Nitrux 1.0.15 Released, Speck Code to Be Dropped from 4.19 Kernel, Wireshark Security Vulnerabilities, Fedora 29 Test Week and GUADEC Videos Now Available
News briefs for September 4, 2018.
Nitrux 1.0.15 is now available. The new version provides software updates, bug fixes and performance improvements, as well as patches for security vulnerabilities. This version includes kernel version 4.18.5; Plasma 5 (5.13.4); KDE Apps (18.08); KF5 (5.50.0) and Qt 5 (5.11.1); Mesa (18.1.5) drivers for Vulkan, VDPAU and support for VP-API; and much more. You can download it from here, and see also the September 2018 issue of Linux Journal (which will be out today) for a FOSS Project Spotlight on this distribution.
The Speck encryption code will be dropped from the Linux 4.19 kernel. Phoronix reports that Google (who initially introduced Speck to the kernel for filesystem encryption for low-end Android devices) is instead working on a new HPolyC algorithm for those devices, "due to concerns over Speck potentially being back-doored by the US National Security Agency".
Wireshark discovered a number of security vulnerabilities that could be used to cause a system crash and denial-of-service (DOS) state. See ZDNet for details on the security flaws, and if you use Wireshark, update your software builds to versions 2.6.3, 2.4.9, 2.2.17 or later.
Fedora 29 developers are working on major improvements to Internationalization (i18n) support, including better font support, and improvements to the iBus input method. The team is holding a test week this week and invites the community to try out these new features. Visit the wiki page for more information on how to help out and test.
All the videos from GNOME's GUADEC Conference 2018—which brought together free software enthusiasts from around the world and was held in Almería Spain this past July—are now available at http://videos.guadec.org/2018.