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There were a few articles (1, 2) and notes on installing and configuring the grub on av-school.ru. Everything that will be further described in this article applies to Grub2.
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Good day! Today I will tell you about such a useful thing as an API monitor. API stands for the application programming interface. More information can be found in Wikipedia. An API monitor allows you to track calls to this interface in order to learn what functions are called from a program and with what parameters. When dealing with malicious code this thing is just indispensable. It is very convenient to simply run it and see an API monitor log if you do not have time to disassemble it and to perform a detailed research of functionality of a malicious program. In case of trivial trojans this log actually will be nothing more than a full description of functionality of a trojan.
This article is about how you can use the well-known program Wine as an API monitor
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Once I have told how to organize a broadcast using VLC. At that time, the need was caused by the fact that there is no a TV-tuner on a netbook. At this time, the problem is in the other - my cheap netbook is unable to play HD-Video (especially Full HD) without on-screen defects. It just so happened that a higher quality is always a higher priority (it is logical in general) and I can't find some interesting things in a resolution less than 1280x720. So, this story is about how to transcode video to the lower resolution, which can be easily played even by the weakest netbook.
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Today I will give you a break from technical details - no scripts, no development tools and no malicious code. Just information. The information that I wanted to share.
To demonstrate some examples in articles which require the use of Linux, I always try to use Ubuntu. Firstly, this is the most common distribution. Secondly, I agree with the opinion that this Linux is the most suitable for people who are just beginning to deal both with Linux and with a computer at all. So, if the idea to experience yourself what the Linux is comes to you mind, I will join those who recommend Ubuntu.
But the talk is not about Ubuntu. It will be about what the basis of Ubuntu is. It is Debian GNU/Linux. I will not talk about any installation features (they are the same as in all modern Linux e- "Next" - "Next"...). I would like to focus more on specifics, a bit of history, and a bit of philosophy.
The first announcement of Debian was made on August 16, 1993. It was made by Ian Murdock. The name "Debian" is formed as a combination of names of Ian and Debra Lynn (his girlfriend of that times) — Deb + Ian = Debian.
In the distant year of 1993 there were not such a diversity of different Linux distributions. Looking at the map (it's huge, but be sure to look) you can see that Debian is one of the ”roots.” That is, the distribution is not based on any other. And besides no less famous Red Hat, - Debian is the only distribution that survived until today, not degenerated into anything else. The reduced version of the map:
The system is based on packets containing programs and package managers which process these packages. The package manager takes care of all the difficulties to resolve dependencies. For example, if you want to install a jabber-client called "Psi", you will also need several Qt libraries. The package manager will remind you about this and mark all that's necessary for installation. In addition, if these libraries have been already installed for some other program, then it will not be installed again. You may ask “but how the problem with libraries versions is solved?” A natural question, because some programs need Qt 4.3, while some only Qt 4.4. And here we come to a thing which I appreciate in Debian the most – it is the development cycle.
There are several stages which each package goes through before it gets into the main repository - unstable, testing and stable. And in the stable repository there are only those versions of programs that depend on Qt 4.3 (for example). In contrast to Ubuntu, where releases are tied to a period of time and not to readiness, Debian went the other way - if there are bugs in the system, then a release will not be shipped until bugs are fixed. And it takes a VERY long time. For example, the current stable Debian 5 was released in February 2009, and the previous one in April 2007. Next Debian release was to have been released this spring (by the way, with Ubuntu, because developers of these operating systems are cooperating and want to sync their release cycles), but the release date are postponed again and again.
And here we see another feature, which somebody may consider as a disadvantage - any new versions of programs cannot get into the stable release, except security fixes. That is, if OpenOffice.org 2.4 was in Debian 5, then a version 3.0 and later will never appear there. This allows the release to be stable. I would even say STABLE. In turn, this feature simplifies testing process greatly.
If a user wants to get a newer version of a program, then he needs to use backports repositories. Versions from the test branch are backported into these repositories. But not all programs are backported, but again for the purpose of reducing the testing cost - it's easier to check only a part of a package than a whole package, and nobody will die without a new version of a calculator.
Thus, all programs pass through the cycle: the new version comes in the unstable repository and being tested there within 10 days. If there are no fatal problems - this version goes into the test branch, but only under the condition that it will not break other programs that are already in the test repository. At some moment the test branch is frozen - only critical bugs and security fixes are accepted, as in stable. Also, development of the unstable branch are slowing too, because it is quite more important to stabilize packets, which are already there, than to continue to do something new, without completing the current. At that moment when the number of blocking bugs in the test repository is reduced below a critical level the release of the next stable version of Debian is announced.
After that, maintainers start accepting everything into the test repository again, if it only doesn't break something that already exists. The cycle is repeated. By the way, the release that was stable, after the appearance of new one, moves to "oldstable" is kept supported. For example, Debian 4 released, as already stated, in April 2007, it was supported up to February 2010, despite the fact that Debian 5 existed for a year at that moment.
It is interesting, that the names for each version are chosen from the animated film characters called "Toy Story." So, the current stable version name is "Lenny" — a fun pair of wind up binoculars on the legs:
The next stable (currently in test) release will be named after the three-eyed alien Squeeze:
Do you remember: "The claaaaaaw"?
Upgrading between releases - is potentially troublesome and it causes some problems. That's why when the next Ubuntu comes out there are so much requests for assistance in support forums. And that's why it's unnecessary to strive to update whenever a new version comes out. In Debian, the transition from one stable release to another is associated with an even greater number of potential problems - for several years between releases a packet base is changed dramatically, completely and irrevocably. A format of configuration files and approaches to the drivers launch may be changed. Old solutions will not work any longer. Therefore, it is often easier to re-install the system than to upgrade it. Fortunately, we have to do this very rarely.
But there is a small trick. If you use your computer not to control a nuclear power station and downtime in few hours will not lead to fatal consequences, it is possible to use the test release for everyday needs. And you can take a part of packages from the test repository, and a part from the unstable one. Or even from Ubuntu. For example, my home list of repositories is as follows:
Generally speaking, I should specify the release name here in the distribution column. That is, it must follow "squeeze", instead of "testing" after "http://ftp.ua.debian.org/debian/" . But the use of "testing" will allow me to stay on the test branch, even when "squeeze" will becomes stable, and thus it retains a possibility to use the new packages from the test branch by default, and not get stuck in the stable. We have a sort of a rolling release - a cycle when the update occurs more than once during a transition from a release to another, but each time when any new program is released. Thereby the risk to break everything in the next update is reduced.
By the way, Debian developers want to add the official "rolling" repository so you will not have to wait for new versions too long when the test branch is frozen.
Here's a story we have. I would like to say a lot, such as why "Firefox" in Debian is called "Iceweasel" or what is an "experimental" repository, which countries have no mirrors of Debian repositories and why... But I will not bore you - it turned out quite long.
Oh, and if you think about to try Linux, it is reminded once again - use Ubuntu for the first experiments.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian
http://www.debian.org/ | |
Rating: +1
In the previous post, I was asked how to create a program, which will be not only easily run on many platforms, but it could be easily compiled there as well. Preferably with minimal code changes. And better without any changes. This concept is called ‘Portability’. A developer able to reuse sources at different platforms.
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