What is free software?

Its definition is associated with the birth of the free software movement. This was spearheaded by Richard Stallman and the founding of the Free Software Foundation. Free software is any software whose source code can be freely studied, modified and used for any purpose. It is even possible to copy and redistribute the program with or without changes.

In other words, this type of software gives the freedom to any person or organization to use a program for any kind of work. In addition, there is no obligation to communicate it to a developer or any specific entity.

What are the 4 freedoms of free software?

For a program to be free software, it must have four freedoms:

Freedom 0: to use the program for any purpose

The freedom to run the program for any purpose is about every user being free to use the software in:

• Any computer system;
• For any type of work and purpose;
• Without obligation to communicate to any specific entity or to the programmer.

In other words, the user is not forbidden or prevented from executing it. Indeed, what matters is its purpose and not that of the programmer.

Freedom 1: to study how the program works and to be able to modify it

To have freedoms 1 and 3 it is necessary to have access to the source code. Consequently, this is a fundamental condition for free software. Now, Freedom 1 is the freedom to use the modified version (according to the user’s wishes and needs) instead of the original one.

Freedom 2: to distribute copies of the program to any person or organization

The freedom to distribute the program (Freedoms 2 and 3) means that users are free to redistribute and share copies with or without modifications. In addition, without the need to ask or pay for permission to do so. In addition, programs can be distributed free of charge or for a fee.

Freedom 3: to improve the program and share the improvements for the benefit of all.

Freedom 3 makes it possible to improve the program – and, like freedom 2 – makes it possible to share and release modified versions as free software. Thus, benefiting the people or organizations that use it.

Is Free Software and Open Source the same thing?

The answer is: no. Certainly Open Source and Free Software pursue the common goal of bringing greater freedom and transparency to the software world. However, they differ in the way in which each carries out this action.

Therefore, the main difference lies in the fact that free software prioritizes ethical and moral issues related to the software, leaving the technical aspect as a secondary point.

On the other hand, open source emphasizes the technical aspects as a priority before any moral discussion about licenses and rights. Furthermore, not all Open Source software has to be free, but all products and their derivatives developed in Open Source must be free.

5 advantages of open source software

Development and continuous improvement

The fact that the source code can be accessed allows many people to review and test the code and, as a consequence, not only is there a better result, but also the security is far superior to proprietary software.

On the other hand, the free software is attended among many users who directly evaluate the failures or faults that the program presents. Therefore, you do not have to wait for the manufacturer to release an update or a corrected version. Therefore, this allows to reduce the time it takes to solve problems.

Enables technological independence

By not being dependent on the major software manufacturers, users can decide whether system migrations or upgrades are necessary. By the same token, you do not have to submit to decisions imposed by that manufacturer.

Savings in the acquisition, maintenance, and renewal of technologies

It is much more economical to upgrade or mass install open source software than proprietary software.

Moreover, by not having to invest in annual licenses, users can save money or use it to acquire other necessary software linked to the company’s service.

Allows copying of software

As we mentioned before with the freedoms, we can copy free software. Therefore, without the need to acquire new licenses, it can be distributed to all those who need it.

Provides autonomy

Users have control over the source code, so with free software you have absolute freedom to use the program for any purpose. In addition, without restrictions and adapt it to the needs of each company.

Conclusion

This software usually requires technical knowledge that is not common among computer users. Therefore, it is necessary that if you are going to integrate it to your company, you have a person who knows about this world. Especially to help you analyze and select those tools that will be useful to you. In addition, he/she must have the knowledge and ability to update and adapt based on the needs of the organization.

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Linux applications will run on Windows with their own graphical interface.

The approach of Windows to GNU/Linux has its history. In fact, the Ubuntu bash is already 5 years old inside Windows 10. And it has not stopped growing. On the other hand, WSL had an important limitation. In effect, we could only use text commands inside the console. There were certainly ways to run Linux apps graphically. However, they were cumbersome solutions. Now, this support is native to Windows 10. For the time being, Microsoft has named this feature WSLg. As a result, we will be able to run various development environments on Windows. But also other types of applications with their conventional graphical interface.

In fact, the support goes even further. It extends to Linux applications with GPU-accelerated 3D graphics support. Although the support is preliminary, it is irrefutable proof of the future. A future in which Windows 10 will merge with GNU/Linux distributions. In particular, you can use Linux apps to test and develop tools. But counting on the graphics section. The module will automatically start a system distribution. This system will have a Wayland server, X, and an audio server. In short, all the necessary elements for Linux GUI applications to communicate with Windows.

The Redmond company has announced that this option will be available to members of the inside program. Specifically, the 21364 builds. The future is already here. Here you found out that Windows 10 can now run Linux apps with a graphical interface.

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According to the application’s website:

Openfire is a real-time collaboration (RTC) server licensed under the Open Source Apache License. It uses the only widely adopted open protocol for instant messaging, XMPP Openfire is incredibly easy to setup and administer, but offers rock-solid security and performance.

Thanks to this application we can create our own chat system in an internal network or with internet access. In this way, it joins a long list of professional applications with which we can work in an organization.

Install OpenFire on Debian 10

The installation process consists of several parts to achieve the goal.

So, open a terminal or connect via SSH to the DEbian server and update the system.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Now you have to visit the OpenFire download site to find out which is the latest version of the program.

At the time of writing this post, the latest stable version is 4.6.2 which can be downloaded using various formats. To simplify the installation process we will opt to download the DEB package with the wget command. You can also download it on a client computer and upload it to the server.

wget https://www.igniterealtime.org/downloadServlet?filename=openfire/openfire_4.6.2_all.deb -O openfire.deb

Remember that this command will vary depending on the version of OpenFire.

Running the above command will download the file and rename it to oepnfire.deb which we need to install.

sudo apt install ./openfire.deb
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'openfire' instead of './openfire.deb'
The following additional packages will be installed:
  ca-certificates-java default-jre-headless fontconfig-config fonts-dejavu-core java-common libasound2 libasound2-data libavahi-client3 libavahi-common-data
  libavahi-common3 libcups2 libfontconfig1 libjpeg62-turbo liblcms2-2 libnspr4 libnss3 libpcsclite1 libx11-6 libx11-data libxau6 libxcb1 libxdmcp6 libxext6 libxi6
  libxrender1 libxtst6 openjdk-11-jre-headless x11-common
Suggested packages:
  default-jre libasound2-plugins alsa-utils cups-common liblcms2-utils pcscd libnss-mdns fonts-dejavu-extra fonts-ipafont-gothic fonts-ipafont-mincho
  fonts-wqy-microhei | fonts-wqy-zenhei fonts-indic
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  ca-certificates-java default-jre-headless fontconfig-config fonts-dejavu-core java-common libasound2 libasound2-data libavahi-client3 libavahi-common-data
  libavahi-common3 libcups2 libfontconfig1 libjpeg62-turbo liblcms2-2 libnspr4 libnss3 libpcsclite1 libx11-6 libx11-data libxau6 libxcb1 libxdmcp6 libxext6 libxi6
  libxrender1 libxtst6 openfire openjdk-11-jre-headless x11-common
0 upgraded, 29 newly installed, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
Need to get 43.7 MB/86.9 MB of archives.
After this operation, 239 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

OpenFire depends on Java so during the installation process it will also install Java and other packages. But this will be taken care of by APT.

At the end of the process, a new system service will be created to manage the application. The first thing you have to do is to start and enable the service to start with the system.

sudo systemctl enable --now openfire
openfire.service is not a native service, redirecting to systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable openfire

And check the status

sudo systemctl status openfire

Output:

● openfire.service - LSB: Start/stop openfire jabber server
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/openfire; generated)
   Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-03-12 14:49:16 CET; 48s ago
     Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
    Tasks: 26 (limit: 2296)
   Memory: 110.1M
   CGroup: /system.slice/openfire.service
           └─3416 /bin/java -server -DopenfireHome=/usr/share/openfire -Dlog4j.configurationFile=/usr/share/openfire/lib/log4j2.xml -Dopenfire.lib.dir=/usr/share/openfir

Mar 12 14:49:15 osradar systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Start/stop openfire jabber server...
Mar 12 14:49:16 osradar openfire[3408]: best java alternative in:
Mar 12 14:49:16 osradar openfire[3408]: Starting openfire: openfire.
Mar 12 14:49:16 osradar systemd[1]: Started LSB: Start/stop openfire jabber server.

Install MariaDB on Debian 10

OpenFire has its own database driver, but it is also possible to use MariaDB / MySQL or PostgreSQL which increases the performance of the application but the flexibility.

So, install it with the following command:

sudo apt install mariadb-server

Then, configure it:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Then create a new database and user for OpenFire:

sudo mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE openfire;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON openfire.* TO 'openfire'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;

Replace the fields with the data you want and set a strong password.

Now upload the default OpenFire data to the created database

sudo mysql -u openfire -p'password'

Replace 'password' with your password

Inside the MariaDB shell, switch to the created database and load the data:

USE openfire;
source /usr/share/openfire/resources/database/openfire_mysql.sql;

And to verify the changes, you can run:

SHOW tables;

And there you should see all the tables loaded.

Open the OpenFire ports

There are many ports that we have to open in the firewall for OpenFire to work properly.

So, start opening them:

sudo ufw allow 9090
sudo ufw allow 9091
sudo ufw allow 5222
sudo ufw allow 7777

This should get the application working.

Complete the installation

Now, you have to open a web browser and go to http://your-domain:9090 and you will see the following screen

Select the language of the installation and click Continue.

Then set the server options. There you will be able to configure the XMMP domain and define other ports to replace the default ones.

Next, you can choose to use the internal database driver or an external one as we have done. So, choose the first option.

In this step, you have to configure the database connection. Select MySQL and in the url modify the values of hostname and database name.

Database URL:jdbc:mysql://localhost/openfire?useUnicode=true characterEncoding=UTF-8&characterSetResults=UTF-8

Below define the username and password for the OpenFire user we have created.

You can also configure the database connections.

If the connection is successful, you will see the profile options.

Next, you have to create an administrator account with an email and password.

In the end, you will see this message indicating that everything went well.

Then go to the login screen

and finally, you will be in the OpenFire control panel.

So, enjoy it.

Conclusion

OpenFire helps us with a very common task in all modern organizations. Creating an XMMP server can be very useful and help us with our tasks.

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Downloading CudaText.

The first thing you have to do is go to the official website of the project and download the latest version.

The program does not need to be installed. Once you have downloaded the ZIP file, just unzip it and run the cudatext.exe

Main features of CudaText

When you open an HTML code you can see that the interface is very friendly and intuitive. When you open an HTML code you can see that the interface is very friendly and intuitive. The first icon on the left shows the structure of the HTML code. There you can see perfectly how it is organized. Consequently, this option is very useful for the development of big codes.

Using the second option you can organize the code and its pages in projects or folders. Again, this option is ideal for a good organization of large projects with several pages of code.

In the third option, a Snippet panel is present. Indeed, this is a very complete menu since it allows the introduction of special characters or arrows. The number of available options is shown in the image below:

When working with multi-page code development, it can be complicated to organize. Consequently, there is an option to search for open windows.

Of course, CudaText also has a powerful search tool. This saves time and improves productivity. You can access it by clicking on the magnifying glass in the lower-left panel.

Immediately below the search option, there is an icon that allows you to see the history of actions taken. It is very useful to validate that what has been done is correct.

By right-clicking on the code, the editing options are displayed. In other words, you can copy, cut, paste, undo, etc.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, we have seen how to install the OpenSource CudaText text editor. On the positive side, it is a simple multi-platform text editor. But at the same time, it has all the main tools for development. On the other hand, its operation can be improved with the installation of plugins. OK, this is it. Please check our post about compressing and decompressing files in Android.

The post CudaText. A really cool open-source text editor. appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

The uproar is controversial and should be taken with a grain of salt. We have to wait for the future to see whether GitHub continues to be the same or not. For now, let’s take a look at some of the best possible alternatives for GitHub.

GitHub alternatives

GitHub is one of the best community-driven platforms that we were ever to enjoy. Besides GitHub, there are lots of other places where devs can get the same amount of opportunity and facility.

• GitLab

Just after the news of Microsoft acquiring GitHub, GitLab became one of the obvious choices for devs. It’s really close to GitHub in terms of using and the feel. Moreover, GitLab is open-source and you can run your own GitLab server in your machine.

Now, it’s seen a huge spike in the number of projects moved to it. For example, GNOME and GIMP are giant projects that have made the shift. This shows the depth of the GitHub incident.

Aware of the current situation, the company now made it easier for migrating from GitHub to GitLab.

You don’t have to run your own server as GitLab also supports hosted service, but that comes up with a good price. This isn’t affordable for most, but most projects should be okay to run with $5/month charge.

• SourceForge

This is another big name as a preferable alternative to GitHub. In the field of open-source software, SourceForge earned a good name and respect from the community. In fact, there are many Linux distros that provide downloads and other services via SourceForge. This platform provides all the necessary tools for creating and managing open-source projects easily.

During the rise of GitHub, SourceForge faced a downfall in its popularity. However, under the new leadership of Logan Abbott, it has revamped itself and fighting for getting back its lost position in code hosting.

SourceForge provides a simple and easy way to import your entire GitHub repositories into the existing project. Here’s a demo of the process.

• GitKraken

In the case of git and stuff, the interface didn’t seem to have anything cool and/or soothing; everything was barebones and very, very simplistic. That’s why GitKraken is one of my favorites. It offers a beautiful interface with a nice, eye-soothing look.

The solution focuses on providing faster speed in developing. It also saves time during building and testing. There’s also a really handy “Undo” button that can do magic when you’ve done something wrong. The free version is available for companies under 20 employees or educational/non-profit shops. However, for big projects and companies, the Pro and Enterprise offer some of the most exclusive features including multiple profile support.

• Launchpad

You all have heard about Launchpad, right? This is a platform that’s maintained by Canonical, the parent company behind Ubuntu. This platform is heavily used by Canonical and projects targeting Ubuntu. Launchpad is nearly irreplaceable for having the support of PPAs and bug tracking for Ubuntu related projects.

Launchpad isn’t much popular as a GitHub alternative because of its “Ubuntu stuff” label. However, this platform also provides good support for Git. It’s entirely free to import or host Git repositories on Launchpad. It should be a nice alternative to GitHub if you don’t mind the slightly different workflow and a stale interface.

There are also other solutions like BitBucket, Beanstalk, AWS CodeCommit, Google Cloud Source, Apache Allure etc. Looking for a best alternative Git client? Check out the best Git clients for Linux.

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Nagios

Quite an ancient tool, originally called Nagios (author Ethan Galstadt). During the development process, a split occurred in the developer’s camp and a fork (Icinga) appeared. Now these systems develop independently, but there is much more in common than differences. Nagios exists in the free (core) and paid editions, Icinga is an honest Open source. Initially, a server-oriented daemon on bare C, the daemon is managed through a C-like config (looks like ISC BIND config). All checks are collected in a live queue and executed in strict order. This imposes certain limitations on scalability – the server will keep a large number of checks without difficulty, but the more of them, the more time passes between them. A couple of thousand checks (400 servers x 5 checks per server) makes the monitoring system virtually meaningless – there is too much time between checks. As an option, there is a client application called NRPE, it allows you to test locally, on the client (for those cases when it is not possible to check the service remotely), but this is an option. In addition, the checks through the client are conducted on the initiative of the server, so this does not affect the scalability. Nagios extends very well, plugins are written very simply (and there are a lot of them). Nagios is famous for its powerful and flexible system of readings – in the database it can write letters and send sms and messages to a pager, but there is a whole set of plug-ins – from an automatic call to a traffic light (not figuratively, but literally – this joy is controlled via ModBus). Icinga has two web interfaces to choose from – classic CGI and more modern in PHP. Subjectively, CGI is more convenient, although less flexible. The progenitor (nagios core) has only a CGI-version of the interface. It is important to note that Nagios does not know how and does not want to collect the statistics of answers, therefore it is meaningless to expect beautiful graphs in the style of Munin / Ganglia / Cacti from it. There is a bridge for Icinga connection with Ganglia, this is a fairly popular tandem in which Icinga responds primarily to the network map, hosts overview and notifications.

Main advantages of Nagios

• Simple file format. It can be easily configured using any self-written utilities
• Allows to leave comments with a timestamp
• There are plug-ins for all cases from third-party manufacturers

Disadvantages of Nagios

• There are no built-in visualization tools (except the network map)
• The complexity of scaling without the use of third-party plug-ins
• There is no way to monitor performance
• Can not be configured via interface
• You need to restart the server to take effect of the configuration changes
• Each plug-in runs as a separate process

Cacti

Initially, this tool is positioned to quickly and easily build SNMP statistics, but with the use of plugins (notify + treshold), it acquires the capabilities of a monitoring system. This PHP application, settings and configurations are stored in the MySQL database (the statistics are stored in RRD, which has a beneficial effect on the performance of the service). Very simple installation and initial setup (everything is done via the web interface), in general, scales well (especially if you use spine with a multithreaded SNMP questionnaire), a large number of basic templates for testing different types of devices. The main disadvantage of the application is its SNMP-centricity. This service is well suited for data collection from equipment, tolerable for collecting typical statistics of service performance (disk space, load CPU, etc.) and disgusting to collect complex and atypical metrics. Customization is poor.

Main advantages of Cacti

• High deployment speed with minimal additional coding
• Simplicity and convenience of the diagram browsing interface and their settings (do not immediately learn something complicated)

Disadvantages of Cacti

• A fairly rapid increase in the number of similar settings in the case of a large number of environments and Java application servers.
• Limited performance of non-native JMX solutions for Cacti.

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