New World OS / News: Recent posts

I have uploaded the Objectify Alpha_30.7 release to the Objectify project also on SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify/

This release has a few minor bug fixes and one new program.

I renamed the archive-add-zone program to zone-add and changed it's symbolic link from oaz to oza.

I added a new program 'archive-resize' that adjusts the total available chunks in an archive after the size of disk partition it is contained in has been changed.... read more

I have uploaded the Objectify Alpha_30.6 release to the Objectify project also on SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify/

I made a major change in this release: I changed the names of almost all of the programs. I apologize for any confusion this may cause. I wanted to make the names more consistent and eliminate the underscores (which required using the shift key). See the RELEASE_NOTES for a complete translation table from the old names to the new names. I also added a three letter symbolic link for most of the programs, to make it even faster to type if you are familiar with them.... read more

There is a new release of the Public Objects under the Objectify project: http://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify. The changes in this release were the addition of all of the gNewSense releases. See http://www.worldwide-database.org/cgi-bin/list_files.cgi?time, or http://www.worldwide-database.org/cgi-bin/list_files.cgi?md5 or
http://www.worldwide-database.org/cgi-bin/list_files.cgi?sha1or
http://www.worldwide-database.org/cgi-bin/list_files.cgi?sha256 or
http://www.worldwide-database.org/cgi-bin/list_files.cgi?sha512.... read more

It's hard to believe I started coding on this project 5 years ago. It was in the planning stage for a couple of years before this, but this is the day I first imported some code into the project:

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r3 | jsedwards | 2004-10-18 06:58:37 -0600 (Mon, 18 Oct 2004) | 2 lines

Initial import.

------------------------------------------------------------------------... read more

I have found a couple of problems in the Alpha_30.1 release (can be downloaded from the Objectify project: http://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify\). I recommend sticking with the Alpha_29.11 release until I can get work them out.

Please note the Alpha_30.1 version was released under the Objectify project: https://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify/

Currently Objectify is a secure file archive system. It can be used to store files in a disk partition, memory card, or into an encrypted file. It can also be used to hide files on a computer. I am planning to write some new documents, in the next few weeks, describing each of these in more detail.... read more

Currently Objectify is a secure file archive system. It can be used to store files in a disk partition, memory card, or into an encrypted file. It can also be used to hide files on a computer. I am planning to write some new documents, in the next few weeks, describing each of these in more detail.

The Alpha_29.11 release was to fix some minor bugs, since the Alpha_30 release isn't quite ready yet. Please note that I am in the process of moving the project from the SourceForge New World OS project to the SourceForge Objectify project. The Bug and Feature Request trackers are on the Objectify project: https://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify... read more

The Alpha_29.10 release was primarily to fix Bug #2786129 where it didn't compile correctly on big endian machines. It also eliminates some compile warnings when compiled on Mac OS X.

Please remember that the Bug and Feature Request trackers are under the Objectify project also on SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify.

For this release I refactored the code involved with disk_io, it is more modular now and has fewer inter-dependencies.

I have disabled all of the --xxxxxx-security options in import_file (they controlled how scattered the file was on the disk). I plan to re-introduce them at some point in the future, but for now it stores files as contiguous as possible.

This will be the last version 29 release. I plan to change the chunk_info table in the next release. Also future package releases will be done under the "Objectify" project.... read more

A new Public Objects file is available which added all of the Ubuntu (Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Xubuntu, etc.) 8.04.1 release .iso files including the MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA512 checksums.

In this release:

Fixed Bug #2427286 - Checksum error in file block. Fortunately the error was just in calculating the crc32 checksum on the file data. There were no errors in the file data so files stored in the system should be okay. The error only occurred on files smaller than 244 bytes that were encrypted with the old encryption.

Fixed Bug #2392531 - before import file time went up exponentially with the size of the file. It is now almost exactly linear.... read more

This is another mostly bug fix release. Fixed bug numbers: 2026708, 2051304, 2354266, and 2466388. Note: the bugs are in the Objectify: http://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify Bug Tracker instead of the New World OS Tracker.

Objectify will also build and run on Mac OS X now (tested on version 10.4.11).

I also added a new program 'sync_archive' that currently just copies one archive into another.

This release has a minor change to the way it works. In previous versions file paths were NOT case sensitive, so main.html was considered the same file as Main.html. However, this caused some problems (like Bug#2427250) so in this version file paths are case sensitive and main.html and Main.html are now two different files.

In this release I also fixed the import_file, export_file, verify_file, and list_files programs to correctly return a 1 exit when errors occur.... read more

I find this kind of strange since I have imported tens of thousands of files into Objectify without a problem. But I was just importing a few thousand files (using --recursive on some directories) and when I ran a verify_file there were two different errors on a few files. See Bugs #2427250 and #2427286 (I use the Bug Tracker under the Objectify project http://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify\).... read more

Since it has been over two months since the last release, I decided to release Alpha_29.5 without the fix for Bug #2109054.

Please do not use the --minimal-security option to the import_file program until Bug #2109054: https://sourceforge.net/tracker2/?func=detail&aid=2109054&group_id=187704&atid=922367 is fixed.

This release fixed Bugs: 2103915, 2117258, 2126403, 2184020 and added Feature Request: 2114041. NOTE: Feature Requests and Bugs are in the Tracker for the Objectify project: http://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify.... read more

I had no idea that the sf-robot would go through and automatically change all "Pending" bugs to "Closed". I was using the "Pending" status to indicate that I had fixed a bug, but that it was not yet in a released version.

I have gone through all of the bugs in the Tracker and updated them so their status is current. (NOTE: I am using the Trackers in the Objectify project - http://sourceforge/projects/objectify for Feature Requests and Bugs.)... read more

I just noticed that some of the Bugs (and possibly some of the feature requests) that I set to "Pending" have somehow been set to "Closed". I normally don't set Bugs (or Feature Requests) to closed until I do a release, so there are bugs that are marked as closed that have not been in a release yet. I do not have time to go back and fix them now. I am guessing it might be because I have been using the new "Tracker Beta"???

In the process of fixing Bug #2184613 I wanted to save the changes I made to the disk_io.c file before so that I didn't lose them. I am in crunch mode at my day job and fixing that bug is taking a lot of work. I have been spending so much time at work I have not had time to fix it and it may be another week or two before I can work on it again. My apologies for any inconvenience.

I started coding this 4 program years ago this month (2004/10/18). It is hard to believe it has been 4 years already.

I should have a release in the next few days with several bug fixes, just one more.

Please remember new Bugs and Feature Request Trackers are now under the Objectify project, also on SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify

Using the --compressed file option with the export_file, verify_file, and list_file programs causes an assert. I have checked a fix into CVS but I wanted to fix the --minimal-security bug before doing the Alpha_29.5 release. I am planning on doing that release this weekend.

There is a bug that occurs occasionally when using the --minimal-security option with import_file. Under certain conditions it can cause an assert that may lead to data loss. I recommend not using the minimal-security option until I can release a fix in the next few days. See Bug #2109054 in the Objectify project: http://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify

The only major change in this release is the hiding of the pass phrase. When I first started working on Objectify it required a minimum of a 35 character pass phrase, which was difficult to type correctly if it was hidden from view. Later I changed it so that the minimum number of characters was 10, but I did not fix it to hide the characters as they were typed.

In this release, by default it prints asterisks instead of the actual characters when the pass phrase is being entered. If you enter 'show' at the pass phrase prompt it will revert to the old behavior and display the actual character typed. If you enter 'last' at the prompt it will only display the last character typed and all of the other characters will be replaced by asterisks. You can also type 'help' at the pass phrase prompt to get more information.

The main change in this release is related to entering the pass phrase. In prior releases if you entered the incorrect pass phrase it would assert (not very user friendly). Now it prints a message saying the pass phrase was wrong and allows three tries.

Also if an absolute path is given to import_file or verify_file it will print a message now instead of asserting.

Removed the --allocate-all option from prep_disk as it is no longer necessary.... read more

The only change in Alpha_29.2 is that a log file is no longer mandatory. If the log file path is set to NULL or "" (empty) it will not create a log file.

Please note: the Bug and Feature Request trackers are under the Objectify project also on SourceForge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/objectify

I have written a brief Overview/History of the New World OS - Objectify project on LinuxHaxor.net:

http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2008/08/20/objectify-overview-2/