Mark's blog

A bit of a bumper update from me... several packages are now available for testing at http://www.blastwave.org/testing. Any comments welcome - providing no major glitches are uncovered, these should make their way out to the main pkg-get repository and mirrors in a week or so. They are : mod_php 4.3.11

mod_php-4.3.11-SunOS5.8-i386-CSW.pkg.gz mod_php-4.3.11-SunOS5.8-sparc-CSW.pkg.gz

This is PHP 4.3.11 for CSWapache. It is built linked against the new libpq 8.0.3, and also has had mbstring support added at the request of a user. Hopefully, this will be one of the last "monolithic" releases, and future PHP packages will be split into modules. One thing to note with this package is it appears that the HTTP and Mail PEAR libraries are no longer bundled with this release. If you are using them, you'll have to grab the latest versions from PEAR. Other changes over the previously released 4.3.10 package include FreeTDS (MSSQL and Sybase support) and UnixODBC extensions. libstatgrab 0.11.1

libstatgrab-0.11.1-SunOS5.8-i386-CSW.pkg.gz libstatgrab-0.11.1-SunOS5.8-sparc-CSW.pkg.gz

This is bumped to 0.11.1, a minor bugfix release. It is a library that provides cross platform access to statistics about the system on which it's run (CPU usage, memory utilisation, disk usage, network traffic, etc.). It also includes a couple of useful tools - "saidar", which is a tool for giving an overview of the system in a "top"-like manner, and "statgrab", which can be used in shell scripts to get statistics through a sysctl-style interface. nessus 2.2.4

libnasl-2.2.4-SunOS5.8-i386-CSW.pkg.gz libnasl-2.2.4-SunOS5.8-sparc-CSW.pkg.gz nessus-2.2.4-SunOS5.8-i386-CSW.pkg.gz nessus-2.2.4-SunOS5.8-sparc-CSW.pkg.gz nessuslib-2.2.4-SunOS5.8-i386-CSW.pkg nessuslib-2.2.4-SunOS5.8-sparc-CSW.pkg.gz nessusplugins-2.2.4-SunOS5.8-i386-CSW.pkg.gz nessusplugins-2.2.4-SunOS5.8-sparc-CSW.pkg.gz

THE open source security scanner. Install nessuslib, libnasl, nessus and nessusplugins in that order. A good walkthrough is available at http://www.nessus.org/demo if you're interested in trying this package out. Note that starting the server and logging into the client for the first time can take a while, as it has to load and scan all the plugins (it's faster after it's done it once). Update : Packages now heading out to the mirrors. Mod_php is on hold at the moment, as I'm overhauling it and looking at providing an Apache 2 SAPI as well.

Although things have been quiet on the Blastwave front recently, it hasn't been because of lack of activity. I am currently working on a set of PostgreSQL 8.0.3 packages, which resolve several bugs as well as some fairly serious security issues, the full details of which can be found here. Due to various changes "under the hood", binary compatibility has broken in this release - libpq, libecpg etc. have all had their major version numbers bumped. This means that anything that links to these libraries should be relinked as soon as possible, but I have also included the previous libraries from 8.0.1 so that existing applications won't break; you can therefore update and migrate at your convenience. The PHP package is also due an update soon. I have 4.3.11 packages ready, although I'm waiting for the PostgreSQL packages to get released first before I relink. It's just a minor update, although UnixODBC, FreeTDS and MySQLi extensions are now enabled, with mbstring due to be added Real Soon Now (tm). I have also started work on splitting PHP up into a more manageable system, with the extensions build as shared modules. In other words, you'd download the core CSWphp package with a minimal set of dependencies (CSWapache etc.), which would provide the basics. If you then needed database access, you'd install CSWphp4_mysql or CSWphp4_pgsql etc. along with their dependencies (mysql4rt or libpq respectively). This is actually working at the moment, but there needs to be a lot more testing with the module loading/unloading in php.ini before I'm happy with it. Update : The PostgreSQL packages are now available from http://www.blastwave.org/testing - note that these are "testing" packages, and should only be installed if you're interested in helping track down any bugs etc. Otherwise, it is recommended that you wait a week or so until they end up in the main pkg-get repository. Update 2 : PostgreSQL packages are out, and there's even a mention at the Blastwave homepage . PHP packages, Nessus and more coming soon...

Now I've got my Powerbook back from repairs, I decided to continue my experiment to get Solaris 10 installed under Virtual PC 7. I've finally managed to get a useable system, although it did take a fair amount of hacking. The end result is a fully useable Solaris 10 installation complete with zones and dTrace, and provides a useful base for installing Blastwave packages. Unlike previous versions of Solaris, there is no need to modify the ISO images, and the system will boot right off the CDs or DVD. However, there seems to be an issue with the Java VM and Virtual PC; whenever any Java application is run, the VM segfaults. This is an issue because some of the installer utilities are written in Java. The way around this is to perform a text-mode install, either at the console or in a X session. Install the bare minimum of packages - the "mininal networking" cluster is a great starting point. This should complete succesfully from the first CD without needing to reboot and add additional packages (which would fail, as it attempts to use the java installer again). When the system has rebooted, you'll be left with a very minimal system, so you'll need to add some additional packages from the rest of the CDs, I've attached the list I use in the main article body (click the "Continue reading" link to see them). Using this set of packages, the install base comes to around 314Mb, but you are left with a system that lets you experiment with all the major new Solaris 10 features (zones, dtrace etc.). There is no X11 software included on that list, so if you need CDE or would like to experiment with the new JDS, you'll have to add those yourself. Any additional software can be grabbed from Blastwave, and as the complier support packages are also installed, you can even build your own packages. However, as psrinfo reports the equivalent of a 300Mhz Pentium on a 1.3Ghz G4, you'll probably be waiting a while for things to finish! Continue reading "Solaris 10 on a Powerbook"