_.  The issue was the
result of the inability of tahoe to find ifconfig.  Ticket `#1536`_ was
opened to provided more user friendly error messages involving finding and
using ifconfig.

.. _Arch Linux and 1.8.3:
.. http://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2011-September/006676.html

Patch Needing Review of the Week
================================

There are six (6) tickets still needing review for 1.9:

* 393_: MDMF
* 1265_: New Visualizer is insufficiently labelled/documented (plus layout
  problem)
* 1398_: make docs/performance.rst more precise and accurate
* 1547_: the WUI controls for setting the type of an uploaded file are
  confusing
* 1552_: web-API: replace ?mutable-type with ?format={chk,sdmf,mdmf}
* 1556_: fix bugs found by 'check-miscaptures' script

Let's see if we can't get these reviewed and 1.9 out the door.

.. _393: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/393
.. _1265: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1265
.. _1398: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1398
.. _1547: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1547
.. _1552: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1552
.. _1556: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1556

- ----

*The Tahoe-LAFS Weekly News is published once a week by The Tahoe-LAFS*
*Software Foundation, President and Treasurer: Peter Secor* |peter|
*. Scribes: Patrick "marlowe" McDonald* |marlowe| *, Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn*
|zooko| *, 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
.. |brian| image:: warner.png
   :height: 35
   :alt: brian
   :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

- --
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
| Patrick R. McDonald                       GPG Key: A2D1E972  |
| https://www.antagonism.org/         <marlowe at antagonism.org> |
|                               <mcdonald.patrick.r at gmail.com> |
|                         <patrick at opensecurityfoundation.org> |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
| Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium           |
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