The H Roundup - Ubuntu 12.10, Linux 3.7 and Sweet.js

Welcome to The H Roundup, your rapid review of the week with the most read news on The H, the security alerts and open source releases, and the essential feature articles – all in one quick-to-scan news item.

Top News

This week saw the release of version 12.10 of Ubuntu Linux, code-named "Quantal Quetzal", and the introduction of a new web interface for Canonical's Juju cloud orchestration tool. The Linux kernel developers completed the main development phase of Linux 3.7, and the latest release of the Razor-qt desktop environment gained new functionality.

• Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" officially released
• Canonical releases web interface for Juju
• Main development phase of Linux 3.7 completed
• New functionality for nimble Linux desktop, Razor-qt

Setting out to sweeten JavaScript development, Mozilla revealed its Sweet.js project. A new version of the Rust programming language and compiler arrived intended to stabilise the language syntax, and a preview release of the Linux for routers, OpenWRT 12.09, appeared. The Raspberry Pi Foundation announced a new version of its mini-computer with twice the memory, and the Free Software Foundation awarded the LulzBot 3D printer with its "Respects Your Freedom" hardware certification.

• Mozilla adds sweetener to JavaScript
• Rust 0.4 stabilises language syntax
• Preview of OpenWRT 12.09 Linux for routers
• Raspberry Pi gets its memory doubled
• Lulzbot 3D printer receives FSF hardware certification

According to research by security firm ReVuln, Valve's Steam software distribution platform can be exploited by attackers via its URL protocol. The Santander bank web site was found to save customer passwords in plain text in cookies while users were logged in.

• Report: Steam poses security risk
• Santander's online banking keeps passwords in cookies

Featured Articles

This week, Fabian Scherschel took a look at the latest release of Ubuntu Linux, version 12.10. Mary Branscombe spoke to RIM about its open source strategy and BlackBerry 10, and Dj Walker-Morgan talked to 10gen's Max Schireson about the company's open source database, MongoDB.

• What's new in Ubuntu Desktop 12.10
• RIM: reaping the benefits of open source
• 10gen: Growing the MongoDB world

Open Source Releases

Version 3.0 of the KDE project's Plasma Active user interface was released, the first development version of the Calligra 2.6 productivity suite arrived with a brand new professional writing program, and the VLC Media Player added support for the Opus codec. New distribution releases included version 2.0 of the OpenELEC embedded media centre OS, Zenwalk Linux 7.2 and NetBSD 6.0, which has initial support for the Raspberry Pi mini-computer.

• Plasma Active 3 released with new apps
• VLC Media Player 2.0.4 supports Opus decoding
• OpenELEC 2.0 media centre OS released with PVR support
• Zenwalk Linux 7.2 aims for "100% Slackware compatibility"
• NetBSD 6.0 released with initial Raspberry Pi support
• Cisco announces its own OpenStack-powered distribution
• Spring Data gets a release train
• Piwik 1.9 adds Transitions view and GeoIP integration
• Dart language has first birthday and first milestone
• Thrift 0.9 generates interfaces in D too
• OpenGamma release ElSql tool
• Meteor JavaScript framework gets authentication
• LibreOffice 3.5.7 maintenance update released

• Calligra 2.6 alpha previews professional writing program
• Google open sources Supersonic query engine
• Facebook betas Android SDK revamp
• Firefox Marketplace launched on Android
• Second Mageia 3 alpha arrives for testing
• Second alpha for Apache Hadoop 2.0

Security Alerts

• Stormy October patch day for Oracle
• Apple updates Java for older Mac OS X - kills browser plugin

For everything The H has published in the last week, check out the last seven days of news. To keep up with The H, subscribe to the RSS feed, or follow honlinenews on Twitter. You can follow The H's own tweeting on Twitter as honline.

(crve)