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 From : Sergey Lentsov                       2:4615/71.10   31 May 2001  17:11:06
 To : All
 Subject : URL: http://lwn.net/2001/0531
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    Here is the [42]permanent site for this page.
    
    See also: [43]last week's LWN.
    
 Leading items and editorials
 
    Linux costs less to insure. In the U.S., at least, a number of
    important changes happen not as a result of government regulation, but
    as a result of insurance company requirements. Insurance companies, of
    course, have a strong motivation to stay on top of certain types of
    problems - they end up paying for them, in the end. So they attempt to
    encourage safer behavior through their premiums.
    
    So it is interesting to see the insurance industry begin to flex its
    muscles in the operating systems arena. Consider [44]this News.com
    article on the business of "hacker insurance":
    
      Okemos, Mich.-based J.S. Wurzler Underwriting Managers, one of the
      earliest agencies to offer hacker insurance, has begun charging its
      clients anywhere from 5 to 15 percent more if they use Microsoft's
      Windows NT software instead of Unix or Linux for their Internet
      operations.
      
    This policy is the result of "hundreds of security assessments" done
    by the company.
    
    In this policy change, we have (perhaps) the first quantitative
    assessment of the relative costs of Windows and Linux security
    problems. While it is nice to see a (hopefully) objective result that
    favors Linux, it is also a little disappointing. 5-15% is a fairly
    small margin; we should really be able to do better than that. It's a
    start, anyway.
    
    On the auditing of free software. One of the advantages of free
    software is said to be the greater degree of auditing of the code. The
    source is available to anybody, so of course people are looking it
    over for problems. "All bugs are shallow" and so on. Right?
    
    The truth seems to be a bit less encouraging. People stumble across
    "obvious" bugs in old code on a regular basis. Most projects have more
    than their share of ugly code, well below the quality one would expect
    from a system based on peer review. Common security problems turn up
    in code that has been in service for years. If wide-scale auditing is
    happening, it certainly is missing a lot of problems.
    
    But it seems increasingly clear that this degree of auditing is not
    happening. At the recent Kernel Summit, one high-level hacker was
    heard to mutter that only a very small percentage of the kernel code
    had ever been read by anybody other than the original author. And the
    kernel is one of the most heavily audited free software packages
    available.
    
    What is going on here is fairly obvious when you think about it.
    Auditing code tends to be unpleasant, tedious work. Learning a large
    code base is hard, but until a hacker really understands the package
    being audited, any fixes are more likely to create bugs then remove
    them. But once you reach a point where you can confidently audit code
    in a particular program, you're also at a level of understanding where
    you can spend your time creating cool new features instead.
    
    In other words, the choices available to a talented hacker are
    generally (1) spend your time on tedious code auditing, and remain an
    obscure participant, or (2) create something new and exciting, and
    maybe become famous. Or something like that. It is not surprising that
    auditing work tends not to get done.
    
    It sure would be nice if more such work did happen, though. Software
    truly benefits from being looked at by multiple people. More projects
    should consider setting up "janitorial" groups to encourage auditing
    activities and to help new hackers get going with the code. The
    various companies out there that depend on Linux could also, perhaps,
    dedicate some of their staff time to auditing tasks. Also helpful, of
    course, is the development of automated auditing tools (see [45]this
    week's kernel page).
    
    Even better would be a shift in free software community ethics to
    recognize code auditing as the crucial and difficult task that it is.
    There is, at times, too much emphasis on the people who crank out the
    code, and not enough on those who really make it work for everybody.
    When auditing becomes a highly appreciated effort, maybe free software
    will achieve its potential for top-quality code.
    
    IP Filter licensing followup. Our story [46]last week on the IP Filter
    licensing issue drew a fair amount of attention and mail. Several of
    our readers politely pointed out that one aspect of our reporting was
    not quite accurate: FreeBSD, as it turns out, does not use IP Filter
    as its standard firewalling system. IP Filter is an option, but the
    default firewalling code for FreeBSD is the free "ipfw" package.
    
    OpenBSD, meanwhile, has [47]chosen to drop IP Filter as a result of
    the licensing problems.
    
    Anybody wondering whether these choices were wise may wish to peruse
    [48]this article in the OpenBSD journal, and, in particular, read IP
    Filter owner Darren Reed's comments. They speak for themselves, and
    should help any prospective user decide whether it is a good idea to
    depend on this particular package.
    
    Linux and TV's. This week, [49]Princeton Graphic Systems announced a
    TV running an embedded Linux kernel. The use of Linux in embedded
    systems is certainly not new, but a look at just how many projects are
    aimed at the couch potato crowd might be interesting. Aside from the
    [50]Tivo, Linux has seen a surge in projects aimed at the ubiquitous
    cable set-top box.
    
    NetGem seemed to start the flurry with an announcement in April 1999
    of their [51]NetBox Cable, the first set-top box to run on the Linux
    OS for cable-based Internet access. Lineo followed later that year
    with a project partnered with [52]MeterNet in September of 1999. In
    January 2000, the company's Linux offering was selected for a box from
    [53]Bast for use in hotels and apartments. Neither project has been
    heard from since. Coollogic suggested they had been shipping their
    [54]e-Pilot box since October of 1999, though LWN.net got word of
    shipment in [55]April of 2000.
    
    Fast forward to 2001 and you'll find the collection of players has
    boomed. Aside from the aforementioned Princeton Graphics Systems
    offering, [56]Sylvania has their own TV, while Nokia is set to launch
    their much hyped [57]Media Terminal. On the downside, though, the
    highly anticipated [58]Indrema game box is, alas, [59]no more. That is
    only to be expected; not all companies can be expected to succeed. It
    is still interesting to see more and more of them choosing to bet
    their future on Linux.
    
    LinuxDevices.com's [60]Cool Devices Quick Reference Guide gives a
    complete run down of other interesting products running Linux.
    
    Got a moment to give us a hand? Here at LWN, we're busily trying to
    figure out how to do two things: (1) provide a better LWN experience
    for our readers, and (2) figure out how to bring in some more money so
    we can keep on bringing you news from the free software community. In
    the pursuit of both goals, the folks at Tucows have put together
    [61]an LWN reader survey.
    
    The purpose of the survey is to tell us a bit about who is reading
    LWN, what you do and don't like, and what you would like to see in the
    future. The information will be useful for us in deciding how to
    improve the site; it will also be helpful, in statistical form, as a
    way of characterizing our audience to advertisers. That, in turn,
    should help us to get more, better-paying ads and spend a little less
    time trying to sell you domain names.
    
    We've worked hard at minimizing the nosiness of the survey, and at
    maximizing the privacy policy (which may be found at the head of the
    survey form). We will not abuse the information you give us. If you
    appreciate LWN, could please take a moment and [62]tell us what you
    think? We would be most grateful.
    
    Inside this week's Linux Weekly News:
      * [63]Security: European Parliament recommends encryption and Open
        Source software, new vulnerabilities in gnupg, Webmin, and TWIG.
        More distribution updates.
      * [64]Kernel: 2.4.5, the Stanford checker returns; 2.4 virtual
        memory stability.
      * [65]Distributions: Red Hat, SuSE and Turbolinux announce Itanium
        ports, Yellow Dog Linux 2.0 ships, Lanthan Linux added to the
        list.
      * [66]On the Desktop: Printing issues but skip the tissues (the
        desktop is not dead)
      * [67]Development: WaveSurfer, new PostgreSQL and mnoGoSearch, an
        Animation Editor, the GNet network library, FHS 2.2, Java 3d and
        JMF.
      * [68]Commerce: Here comes the Itanium.
      * [69]History: "Lignux", the importance of faith, Python's first
        move.
      * [70]Letters: GPL boundaries, software bloat, desktop page
        
    ...plus the usual array of reports, updates, and announcements.
    
    This Week's LWN was brought to you by:
      * [71]Jonathan Corbet, Executive Editor
      * [72]Elizabeth O. Coolbaugh, Managing Editor
      * [73]Michael J. Hammel, Senior Editor
        
    May 31, 2001
    
                               [74]Click Here 
    
                               [75]Click Here 
    
    
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    [77]Eklektix, Inc. Linux powered! Copyright Л 2001 [78]Eklektix, Inc.,
    all rights reserved
    Linux (R) is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds
 
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   74. http://ads.tucows.com/click.ng/buttonpos=lwnbutton125top
   75. http://ads.tucows.com/click.ng/buttonpos=125-001-016
   76. http://lwn.net/2001/0531/security.php3
   77. http://www.eklektix.com/
   78. http://www.eklektix.com/
 
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