MinGW: Updated: gcc-3.4.5 with Vista fix
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MinGW: A native Win32 port of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), with freely distributable import libraries and header files for building native Windows applications; includes extensions to the MSVC runtime to support C99 functionality.   An updated release of GCC 3.4.5 is available, which incorporates a fix for the Windows Vista access() bug. Look for tarballs with "-vista" appended in the gcc-3.4.5 release of the GCC Version 3 package on the SF download page. In addition to the six language packages, there are two other files pertinent to this release: gcc-3.4.5-vista-build.sh, which is the script used to build GCC, and gcc-3.4.5-vista_diffs.tar.gz, which contains a diff of gcc/version.c (necessitated by a change to the version string).   This release incorporates a grand total of three changes from the previous version. First, -D__USE_MINGW_ACCESS was added to CFLAGS for the build process. This fixes the problem of GCC drivers thinking they couldn't find the compiler executables in Vista because access() in the Vista runtime doesn't like the X_OK flag. Second (in order to reflect the former change), the version string was updated to read (mingw-vista special). Third, the info/dir files have been omitted from the packages -- you can now safely extract to your final destination without overwriting your dir entries.   If you encounter bugs of any sort while using this release, you should first search the mingw-users mailing list archives to see whether the issue has already been dealt with. If the problem is in fact unique to this release (for example, a packaging bug or an unforeseen consequence of the single important change I made), please post full details -- the bug's symptoms and steps to reproduce it -- to the mingw-users mailing list.
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Elizabeth Smith has a new post to her blog today covering some of the fun she's been having with compiling things like Gtk+ and PHP-Gtk2.   So I've been using microsoft visual studio (actually it's Visual C++ Express, but uses the same stuff behind the scenes) to work on getting things compiled on windows. PHP-Gtk2 allows for some nifty extensions, well at least on linux. So I've been working to get versions of libglade, scintilla, gtksourceview and mozembed working on windows. It's a long, slow process. Here's the deal so far.   She talks about her current situation (what's compiling and what's not) and the software that she's trying to get up and running. She also mentions a problem she's been having with an error message talking about "unresolved external symbols" she'll need to track down (or get some help on - anyone out there seen it?)
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I was reading LWN where there were reports of security holes in a dozen different packages based off Mozilla's Gecko. Someone complained about the lack of a universal library that they should all use so that users would only need to update the library and not each program separately. Apparently such a library exists as libxul, but its use is uncommon enough that the bugs were reported as being for the several separate programs and not for "libxul".
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(InfoWorld) - AppleÂ has released a small repair tool that solves one compatibility issue between its jukebox software iTunes and Microsoft'sÂ new operating system Windows Vista, but says PC users are better off waiting for the next version of iTunes before upgrading to Vista. The latest version of iTunes, 7.02, may work with Vista on many typical PCs, but Apple knows of a few incompatibility problems, including some that are serious. For instance, users who remove their iPod from their computer using the "safely remove hardware" feature in Vista may corrupt the contents of their iPod, Apple said. In addition, users may not be able to make changes to their iPod settings, synch contacts and calendars with the iPod, or play songs they've bought online from the iTunes Store. An Apple support document on its Web site offers a couple of tips for customers who do decide to upgrade to Vista before the new iTunes release, including reinstalling the latest version of iTunes. Apple is also now offering the repair tool which should help customers who are having trouble playing songs they've bought from the iTunes Store. Still, Apple recommends that customers wait until a new release of iTunes becomes available in a couple of weeks before upgrading to Vista. Microsoft, which launched the long-awaited operating system last week, recommends just the opposite. "We're committed to ensuring that all partners, including Apple, get all of the resources they need to ensure that their applications work with Windows Vista. Customers shouldn't feel that they need to wait to adopt Vista for these reasons," Microsoft said in a statement. Microsoft offers software partners a variety of resources to ensure that their products will be compatible with Vista, it said.
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To each his own, but I love eye candy.  When I heard that you could get the 3D Xgl and Compiz environment running on Ubuntu/Kubuntu dapper (my default distribution), I immediately searched the web for instructions.  Most of the instructions take a reasonably timid approach, which gets your 3D environment running in a test console (the second display, or :1).  I'm more adventurous, however, and I immediately went for a total replacement.  What follows are instructions for doing the same.
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Early version of first significant Vista update released to testers. Also, near-final "release candidate" version of Windows Server 2008 to be available within 24 hours.
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REDMOND, Wash. -- Help is on the way for developers struggling with using the Visual Studio 2005 development platform with Windows Vista, a Microsoft official stressed at the Microsoft SOA and Business Process Conference here on Tuesday.During a question-and-answer panel session, an audience member characterized the experience of using Visual Studio 2005 with Vista as "miserable." He wondered if the upcoming Visual Studio 2008 upgrade would be an improvement."Is the '08 experience on Vista likely to be better?" the questioner asked. Also known as Orcas, Visual Studio 2008 is due by the end of this year."It unequivocally is better," responded Dino Chiesa, Microsoft director of the .Net Framework. He advised the audience member to download the Orcas beta release and see the difference."We tried to be transparent about that, that Orcas was the Visual Studio release that was built to target Vista," Chiesa said.Other improvements also are awaited in Orcas, such as an improved build system in Visual Studio Team System for continuous integration."The performance and scalability of Team System is way enhanced," said Chiesa.But another audience member took issue with the use of templates in Orcas, saying distribution of templates was ad hoc. Chiesa responded there are some improvements in the general release with regard to templates.In a related issue raised during the session, Microsoft's J.R. Arredondo, senior product manager for Microsoft Office, said the company sees its Popfly technology, for quick creation of applications such as mashups and widgets, as a model for the future. The Office business application strategy at its core is about bringing simplicity and usability to the masses, Arredondo said.Another audience member, apparently a Microsoft business partner, asked how he would be able to sell Microsoft's BizTalk Server integration software with the company making available related technologies in the operating system and .Net Framework such as Windows Communication Framework and Windows Workflow.But Microsoft's Sam Guckenheimer, group product manager, countered that while he is passionate about capabilities for developers, users still would need a server platform for functions such as deploying an application across multiple farms.
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According to this new post on Pierre-Alain Joye's blog today, a new version of the GD graphics library has been release - version 2.0.34.   It took a lot of work to get this version released. Version 2.0.34 is a bug-fix-only release (all known security issues have been fixed), and upgrade is strongly recommended. It is also my very first GD release (hopefully, the first of many to come), and marks the official freeze of the 2.0.x tree, only security-related fixes will be made on this tree from now on. Please find the release announcement here.   He also invlites any language binders to contact him about hosting for a project if it's not available.
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Tycho:  I don't know whose fault it is exactly, mine or theirs, but I won't be installing Vista anytime soon.  I would like some crazy shit to happen when I minimize something don't get me wrong.  I want my windows to go Waja-wajow(!) is possible.  But if there's a great reason to "trade horses midstream" or whatever the going metaphor is I haven't discovered it.
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Tycho:  It's floating around now, out there on the Wub, and it calls to you.  Or maybe it does, I don't actually know.  In any case, it can be got from 3D Downloads, the Fileplanets, GamersHell, or WorthDownloading.  Download it from mulltiple sites simultaneously for a naughty thrill.  God only knows how this would run on my Vista rig at home, but it's a Vista rig, so you can probably guess.  (CW)TB
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Incremental fixes Microsoft pushed out a series of five patches for Vista early this week.â¦
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This is release 0.3.1 of ReactOS, an open source effort to develop a quality operating system that is compatible with applications and drivers written for the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems (NT4, 2000, XP, 2003).   Mainly, the work focused on rewriting certain parts of the ReactOS Core (kernel, HAL, bootloader, etc). Read through the changelog, and you will see the amount of changes in this release!  Please don't forget this is an alpha-stage operating system, which means it is not suitable to replace your main OS. Also, this release is aimed to be run mostly in virtualizers / emulators (like QEmu, VMWare, Parallels, etc): because of the big amount of changes, our development team was not able to test/fix all problems which arise when running ReactOS on real hardware.  Press-release: http://www.reactos.org/en/news_page_34.html  Changelog: http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php/ChangeLog-0.3.1  Download packages are here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=6553&package_id=6629&release_id=492696  ReactOS website: http://www.reactos.org
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A 32/64-bit Pascal Compiler for AmigaOS, DOS, Linux, *BSD, OS/2, MacOS(X) and Win32/64/CE; semantically compatible with Borland Pascal 7 and Delphi with extra features such as operator overloading and generics. The compiler itself is written in Pascal.   September 10, 2007 The Free Pascal Compiler team is pleased to announce the release of FPC 2.2.0!  Work on version 2.2 started in May 2005. The results of this work is now available to you.  An overview of most changes can be found in the file whatsnew.txt, included in the distribution and available on the Free Pascal web site, but some highlights are:  Architectures: PowerPC/64 and ARM support  Platforms: Windows x64, Windows CE, Mac OS X/Intel, Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy DS support  Linker: fast and lean internal linker for Windows platforms  Debugging: Dwarf support and the ability to automatically fill variables with several values to more easily detect uninitialised uses  Language: support for interface delegation, bit packed records and arrays and support for COM/OLE variants and dispinterfaces  Infrastructure: better variants support, multiple resource files support, widestrings are COM/OLE compatible on Windows, improved database support   Downloads are available at:  http://www.freepascal.org/download.var  On behalf of the FPC team,  DaniÃÂ«l Mantione
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Why does Windows say my antivirus program is out of date when I just recently installed it?
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Windows update doesn't play well with all applications, even Redmond's. Also: CNET Reviews on security work still to be done.
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InfoWorld - Windows Vista will not support older versions of Visual Studio, a move that will require many developers writing applications for the forthcoming operating system to upgrade to Visual Studio 2005, a Microsoft executive said Tuesday.
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(InfoWorld) - Itâs not easy being Ben Fathi. As corporate vice president of Microsoftâs Security Technology Unit, Fathi took the place of longtime STU leader Mike Nash in March amid a larger management shake-up just days after Microsoft announced that the shipment date for Vista was slipping yet again. After Nashâs high-profile tenure, Fathiâs charge is more subtle: building what he calls a âtrust ecosystemâ around Vista and its new security features and promoting the companyâs secure development practices. But first he must help get Vista out the door. Fathi sat down to talk with InfoWorld Senior Editor Paul Roberts at the recent Security Standard Conference in Boston about Vistaâs progress, and the world after Vista. InfoWorld: Recently thereâs been some back and forth with Symantec about issues such as Vistaâs Kernel Patch Protection feature for 64-bit systems, as well as some public criticism of Vista code for having security holes. What should enterprise folks make of that? Ben Fathi: First, on the paper Symantec published: We thank them for their input. I think itâs unusual for a partner to go public with a paper like this on a beta product, but they did identify a few issues. To the best of my knowledge, all those were already fixed in more recent beta releases. We love to hear feedback on beta products. Thatâs why weâre in beta. Itâs a test. Weâll fix them as long as they report them to us. As for the kernel patching, we fundamentally believe that the current model of kernel patching is broken and not sustainable. We never recommended it or supported it on any version of our operating systems. As weâve been telling our vendor partners, this is the only chance we have, as 64-bit computing becomes available, to start with a clean architecture and build on top of that. We want to work with you to find ways to extend the kernel functionality by having a clean architecture, APIs, and filters. â¦ instead of patching instructions and data structures in the kernel. In the long term, what we want to do is move a lot of these functionalities to a hypervisor that sits under the kernel to make the kernel even smaller and the trusted computing base even more secure. We still have a window of opportunity here. â¦ and weâre working with two or three vendors in the space to come up with that kind of architecture. One of the other comments thatâs been made is that [Kernel Patch Protection] is anti-trust. That weâll go back in with our own products and get around it. Thatâs absolutely not true. Weâd never do that. IW: You recently patched a beta version of Vista. Is it a bad sign that youâre patching beta Vista? BF: I believe that Vista is significantly more secure than any version of XP or anything else weâve shipped in the past. Just SDL (secure development lifecycle) in general and the process of penetration testing and hardening kernel services. These all created a stronger, defense in depth strategy. What I would say is, Yeah, there will be patches and vulnerabilities as we move forward. What weâre hoping is that by creating these layers of defense, weâre giving customers, especially enterprise customers, a longer time to test and make sure things are not broken. IW: Do you see your job description and responsibilities changing after Vista? BF: There are six different areas that we call âBig Betsâ that have been identified in my division. I will mention two. The first, Application ID, is a way to identify an application that includes an executable, the library it uses, configuration files, registry settings, any patches that are applied to it. So youâll have a cryptographically signed version of the application, and youâll be able to identify that and whitelist or blacklist that. When we talk about a trust ecosystem today, the ability to trust people based on an ID and trust machines based on an ID, we canât do that with applications. If itâs called powerpoint.exe, we go and run it. So having strong IDs based on the application and [making] sure they havenât been tampered with after download is an important investment for us. The second area is isolation. Creating guest operating systems that sit on top of hypervisors allow us to create better isolation mechanisms so that even if malware comes in, it only affects one subset of the machine and not everything else. Weâve done some great work on server hypervisors and server virtualization. We need to extend that to the client. Weâre seeing partners do that already, and so weâre going to invest in that space.