Free, Libre, and Open Source Software Leftovers

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Aug 15, 2025

• Jeff Triplett ☛ Syncthing 2.0 Upgrade Notes

  I prefer Syncthing over other tools because it runs well even on ancient hardware. It works on every operating system—I mostly use macOS and Linux, but I’ve even run it on a Raspberry Pi. I’m currently running it across four or five systems, which makes file sharing seamless. The sync speed is excellent, I’m not locked into any services like Dropbox, and I don’t have to pay for features I don’t need. The usability and speed hit the sweet spot for me.

• Natalie Klestrup Röijezon ☛ Modifying Other People's Software

  Every once in a while, we all feel the need to modify something that someone else built.

  Sometimes those patches make sense to upstream, but not always.

  Sometimes they need a bit more time to bake, before they're ready to share with the world.

  Sometimes they're too specific to your environment.

  Sometimes it's just some personal preference, that the upstream wouldn't want to force upon everyone.

  And sometimes, just sometimes, you just want to run it yourself now, before it has had the time to make it through the whole review gauntlet.

• Web Browsers/Web Servers

  • Nginx ☛ NGINX Introduces Native Support for ACME Protocol

    We are very excited to announce the preview release of ACME support in NGINX. The implementation introduces a new module ngx_http_acme_module that provides built-in directives for requesting, installing, and renewing certificates directly from NGINX configuration. The ACME support leverages our NGINX-Rust SDK and is available as a Rust-based dynamic module for both NGINX Open Source users as well as enterprise NGINX One customers using NGINX Plus.

  • Mozilla

    • Thunderbird ☛ Thunderbird Monthly Development Digest - July 2025 - The Thunderbird Blog

      Hello again from the Thunderbird development team! As the northern hemisphere rolls into late summer and the last of the vacation photos trickle into our chat channels, the team is balancing maintenance sprints with ongoing feature-related projects. Whether you’re basking in the sun or bundled up for a southern winter, we’ve got plenty to share about what’s been happening behind the scenes, and what’s coming next.

    • Mozilla ☛ Mozilla Open Policy & Advocacy Blog: Is Germany on the Brink of Banning Ad Blockers? User Freedom, Privacy, and Security Is At Risk.

      Across the internet, users rely on browsers and extensions to shape how they experience the web: to protect their privacy, improve accessibility, block harmful or intrusive content, and take control over what they see. But a recent ruling from Germany’s Federal Supreme Court risks turning one of these essential tools, the ad blocker, into a copyright monopoly liability — and in doing so, threatens the broader principle of user choice online.

• Education

  • Bert Hubert ☛ WHY2025 and DNA talks

    Specifically, one of the aspiring politicians (not in the photo) opined that the advent of quantum computers meant that encryption would lose its value. But as resident experts knew, we already have post-quantum encryption, and this is employed already, for example by Signal. Many traditional forms of encryption are also not vulnerable to quantum computers in the first place. So encryption remains important. And hence the sign!

    It was a somewhat uncomfortable debate, and I don’t think anyone in politics is looking forward to repeating this format. Far easier to discuss these things without experts present!

• Security

  • LWN ☛ Security updates for Thursday

    Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (kernel, python3.11-setuptools, thunderbird, and toolbox), Debian (chromium), Fedora (open62541 and perl-Authen-SASL), Oracle (git, kernel, konsole, and webkit2gtk3), SUSE (framework-inputmodule-control and poppler), and Ubuntu (apache2, mysql-8.0, mysql-8.4, node-qs, request-tracker5, and ruby-sidekiq).

  • OpenSSF (Linux Foundation) ☛ Case Study: How LFX Insights and OSPS Baseline Validated GUAC’s Security in Under an Hour

    Tools: GUAC, OSPS Baseline, LFX Insights

    Challenge: Demonstrating strong security posture quickly and credibly to stakeholders Solution: Leveraging 'Linux' Foundation Insights (LFX Insights) and the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) Open Source Project Security Baseline (OSPS Baseline) for instant, standards-aligned validation

    Result: Saved significant time in verifying security practices, completing an independent standards-based assessment in under 60 minutes