NEWS Software
%Installation made easy
Autopackage is a new project underway
to try and overcome the unfriendly way
Software News
software is installed on Linux platforms.
Currently software is packaged in several
%Arkeia now supports Mac OS X
different formats, RPMs, .deb files and
Users of Mac OS X can now call compatible with 10.1 and above Mac tarballs, none of which seem to be a
upon the services of Arkeia to OS X and Mac OS X server complete solution. Systems can become
help them with their network operating systems. confused when more than one type of
backup solutions, good news Additionally, Arkeia is also packaging system is used, which some-
for those that are already providing protection for times is unavoidable as the format in
taking advantage of this soft- MySQL operating on Mac OS need is just not supported.
ware to meet their other Unix X computers, for both offline Designed to be a distribution-neutral
backup needs. and online databases. Arkeia package framework, Autopackage will
Still in a beta version, the developed this plug-in to enable allow you to install software on many
Arkeia client performs backups of all users to protect information on different versions of Linux. It also tries to
files, including documents and appli- MySQL s widely-used open source data- answer that other major bugbear with
cations, as well as important system files base which is pre-installed on Xserver software installation in that it automati-
such as the Netinfo database. In machines. cally verifies and resolves dependancies
addition, users can preserve privilege Both the Mac OS X client and MySQL and it will do this regardless of how
information and special file system plug-in are available for download at the previous software was installed. It was
features, like Mac OS resource forks and Arkeia web site. % the reliance on one type of packaging
Finder attributes. The backup solution is http://www.arkeia.com/macosx.html system that often led to problems and
this is precisely what Autopackage tries
to answer.
%Game Engineering tool
It is still fairly young in development
NXN alienbrain Engineer is designed to integrated messaging and file exchange terms. The current version 0.2.1 can
make software development for media and advanced search facilities, including build, install, verify and uninstall simple
and entertainment projects more effi- keywords, regular expression searches packages, with a basic terminal front
cient. It offers offers special branching, and quick search for frequently-used file end. Version 0.2.5 is the milestone, by
merging and sharing functionality, set go to aid in productivity. which time Autopackage should be in
including pre-configured branch types to Released at the Game Developers position to automatically resolve the
facilitate the creation and maintenance Conference 2003 in San Jose in March, local dependancy issues of a system. %
of new language or platform versions. this new system extends the NXN alien- http://autopackage.org/
NXN alienbrain Engineer provides brain product line and is based on the
clients for Windows, Linux and Mac OS proven version control technology,
%Trust in Apache
(9, X, Jaguar) as well as integration for complimenting other products like VFX,
leading development environments a powerful asset and production man- TrustWay Apache is a high security and
(IDEs), such as Microsoft Visual Studio, agement system for CG film and complex high performance system that protects
.Net and Metrowerks CodeWarrior. visual effects productions. % Internet transactions on Apache servers,
Developers can enjoy scalability, http://www.nxn-software.com/ which will allow businesses and govern-
performance and custo- ment agencies to protect themselves
mizability benefits. The against external attack without a reduc-
system can support millions tion in system performance. Users can
of file versions and several integrate encryption hardware onto
hundred users per server. Apache web servers, enabling them to
Clients and servers have create secure, high-performance Internet
been optimized to ensure and extranet environments.
that version control does Developed by Bull, TrustWay is a
not slow down the devel- hardware solution and is based on the
oper  no matter how large TrustWay Crypto PCI card, an encryption
the project. card that can be integrated into existing
Well documented, open Apache environments quickly and easily.
APIs will allow users It manages and stores encryption keys
to further customize the securely, and adheres to the most recent
system to meet their spe- security standards. %
cific needs. Features like http://www.bull.co.uk/
6 May 2003 www.linux-magazine.com
Software NEWS
%ELC spec for Lynuxworks %Windows equivalents %No Red Noses
ELCPS, the Embedded Linux Consortium When trying to promote Linux as an Zeus Web Server software is a fast, scale-
Platform Standard draws upon widely alternative to Windows, inevitably the able, robust and secure server software
used Linux and Unix standards, includ- question of support for the packages a and can boast about being the world s
ing Linux Standards Base (LSB) 1.2, IEEE customer is using will be brought up. leading commercial web server. Zeus
POSIX 1003.1-2001, and the Single UNIX New users will want to know what com- currently has over 800 blue chip cus-
Specification v3. Standardizing the appli- parable software is available for them on tomers and as many as one million sites
cation programming interface (API) layer a Linux system. This is a problem over six continents.
of embedded Linux applications enables because many of those now doing Linux During Comic Relief s Red Nose Day in
the interoperability of various competing promotion have left the Windows world 2001, Zeus Web Servers helped process
distributions of the Linux operating behind and so are no longer familiar over 100 million hits and at the busiest
system and provides an alternative to times over 3000 secure transactions per
proprietary embedded solutions for minute, making the site one of the
emerging applications such as handheld world s busiest e-commerce sites at the
devices, set-top boxes and Internet con- time. Zeus Web Server was chosen again
nected devices. for this year s event to underpin the site
The introduction of the ELCPS repre- at www.rednoseday.com.
sents an important milestone in moving The website needed to provide for a
the industry towards an open, unified huge e-commerce event, where people
platform for embedded operating donated online and via interactive tele-
systems. Open software solutions have vision. This installation was custom
always been available, but there was no built, designed to be specifically capable
uniform standard for embedded Linux. with much of the software that is being of managing the huge increases in traffic
Now with the ELCPS, there is a standard. asked about. during the evening of the Red Nose Day
BlueCat and LynxOS offer a standards- Help is at hand from an initiative set event in March.
based embedded Linux platform for up by linuxshop.ru who has drawn up a New figures, compiled by Zeus, show
initial development and deployment, and very comprehensive table of comparable the high ongoing costs of keeping web
a path for real-time use. LynxOS is software between the two platforms. The servers secure and the huge difference in
binary compatible and supports the list is dynamically updated, so users are the annual cost of applying security
same standard APIs. From this, manu- encouraged to add their own selections patches to the three leading web servers
facturers should be able to benefit from of software.  Microsoft IIS, Apache and Zeus.
broader choices in compatible software; This list works well in conjunction Estimates for the year 2002 sug-
both Linux and POSIX software appli- with the  Wine Application Database gest that it cost Microsoft IIS users
cations can run with a broader set which lists all of the Windows appli- around GBŁ30,000 annually to apply
of operating systems. Markets such as cations, 1,000s of them, which have security patches to 10 servers, whereas
military and aerospace are also migrating been proved to work successfully under it cost Apache users around Ł7,000
to open standards to facilitate software Wine emulation. % and Zeus users around Ł120, based on
reuse and interoperability. % http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/ figures taken from http://www.
http://www.embedded-linux.org/ win-lin-soft-en/ securityfocus.com. %
http://www.lynuxworks.com http://appdb.codeweavers.com/ http://www.zeus.com
%Qtopia for a mobile world
Trolltech, the company behind the Qt allows user interface innovation because easy integration for particular proces-
libraries that help make the KDE window it is based on Qt, which can be and has sors, video chipsets and reference board
manager such a success, also produces been used to build a broad array of user configurations.
Qtopia, an embedded Linux application interfaces, both on the desktop and in Hundreds of products are already in
environment that includes a com- embedded applications. In addition to both production and development using
prehensive development environment the early acceptance by leading vendors, MontaVista Linux, including mobile
and a set of PIM applications. Qtopia has been chosen as the applica- phones, PDAs, advanced remote con-
This makes it an excellent candidate tion environment for a number of new trols, high definition televisions, HDTV
for any new embedded products, espe- mobile devices. PVRs, set-top boxes, digital receivers,
cially when you factor in the growing The usefulness of Qtopia has now automotive telematics, musical instru-
set of third-party applications that are been increased because it is being ments, gaming machines, karaoke
quickly becoming available. validated and enabled for use with systems, and others. %
Qtopia fosters hardware choice by MontaVista Linux Consumer Electronics http://www.trolltech.com/
minimizing hardware dependencies. It Edition development software, allowing http://www.mvista.com
www.linux-magazine.com May 2003 7