FOSSPICKS
Sparkling gems and new releases from the world of FOSSpicks Free and Open Source Software Mike Saunders has spent a decade mining the internet for free software treasures. Here’s the result of his latest haul…
CD/DVD image editor ISO Master 1.3.11 f you’ve ever taken a peek at the distros). Extract the .tar.bz2 file, genisoimage or mkisofs change into the resulting directory Imanual pages, you’d be forgiven with cd and run make followed by if you come away shuddering. The sudo make install. Then start the former is a whopping 1,596 lines program with isomaster. long – and that’s not a bad thing, because its level of detail is superb. Functional minimalism But the number of options included Many disc authoring tools clog up in these command line CD/DVD the screen with toolbars, panels creating tools is overwhelming, and directory trees all over the especially if you’re not au fait with place, but ISO Master has just two making disc images and you just panels: the top one browses your want to knock together a quick filesystem, and the bottom one backup DVD. browses the contents of the disc. ISO Master aims to be a simpler You can open an existing ISO image and friendlier graphical alternative. by double-clicking on one in the top But it’s not just limited to basic data panel, or create a new image via the Rock Ridge and Joliet filesystem extensions for CDs/DVDs provide discs; it has options for making File > New menu. Click a file or better integration with Unix and Windows systems respectively. bootable discs with multiple directory in the top panel, then Add filesystem formats as well. GTK 2 is to add it to the DVD, or Extract to used to provide the interface, so to “ISO Master aims to be a simpler remove a file from an ISO. compile ISO Master from source, To change filesystem options, go you’ll need the development and friendlier graphical alternative to File > Properties; there you can packages installed (try libgtk2.0- to genisoimage and mkisofs.” choose whether Rock Ridge and dev under Debian/Ubuntu-based Joliet extensions should be enabled (a good idea, as these let discs use longer filenames), and you can also enter text for the volume name and publisher. Use the Tools > Boot Record menu to add a boot image to a disc, eg if you’re making a bootable Linux distro. When you’re finished creating the disc, click File > Save As and provide a filename. ISO Master will generate
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Social networking client Dianara 1.2.0 he big social networking Pump.io account. And if you don’t sites, such as Facebook, have one of those yet, you can get TGoogle+ and Twitter, have one from many different sites – we two major problems: they’re all used https://pumpit.info. massively centralised, and they Reassuringly, the Pump.io service retain scary amounts of personal doesn’t just let random applications data about us. It’s not all bad connect to your account and post though. Pump.io is an example of a things (a sure source of spam), so social networking service that is Dianara needs a validation key and both open source and decentralised confirmation from the web – that is, anyone can run a server interface that you want to link the that becomes part of the network. program to your account. So no single company owns or controls the service, and if one Pump.io up the volume machine goes down, users Pump.io is a relatively simple registered on another machine service compared with the Dianara crams plenty of information and widgets into its window, making better use of space than the web interface. won’t be affected. Anyone can set heavyweights of Facebook and up their own Pump.io node (even Google+, and this is reflected in the on low-spec kit such as a application. You can post packs in a good amount of Raspberry Pi), so if anyone is messages to your timeline (plain functionality. It’s also decently interested in a tutorial, let us know. text, or with media attachments), configurable, with options for Anyway, Dianara is a graphical follow people to see what they’re up changing how notifications work application for accessing your to, and click stars on posts to add and how often the timeline should Pump.io account without having to them to your Favourites list. You be updated. There’s not much in the go through a web browser. Its can also add comments to posts, way of online help, although the tips interface is built using Qt, and to share them with other people, and are useful. install it you’ll need the qjson-devel, set up lists (to separate friends The biggest problem for Pump.io qoauth-devel and libmagic-devel from colleagues, for instance). is its relatively small userbase. But packages. Extract the dianara- In all it’s an attractive and it’s a great system, so if we all get v1.2.0.tar.gz archive and see the newbie-friendly program that still on Pump.io, maybe we can finally INSTALL file inside for detailed show that info-hoarding Zuckerberg installation instructions, including a “Maybe we can finally show that fella who’s boss… helpful list of dependencies for many popular distros. info-hoarding Zuckerberg fella PROJECT WEBSITE When you first start Dianara, http://jancoding.wordpress.com/ who’s boss?” dianara you’ll be prompted to link it to your
How it works: Get posting on Pump.io
1 Sign up 2 Add contacts 3 Post a message Create an account at https://pumpit.info, then Click the Contacts tab and add people you Click the Timeline tab and click in the text field start Dianara and link it to your account. (You will be know. If you don’t know anyone yet, try adding evan@ at the top. Give your post a title, add some text or an asked to get a verification key from the site.) e14n.com, aka Evan Prodromou, Pump.io’s creator. image, and click Post to share with your followers.
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Process sandboxing tool Firejail 0.9 ontainers, virtual machines, something strange? Yes, there are chroot jails… There are many only two processes listed – and PID Cways to run programs in 1 (which is normally /sbin/init) is restricted sandboxes, where they the current Bash process. Firejail can’t interfere with the rest of the has created its own process system. This is great idea if you’re namespace for this Bash session, ramping up security measures, or so it can’t poke around and discover you’re running a program from an anything else that’s running. unknown source and want to make Another useful option is: sure it doesn’t hose your distro. firejail --overlay bash Setting up these sandboxes can be If you have OverlayFS enabled in With the --overlay tricky, though – so Firejail provides your kernel, this will overlay a providing them with their own TCP/ option, file changes an easier alternative. temporary filesystem onto the inside a Firejail session IP stacks, and it includes a simple Both RPM and Deb binary current one. So you can create and are forgotten when the monitoring tool (firemon, which packages are available to download modify files inside the jailed session ends. shows activity in Firejail sessions). from the program’s website, or you environment, but when you access In all it’s a simple and user-friendly can compile it from its source code it, all of the changes are forgotten. way to run applications in restricted (it has no unusual dependencies This is great when you have environments, so if you’ve been and should install on any recent programs that need to write files, bamboozled with VMs, containers distro). Once you have it installed, but you want to revert to the original and chroot commands, give it a go. run it along with a program like so: state of the filesystem when you firejail bash close them. PROJECT WEBSITE Now, inside the new Bash shell Firejail includes various other http://l3net.wordpress.com/projects/ firejail session, enter ps ax. Notice ways to sandbox programs, like
Internet radio browser Streamtuner2 2.1.0 or various reasons, mostly to player such as Audacious to hear do with mountains and the streams. When you start Fwheat beer, this author Streamtuner2 for the first time, it started learning German four years asks you which player you want to ago. It has been a tough ride, but use. Then it presents you with one of the things that helped is the several internet radio station abundance of German radio directories, some of which didn’t stations on the internet. work in our testing, which was There are thousands of radio slightly annoying. We had the most stations being broadcast via the luck with the SHOUTcast and Music internet, and while you can access Goal services. Fancy some Top Albania them via your browser, it’s easier With thousands of stations to choose bookmark. You’ll then find Radio? Or perhaps some and faster to search via a dedicated browse, across all manner of Bluegrass Jamboree? that station under the Bookmarks program. Streamtuner2 is one such genres and languages, it can be Streamtuner2 has it all. tab, on the far left of the tab bar. app: it’s written in Python with GTK difficult to remember your Streamtuner2 has some rough as its front-end, so you’ll need the favourites. So Streamtuner2 edges in the layout and wording pygtk package installed to run it. includes a handy bookmarking used in the interface, but it’s still a Generic Deb and RPM packages system: right-click on a station and good way to explore the vast world are available on the project’s of internet radio. website, and we had no problem installing the Deb on Ubuntu 13.10. “Streamtuner2 includes a handy PROJECT WEBSITE Streamtuner2 doesn’t play audio http://milki.include-once.org/ bookmarking system.” streamtuner2 itself – you’ll need a standalone
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Compression utility PeaZip 5.3 eaZip is a graphical tiring work, so kudos to the devs for application for creating and putting a lot of effort in. Pextracting compressed PeaZip’s interface is attractive, archives, and as of the latest clean and largely self-explanatory, release, it supports over 150 archive so we won’t dwell on it here, but formats. (Yes, 150 – that’s not a instead focus on the new features. typo!) Along with the usual The biggest addition in 5.3 is the suspects such as Zip and .tar.gz, Compression Profiles. Go to File > the program can work with Create Archive, and in the dialog relatively obscure formats such as that appears, click on the down .arc and .arj. If you created some arrow to the left of the OK button. Compression Profiles archives with a random piece of This provides some pre-created make it a one-click job Also in 5.3 are improvements to shareware on your Amiga back in settings for compression, such as to choose formats and the file manager (such as a better the early 90s, chances are that “7zip with password” or “Keep options. treeview sidebar), while bookmarks PeaZip can still open them. output under 10MB for email can be sorted. The inclusion filters PeaZip can use GTK or Qt for its attachments”. These shortcuts are that you can use when choosing interface, and along with Deb and very handy when you don’t have which files should go in an archive RPM packages, there are “portable” time to poke around inside are more flexible too. PeaZip just versions that can be run without individual settings boxes. keeps getting better and better – installation. Just extract the .tar.gz it’s an outstanding piece of work. file, jump into the resulting directory, and run peazip inside. Packaging “PeaZip’s interface is attractive, up software to run across the PROJECT WEBSITE clean and self-explanatory.” http://peazip.sourceforge.net myriad Linux distros out there is
Password manager gpgpwd 0.4 n the wake of the Heartbleed If you’ve used the GPG encryption OpenSSL vulnerability most tools before, you’re ready to go – Imajor sites and services have but if not, enter gpg --gen-key to recommended that users change create a new encryption key. You’ll their passwords – and, of course, be prompted for a password, and it’s a bad idea to use the same this will become the master password across multiple sites. password you’ll use to access other So we’ve all ended up with another passwords via gpgpwd. To create a bunch of passwords to remember, new entry in gpgpwd’s database: and for those of us without gpgpwd set somesite.com gpgpwd is low on incredible memories, a password Here, gpgpwd will ask you for a password – that is, the GPG dependencies, uses manager comes in mightily useful. password for somesite.com, or existing tools (GPG) for password you used during the gpgpwd is a great little manager offer to create a new one. A few security, and works --gen-key command earlier. written in Perl and requiring the commands are available for without any faffing Passwords are stored in the JSON and Try-Tiny modules, which generating passwords: around. encrypted .gpgpwddb database file are available as libjson-perl and /alphanumeric 20, for instance, will in your home directory, and to libtry-tiny-perl in Debian/Ubuntu- generate a random 20-letter/ remove them from the database, based distros. Extract the program, number password. Hit Enter, and use gpgpwd remove followed by switch into the resulting directory the password will be stored. To the site name. and install as follows: retrieve it in future: tar xfv gpgpwd-0.4.tar.bz2 gpgpwd get somesite.com cd gpgpwd-0.4 When you do this, you’ll be PROJECT WEBSITE http://random.zerodogg.org/gpgpwd sudo make install prompted for your master
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File integrity checker Checkit 0.2.0 f you’ve ever downloaded a (as root) procedure. Go into a large file such as a distro CD/ directory containing files that you IDVD ISO image, you’ll probably want to check, and run this: have seen a file called MD5SUM (or checkit -s -o * SHA256SUM) to go alongside it. This stores and overwrites the This contains a checksum – a checksum for all the files in the sequence of characters that can be current directory, storing the used to check the integrity of the checksums in the file’s extended download. This is all good, but if attributes (ie the bit of the you need to watch the integrity of filesystem that contains metadata many files on your filesystem, it about a file, such as its creation After we’ve modified becomes a bit fiddly to have foo. date). Your filesystem needs to checksums, and shows you which test.txt, Checkit md5sum and bar.md5sum files all have extended attribute support for gives us a red “failed” files have changed. over the place. And then you have this to work, but if you’re using message to show that Checkit isn’t a replacement for a to run the md5sum tool each time… ext3/4, XFS, JFS or BTRFS you’ll be the file has changed. full-on intrusion detection system, Checkit makes the whole process a fine. Now modify one of the files, and it’s limited to certain formats lot easier by embedding a and then run: and filesystems (many archive checksum into a file’s extended checkit -c * formats don’t save extended attributes (so you don’t need This checks all files against their attributes, for instance). But for separate files) and letting you do simple jobs it works just fine. batch checks on multiple files. Its only dependency is libattr1- “Chechit embeds a checksum into PROJECT WEBSITE dev, and you install it with the usual http://dennisk.customer.netspace.net. a file’s extended attributes.” au/checkit.html ./configure, make and make install
Text editor LE 1.15 n last issue’s cover feature we between formats. We used: gave mad props to Vim, but we alien --to-deb le-1.15.0-1.x86_64.rpm Iappreciate that not everyone Along the bottom you’ll see a likes its mode-based operation and status line containing information (initially) confusing keybindings. about the current file, while hitting Emacs is a hugely powerful F10 (or Ctrl+B) opens the menu at alternative, but it can still be tricky the top. Use the arrow keys to to learn all the Ctrl/Meta+key navigate through the menus, and commands. If you’ve come from an enter to open them. You’ll also see MS-DOS background, you might keyboard shortcuts in the menu – want a more accessible editor that eg F2 to save, or Ctrl+F to search. LE is reasonably presents its options in familiar you convert between Unix and configurable, and if you menus – and LE could be exactly Back to the old house don’t like the default DOS-style text files (they have what you need. LE includes all the common colour scheme, others different line ending characters). Despite having decent knowledge features you’d expect in a decent are available. While it’s not the ultimate kitchen of C, we couldn’t get past the fiddly editor: syntax highlighting, search sink editor like Emacs, it does 95% errors that cropped up when we and replace with regular of what most people need, and the tried to compile LE from source, so expressions, line and column menu-based interface makes it we converted the RPM package selections (with many available easy to pick up. from http://lav.yar.ru/download/le/ operations to perform on them), binaries/ to a Deb for our Ubuntu UTF-* support, custom colours and system using alien. This is a very more. It can be used as a hex editor PROJECT WEBSITE https://github.com/lavv17/le handy tool for converting packages (see the -h option), and even lets
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Board game compilation Holtz 1.4.0 oltz isn’t a single game games. The first, Zertz, is designed as such – it’s an engine for two players, but if you’re on your Hfor four board games. own, you can set up the computer And these aren’t your common- as an AI player. It combines or-garden board games either, but elements of draughts and solitaire, abstract strategy games that take and every time you lay a piece, you a while to get your head around. remove a space on the board, so Sadly, the README file is blank the playing area gradually gets and the INSTALL file contains smaller. (The rules are complicated, generic GNU build instructions so click Help > Contents in the from 2002, so here’s how to menu to get the full description.) This is Relax, where compile it: install the wxWidgets involves racing from the corners your goal is to place development packages from your Game of four halves pieces so that the to grab as much space on the distro’s package manager (eg Dvonn, meanwhile, is another two- coloured lines extend board as possible. libwxgtk2.8-dev and player game, which involves for as long as possible. Holtz is a brilliant little package, wx2.8-headers) along with Boost stacking pieces on top of one and some of the games will keep (libboost-dev). Then run another to control areas of the you busy for hours, even if they ./configure, make and sudo board, while Relax is a good seem rather odd at first. make install, followed by holtzt to single-player game where you have start the game. to score points by placing colour- Click File > New in the menu to aligned pieces. The final game, PROJECT WEBSITE http://holtz.sourceforge.net choose one of the four included Bloks, is for two or four players and
Tetris variant bundle Galois 0.3 etris has pretty much regular Tetris game will kick off. By been done to death at this default, Galois’s Tetrisy games run Tpoint, although we still see at a fair pace, but you can change new versions on Freecode.com that by going to Game > Stop and every week. So at first we almost then Game > Preferences (see skipped over Galois, but then we “Initial speed level”). This is also saw the screenshots, and just where you’ll choose a different had to try it. Galois is a Tetris format, such as hexagonal or engine that includes the classic triangular bricks. game, but also some variants with different shapes. To compile I’ll have a T please, Bob What’s this – Tetris? Or it, you’ll need GTK 2.4 and We love the hexagonal version: it’s There’s only one flaw: pressing Blockbusters? Or some LibXML++ 2.6; in Debian and similar enough to Tetris that it ker-azy mutant hybrid Esc to pause leaves the screen Ubuntu-based distros, these are doesn’t take long to pick up, and of both? intact, so you can plan your next provided in the libgtkmm-2.4-dev many of the tactics you use in the move (the screen goes blank in and libxml++2.6-dev packages. classic game still apply. The most Tetris variants). We’ll submit When you start Galois, you’re controls are as usual for Tetris, but a bug report… presented with a grand total of the unusual shapes make the game nothing. Just a grey screen. Click different enough to exercise other PROJECT WEBSITE Game > New in the menu, neurons in your noggin, and www.nongnu.org/galois however, and a version of the especially difficult at times too.
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